The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-20 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Closing prices :—Gold, 1364. Sterling Exchange
on London, los/. Five-Twenty United States'
Bonds, lII}. Illinois, 11511. Erie, 56.

DISSATISFACTION WITH THE PARIS
UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION.

The Preece, in a curious article, which cannot
to be much remarked, attributes the omission of
any mention of the exhibition in the Emperor's speech to
his Majesty's dissatisfaction with the whole arrangements,
and his expectation that it will turn out a gigantic failure.
According to the Presse, the general public takes little
interest in the affair, and the prices fixed by the controls-
sion are altogether too high for most pockets. The writer
then goes on to say :
" The external appearance of the Exhibition Palace is
far from satisfying to the eye ; it is vast, but without
grandeur ; low and heavy ; of a sombre tone, which the
lively colours of flags or hangings will not neutralise. This
erection which, from the entirely modern character of
its destination, afforded full scope for the genius
of an architect, does not present the great and pure lines
which that art so willingly reproduces in France, nor has
it the powerful originality which was so striking in the
Crystal Palace. Those who have had the privilege of
penetrating into the interior speak in still less favourable
terms. The oval form adopted in the construction does
not permit any extent of view, and the eye falls upon
column after column which succeed each other perpetusi'dy
like a moving wall. in this building, which covers
150,000 square metres (about 182,000 square yards, or
37i acres) space is wanting; there is not enough for
the manufactures of the department., so rich in pro-
ducts of all kinds : tissues of silk, cotton, wool, em-
broidered, or printed ; perhaps there is not even
sufficient for Parisian industry itself. And then, with
exorbitant tariffs, what becomes of the ho‘pitality
which France is understood to offer to manufactures and
art' How are those two great principles which ought to
preside over every really Universal Exhibition. prn.en-ing
its double character, national and public, to be realised
and guaranteed—namely, that every facility should be
offered to whoever can show a work of merit, and should
also be provided for its examination by those who
are interested in the review of efforts tending to the
amelioration of material life and of the results acquired by
their perseverance ?"
. _ .

The writer then declares that he does not intend dis-
cussing the question of price, but that the public is of
opinion that the general good has been too much disre-
garded in favour of individual interest. The article then
says :

To these observations, which we have reproduced
without enlarging on them, are added some fears which
will probably be dissipated by a note in the Alomiteur.
Those who arc acquainted with the interior state of the
works ask if, in fact, the palace can be open to the public
on the let April, and, in case the opening does take
place then, if the incomplete arrangements will not be of
such importance that the Exhibition will run the risk of
being lessened in the estimation of the foreigner,: consti-
tuting the first guests. We hope these apprehensions are
exaggerated. The commerce of Paris awaits with legitimate
impatience the movement which that accumulation of
elegance and riches ought to produce. These exceptional
and unforeseen augmentations in consumption form part
of the benefits calculated on in a city like Paris ; they re-
establish the equilibrium in business which, in traversing
such a period of activity, finds a compensation for the past
and &stimulus for the future."