The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-10 00:00:00

The Bayonne Exhibition,

(prom the limes Correspondent.)
BAYONNE, o,:t. 5.
International Exhibitions, as was once said of the
" immortal principles of '69," are likely to make the
tour of the world. This year there has been a Franco-
Spanish one in Bayonne, which has only just clostd ;
and San Sebastian, if of its time-honoured fortifica-
tions the last stone is removed, purposes to return
the compliment. It is not likely, however, that
Bayonne will soon imitate the Spanish town in the
demolition of its ramparts and redoubts. It still
maintains its old device, nunzqutam polluta, and, like
Peronne, is proud of its supposed immunity from
the trials to which other strong places have been
exposed. If certai❑ local chronicles are entitled to
belief, Bayonne stands on the site of the Lapurdum
of antiquity; and it would seem that Lapurdum had
no such creditable mottoes to show, for we are told
that in the Basque language Lapurduni means no-
thing more or less than the "city of thieves," a cha-
racter which the modern town certainly deserves as
little as any other agglomeration of 26,000 souls.
Bayonne—baiu•ona, the Basque for good bay—was,
as everybody knows, for 300 years or so in posses-
sion of the English. Its annal speaks of its having
been besieged, and besieged unsuccessfully, though
considerably maltreated, 13 or 14 times. It was here
that Catherine of Medicis and Charles IX. concocted
with the Duke of Alba the St. Bartholomew massa-
cre; and the Bayonese record with just pride the
answer which Adriatic d'Apremont, Count of Orthes,
then governor of their town, made to the request
for his co-operation towards that bloody work :

Sire,—l have laid your Majesty's commands before the
loyal inhabitants and the men-at-arms of this garrison. I
have found only honourable citizens and valiant soldiers,
but not a single assassin. Wherefore, they and I, Sire,
most humbly supplicate your Majesty to be pleased to em-
ploy our arms and our lives in deeds that are possible, how
dangerous soever they be ; and in executing them we shall
shed the last drop of our blood.

It is a pity to disturb the faith in such traditions,
but sceptics, who take pleasure in throwing doubt
upon everything, deny that there is warrant for the
boast, but that, like other well-known and neatly-
turned sayings, such as that of Henri IV. and the
poule au pot, Louis XIV. and the suppression of the
Pyrenees, Mirabeau's to the summons of the Marquis
de Dreux Breze in the States General, and even
Cambronne's "sublime" reply to the English at
Waterloo, it is more flattering than true. It is cer-
tain, however, that the Grand Monarque took
Bayonne on his way to St. Jean de Luz, where be
went to get married to Marie Teresa of Spain ; and
the ruins of the Chateau of Marrac hard by mark
the spot where the Royal family of Spain, the
wittol Charles IV., his worthless Queen, and the
" black-eyed youth Godoy" fell into the hands of a
still greater monarch.
Of all fortified places that I have any experience
of Bayonne is decidedly the least stern to look at.
Its drawbridges are passed at all hours of the day
and night, in summer and winter, autumn and
spring ; and its gates are ever open. The moat
that surrounds the walls is chiefly frequented by
vagrants of eight or ten years old, who spend hours
in the fruitless attempt to fish in its muddy and
shallow water with cart whips for rods and crooked
pins for hooks; and the inoffensive conscript who
mounts guard hard by look more than half disposed
to join them. Redoubts, half-moons, curtains, &c.,
all terrible on paper, here seem made only for re-
posing upon, and the soft verdure which covors
the slopes of the earthworks suggests a siesta. It
is actually on the glacis of this pacific-looking for-
tress that the International Exhibition was erected.
It is a temporary structure of wood and canvas,
lighted from the top with a lofty portico of the
same fragile material, decorated with the arms of
France, Paris, Madrid, and the Spanish provinces
represented by their products. The said portico was
somewhat shorn of its proportions a fortnight ago,
having been blown down one night,and its restora-
tion was only partial. In one respect it resemb,ed
other Exhibitions of far greater pretensions. It was
announced to open on the 10th of July, but was not
complete for some time after the official inaugura-
tion. A number of huts soon sprung up round the
main building, like the camp followers that are found
hanging on the flanks and rear of an army ; and
the merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries, portable
billiard tables, inoffensive animals described as
ferocious, and good-naturedly accepted as fresh
from the jungle; rope-dancers in pink muslin, mid.
dle-aged, and a trifle too ponderous for the profes-
sion ; warriors bearded like the pard, enacting the
battle of Solferino and the capture of Palikao ; the
indispensable vivandiere planting the tricolour on a
Chinese fortress, and the Sister of Charity tending
a wounded Zouave—all these attractions caught too
successfully, I fear, the attention of the young and
thoughtless, and were not without effect in divert-
ing even staid persons from the more serious object
before them. Financial considerations might, it is
true, have been the cause of the rare attendance
for the first few weeks. The admission was 2f. on
Friday, half a franc on Thursday, and lf. on other
days. Two francs even in Paris would make people
hesitate; and how much more so in a provincial
town ? The tariff, however, was reduced to 50c.
or half a franc, with the exception of one day in
the week when a franc was charged.
The Bayonne Exhibition, though not to be
spoken of the same day as that of Paris, and some-
what mean and tawdry in its external appearance,
was not without interest. In the large courtyard,
by which the public entered, stood a crucifix of
colossal size in blue granite, and which was allowed
by competent judges to display considerable merit,
particularly when it was known that it was the
production of a quarryman named Henrot. Some
well-known Paris houses, perhaps in the expecta-
tion of the visit of the Court to Bayonne, as usual,
sent some fine, I will not say their best, specimens.
Among the goldsmiths' work Froment-Meurice ex-
hibited portions of a dinner service made for the
Pasha of Egypt, and valued at 600,000 f. ; a ciboire,
or Communion cup, from the design, it is said, of a
Polish lady, presented by her to the Church of Pau;
a rich and exquisitely sculptured chalice ; a second
one, encrusted with rubies and turquoise ; and a tea
service for the Empress of the French. Christofle,
of Paris, also sent specimens of silver-gilt articles of
the same kind; Clessinger and Fremiet their
bronzes, and in ironwork groups of statues for foun.
tains, dogs and horses' heads as ornaments for ken-
nels and stables. One gallery was devoted to the
Aubusson tapestry of Requillart and Cloquart and
porcelain of Bordeaux manufacture. Tissues of
various kinds, house furniture, musical instruments
of every variety, metals, ores, agricultural products,
ploughs of many forms, machinery, cotton from
Algeria, minerals, grain, specimens of hard wood
from Africa of dark colour and capable of high
polish, cedars of Lebanon 400 years old, specimens
of Paris pottery, imitations of Italian majolica, &c.,
filled several galleries. Though the Exhibition
professed to be Franco-Spanish, yet Spain did not
contribute much in the way of natural products,
reserving herself perhaps for the San Sebastian one
promised for next year. Still there were in the
agricultural section a few samples of Malaga and
Logrono wines, which it was a pity one could only
look at, and the wheat, rye, and maize of Cordova
seemed to be of the very finest quality.
Ia an annege, which was opened only three weeks
ago, was the flower and fruit show. Of both there
were some fine specimens, and nothing could be
finer than the grapes and pears from the gardens of
the Casa Caradoc, a property close to Bayonne, be•
longing to Lord Howden ; those of Biandos, the pro-
perty of M. Basterriche, Receiver-General of the
department; and thotee supplied from the gardens
of M. Le Beuf, of Bayonne.
Neither has Spain been 'very brilliant in the flee