The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-26 00:00:00

of the palace, too, cast its gloom over the land, and
Penny, Our Prize
IN FUN, This Week, One,s
ev.ehite ght-seeing and pleasure-seeking were at a dis-
.l Essays—Name of the Winner ,
m k , & , &
iro_Meat_thc.ew_
Ridley, M.P. ; The Frankfort D C
owet. But in spite of these unfavourable auspices,
i a defiance of many discouraging circumstances,
t: S a great task of the Exhibition was carried boldly
a rough; and although there were some respects
in which we might all have wished for improve-
ent—although its splendour could not efface from
of r recollections that sparkling, fairy structure,
wi latch, to borrow MILTON'S solecism, was the
fa irest of all its successors—yef-, on the whole, its
a access was conclusive and satisfactory. The Royal
C El miss ion ers had neither an easy nor a gracious
sly; and the closely-printed report in which they
h ave just summed up the particulars of their la-
b furs, itself adds no inconsiderable item to them.
11 many cases, in spite of all their labour, they
fa ailed in giving entire satisfaction to the public,
a nd the most prominent of these exceptions was
t: he Exhibition Building itself ! The ugliness of
that vast and costly structure has become prover-
t ia], although the expense is not great in propor-
t ion to the size and extent of the building. It
as formed an unfortunate commentary on
I ;ritish taste, never too highly estimated
y foreigners, on British architectural skill, of
vhich we have not too many favourable samples.
jokes cracked at the expense of the "Brompton
I ;oilers," "the melon glasses," and other variations
a style and title of the hapless building, must cer-
tainly have been anything but amusing to Captain
FOWKE. We remember the cry of horror that Was
raised from the green benches of St. Stephen's when
it was suggested that the same unlucky architect
should undertake some piece of ornamental work in
connection with our parks. Nothing can certainly
be said for its outward appearance. The Commis.
sioners give up any attempt to plead its cause on
the score of grandeur of style or beauty of execu-
tion, and take refuge in the arguments of economy,
convenience, and rapidity of execution. In the
first place, it may be asked, why architectural
beauty should not have occupied a prominent posi.
tion in their requirements, Why should not the
building itself be a specimen of our building
powers ? Why, when every art and science were
so largely represented, should the noble art of archi-
tecture be left unrepresented ? Is it because Eng-
gland can produce no great designers, no skilful
architects ; men who occupy the front rank in the
art of their day, as so many of our painters, musi-
cians, and sculptors do in their kindred vocation ?
This can scarcely be; and at all events the nation
would have felt more convinced of the humiliating
fact had the field been fair and open, the competi-
tion free and unrestricted. It will be a great satis-
faction to that numerous class who look on "a
primrose by the river's brim" with doubtful ques-
tionings of its value, to learn that at least, consider,
ing its great extent, the building was cheap. This
feet will also tend to mitigate the severity
of other strictures, since the Commissioners in-
form us with triumph that it is the claeapest
building of the size ever built. It had need to be,l
since it is also the ugliest, may add some censorious
critic, but, at least, the condemned st ructure was not
insignificant in peintof size. A buildieig must not be
regarded with contempt when it covers 242 acres,
demands 17,250,000 bricks, 1,300,000 superficial
feet of flooring, 225,854 superficial feet of zinc,
71,260 of slating, and 216,808 panes of glass.
Other figures, showing the amount of iron, lead,
lime, and sand, are in equal proportion, while the
items of 95 tons of putty and 133 tons of nails tes-
tify to the activity of the workmen. For the labour
incurred in putting the unwieldy structure together,
Messrs. KELK and LUCAS paid the sum of £138,348.
It was a good season for builders and bricklayers,
though, if rumour tells truth, many were the lives
paid for the towering domes. The Commissioners,
who assembled 180 times in full conclave, held com-
munications with 9,000 British exhibitors, and
directed the establishment of 103 local committees
at home, 40 similar associations abroad, as well as
other agencies iii India and the colonies. A better
test of the amount of labour despatched by the de-
partments is found, however, in the statistics of the
correspondence from March, 1861, to February,
1863. The Commissioners and their agents received
70,157 letters, while they despatched no less than
152,670. The discrepancy in the figures is due to
the issuing of circulars. From this catalogue of
numbers we must not omit the sum total of visitors,
who reached the goodly array of 6,211,103. Alto-
gether the statistics of this by-gone pageant are
neither uninteresting nor unimportant, and as the
Commissioners express their conviction that it is
but one in a chain of successive exhibitions of the
world's art, science, and industry, the records of its
difficulties and its triumphs, its failures and its suc-
cesses, will be read with some curiosity at a
later date.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Lessee, Mr. George Vining.
Under the Management of Mr. Walter Montgomery.
TH IS EVENING, Shakespere's Tragedy of OTHELLO.
iago, Mr. Walter Montgomery.
After which, LEND ME FIVE SHILLINGS.

