The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-17 00:00:00

The North London Industrial Exhibition

The ceremony of distributing to the successful
exhibitors in the above exhibition of industrial art
the prizes which had been awarded by the adjudica-
tom took place last evening at -Exeter-hall. The
Earl of Shaftesbury presided, and with him on the
platform were Mr. Bodkin, the Assistant-Judge ;
Mr. Payne, the Deputy Assistant-Judge ; Mr.
Samuel Morley, and other gentlemen interested in
the progress of the labouring classes. A large
choir, under the direction of Mr. Sarl, sang " All
People that on Earth" and other pieces, after which
Mr. Smithers, Mr. Payne, and Mr. Samuel Morley
spoke on the elevating influence of such an exhibi-
tion as that of which this meeting was the close.
His Lordship then distributed the prizes, the chief
of which were very handsome certificates,- framed.
Some of the prize receivers were of the gentler sex,
and their appearance on the platform was in every
instance the signal for loud applause. Every exhi-
bitor who chose to present himself, whether a prize
winner or not, received a handsome " memorial
volume," and from the crowds who presented them-
selves before the noble earl, it was estimated that
nearly all the 934 exhibitors availed themselves of
the privilege. Among those who were thus brought
before the public were postmen and soldiers, and one
representative of the Fire Brigade service, and so
eagerly did this class of exhibitors crowd the plat-
form that one was thrust over, and fell among the
astonished reporters below. The Chairman, who
on coming forward to address the meeting was
warmly applauded, said he should on this occasion
look upon himself as representing the public, and
on the part of the public he tendered to the exhi-
bitors
the decided expression of pleasure and hope
which had been derived from the exhibition. All the
great hopes held out by Lord Russell on the open-
ing ceremony were announced by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, on closing it, to be fulfilled, and
more than fulfilled. Never were rewards more
justly earned, and honours better deserved or more
freely given, than those which had that evening been
distributed. (Cheers.) The working men and work-
ing women had come forward not for the purpose
of establishing some rival business in the hope of
gain or profit, but they had come forward with the
most generous motives and aspirations, namely,
that an impulse might be given to the genius of the
people, and that good might thence arise to the
whole British empire. The public had accepted the
exhibition in the spirit in whiCh it had been offered,
and he on their part now told the exhibitors that
great things were educed from it in the advance-
ment of the people. One remarkable feature was
that a large proportion of the things exhibited were
made by men whose daily occupations were of an
opposite nature to their productions. Nothing, in
fact, could be more remarkable than the hodge-
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It brought to his mind the craving which existed in
• the minds of workers for some mental occupation
adfotuebrltedheitrhetofialculwatises of man,
and this diversity of toil
and gave him who was
engaged in a monotonous employment, when he
turned to something else, a new existence. And

this had been the case with men eminent in name

and rank. Sir Matthew Hale, after being—f;
hours engaged in judgment in intricate cases which
came before him, found recreation in solving the most
abstruse questions in algebra. Then Southey was ano-
ther example of the value to be attached to diverse
labours, for by having six desks for as many tasks, he,
by changing his employment at intervals, was
enabled first to write a passage of history, then an
article for the Quarterly, and afterwards some stanzas,
and all this without feeling his mental powers dis-
tressed. But for this change he would have broken
down, and the country would not have had those
great efforts of his mind. It was. delightful to see
how the energies and the genius of the people had
been brought out in matters of refinement by these
exhibitions, and their elevation in refinement would

advance them morally and socially, and would tend
to raise them in the political scale. (Cheers.) The
noble earl went on to say that he had heard it whis-
pered that in future exhibitions the working men
were to be confined to the exhibition of articles in
their own trades, and to this he expressed himself as
greatly opposed. He asked how it would be pos-
sible to confine the clergyman, the lawyer, and the
statesman for recreation to the duties of their daily
life, and if the world would have had those flowing
periods of Mr. Gladstone or those sparkles of debate
from Lord Derby if they had been cut off from the
charms of poetry and the study of the bputies in
Homer's " Iliad." He dwelt upon the advance which
the working classes would make through these exhi-
bitions, and concluded with saying that the social
elevation which would come to the people would
cheer their homes in this life, and would make them
worthy of that other home where the " wicked cease
from troubling and the weary are at rest."
The ASSISTANT JUDGE proposed a vote of thanks
to the chairman, which was seconded by Mr. Har-
vey, of Islington, and carried by acclamation.
The proceedings closed with the singing of the
" Old Hundredth" Psalm.