The Express.
London, England, 1863-06-15 00:00:00

eke erpreOgi.

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HAYMARKET.
THIS EV7II. yet UNLUCKY MORTAL Mims Harris.
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PIUNCIDGIM
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BEITANNLL
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MN DAT —Noosing, tlem . .Mlll,llOOll. lb. Ws.
Toatoarow—Uornlait. . Aftersom gia.

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 15.

Tea House of Commons will require to-night to
exercise its utmost firmness and judgment as the
purse-keeper of the nation. The proposition that
will be brought before it by Lord PaLwassros for
the purchase of the Exhibition Building is not a
matter that will bear to be tHfled with. It has
excited unusual attention in Parliament ever since
its announcement, and has been condemned by
almost every journal throughout the country. It
deals with an estimate of too much looseness and
magnitude, and a structure too universally ridiculed
and despised, to pass as a mere metropolitan
question of small importance. It represents a
scheme for the enrichment of a South Kensington
clique which has never been lost sight of since 1851.
The highest influences and the lowest arts have
been employed to nourish this scheme in defiance
of public decency and public interest. The most
sacred feelings, the most revered memories, have
been mercilessly abused for this one object. The
managers who have pulled the strings with a per-
tinacity worthy of a better cause have never
been changed ; they are the same contractors,
the same societies, the same department. Re-
pulsed again and again by Parliament, they have
only retired to watch their opportunity for a fresh
attack. The land has been bought and partially
laid out with the surplus of 1851—a fund that
belongs to the country, if it belongs to anybody ;
and this is now to be used as a powerful instru-
ment for extracting more money from the
public. This instrument is felt to be too
valuable to be given up, and the Commissioners
of 1851, therefore, propose to hold it for future
operations. Without it the Exhibition of 1862
could hardly have been started, and without it the
Exhibition of 1873 will want a foundation. The
Exhibition of 1862 has been a financial failure
only because its promoters attempted too much ;1
but it is by attempting too much and failing that
a leverage is got with which to move the Exche-
quer. The Exhibition Building, in all its de•
formity, was planned to hold something more than
a temporary industrial display. Hideous am it is
at almost every point, it was laid down to be per-
manent, and to stick up the National Gallery, one-
half of the British Museum, and several other col-
lections. This is the South Kensington scheme,which,
in spite of parliamentary opposition, has never been
given up, and this is the scheme which the House
of Commons will sanction to-night if it grants the
vote of money for the Exhibition Buildings. It is
needless to repeat all those arguments against such
a plan which have already moved the House—to

'point out the objections to a vast minium gathernes
in a remote suburb. A strict division of art and
scientific collections in the centre of London, ac-
cessible to all, is felt to be the best arrangement
for the student and the sight-seer. Brompton is
not that centre, and never will be. Measured by
time and the means of travelling, it is about as
distant from Charing-cress as Sydeuhain or
Richmond.

As regards the purchase of the Exhibition
Building, viewed apart from the South Kensing-
ton scheme and its promoters as an investment for
the country, we shall be curious to see what argu-
ments can be brought forward in its favour. No
one will probably have the courage to defend the
architecture of the " bargain"—and, least of all,
Lord Pauexasrox, who has even invited an
attack on the alterations suggested. In his answer
to Lord R. Cm IL on Friday evening, be alluded
gaily to brick domes, a stucco frontage, and the
determination not to employ an architect. His
words could have but one effect—and he is the
last man not to know this—to excite the utmost
ridicule and contempt for the Government proposi-
tion. A joke, however, may often be bought too
dearly ; and while we laugh at the Exhibition
Buildings we must see that we are not saddled
with them and their followers. If the Govern-
ment wish to advocate the purchase, and yet to
throw the responsibility on the House, the House
will be wise to take the hint in time, and quietly
shelve a proposition which must lead to trouble-
some consequences.

A great deal may probably be made of the
averted "cheapness" of the bargain--• cheapness
which the Government Surveyor, to some extent,
has proved to be delusive. It is true that • cer-
tain mass of bricks, iron, glass, and wood, of the
disputed value of 80,0001., is to be sold for that
sum, but why should this fact be mixed up with
the cost of the building f Admitting that Messrs.
KZLK and LUCAS expended more than 300,0001.
in erecting the building, three-fourths of this
amount is represented by labour which has only
decreased the value of the materials. The
80,0001. worth of bricks, wood, and iron (ad-
mitting the official estimate to be correct) is in •
worse position now than if it had been thrown
down in cartloads at the feet of a competent archi-
tect. Mr. Hvwr, the Government Surveyor,