The Express.
London, England, 1862-09-11 00:00:00

THE MTZRNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

There were 14,000 less visitors at the Exhibition
yesterday than on the previous day, but there were
10,000 more umbrellas, and therefore one of the
departments reaped a rich harvest. There was a
very large party of work people (650) from the
factory of Messrs. Chance Brothers, of Birming-
ham, being the second large party that had been
franked up by the firm. The schools, hc., were:—
Bacon's Endowed School, Bermondsey, 80, trus-
tees ; British School, Farriugdon-street, 12, sub-
scription ; St. Bartholomew's School, West Smith-
field, 8, Rev. J. Abbiss • Lady Winchcombe's
Charity School, Thatchan;„ Berks, 12, trustees ;
Wantage Grammar School, 19, Rev. C. H. Crooke ;
Newton-house School, Kensington, 60, Mr. It
Williams ; All Saints' School, Margaret-street, 30,
Rev. U. Richards ; Tottenham National School,
50, subscription ; Camberwell Greencoat School,
65, subscription • St. Matthew's School, Bethnal-
green 58, subscription ; London Rag Collecting
Brigade, 21, Mr. Lloyd ; Colchester needlewomen,
26, F. W. Hurst, Esi. ; Brewers, Hoddesden, 16,
Christie and Co. ; Cotton-spinners, Sealey-bridge,
17, subscription ; Peninsular and Oriental Steam-
packet Company, 181, A. Anderson, Esq.
The board had a lengthened sitting to consider
the propriety of keeping the Exhibition open for a
longer period than that stated in the original pro-
gramme. The commissioners present were the
Duke of Buckingham, Sir W. Dilke. and Mr. Fair-
bairn ' • Mr. Sandford and Mr. Po.tman being also
present. The result of their deliberations did not
transpire, as it will be necessary that Mr.
Sandford should communicate with Earl Granville
before they are made public, but there is
a general impression that the closing will be post-
poned until the middle of November. It is true
that the northern courts will most probably have
to be cleared before that time, iu order to antici-
pate the freezing of the rivers and harbours, but
their contents are not very important, nor will
their removal detract much from the attractiveness
of the Exhibition.

The sudden cessation of business in the French
department, although not affecting the revenues of
the Exhibition in the slightest degree, nor
in any way interfering with the comforts
of the visitors, is, of course, rather
a fertile topic of conversation, especially amongst
the tradesmen who are moat seriously affected by
the chltare. Divested of rumours and extraneous
circumstances, we believe the facts to be that
K Viellard undertook the contract in perfect
good faith, but that not being a man of business he
became lost in the mazes of so complicated a ma-
chinery as was necessary to supply daily food for
10,000 people. M. Viellard was a politician and a
patriot, had manfully resisted the coup d'etat
of December, and had been exiled to Cayenne in
consequence. Escaping from that well-known asylum
for French patriotism, he came to England, and
having many friends, the Exhibition contract was
procured for him. He knew nothing, however, of
the mode in which such an affair was to be worked.
In the English department, which has been
prosperous from the commencement, the sys-
tem is to take the money from the customer
on entering, but M. Viellard, who furnished
dinners by the carte, allowed the waiters to be
his cashiers, and in this way he was plundered
to an enormous amount. His debts amount to
25,000/., but of this 8,0001. has already been received
from Mr. Morrish for tho remainder of the season,
and there are other and considerable assets. The
name of an individual has been mentioned as
having received 2,000/. as " head money," on the
plea that he bad procured the contract, and it may
be possible that he obtained the money from M.
Veillard, a stranger and no man of business, on
that pretence. Nothing, however, could be
further from the truth than that the solicita-
tions of this individual, or any other person,
bad any influence with the commissioners.
The plain facts were, that K Veillard bid
highest out of about twenty candidates, and being
able, with the assistance of one of his principal
tradesmen, to pay down the 5,000/. caution money,
he got the contract as a matter of course. There
has been mismanagement and inaptitude in the
French department, but no fraud (of the principal)
in the whole transaction ; and with respect to this
item of 2,0001., we believe it may reasonably be
supposed to have been caused by a variety of ser-
vices—advances of money, introductions to trades-
men, Am.—which a foreigner would naturally re-
quire in commencing a large undertaking in this
country. The buffet is now iu tho hands of Mr.
Morrish from end to end, and is working with per-
fect efficiency.
The highest temperature yesterday, as shown
by Negretti and Zambra's patent thermometers,
was :—ln the nave, 60.3 deg. ; in the galleries, 6L2
deg. ; in the western annex, 65.1 deg. A consi-
derable fall in the temperature yesterday. The read-
ing was taken at 3 o'clock p.m.
The following were the total numbers admitted
yesterday, compared with the corresponding day
in 1851:

Wednesday, Sept. 10.
Yogurt
Teta 40,913

II6L

716.... sow 2OI
i Payirst