The Express.
London, England, 1855-06-01 00:00:00

PARIS UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION.

DAILY WRVS.)
PARR;, MAT 29.
The Exhibition fever is now fairly setting in. Last
gaagay appears to have given new fife to the affair,
although few people believe that 80,000 visitors en-
tered the Palace of Industry on that day. My firm
opinion is that no more than 30,000 could possibly
ass the turnstiles within the time during which the
Vase. wee open. It is curious, however, to remark
that there were at last three visitors to the Indus.
big Exhibition for every single visitor to the Fine
Art building. I have consulted one or two gentler
men who have had experience on this point, and they
entirely agree with me in my estimate. However,
the question is not important, since indisputably this
first free day was a most triumphant sucoess, from
beginning to end. Its succeed has, indeed, induced
malty people to indulge the hope that the Emperor
has resolved to take the Exhibition into his own
hands altogether, to turn out the paralytic company,
and to indemnify the shareholderf. These directors
will leave few, if any, friends in the building.
Every day, 1 am informed, crowds of visitors arrive
in Paris; and the anticipated crop of notabilities ap-
pears tug be springing up—beginning with the King
of POT. The Lord Mayor of London, it is anti-
cipated, will exhibit his gold collar of office at the
Hotel de Ville on the 4th proximo, and will be accom-
panied by a host of English municipal authorities.
It is to be hoped that the present representatives of
the citizens of London will better know how to re-
ceive the hospitality of our allies than their prede-
cessors did in 1831. Splendid fetes are to be given by
the Pretet of the Seine, and all, I believe, in honour
of the Lord Mayor. These festivities will perhaps
tend to counteract the bad influence which the first
ten days of the Exhibition had have upon the temper
of the Parisian populati, n.
Another improvement which I am glad to note is
the display of all the English goods on Sunday. Last
Sunday the engineering models were seen by the
free visitors; and even the Glasgow stalls had their
curtains up—drawn up, it appeared to me, by the
authorities. This has 'avid us from the bad opinion
our neighbours would have had of us, if Glasgow and
other cases had been veiled from the eyes of 30,000
visitors.
Your readers may remember that some months ago
I described the painted windows planed at the eastern
sod western extremities of the Palace of Industry.
Like many people who had examined these works, 1
expressed an opinion that they were confused and
weak in design—pale and poor in execution. That
at the western end of the nave was utterly incompre-
hensible to every ordinary intelligence, until the
artist, N. Marechal, undertook to explain his mean-
ing in the columns of the Patel' de l'Exposition. It
appears that choice of subjects was left entirely to
the artist. He set to work, dividing his labour be-
tween two ideas. The first result was soon apparent
to the world, placed at the eastern extremity of the
nave. Here France invites the nations to the Uni-
versal
FF.xhibirance n seated upontion.Acc ahn
the According toartist's
upon A
descripr-t
, based
and Science. To ordinary eyes, Art and Science ap-
pear to be lying upon the grass, with their backs un-
ceremoniously turned upon their patron. To the
right Eastern Industry is represented by a shepherd
and three women, who carry an Indian shawl, a Chi-
nese vase, some jewels and arms from Arabia. To the
left, the industry of the West is represented by a black-
smith, and three women carrying a boiler, an elec-
tric telegraph, and a loom! Art, in the foreground,
carries a lyre, and turns to the East ; whilst Science
holds a celestial globe and looks towards the West.
The above descrip ion is faithfully translated from
the artist's own words. But it is chiefly with his
second, or western performance, that his guide to his
meaning is necessary—for it appears that the incom-
prehensible figure leaning upon a vase (which I de-
scribed as possibly an alit gory of potichomanie) is
meat to represent England. The central figure of
this composition is Equity, holding the scalesattc., and
seated upon a throne, with Art and Science (who
appear to be supernumeraries, who have walked
rapidly round the building in time to appear in the
second scene, after we had seen them in the first)
Ling before her. To the right, Potichomanie—or
England—is represented carrying an Indian shawl,
and leaning upon a Chinas vase ; India is receiving
a steam boiler ; China is curiously examining an
electric telegraph apparatus; and • shepherd is
holding a horn of plenty, from which the manufac-
tures of the West are dropping. To the left,
France, carrying a scarf and Algerian arms,
serves to support Arabia, who has receives
the modern loom ; Italy, enveloped in crape,
shows an electric machine, the wire of which reaches
the telegraph apparatus held by China ; the black-
smith seizes a horn of plenty, full of fruits and the
raw material of the East. Art is turned towards
Selene; ;and presents to her the pediment of the
Pantheon, with this inscription—" The Beautiful.°
Science is turned towards Art, and presents a formula
from Leibnitz, with this inscription—" The True."
He would be a very clever fellow, indeed, who could
have guessed half the above meanings from the design
itself. The figure of England, for example, is about
as British as the Chinaman : and Equity is • pale,
jaundiced figure, resembling more the hapless people
who have long 'sought her shrine in England and
other countries—than the calm, well-to-do judge. No,
these compositions are mistakes. Allegories are
generally unhappy performances—witness the towns
of France in the Place de la Concorde—and hundreds
of other allegorical stones lying about Paris ; but to
errors of design, to half developed ideas, we have
here added some of the poorest glees in Europe. The
tints are detestably bad. The only decently
executed figure, perhaps, in the two windows,
is that of the blacksmith in the southern
corner of the eastern design. M. Marechal
would have done well to offer fewer explanations
of his intentions in the presence of such realisations.
The French journals, but particularly the Moniteur
and the Petrie, continue to publish feuilletons on
the Exhibition. That by Theophile Gautier no
Ealready has created a great sensation, I am told,
amongst French artists. Edmond Texier, in the
Steele, has, however, turned his attention to the
prejudices of his countrymen in connexion with the
Exhibition. In an article on this subject, he declares
coolly that the Paris Universal Exhibition was as
forward on its opening day as the Great Exhibition
of 1831 was on the Ist of May in that year. Now,
comment on a statement so daring is superfluous.
We need only remind M. Texier that we did open
on the first, and not on the fifteenth of the month;
and, moreover, that if any part of our undertaking
was as backward as the French building on the 15th
of this month—that part belonged to France, Russia,
and the United States—not to England. Then there
was a catalogue for every visitor on our opening day;
and the corresponding numbers were upon the ven-
ous counters, if lam not greatly mistaken. Again,
in England, all was done by the voluntary coutribur
Uses of the people. Nobody sought to pilfer dirty
profits from a scheme that affected the national
honour. We had no company with a soul for divi-
dends--and foe dividends alone.

