The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-05 00:00:00

THE COLOGNE EXHIBITION.

(From the Tames Correspondent.)
COLOGNE. June 2.

Coming to Cologne from Berlin one is struck by
the extraordinary and highly significant contrast
between the two towns—the one a bran new affair,
a place in which a thousand palatial structures were
but yesterday erected, and where hardly a house is
to be found standing in those spacious streets be-
tween the Brandenburg and Silesian gates that is
old and respectable at the same time ; the other
abounding in majestic piles and ancient mansions,
huddled together with the most absolute contempt
of appearances, and telling the history of 50 gene-
rations and more in their durable and eloquent
stones. The one elegant, fashionable, and essentially
modern in its every feature, but not without a tinge
of the parvenu, and a rather manifest tendency to
live beyond its means ; the other, solid, growing
slowly, recovering surely whenever stunted, and
existing, it would appear, from time immemorial
and for time without end. Berlin busy, but noisy ;
Cologne active and doing in many branches of
commerce and art, but instinct with a quiet com-
posure and placidity that seems to be certain of
success, without hurrying it on. The manner
of the people, their conversation—nay, their
very faces, will confirm the evidence furnished
by the architectural diversity of the two towns.
With all their immense superiority in point of
numbers and wealth, the Berliners will always im-
press you as being more or less dissatised with what
they have achieved and striving rather anxiously for
more ; the Cologner, while he has certainly no objec-
tion to go ahead and prosper, does not show any
symptoms of feeling uneasy at not having built
Cologne in a day.
To leave aside comparisons, Cologne is, however,
a fast growning place enough, and within the last 20
years has more than double the number of itsin-
habitants. From the 66,000 it had in 1844 it has
within less than a generation grown to be a city of
something like 140,000 in 1865. Trade is flourish-
ing, and not a trace left of the 12,000 mendicants
who, under the ecclesiastical government, subverted
as late as 60 years ago, used to infest the streets in
a professional way, and plant themselves at fixed
stations. From the north-east, the coal and iron
districts of the Lower Rhine are pouring a flood of
riches into the ancient but ever youthful metropolis
of the land ; in the south-west the mines and cloth
manufactories of the Julich and Moselle country
have been rendered tributary to the commercial en-
terprise and the financial resources of Cologne ; while
the wine trade and the Rhine trade generally have
here found one of their busiest and most lucrative
centres. Among the peculiar advantages of Cologne
it ought to be mentioned also that a Rhinelander,
when he has feathered his nest and wants to enjoy
his remaining years, will hardly ever retire to Berlin,
but, if he likes town life at all, is almost sure to
prefer old " Colle."
It was a happy idea, then, to open an Exhibition
of Industry in a place devoted to the pursuit of it ;
and being situate in a central position, and about
the same distance from the three leading capitals
of this quarter of the globe—London, Paris, and
Berlin—the plan to make the show an international
one naturally suggested itself to the deserving gen-
tlemen who started the enterprise. It appears that
to avoid competition with other undertakings of the
kind, planned and partly in course of execution else-
where, the Exhibition was confined to " agricultural
produce and implements " this time. But these
terms, as will be seen from the subjoined remarks,
must be taken in the widest sense if they are to give
the reader anything like an adequate idea of the
number and multiplicity of the articles contributed.
Once started by the Flora Horticultural Society, the
scheme was vigorously taken up and supported by
the manufacturing community not only of the neigh-
bourhood, but of Northern Germany and the adjoin-
ing countries at large. Considering the short in-
terval that has elapsed between the first announce-
ment and the actual opening of the show, everything
practicable seems to have been achieved, thanks to
the energy of an intelligent and influential committee
and the cordial co-operation of the mercantile and
agricultural classes. There are no less than 1,370
exhibitors registered in the catalogue, among whom
are many who reckon their contributions by the
dozen. Many others, who would have been glad to
send in the choicest produce of their factories, were
too late, and had their offers unavoidably declined.
But even their luckier competitors have, very many
of them, found it impossible to get everything ready
and the goods unpacked and displayed to advantage ,
by the day fixed.

As you enter the immense plot of ground set
apart for agricultural machinery, you find yourself
in the midst of a cast-iron tohu bohu, which, as
yet, the managing hand of committee and chairmen
has been unable to reduce to order and the laws of
symmetrical collocation. In the open area, which
occupies the greater part of the ground, being hemmed
in only by a continuous row of narrow, primitive-
looking sheds, no trace of arrangement can be
discovered by this time, except a landmark here and
there. A goodly array of locomotives in the centre,
with thrashing and other machines attached, will
point out the spot devoted to the giants of the show.
With these fittingly associate locomotives. A corn
and fodder boiling machine, perfuming the air with
sweet vapour as it prepares the delicious repast of
ox and cow, is the next in size ; mills for chopping
straw,reaping, and other manifold and many-named
engines, are standing and lying about, partly in the
sheds, partly al fresco. Any attempt at describing
them individually would be premature, and besides
a Herculean task. The number of exhibitors in this
particular department is 313, among them Herr
Krupp, of cast steel renown, who has a good slice
of the ground specially allotted to him.

In a sort of annex to this, the largest portion of
the enclosure, is exhibited " the second section" (to
preserve the divisions established in the catalogue),
comprehending building materials, household uten-
sils, and different appliances connected with rural
industry. There you get a fair earnest of the thou-
sand and one articles to be displayed in a few days
or so. Bricks and window panes, washing machines
and money safes, fireproof roofing felt and draining
pipes, kettles, candles, brushes, ovens, stoves and
crockery, are, with many other useful things, to be
put together in this comprehensive corner of the
show. Part of the articles are to be stowed away
in a roofed erection of moderate proportions. The
number of exhibitors in this class is 352.

Leaving the meadow land enclosed for the occa-
sion, and just walking over the way, we enter the
garden of the Flora Horticultural Society. The
garden was laid out but a year ago, and is destitute
of shade as yet. With an imposing background of
terrace, conservatory, and fountains, it presents,
however, a noble view even in the infancy of the
grounds. The conservatory more especially—a
miniature imitation of Sydenham Palace—is quite
large and tasteful enough to serve as a point dappui
or the eye, and render the vista a thing beautiful
and
Perfect in itself, independent of the horticul-
tural
surroundings, By judiciously blending the
architectural effect of solid masses of masonry with
the light and transparent beauty of crystal and glass,
the society have produced a building superior to I
anything of the kind I have ever seen. At the back
of this wide and loftyPil,haelre you may imbibe
lagerbier under magnificent
sound of the prattling fountaL,mB, listening to the
a number of garden
seats and tables, along with vases,
flower pots, and
other ornaments, are disposed on the lawn. Opposite
the portal, and in close vicinity to some zinc statues
of uncommon merit, your eye is caught by a copper
head of enormous dimensions—not an American
copperhead, though, who has been transported for
his derelictions, and put up to serve as a butt for
the foreigners' wit. No, the most Germanic head
that ever existed, embossed in copper. It is the
head of the famous Herman statue, which some en-
thusiastic Fatherlanders resolved some 30 years ago,
with more patriotism than knowledge of the world,
should be erected in the Teutoberger Wald. As soon
as a trunk to fit a head 15 feet in height can be pro-
duced from the scanty subscriptions dribbling in at
the rate of 6d. per week, the whole will be taken to
the ancient battlefield that witnessed the defeat of
the Romans, and placed on the top of some lofty
hill. The head, a work of Herr Pantel, looks very
grand at a distance, but, strange to say, is little
better than a caricature when viewed too closely.