NEW TEE ATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.—.
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster.
Tills EVENING, at 7, a new comic drama, entitled THE
IIEN AND CHICKENS ; or, A Sign of Affection. Messrs.
liillington, R. Phillips, Stephenson ; Mrs. Stirling and Miss
simms.
After which, at a quarter-past 8, the new drama of THE
fiAIJNTED MAN; OR, T ,iE GHOST'S BARGAIN, in
which will he exhibited Professor Pepper's adaptation of
the Great Spectral Illusion. Messrs. J. L. Toole, R. Phi:llps
ef ton C. J. Smith; Mrs. Alfred Mellon and Miss It Simms:
Followed by a new Burlesque, entitled ILL-TREATED
TRO vATORE. llifssrs. Toole, P. Bedford, R. Phillips,
34:borne, C. J. Smith, Romer ; the Sisters Nelson, Carry and
Sara, and Miss K. Kelly.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE
Manager, Mr. W. 11. Swanborough.
THIS EVENING, BIS FIRST CHAMPAGNE. Mr.
Leigh Murray.

Followed by (33d time) THE MOTTO, "I'M ALL
THERE." Messrs. Honey, Turner, E. Danvers, Collier,
Clifton ; Mesdames Ada Swanborou,gh, F. Josephs, Maria
Simpson, Wallace, and Jenny White.
. • -

To conclude with TURN 11131 OUT. Mr. Turner, Miss
Therne.

Commence at 7.

THE THIRD EDITION OF " THE SUN,'
Containing the Latest SPORTING INTELLIGENCE,
Can be had Every Evening of

G. R. GLENIE, NEWS AGENT,
No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde-park.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 11h. 40m.—Afternoon, h. m.
To-moßmow.-Morning, 12h. 15m.—Afternoon, 12h. 45m

The Weather—Sun Office, Aug. 26, 1.863,

the Peace Society apparently think it high time
.o favour the public with a repetition of their wise
doings. They have just sent Lord RUSSELL a
memorial in reference to our relations with Japan.
It is to be trusted that the noble lord at the head
of the Foreign Department will not feel alarmed at
the direful prospect that is put before him in these
awful warnings and dread denunciations. The
present menacing" state of relations between this
country and Japan have excited the " deep appre-
hension" of the memorialists, and they furthermore
declare that it is a " painful and deplorable fact "
that the arrival of our countrymen in heathen
nations is, instead of being the prelude of peace,
and the harbinger of civilisation, only tends to
"aggression, violence, and blood." It will not
appear to impartial observers that the
blame of these sad events rests entirely with
our ,management, but the PeaceSocjiaeptyan have
s
decided otherwise. The treaty with
obtained, they say, through fear, and we have failed
in keeping to the terms of that treaty. Then fol-
lows a fierce onslaught
on our countrymen, Who
proved
followed in the wake of the diplomatists, and
and
the p
offeeonpaliev. e andlt
is injurious jurious
strange to the et
that Governmentallthese
strenuous advocates for peace doNot let their
charity begin at home, but are always
with just indignation, against their own country
men.

Mr. COBDEN, in the House of Commons, in sup-
porting the just claims of the United States Go-
vernment, always took good care to abuse, in round
terms of censure, the conduct of his own nation,
and so on with all these would-be reformers. Their
aim and object is to expatiate on the virtues of all
those who are arrayed in arms against us, and espe-
cially to expose the great faults and culpable con-
duct of all, who belong •to their own side in the
affray or consultation, or whatever is going on. It
Seetne, however, on the present occasion, as if these
votaries of quiet were trying
to
in their diatribes against Engoliushtdmoetnh.emsTehlvuess,
we are told, that those who represent British com-
merce and civilisation in the Eastern Seas are
often " lawless and unscrupulous characters."
This is certainly employing strong language,
and
the very virulence of the remark
and
snhfuoswe
prejudice will mislead the judgtnent,
the understanding. These unhappy characters who
are thus graphically described are occasioning, we
are told, the greatest injuries and inflicting the
deepest wrongs en the Japanese community. Their
outrageous goings on have aggriva;%d the ,