(pROU Till

THE BrILDZItB' BENEVOLENT
tens, a 'pedal general meeting of the friends and sup_
pesters of this valuable institution, founded in 1347, for
alienate pensions to decayed master builders, including all
fugal* I. that profession, and their widows, so well es to
live temporary relief to deserving weckmea in cases of so-
lidest, was held at the London TIMM kW the *intim of
fear pseamrse ; the president, W. Lee. Bet, 11. P., is the
their. The chairman, in opening the preeriediags, amps-
hillte3 the meeting upon the state of the inotitutioe, sad
remarked that, notwithstanding the war and its depressing
%abscise, this charity bad continued its onward progress
towards stones. The funded stock now amounted to
; divided as follows : Adis' fund, 3,2501 ; and the
bedding feed, 1,60 W. There were et the present time 14
maim mut 11 females receiving the bonito of the institution.
sad they bad met there that day for the purpose of electing
two tusks and two females, from a list of 14 medidates, all
of then, he had no doubt, very distressing eases, but which
from the want of necarary fends could net then be token
La. fa conolsoion, the chairman called upon the friends of
the imitation to eons their esertiose on behalf of
this rainy—a moiety which he trailed en loos to see take
its sued is the foremost rank with those noble charities et
*Mel? England and Englishmen were jsstly pined. The
meeting thee proceeded to the election; atter which nose
se thanks were passed to Mr. Lee, to Mr. George Bird (the
trammorer), wise afterwards Leek theekeir, and to the inns-
Mets.
Th• idiew_iag notice was issued from the General
_ "1-40ase mummy, vie. West Cent of Africe.—The
unarms of the Candace from Plymouth ie farther pest-
mod until the 6tl morn*. Lettere will be is time r
Prowl la 'mem on it* *maim a the 41k proximo,,,