The Express.
London, England, 1862-05-01 00:00:00

OPENING

01 TII

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.
THIS DAY.

This day eleven years the Exhibition of 1851—
the first great international Exhibition the world
ever saw—was opened with great pomp and cere-
mony by the Queen. By many it was thought
that a new era of peace was to date from that day,
with what disappointment to their anticipations the
history of the intervening decade but too clearly re-
voals. Withoutspeculating,therefore,uponthemoral
results of the present Exhibition, and dwelling
merely on the present, let it suffice to say that the
opening of the South Kensington building this
day was everything that its most ardent promoters
could have desired. The Ist of May, 1851, though
a fine, was anything but a clear or genial day.
To-day, on the contrary, the weather was superb—
a gentle morning shower, sufficient to allay the
dust—then warm, bright, and cheery. A sun that
would have done honour to Midsummer paid his
gratuitous contribution to the splendours of the
occasion, and it is not too much to say, that to no
personage or exhibitor has this great fête been so
much indebted for the suocess and triumph of its
inauguration. It is said that a heavy shower would
have prevented certain "glorious days," which
mark the epoch of revolutions. How much more
would a bad day have spoiled the scenic effect of
a ceremony to which, not the passions of strife,
but the feelings of civic peace and international
good-will and fellowship, were to induce the pre-
sence of spectators. Spectators accordingly assem-
bled in thousands, nay, in myriads, to take part
le or to witness the days ceremony. The only
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drawback to the universal feeling of joy and jollity
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which pervaded the enormous mass of people who
were congregated in and around the Exhibition
building was that the " presiding spirit" who led
the "revels of the May" this day eleven years was
not there to grace it on this occasion.

The doors of the Exhibition building were
opened at half-past 10 o'clock, but long before
that hour many thousands of visitors had already
assembled and occupied the best stations. As the
momenta rolled on the mass of people increased
and rose like the rush of a mighty tide. Never, on
any previous occasion, in our experience, was
there snob a conflux of carriages—such a
mass of people congregated within so limited so
area as on this. It was Bishop Berkeley who
said that the "tide of empire westward flowed."
To-day it was the tide of pleasure that flowed
in tliat direction. There never was such an
invasion of the west before. All oriental London
seemed to be either in cab, omnibus, or afoot ;
and as for the return journey in the early part of
the day, there was the most beggarly account of
empty seats that could be seen—sutta rest gin re-
trorsum. So great was the pressure upon the
main roads leading to the Exhibition that the vehi-
cles by 11 o'clock had to proceed at a snail's paw,
and thousands of people, after vain exhortations to
conductors and drivers to " move on," preferred to
sacrifice their fares, and to trust to the safer and,
on this occasion, more expeditious locomotive
of their own legs. This pressure began to
be felt at the very beginning of Piccadilly, but
it was at Hyde Park-corner, where the great mass
of people and carriages converged from so many
points, that the great contest forthe "right of way"
took place. The efforts of the police to maintain
order and to keep the spaces clear were ceaseless and
most praiseworthy, but it was not in any human
power—not even in that of the London polioe—to
make a few thoroughfares ample for the vehicular
demands upon them this morning. The carica-
turist once represented Lord J. Russell's
political carriage as "stopping the way ;" but
this morning, instead of " stopping the way," his
carriage, as it joined the Knightsbridge line from
Chesham-place, was effectually stopped for some
time, and not all the powers of foreign secretary-
ship could forme the passage. The state of things on
the line within Hyde Park, which was kept by the
Horse Guards, was much better, and there but
little difficulty was experienced till the carriages got
near the Exhibition itself. The experience of the day
fully justified the predietiona of those who anticipated
that the approaches wyuld not be sufficient to meet
the demand upon them, although the arrangements
for regulating the entrances and exits were admi-
rable, and the labours of the police indefatigable.
The windows along the main line of Piccadilly
and Knightsbridge were thronged with gay spec-
tators, and at various points flags were hung out.
It being May morning, the very horses were deco-
rated with bright ribbons or green leaves, and
many of the omnibus drivers wore the
gay rosettes appropriate to the day. Even
to the fraternity of sweeps it was more
than the usual festival; for, in addition to the
"Jacks-in-the-Green" with their motley aooom-
panimenta, were there not the funambuliats from
France, brass bands from Germany, the serenaders
from our Seven-dials " Ethiopia,' and the popular
" Punch T' Everybody in fact seemed to " feel the
gladness of the May," from the highest to the
lowest. Never before did any display represent
such national varieties and types. All nations and
all climes seemed to be represented. The inha-
bitants of China, Japan, Persia, Turkey—men of all
colours, creeds,and countries were brought together
at this extraordinary confluence of races, realms, and
religions. And lass for London proper, there pro-
bably never was an occasion on which it was
so much abroad. It seemed " almost drunk
with joy." Such a rolling, rambling, and
rustling ; such a display of wealth and magni-
ficence, such multitudes, such masses, such a
monster meeting and mixture of masculine
and muliebrile humanity, was never witnessed
in "London Town" before. Certainly in no other
spot in the world could such a sight be presented,
and it is one which will dwell for a lifetime in
the memories of those who "were there to see."
At half-past 12 o'clock the doors were closed
until after the ceremony of opening, and atl o'clock
the Queen's Commissioners—his Royal Highness
the Duke of Cambridge, K.G., his Graoe the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, the Lord High Chancellor,
the Earl of Derby, K.G., the Lori Chamberlain,
Viscount Palmerston, K G., G.C.8., and the
Speaker of the House of Commons—entered the
building from the Cromwell-road, their arrival
being made known by a flourish of trumpets. Her
Majesty's Ministers, the Foreign Commisaioners,
and others taking part in the procession, who
had been awaiting the arrival of the Queen's Com-
missioners in the South Central Court, now
joined the commissioners, and a procession was
formed in the following order :
Trumpeters of the Life Guards in State Uniforms.
Contractors' Superintendents.
Decorator, Draughtsman, Surveyor.
Superintendenta of Exhibition Arrangements.
Her Maiesty's Commissioners Superintendents of Building
Works.
Contractors sad Architect.
Council of Horticultural Society, and Secretary.
Council of the Society of Arts, and Secretary.
Deputation of Ten Guarantors of the Exhibition.
Assistant Secretary to her Majesty's 0001111illii0110111for 1862.
Secretary of Finance Committee.
Finsocisl Meer.

Members of the Building Committee, and Secretary.
Species' 1 Commissioner for Jades, and Secretary.
Chairmen of Juries.

The Right Hon. Lord Trenton, President of the Council of
Chairmen of Juries. .

Acting ComraisWoOersfor Odewhes, Dependencies, ke.
Foreign Actin Dowunierioners.
The Lord Provoet of Glasgow. The Lord Mayor of York.
The Lord Mayor of Dublin. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh.