CHAPTER VIII.

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.

The Lord Mayor's Banquet.-Prince Albert's and Sir Robert Peel's Speeches.
History of Industrial Exhibitions.-Results of the Exhibition of 1851.—
Comparative State of Industry.--Progress of International Exhibitions.

Ox the evening of March 21, 1850, a banquet was given by the
Lord Mayor of London to inaugurate a great event in the his-
tory of modern civilisation-the International Exhibition of 1851.
The banquet took place in the Egyptian Hall, which was taste-
fully decorated for the occasion. On the rows of the lofty Co-
rinthian columns which range along each side of the hall were
suspended shields of the arms of the several counties, cities, and
towns of the kingdom, the mayors and other authorities of which
were invited, and these insignia were intermixed with trophies
formed of the chief articles of productive industry for which the
several localities were celebrated, and of the implements used in
the different districts. Thus, on the column dedicated to the
counties of Gloucester and Wilts, was a trophy in which were
combined a sickle, sheaves of corn, a flitch of bacon, and a
cheese. On another column, associated with the shields of
Northumberland, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire, were specimens of
lead ore, miners' implements, coal, and pottery ware.
spaces between the columns were suspended banners and streamers
of various colours with the arms of the aldermen of London;
whilst other portions of the hall were richly decorated with armo-
rial devices, including the national arms and emblems of England,
Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. In the great window were intro-
duced pictorial designs and scenic representations referring to the
forthcoming exhibition. The upper portion of the window at the
eastern end was filled in with two colossal figures representing
Peace and Plenty, encircling with a wreath of laurel an immense
globe of the world. Beneath this group was a large picture repre-
senting the port of London, filled with ships from every quarter
of the earth, disembarking the produce of the several countries.
The western window was decorated with a colossal allegorical figure
of Britannia, who held in her hand a ground plan of a building for
the approaching exhibition.

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Better, however, than any gaudy ornaments were the noble words spoken on the occasion by the royal guest, the Prince Consort, who from the first made the undertaking altogether his own. 'Gentlemen,' he said, the exhibition of 1851 is to give us a true test and a living picture of the point of development at which the whole of mankind has arrived in this great task, and a new starting point, from which all nations will be able to direct their further exertions. I confidently hope that the first impression which the view of this vast collection will produce upon the spectator will be that of deep thankfulness to the Almighty for the blessings which He has bestowed upon us already here below; and the second the conviction that they can only be realised in proportion to the help which we are prepared to render each other, therefore, only by peace, love, and ready assistance, not only between individuals but between the nations of the earth.' Others spoke on the occasion. Lord John Russell, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Carlisle, the French Ambassador, each gave utterance to thoughts suited to the occasion; and Sir Robert Peel said, 'It is a noble undertaking to bring together into one spot, and within the view of the world, those valuable productions which an allwise and beneficent Creator has distributed among the different climes and various regions, to stimulate the ingenuity and exercise the mental faculties of man, and through their exertion to enable His creatures to provide for the physical comforts, the intellectual improvement, the social happiness of mankind. It is a noble object to test by actual experiment to what extent the ingenuity and skill of the nations of the earth have corresponded to the intentions of their Creator, and to improve the advantages which each country can offer the other in supplying the wants and adding to the happiness of mankind. In other countries and in other climes splendid spectacles have been provided for the gratification of the people. There still remain the ruins of ancient edifices, almost uninjured by time, where for the gratification of the people showy and costly spectacles were provided. On a Roman holiday hecatombs of wild beasts were slain and sanguinary conflicts took place of man against man. We propose to gratify the people by other agencies more in harmony with our civilisation and our Christianity-to teach them gratitude to the Almighty Creator, by exhibiting the wonderful contrivances of nature for the happiness of man, and to draw closer the bonds of amity and general intercourse by the honest rivalry of industry and skill.'

Of industrial exhibitions there had been many at different times. As early as in 1757 the first attempt was made in France to collect works of art. In 1761 an exhibition of machinery was held in the rooms of the Society of Arts in England. In 1798, whilst France was in the midst of anarchy and revolution, an industrial exhibition was held, in which sixteen departments took part.

Only one hundred and ten exhibitors appeared, but they comprised men of great distinction, who afterwards achieved for themselves considerable celebrity. Some idea of the character of the times may be gathered from the fact that intimation was given that at the next exhibition a medal would be awarded to the person who should inflict the greatest blow on English industry. In 1801 there was another exhibition at the Louvre, when two hundred and twenty exhibitors appeared, and it was then decided to hold such exhibitions annually, which was so far carried out by holding another in 1802. But there was a break from that year to 1806, and a long blank till 1819, from which date exhibitions were held in Paris every five years. Other countries also followed. Italy, Prussia, Switzerland, Spain, and Sweden each had their exhibitions. In England, in 1828, there was an exhibition of specimens of new and improved productions of artizans and manufacturers. 1829 there was an exhibition in Dublin of specimens of native industry. And in 1845 there was a great exhibition of manufactures at the free trade bazaar in Covent Garden Theatre, besides other local exhibitions in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Liverpool. But hitherto all such exhibitions were confined to national art and industry. In 1849 for the first time a proposal was made by the free-traders in France to admit foreign products in competition with French at the next exhibition, but the proposal had to be submitted to the chambers of commerce, and these, animated by the spirit of protection, pronounced themseves altogether adverse to such extension, and the French minister abandoned the idea. What was rejected by France, however, was happily taken up in England, and it was left to the Society of Arts, animated by its illustrious President, to put forth the idea of a universal exhibition.

