The Express.
London, England, 1862-07-01 00:00:00

PRINCE NAPOLEON ON THE INTERNATIONAL

EXHIBITION.

The following is the text of the speech delivered
by Prince Napoleon at the dinner given at Kensington to the
foreign exhibitor' :
"Gentlemen,—l thank your honourable chairman for
the kind words which he has uttered in proposing my
health. lam also anxious to engem my thanks to the
exhibitors for the assistance) they have afforded to the
imperial commission over which I have the honour
to preside. We are in • position to appreciate
the difficulties which they have met with, and
which they have surmounted with ardour and devoted-
ness. On the occasion of the Exhibition of 1862 allow
me to revert to the past. In 1849 the first idea of • Uni-
! vernal Exhibition had its birth in France, but the political
incertitude of the moment did not permit its realisation ;
the English nation, however, and at its head Prince Albert,
seised on that idea with the bold and practical spirit which
characterise' this great country, and carried it into OLOCU-
tion two years after. Europe was emerging from • violent
crisis by which she had been profoundly agitated ; England
did not, however, hesitate, and the success responded to hes
expectation. Is 1856 our armies were engaged upon a
foreign soil in • grad war; but we did not hesitate, and
success a second time responded to the confidence which a
great nation should always have io itself. Without
insisting on the benefits of universal exhibitions, there is,
however, one point to which I would all your attention ;
it is, that they not only favour material, but moral in-
terests. At the same time that they extend commercial
relations, they appeal to feelings of patriotism. Far from
causing jealousy among rival nations, they excite • noble
emulation squally profitable to both ; for, in my opinion,
when • nation makes a great progress, all countries profit
by it, and it is a progress for the whole civilised world.
Universal exhibitions will consolidate the equilibrium
necessary between great independent states. We
may, perhaps, express the desire that in future
universal exhibitions thebuildings constructed mays/low the
product, to be grouped with greater method—not only by
nations, but also by categories—in order to facilitate, by
thus bringing them into contact, their comparison, and the
progress which result, from it. As to my confidence in the
future of those great international meetings, it is entire, sad
I have no doubts ; because at our epoch all serious progress
remains acquired for ever, owing to the applications of steam
and electricity, and, thanks to printing, it is no longer pos-
sible to conceal the light when it has been once produced.
This development of international relations is an additional
guarantee for the liberties necessary to all civilised states."
Yesterday afternoon Prince Napoleon and suite paid a
visit to the Thames Graving Docks, adjoining the Victoria
Docks, and were met by Mr. A. B. Beatty, tho secretary,
audother officials of the Thames Graving Dock Company.
His highness proceeded to inspect the working of the
company's system ; the large ship Astronomer, 1,100
tons, belonging to Messrs. Harrison end Co., of
Liverpool, being lifted yesterday, and all the
pontoons being engaged, the visitors had an excel-
lent opportunity of seeing several first-class skip
high and dry out of the water, undergoing repairs of
all kinds. The officials having fully explained this system
of docking vessels at all states of the tide, and it, pendia:
adaptation to iron ships in consequence of full exposure to
the drying influence of the air, his imperial highness ex-
pressed himself highly gratified with what he had seen,
and at the great superiority of this over all existing
systems. Having thanked the secretary for the courteous
manner in which he had been received, and wished the
company complete success, his imperial highness, with his
I suite, returned to London by special train.

The Paris correspondent of the Saint Public of
Lyons has the following curious piece of information :
" There are at present throe great exhibitions open to the
public in London—The Universal one, that of Agriculture,
and lastly, that of M. Handel, at the Crystal Palace.
Yesterday upwards of 80,000 persona whited them three
establishments. There never was a greater crowd."
The Corriere Mercantile of Genoa devotee a lead-
ing article to the subject of the cultivation cif cotton Ia
Italy. It remarks on the fine climate of Italy, and on the
fact that sixty-three samples of Italian cotton are at this
moment exposed to view at the Great London Exhibition.
It adds that several English firms have applied to the go-
vernment of Turin far permission to survey those tracts of
land which might be advantageously applied to the cultiva-
tion of the article in question, and th►t M. d'Anfors di Li-
cignano, Italian consul at New York, has mot over 1,2001 b.
of seeds of Sea-Island cotton for experiments on a lugs
Kale.