The Express.
London, England, 1867-07-03 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 8, 1887.

TELEGRAPHIC INTELLIGENCi.

(a om% rarataxs.)
FRANCE.

PARIS, Aux 2.
Mr. Beckwith, president of the United States
committee at the Exhibition, has been appointed
an officer of the Legion of Honour. Messrs. Charles
Perkins, Lawrence, Smith, Samuel B. Bu le,
Godwin, Berney, Elias Howe, Kennedy, Mulct,
and Clickering have been nominated knights of the
same order.

PARIS, JULY 2, Evemic.

The review of troops which was to have taken
place to-morrow has been postponed. The Prince
Imperial has paid a visit to the Sultan.
In to-day's sitting of the Legislative Body M.
Rouhor, replying to speeches delivered by MM.
Picard and Simon, denied that the imperial go-
vernment had pursued a repressive policy. The
sole aim of the empire had been to realise the idea
of democracy and liberty under a government com-
manding respect. The ominous tranquillity of the
country, of which M. Picard had spoken, was, he
said, a condemnation of the apposition, not of the
government. " The country, added M. Rotther,
13 not with you—on the contrary, it is full of
confidence." Speaking of the Mexican expedition,
he said :—" It is the only biack spot upon a bril-
liant tableau." The new army law he described
as " France placing her hand on the hilt of her
sword in the midst of prosperity and peace."
With regard to the system of putting up official
candidates at elections, he said the government was
quite ready to renounce that system if the opposi-
tion candidates would renounce the practice of
exciting bad passions and of holding out fallacious
promises, such as the diminution of taxation and
similar illusions. M. Rouher's speech was much
applauded. The debate upon the budget will be
resumed to-morrow.

TEI DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZE AT TEI
PARIS MiIBITION.

(nom out ow, col

PARIS, MONDAY EVENING.
The great, the long looked for day of the solemn
distribution by the Emperor of the principal prizes
awarded at the Universal Exhibition of 1867 has
come and gone, and I cannot but pronounce it, in
a word, as an " immense success." I know nothing
of the heartburnings and disappointments which of
course there must be on the part of those who
thought they deserved prizes and did not get ono ;
but, speaking of the ceremony at the Palais de I
'lndustrie in the Champs Elysee' as a great '
national jets—as a s viewed by countless
thousands, whose ZlZl!wrought expectation.
were exceeded rather than disappointed—. I
never knew its parallel.
The doors were opened as early as eleven o'clock,
and ticket holders were recommended to come in
good time, in order to avoid crowding. The hint
was attended to, and by twelve o'clock very few .
seats indeed in all the vast nave and galleries
were vacant. Exactly seventeen thousand stalls
were provided, and these being all numbered and
classified, and the arrangements being admirable,
they,,were reached without the least inconvenience
or confusion by the persons entitled to them. It
would have been possible, had the object been to
have made the building hold as many people as it
could, without reference to their comfort, to have
crammed in double the number, but the stalls, un-
like
those in moat of the theatres, were roomy,
with plenty of space between the rows. There
were scarcely any bad places anywhere except,
perhaps, a few in the gallery just behind the
throne. It was easy to walk about and talk to
one's friends, and even to go out and get a
breath. of air in the Champs Elysdes, and
get back again. The equable light through
the glass roof, only slightly tempered by a
light-coloured return and some pennons, enabled
one to recognise faces almost all over the building.
The coup decd was magnificent. A well-considered
deviation from the original regulations abolished
the distinction between ladies and gentlemen's
stalls • and so, instead of gentlemen being penned
in black masses in one square section, and. ladies I
in light-coloured attire in another, they were all
mixed up together, and the effect, viewed from a
diatanee, was that of immense parterres of varie-
gated towers. A very large open space, extending
along the whole length of the nave, was reserved for
the movements of the groups of prizeholders in-
tended to file before the Emperor, and also for the
promenade which it was part of the programme
that the Emperor and his guests should make at
the end of the ceremony, in order to be seen closely
by all the visitors. In the centre of this oblong
space were ten "trophies," as they are called,
representing the ten "groups" in the Uni-
versal Exhibition, and containing specimens
of all the products exhibited. For in-
stance in group No. I—that of the Fine Arts—
there were Meisaonnier's " Battle of Solferino ;"
works of Reimers, the Russian, and Knauss, the
(very great) Prussian painter ; a painting by Th.
Rousseau ; a bust by Vela, and several other
works of art. The third group (furniture) con-
sisted principally of bronzes and marbles, and was
surmounted by a handsome onyx cluck. In the
fourth (clothing) there were samples of lace, silk,
and embroidery, and at each corner of the trophy
was a lay figure in complete costume.
Tho eighth trophy—that of Agriculture—was
surmounted with stuffed skin, which had a
very ludicrous effect. The space between these
trophies was occupied with benches covered with
red velvet-gold embroidered, on which were to sit
the various groups of prizeholders. The throne
erected in the centre of the north side of the
building was very spacious, and covered by a dais
of immense height richly decorated with crimson
and gold hangings between two gilt columns. On
the large carpeted space of the throne
were placed three gilded armchairs for
the Emperor and Empress and the Sultan,
and several chairs on either side for the Princes
and Princesses of the Imperial party. The pro-
menade in the space in the nave above mentioned
was separated from the long oblong space contain-
ing the trophies by an unbroken hedge of choice
flowers, the breadth of which I can give you an idea
of, when I say that I saw several gentlemen with
difficulty stretch their arms to shake hands across
it. A prominent part of the preliminary spectacle
was the orchestra, in front of which in three or four
rows were seated at least three hundred ladies, for
the most part young and " passing fair," all dressed
in white with blue trimmings. These were intended
to sing the chorus of Rossini's much-talked of hymn
to the Emperor, of which a word or two anon.

