The Express.
London, England, 1862-09-12 00:00:00

A.STLEM

TAM EVINTIKI, VAZEPFAT—After which SCENES IN THE
CIRCLE. Mlle. Masotti. HadUe. Whop, and Young Derereux.
—To conclude with a comic BALL6T in which the Mines (inn-
ate will appear.—Commence at 7.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TEM DAT Morning, 411 nn.. ..Aft.ntooa. 411. 30m.
To-Koslow—Morning, 15w......theru00m, sta.

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12.

WUEN, eight or nine months ago, the shadowy
vastness of the luternational Exhibition was
looming nearer and nearer, and literary artiste
were striving to bring its chief features into view,
the Refreshment Department was one of the first
to take shape under their hands, one, too, in which
the public were found to take the liveliest interest.
In no way could the wonderful dimensions of the
Commissioners' undertaking be more impressively
suggested than by giving us a scale of the prepara-
tions made for the corporeal entertainment of the
visitors. Even this, however, was not easy.
Figures soon ceased to convey an appreciable mean-
ing : the orders given by the purveyors of refresh-
ments to their tradesmen might be correctly
stated, but the quantities were practically in-
numerable, and the baffled imagination was
at last left with a dreamy impression of thou-
sands upon thousands of cattle moving slowly
down to Kensington to be consumed with an ocean
of beer. What a fine thing to be the chief officer
of this world's commissatist, to organize, direct,
and control this vast machinery for a year, and
then retire, as contractors had done before, with
fame and fortune ! So thought many persons at the
beginning of the year, and numerous were the can-
didates for the honour and the profit. But we are
in a period of degithisi/mnement: the reverse of the
medal is now presented, and the creditors of M.
VZILLARD, lately so happy to secure that lucky
gentleman's favour, met on Wednesday with rueful
countenance to listen to a lucid exposition of a
deficit by the fatal Mr. Bxu..
M. V ZILLARD, when he tendered, only too suocess-
fully, for his contract, appears to have been utterly
without experience in the conduct of complicated
undertakings, and not to be gifted in any high
degree with the tact and insight by which we
sometimes see men succeeding in difficult and
untrodden paths. As &foreigner he was doubtless
at au immense disadvantage in making his
arrangements, and was necessarily dependent to a
great extent upon those of whom he sought advice
and assistance. Deficient in organizing faculty,
he appears to have lost himself very soon in the
complicated movement and multifarious detail of
his enterprise. The Exhibition had been open
eighteen weeks at the date of the balance-sheet,
and it shows M. VELLLARD to be worse off by
20,0001. than when he began, to have been
losing, in fact, at the rate of more than 1,0001.
a week, or if we consider the profit which must
have been made upon sales, and which is set
down by Mr. Bau at 21,0001., more than 2,2501.
a week. It is true that trading on a small scale
took place before the Exhibition was opened, and
this may be included in the balance-sheet, but the
rate of loss is substantially as we have stated.
At the creditors' meetings some reflections
were made on the Commissioners of the Exhibition
for having given the contract to M. VEILLAILD, It
was said they should have found a solvent man for
the position. But if the solvency of that gen-
tleman was not the business of those who were
about to give him credit without security, the
Commissioners can hardly be blamed for not look-
ing after it, when it was their intention to require
him to deposit 5,0001. as caution money.

There is much more reason in the critical
curiosity of the creditors respecting the payment of
2,0001. in hard cash to the Hon. Mr. CADOOLN
for services the nature of which do not clearly
appear, while the goods obtained from tradesmen
were still unpaid for. Mr. CA DOOAN'S elegant
activities in connexion with the French refresh-
ment department have been a mystery to the
frequenters of the Exhibition from the beginning.
Before the building was opened he was popularly
spoken of as a gentleman of the highest influence,
who could "do anything with the Commissioners,"
and now Mr. STEVENSON, who presided on Wed-
nesday at the meeting of creditors, is reported to
have said that " Mr. CADOGAN admitted at the
" former meeting that be had received head•money
" for having introduced M. VEILLARD to the
" Commissioners." Of course, there is some
great mistake here. Mr. CADOGAN'I3 words must
have been misunderstood. For the lake of

foreigners, we may say, what no Englishman re-
quires to be told, that any exercise of personal
influence on the Commissioners of the International
Exhibition in such a matter is simply and absolutely
out of the question. About twenty persons ten-
dered for the contract, and M. VEILLARD obtained
it because he tendered the highest price.
Mr. CADOOAN, whose utilities the trade ere&
ton seem so unable to appreciate, is described by
M. VZILLARD as having assisted him "in a variety
" of ways ; he had acted as his secretary and as
" his agent, had advanced money, and given pa-
" rantees. He had given him great help ;it was
" difficult for a foreigner to explain the matter, it
" was very complex, and involved services from
" minute to minute." Mr, CADVIAN'S own account
of tho matter, as reported to the creditors by Mr.