The Express.
London, England, 1855-01-08 00:00:00

THE PARIS UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION.

(FROM TEI OFICIAL coaazaroxosxT OF TEI DAILY
1111W11.)

PARIS, Jaw. 6.

This week the commercial company will band over
the Palais de l'lodustiie to the Imperial Commission;
and from this time, owing to the courtesy of M.
Pascal, the secretary of the commission, I shall be
enabled to keep your readers officially informed ou
the progress of this great undertaking up to the
time of the opening. There is an idea generally
prevalent, that many countries which contributed to
the Great Exhibition of 1831 have grown tired of
exhibiting—have been disgusted with their expe-
riences in Dublin and New York—and will conse-
quently not figure in the Petals de !Industrie. A
glance at the allotment of space upon the coloured
ground plan which I saw this morning at the com-
missioners' offices, would serve to dispel this idea
from even the gloomiest brain. The plan closely
resembles that with which we were all familiar in
1831, various shades of colour covering the space
devoted to the different countries. As there has been
a recent change in the allotment of space, and as the
distribution as marked in the plan will undergo several
modifications—owing to the additional room the com•
mission have contrived to provide by erecting galleries
in the long supplemental building—l shall not, in my
present communication, describe the general allotment.
Now that the Imperial Comte issioners know exactly the
amount of space they have to dispose of, its final
apportionment will, no doubt, be determined with-
out loss of time. This distribution once finally al-
lotted, the various committees will be in full activity.
That they will have a delicate task to perform is
proved by the fact that in any case the demand for
space exceeds the possible allotment, at least by one-
third. This is not to be regretted—since, by this
means, the committees will be enabled to decline the
applications of all unprofitable or unworthy exhibi-
tors, and to send to Paris, only those contributions
which will add to the value of the general exhibition.
I may, however, state, for the information of Eog-
lish exhibitors, that the part of the building to be
devoted to the English contributions has already been
fixed upon.

Next Monday the building will be in a state to
receive contributions, and already preparations are
being made on the banks of the Seine for the recep-
tion of goods. For the reception of visitors the pre-
parations are vast. All kinds of speculations are
afloat to profit by the showers of gold that knowing
prophets believe will fall upon Paris next summer.
We may also notice that the press of Paris appears
to be already making preparations for series of
articles, by known writers, on the various depart-
ments of the Exhibition. The director of the Mimes
des S ins in Rue Honore is, it appears, to edit
an illustrated journal on the Exhibition, something
similar in plan to that volume on our Great Exhibition
published by Mr. 8. C. Hall. How far the contracts
to which I have referred in previous communications
will interfere with the success of this project remains
to be seen.

Ili e restaurants of the Palais Royal—even the
more fashionable restaurants of the Boulevards—look
_ _

forward eagerly to May next. I hope and trust it
will realise all their hopes, and justify all their specu-
lations: but remembering how many men were led
to embark mosey to accommodate our Exhibition
visitors of 1851, and how many of these suffered
severs losses, I think it would be well for the Parisian
press to sound notes of warning. Undoubtedly many
people will go to the Paris Exhibition who had
neither the energy nor the money to visit London
in 1851: the Belgians and Germans will muster
in strong force (the war permitting the latter); and
the English will cross the channel by tens of thou-
sands. Still Paris is a great city,—the banlieue is
capacious—and let iLneverbe forgotten for a moment
that nine-tenths of he visitors will be bent upon
enjoying an economical trip. As I have before re-
marked the Barriere du Mont Parnasse will possibly
find muses of exhibition visitors in its neighbour-
hood; and I believe the French Government would
be glad to see this wide distribution of exhibition
patronage. It cannot be too often pressed upon
the attention of speculators that if they raise priers
in expectation of enormous demands, visitors will
either stay in Paris a week instead of a fortnight, or
seek for reasonable landlords and purveyors in the
suburbs. It will be remembered that the most unrea-
sonable prices were asked for lodgings in London
in 1851, when the Exhibition was about to open ; but
a little experience soon cooled the imaginations of
hotel and boardinghouse keepers, and lodgings fell
in price. It is to be feared that this year will bring
similar experience upon Paris, if the matter be not
taken up in time. Again, the reports which fly
about, that lodgings and food will be very dear, tend
to turn the minds of people who cannot afford
heavy prices from the Exhibition. They give up all
idea of a visit to Paris in 1855 in despair, as beyond
their means. Now it is indisputable that a man
should be able to journey from London to
Paris, live comfortably in Paris, see the chief
objects of interest, and find himself, after
eight days' absence, at Londen-bridge, having
spent five pounds. Working men should
be able to accomplish all this—if matters
were specially regulated for their benefit—for about
31.105. Unhappily, there appears to be at the present
moment no kind of organisation having this object in
view. Yet, after all, it is to multitudes of econo-
mical visitors that we owe the success of the Great
Exhibition of 18.51. Again, the middle and working
classes necessarily take more interest in industrial
exhibitions than those who are beyond the wages or
the profits of commerce. The Imperial Commission
would, in short, do a work of delicacy and of friend-
ship to the English nation, by appointing an English
sub-commissioner to deliver a lecture on the means
of living cheaply in Paris, on. conveyances, monu-
ments to be seen, &a, in the principal manufacturing
towns of England, after the fashion of the sub-com-
miasioners appointed by us in 1851.

Buirmi..--The Monitors. Mss: "The Senate of
Broom bat, bp order dated the nth of December, np-
preessi tie WWI kept every year is that city on the 18th
Olosboo.abo owdouroory of the battle of Leipeie. This
wow% (somodod by public opisies. was &dopes& at the
bola. of tbe «a•iobll4 Minas. Thus does the loyal and
loodooolo podgy of the Emperor destroy evil, day the pro-
pitious!' that soy still 'alit against Praises, and thus satin-
guile solooley of old reminiscences.'