The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-01 00:00:00

OPENING OF THE NEW YORK CRYSTAL

PALACE.

Our correspondent writes :
NEW YORK, JuLe 16, 1853.
A pleasanter day for any public festivity could
not bo imagined than the 14th, the day set
apart for the opening of the Crystal
Palace. It threatened a severe heat in the morning,
and everybody predicted an intensely melting and
oppressive time ; but about ten o'clock the black
clouds rolled up to shade off the sun, and a shower
that lasted only half an hour caused a fresh cool
breezo which made the air perfectly delightful. Of
course, all the denizens of the city and their country
friends from wide regions round about made a holiday
of the occasion.

I no participation of tau D,iiiiuent and his cabinet
in the ceremonies added a new attraction to the event.
All the way from Washington, which place he
left on Monday evening, the 11th, he made
a kind of triumphal progress; was saluted with salvos
lof cannon, with parades, speeches, and banquets.
On Tuesday he was in Baltimore, on Wednesday in
Philadelphia, and on Thursday more ing reached
1 New York. lie was received by a committee of the
municipal authorities and the military on the battery,
where there was a grand review of troops, and then
a procession, up Broadway, to the Palace. The dis-
play was an imposing one, as it respects the military ;
but the civic societies and the trades, which one
would suppose far more concerned with the objects of
the Exhibition than the soldiers, took no part in the
corb'ye. Nor were the streets decorated, nor other
devices resorted to, to give the city a festival look.
It was simply a respectable and showy military pro-
cession.

Arrived at the Crystal-palace, just one hour after
the time appointed, there was some unexplained
delay. Meantime, the spacious edifice had filled
with exhibitors and invited guests, and presented a
magnificent coup. dccil. Few of the contributions

bad been arranged, but the interior of the building,
with its immense dome, is really so beautiful, that
exclamations of surprise and delight were upon every
tongue. The music of the orchestra reverberated
along the lofty aisles with impressive effect, and
more brilliant collection of ladies was never seen on
this side of the Atlantic. It is estimated that there
were twenty thousand persons gathered around the
raised platform erected in the centre for the accom-
modation of the commissioners and officers.

Among the notable persons on the platform were
Secretary Guthrie, of the Treasury ; Secretary Davis,
of War; and Attorney-General Cushing ; the governors
of many of the states, sevtral senators of the United
States, the state officers and legislature of New York,
the Mayor and Common Council, the presidents of
the colleges, General Scott, and many officers of the
army and navy, the rev. clergy of the city, Lady El-
lesmere and daughter, Lord Ellesmere being unwell
at his hotel, Sir Charles Lyell and lady, Professor
Wilson, Mr. Dilke, and other foreign commissioners,
and a number of members of the diplomati: corps.
It was remarked, however, as a singular oversight of
the managers, that among the conspicuous people in-
vited to celebrate the triumphs of industry and art,
not a single inventor or architect, or artist, or me-
chanic was to be seen.

When all were seated, the ceremonies were begun
with a prayer by the Right Reverend 1)r. Wain-
wright, the Protestant Episcopal bishop of the diocese
of New York. The following appropriate and grace.
ful anthem—it is no betrayal of confidence to say,
written by William Cullen Bryant—was then sung
by the Sacred Music Society with profound effect:

Here, where all climes their offerings send,
Here, wilt re all arts their tribute lay,
Before Thy presence, Losd, wo band,
And for Thy smile and blessing pray.
For Thou (lost sway the tides of thought,
And hold the issues in Thy hand,
Of all that human toil has wrought,
And all that human skill has plann'd.
Thou lead'at the restless Power of Mind
O'er destiny's untrodden
And gutd'st him, wandering, bold but blind,
To mighty ends not yet revealed.
_ _

- -
Mr. Sedgwick, the President of the Association
by which the exposition has been managed, next
delivered an address, and said :
Mr. President—Amid this eonec,urse of people in this
assembly of personages collected from all parts of the world,
eminent in every department of human skill and genius,
surrounded by the trophies of inn fleet and industry, the eye
and the mind naturally, inevitably rivet themselves, sir,
upon you—(applause)—upon you, the head of that politi-
cal system to which, under God, we owe our choicest public
blessings—of that vast confederacy founded ;hy the immor-
tal man whose effigy stands before us and the chief execu-
tive power. of which have been transmitted, through a long
line of illustrious statesmen, to your hands. (Renewed ap-
plause.) The work of impressing on this undertaking the
seal of national approbation, an far as that can be done
under the restriction of our form of government—and I
recall the circumstance with gratitude mingled with pain—
was begun by an illustrious statesman now no more
—a sun, sir, of your own state. He Lad a mind large
enough, and a heart broad enough, to perceive, even
in its infancy, the development of which this un-
dertaking was capable. How much of interest his presence
would have added to this occasion I need nut say. Alas!
his image only is among us. Genius knows no country.
The monument of Dania Webster, hewn out of French
stone by English hands, rises here most appropriately to
contemplate the work to which ho gave the first great im-
pulse. Recalling to mind the gorgeous and gigantic
pageant exhibited in Hyde Park two short years ago—
knowing what French genius has undertaken to establish
in the capital of contineotel Europe, that centre of intellec-
tual life and artistic luxury, it is enough to say, that we have
desired to eta something fur the art, for the architecture,
for the industry of our beloved country, and that, if we
shall be hereafter pronounced by competent judges to
have succeeded, our dearest wishes will be answered. On
some particulars, however, I may for a moment be allowed
t dweil. Incomplete as our exhibition yet is, we have
what are to us abundant proofs of the interest which it has
excited and the results which it will accomplish. The flag
of England, borne by a vessel commissioned by that royal
lady who commands the respect of foreign nations as she
does the affections of her own people (applause), has waved
in our waters on this peaceful errand. The national vessel
of France is on her way—that of Holland will almost
immediately follow. Old armour from the old Tower of
London, frowning here, as it did, perhaps, at Cressy or
Poictiera, tapestry and porcelain from the imperial manu-
factories of France, porcelain and iron from the royal
workshops of Prussia, are here, or actually on the water,
bound hitherward, and I cannot express too strongly
our sense of ,the kindness and courtesy with
which our foreign agents have been received
abroad, no less than our respect for that liberal
and enlightened policy, in obedience to the dictates
of which the sovereigns of Europe have vied with each
other in sending offerings which, in other periods of the
world, would have been made to crowned heads alone.
(Applause.) The dwellers on the eastern shores of the At-
lantic are here mingled with the representatives of our own
empire on the coast of the Pacific, and there are, I believe,
here to-day, twenty chief magistrates of as many states of
the confederacy—lights of that constellation of which you,
sir, are the central star. (Applause.) Permit me then,
sir, to ask you to let your voice be heard beneath our dome,
and to request that you will, by words, as well as by your
presence, inaugurate this exhibition of the industry of all
nations.