Accordingly at the appointed time, in a palace constructed chiefly of glass and iron, of an area extending over a million square feet, the happy design of Sir Joseph Paxton, the products of all nations were magnificently exhibited. The half of the area was occupied by Great Britain and the colonies, and the other half by foreign states; and though France and Germany had the largest share of the foreign half, every state in the four quarters of the globe was represented. Six millions of visitors inspected the wonderful treasures of art and industry. There were in all 13,937 exhibitors; and a jury composed of British and foreign members, appointed to determine the relative merits of the articles exhibited, awarded to 117 exhibitors the council medal, to 2,954 the prize medal, and to 2,123 honourable mention.

The exhibition consisted of four distinct classes of subjects: viz., raw materials, machinery, manufactures, and the fine arts, divided into thirty branches. The mineral industry was but imperfectly represented, but it was evident that in all parts of the

world, in Europe as well as in America, mineral resources were extensive, that their development followed that of other industries, and that Great Britain was the richest of all in coal and iron. Although the chemical manufacture had attained more subdivision in England than abroad, the great variety of products from a single manufactory was often very striking in the foreign, and particularly the German, collections-a variety without inferiority of quality, which bore testimony to the excellent chemical education and varied resources of the exhibitors. Large was the collection of substances used as food, and most extensive the number of articles comprised under animal and vegetable substances chiefly used in manufactures; the vegetable comprising the gum and resin series, starches, oils, dyes, and colours, cotton, fibrous materials, and woods; and the animals including wool, hair, wax, horn, ivory, tortoise-shells, pearls, sponges, gelatine, and isinglass. The East was then, as now, the home of gums, Africa of palm oil, Turkey of madder, Mexico of logwood, and the United States of cotton. England was far in advance in machinery, and in agricultural implements she was almost unrivalled. Equally so England excelled in cotton goods, but for woollen, France, Belgium, and Saxony exhibited great capacity. France fully sustained her reputation as the chief seat of the silk manufacture. She produced largely and was peculiarly successful in the finer and richer descriptions of material, where delicacy of design and colour may be most advantageously applied. Austria had made great progress; her materials were excellent, and she presented them at low prices. Prussia and the States of the Zollverein exhibited much ability in copying the productions of France and England. Belgium appeared to prefer attracting purchasers by cheapness and excellence of manufacture, rather than by superior attractiveness or novelty. In the leather manufacture France was in advance of England. In machine-made lace, a purely English invention, England was foremost; in hand-made lace France and Belgium were preeminent. In hosiery, Nottingham was far in advance of other countries. For cutlery, England had special facilities in the close proximity of coal and iron, but her superiority consisted chiefly in articles intended to supply the every-day wants and conveniences of life, and not in articles of a higher order, which involve the application of tasteful design and ornamentation. In jewellery, England might derive instruction from the gold and silversmiths of the Continent with reference to objects of the ornament cast or repoussé and finely chased. In the ceramic art the Staffordshire potteries exhibited the greatest advance. It was evident, indeed, at a glance that different nations had reached different stages of progress in the several branches of human industry, and that in that aspect we had before us in some cases the infancy of nations, in others their youth, their middle age, and their maturity. It

was just as if a photographer had brought within his field of view the surface of the globe, with all the workshops and markets, and yet it was not a picture, it was a reality. From every part of the world were the articles themselves, and whilst roaming amidst the wonders of that crystal structure, we were able to travel as it were from country to country, and to inspect their productions in art and manufacture. The exhibition was indeed a school, a museum, and a gallery. Nay, more, it was a spring, from whose waters labourers would derive fresh vigour and zest.

Since 1851 several other exhibitions have been held of an international character, and each gave fresh evidence of the advance of industry, of the increase of productive power in every state, of greater economy in the processes of production, of fresh discoveries of the secrets of nature, and of greater influence of science and art upon human society. Each exhibition, moreover, attracted a larger number of visitors,' each of them enjoyed an unbounded popularity, each contributed its quota to the advancement of industry and art, to the stimulus of invention, and we may add to the extension of friendly feelings among the different nations of the earth. They have been indeed the occasion of high festivals of industry and great tournaments of industrial nations, of which we may well be proud. They have done much to elevate the national taste, to refine the sense of beauty. They have afforded object lessons on the grandest scale to millions of people. They provided, moreover, the best repositories of works of art, and placed within the reach of the student the most exquisite pieces of workmanship, the fruit of genius and art of every country and of every age. In proportion as industry expands throughout the world the difficulty of converging into one focus all its various emanations will become greater and greater. But the principle itself of international exhibitions is sound, the competition they engender highly beneficial, and they may yet subserve high and lofty purposes in the great economy of the world's progress.