The Express.
London, England, 1851-08-30 00:00:00

TO TUE EDITOR Or TEE TIMES.

Sir,—l hare long hoped that some one who felt
strongly interested in the Grand Exhibition would make
known to you sentiment* that prevail among many of its
promoters upon subjects that affect the full success of the
great work ; and it is only on reading the decisions of the
last meeting of the Royal Commission that I venture to un-
dertake the task.
It had been

I tlid not credit the nsser-
tion—that the medals awarded by the juries of the various
sections would nut be declared until the Exhibition was
closed; the Royal Commission have decided at their last
meeting that such will be the case.
This resolution has been taken not only without consult-
ing the jurors, but all of these to whom I have spoken must
strongly deprecate such a decision. Are the labours of the
300 jurors, men selected out of all Etrope and America, who
have worked early and late for more than two months, who
have devoted their best energies to arrive at a just and pro-
per appreciation of the distinctive merits of the works ex-
hibited—are these labours and their awards not to bear the
test of public opinion ? Are the public never to know
which works are selected as worthy of reward ? The whole
tone of the report frock the Royal Commission conveys the
idea that the medals will not be awarded for any excel-
lence iu degree; if so it is. why have they appointed juries
at all ? Are the men of ail nations who have thus worked

conscientiously and harmoniously together in a manner
and under circumstances unexampled—are they to feel that
their services were superfluous ; nay more, that the Royal
Commission think it necessary almost to excuse their acts?
The eyes of every country in the world arc upon the
Royal Commission in their conduct of this matter. Their
path must be clear and open; it is so usual to let the
public know and appreciate the awards of juries at exhibi-
tions that the reasons fur a departure front this rule should
be strong indeed. Is it from the fear of offending rival
manufacturers? or an apprehension that foreign countries
I have carried away more uncials than ourselves ? It cannot
be these.

Do the Royal Commissioners forget that they, firstly
offend great money prices to be contended tier by manufac-
turer of all countries, and that afterwards, suppressing
the money, they invited them to contend for honourable
distinctions to be awarded by three classes or medals ? Fo-
reign exhibitors expect that the same course will be fol-
lowed as in their own countries, at Paris, at Brussels, at
Berlin, where the awards of the juries are marked un the
exhibited articles while the public eau appreciate the justice
and propriety of the selection.
The Royal C0=1361400 would have it inferred that the
first-class medal, by M. Bunn:trite!, will be given by the
council for special reasons, not as a mark GC excellence in
degree. Why spoil this high honour ? It is well known that
the first-class medal was recommended by the juries for
those objects that showed the highest excellence.

The ceremonial of presenting the medals is not very
clearly indicated, but it appears that the closing of the Ex-
hibition is not to be a great public act; the opening was
originally proposed to be a quiet affair, this was afterwards
altered ; let us hope that its last day will be one of gran-
deur also.

The jurors and all connected with the Exhibition have
lately rctursied from Paris, much gratified with the splen-
dour and beauty of the fetes; delighted, also, with their
cordial reception individually amoug•t all classes. We feel
that this splendid hospitality of the French municipality
and government should be responded to by some grand fes-
tival of a public ur national kind on the part of England.
Is there not one—is thin no official body which can give
direction to this ?

Hampton-court might perhaps offer attractions equal to
St. Claud; and u reception and ball at the Crystal Palace
might help us to veil our blushes in comparing the Ilotti de
. . .

Ville with the Mansion-house of our cit), friends. A review
at Spithead might interest as well as the brilliant sight in
the Champs de Mars. These or other fetes would enab!c
us to ask our French friends to come and receive our thanks
on English ground.
The Royal Commission have a high and very responsible
duty to discharge. They hare promoted to the best of their
ability the success of the Exhibition tip to thi.present time;
they base now to act so that foreign nations shall in future
times declare, not only that the International Exhibition
held at London in Mil was noble in its conception and
grand in its execution, hut also frank, just, and honourable,
#0,40 pens at sane reprvelie, in the honours it awarded.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant.
Aug. 25. AN ESC3LISII JUROR.