President Pierce then rose to reply, and spoke as
follows :
Sir,—l return you, on behalf of those of my constitu-
tional advisers who are with me, ani on my own ac-
count, my warns and cordial thanks for the reception
you have been pleased to extend to um. I have come,
sir, to testify the interest I feel in, and the respect I
entertain for, this great Industrial Exhibition, designed and
i calculated to promote all that belongs to the interests of
out country. You, Mr, and the gentlemen who have been
and are °dived with you, have imposed upon all of us a
deep debt of stiuteat, nu- your energy and perseverance in
this great enterprise. Whaiew r shortcomings of which
you have spoken may be, I can only reifiUlt teat they do
not appear here ; and so far as I have been able to pm
ceive, they are lost in your complete and transcendent suc-
cess. (Loud and continued applause.) Everything around
us reminds us that we live in an utilitarian age, where science,
instead of being locked up for the admiration of the world,
has become tributary to the arts, manufactures, agriculture.
and all that goes to promote our universal prosperity. Sir,
if you had achieved no other good but that which you have
in bringing together in this metropolis citizens from all
parts of the Union yon would have fulfilled perhaps one
of the most important of missions—that of strengthening
and perpetuating that blessed Union. (Great applause.)
But you have done more, and you have nobly alluded to it.
Your exhibition has been the means of brioging here, from
all the civilised countries on the face of the globe, men
most eminent in all the walks of life ; and thus you have
done more than could be done in almost any other manner
to promote that great object dear to you, dear to me, and
dear to my venerable friend near me (Bishop Wainwright),
peace and goodwill among men. (Applause.) I have not
the voice at this time to address you at any greater length,
andstonclude by again returning to you my thanks for your
generous reception, and tendering my heart's best wishes
for the success of your praiseworthy enterprise. (Applause.)
The Hallelujah Chorus, executed by the sacred
music societies, then closed the proceedings, and the
vast assemblage separated.
At the time I am writing, the arrangements of the
contributions have not been completed, and I must
therefore reserve the criticism of their comparative
merits to another occasion, but I have seen and
know enough of them to warrant me in expressing
the highest admiration of their variety and excel-
lence. All the leading nations, England, France,
Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey, with many of the
more distant people, are splendidly represented.
Our mother country—for such we are ever proud to
call her—animated by the example of her illustrious
Queen and Prince, has been profuse in the manifes-
tation of her sympathies. The solid wares and
fabrics of her manufactories—the rich materials of
her world-embracing commerce—the moro delicate
specimens of her useful art., declare her supremacy
in all the branches of a high industrial civilisation.
France surpasses her in design, as an ornamental
finish, andlelium rivals many of her most sub-
stantial productions. Austria shows, too, that politi-
cal despotism is not wholly inconsistent with certain
forms of industrial development ; while Italy, poor
and oppressed as she is, still witnesses her ancient
love for the fine arts. But no nation will come off
with more honour than Turkey, whose exquisite tex-
tures maintain the high reputation of the cast for
magnificence, delicacy, and beauty.
Our own country, in this contrast, has no reason to
hide her head. It cannot be denied, that in the Great
Exhibition her display was by no means equal to her
ambition, but this year she amply redeems her fame,
and places her works without shame or fear, by the
side of those who have laboured for centuries to
bring their process to perfection. Even in the nicer
departments of practical art. as well as in the more
useful, there are eN idences of admirable skill, fino
taste, and unwearied ingenuity. But there is less
originality of design among us than we had hoped—
less, indeed, than the almost unexampled inventive
talent of the country in other respects gave us
reason to expect.
But the peculiarity of our physical and social pro-
gress is that no models of it tan be crowded into any,
not even the largest, exhibition. It is too gigantic to
be framed in a glass case, or made to work inside of a
band-box. Could the yacht America, or Vanderbilt's
steam-ship, cr the clipper-ship Flying Cloud, or a
North River steam-boat, or the St. Nicholas Hotel, or

the 13,000 miles of railroad be brought within the