Walking up and down the nave, looking at the
trophies, the flowers, the throne, and the company,
or picking out with opera glass from the galleries
Parisian and European notabilities in all sorts of
uniforms and costumes, and chatting with friends
and acquaintances, the public did not find the three
hours' waiting between eleven and two o'clock pass
very heavily. The orchestra scarcely contributed
so much to while away the time as might have been
expected from the programme. It certainly did
not give the hour's music promised ; and of the
two pieces played the second only was worthy to be
called so much as pretty.
At two o'clock the roll of the drums outside,
(mama aux champs, announced that the Emperor
and his great Oriental guest were coming. Then
everybody, ceasing to flutter and gossip, went
to his or her own place, and all was ex-
pectation. Ministers, marshals of France, ad-
mirals, and other privileged persons took
their seats in places reserved at the foot
and about the steps of the throne. In a
few moments the Emperor and Empress and
the Sultan appeared and took their seats in the
centre of the throne, the Emperor sitting in the
middle, the Sultan on his right hand, and the
Empress on his left. Next to the Empress was the
Prince Royal of Prussia, who arrived yesterday on
purpose to witness the ceremony, and is going
away to-morrow. On the same side of the throne
were Prince Humbert, the Princess Mathilde, and
Prince Napoleon. On the right of the Sultan I could
see in perspective the Prince Imperial, the Prince
of Wales in a general's uniform, and the Duke of
Cambridge, also in a general's uniform. There
were ladies with them, and among others the bride,
the Princess della Cisterns ; but I cannot say ex-
actly in what order they sat. The inevitable
" Brother of the Tycoon of Japan," was there too.
The Emperor was greeted with a good deal of ap-
plause on his arrival.
As soon as he had taken his seat, Roesini's
" Hymn to the Emperor " began. I must report
that it fell very flat upon the audience. To me it ap-
peared singularly ineffective, and the little applause
that followed argues that the public was of the same
opinion. There isa pleasing motif running through,
but as a whole I think it will be voted by compe-
tent critics unequal to the occasion. The voices of
the three hundred women were lost in the build-
ing—as, indeed, I remember that the sounds of
1,200 musical instruments, from which marvels had
been prophesied, were lost in the same place some
years ago. The cannon firing at the end was
childish, and only worthy of General Boum.
Whether any moral is to be drawn from the words
by Parini I cannot tell, but it struck me that they
were very odd words to be sung on such
an occasion. So far from the hymn being
one to " Peace," as was predicated of it
some days ago, it is rather a hymn
to war. It begins, indeed, by chanting the merits
of peace and war ex nue ; expressing a hope that
France may be equally fortunate in both, and care-
fully avoiding any show of preference for either.
But the concluding line, invoking compassion for
the vanquished and glory for the conqueror, seems