Sir,—l cordially concur in the judicious and well-
tinted remarks of " An English Juror " which appear in
your paper of to-day. It cannot, I think, be denied that
theneeessity now more than ever exists tin' at once oflici..lly
putting before the public the decisions of the vartou4 jurits
of the Great Exhibition. Report with its hundred tongues
has already circulated so many contradictory accounts as to
the nature of the awards, that, but fur their absurd cha•
meter carrying refutation with them, the effect might be
highly detrimental to the interests of a very large and iui-
port:int body of the exhibitor.

The official report of the intention of the Royal Commis-
sion unmistakeably denotes that the prize question is one
which has given rise to no ordinary difficulties, and bids
fair to prove an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the
complete success of this otherwise most successful under-
taking. The attempt to make "things pleasant " by the
proposed wholesale and indiscriminate distribution of
"prizes, medals, books, certificates, and distinctions," can
only be viewed as a kind of admission on the put of the
Commission of the difficulties of their position, and of the
peculiar mode they have adopted of encountering them.
We are told that the decisions of the professional juries
who have undergone the drudgery of personally examining
the; various products with the view of awarding the prin-
cipal prizes to the most meritorious works—a task of no
ordinary difficulty and delicacy—have been most arbitrarily
and unjustly set aside by other juries, consisting of non-
professional men, thus casting an unmerited slur on the
Integrity or the ability of the former body, who, by reason
of their practical experience, must be the most competent
for the performance of such a duty. It can scarcely be
necessary to expose the glaring injustice and wont of com-
mon Willie of vesting in persons who may know nothing
whatever either of art or manufactures on which they are
called to adjudicate the power of superseding the awards of
others especially appointed for the purpose by reason of
their practical knowledge, but such a mode of procedure
cannot fail to bring the whole system into contempt, and to
deprive those who have fairly earned their laurels of the
distinction., which should necessarily attach to them. If
this be an unfounded rumour, it is obviously of the utmost
consequence that the public mind should be disabused on
so important a point, for if it can he truly shown that the
independence and integrity of the professional juries—the
only tribunals recognised by the exhibitors—have been thus
destroyed, there is an end at once to all confidence in the
awards which may hereafter be announced under the au-
thority of the Royal Commission.
If, too, as has also been reported, first-class medals have
been awarded, not in respect of the intrinsic excellence of
the articles exhibited, but front some official reason not
made apparent, it is evident that great injustice has been in-
flicted 'won those txhibiton who, at a vast outlay, have
sent in the chef d'eurres of their factories and ateliers, and
have thereby no largely contributed to the beauty and at-
tractiveness of the Exhibition. Another, and more cogent
reason, however, exists for an immediate official announce-

ment of the awards. Our French friends have already most
industriously and boastfully circulated in their journals a
list of the great medals gained by their countrymen, by
which, as I learn, they claim no less than 42 of the priori
pal prices. Where, let me ask, have they procured this in-
formation ? By what breach of good filth have the French
journalists been able to obtain and promulgate information
of a strictly confidential character, and of which the Royal
Commissioners were themselves ignorant up to the date of
their last meeting on the 21st inst. ? Surely some steps
should be taken by the Royal Commissioners to counteract
so flagrant a branch of their regulations, and to protect the
interests of the great body of exhibitors from a premature,
unauthorised, and perhaps garbled report.
" An English Juror" most justly states that " The Royal
Commission have a high and very responsible duty to
discharge." It is, therefore, the more incumbent upon
them to see that the original awards of the profissional
juries are carried out in their integrity, and not to permit
the exercise of petty intrigues and private influence among
other bodies to interfere with the decisions of practical men,
whose names and talents are a sufficient guarantee for the
honesty and ability of their verdicts. If the Royal Com-
mission be found wanting in this important duty, on
them alone will rest the odium of the only failure in con-
nexion with the Great Exhibition.

I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
Aug. 27. AN ENGLISH EXHIBITOR.

VISIT OF PAUPER CHILDREN TO THE Exam-
TION.-It has been arranged that the pauper children at
present in the St. Pancras Workhouse 11114411, at an early
day, have ■n opportunity of visiting the Crystal Falser.
The expense will be defrayed by a contribution from each
member of the vestry. lhis mode of affording the poor
children a day's instructive recreation emanated from Mr.
Churchwarden Baker.