The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-11 00:00:00

puny efforts of man, has yielded from one of the
quarries at Llangollen a single slab of slate which
completely throws into the shade the works of the
Butterley, the Elbw Vale, or other great workers.
his monster slab is 19ft. 6in. long, 10ft. wide, and
3in. thick—a monster slate for a national school. It
is the custom to classify slates as they are produced
from the quarry according to sizes, known as
Empresses, Queens, Duchesses, Countesses, anal
Ladies. The list of female dignitaries having been
exhausted long before arriving at the present
dimensions, the exhibitors have been compelled to
resort to other regions for names, and have accord-
ingly called the present slab " a goddess." There
are also in this department some gigantic pieces of
hematite iron, or kidney ore, some very large
lumps of other descriptions of iron and copper ore,
and huge blocks of coal. The models for mining
an i working collieries are very interesting, and the
models of loading vessels with coal at the harbour
of Seaham and the port of Sunderland have
been constructed at considerable expense, and
illustrate very successfully the appliances for sav-
ing labour in connection with this branch of our
industry and commerce. In the open space some
very elegant conservatories are being erected ; the
largest and most highly decorated being one con-
tributed by Mr. Ormson, of Chelsea. Nearly oppo-
site to this is a basin, on a pedestal, formed out
of a solid bl!)ek of Aberdeen granite. It is finely
polished,but has a very clumsy look in consequence
implements requires but
of the enormous size Of its support. The extensive
collection of agriculture:
little labour to complete its L: rrangement. All the
principal agricultural machinistsand engineers are
exhibitors, and, reduced as their C hums for space
have necessarily been, they still occupy, a very large
area in this portion of the building.
The western annexe is still a scene of active and
energetic labour. The heavy masses of machinery
are by no Means easily moved, and as fast as the
waggons are unloaded their contents serve only to
add to the increased confusion in the building. TL e
goods of nearly 100 exhibitors have yet to be re-
ceived in this section. A commencement has been
made with the putting together of the pair of marine
engines of Messrs. Penn and Son.
Among the most interesting of the recent arrivals
of goods are some admirably finished Armstrong
guns for field and sea service. It was stated by
some of our contemporaries a few days since that
the War-office had countermanded the order for
sending the articles previously intended for exhibi-
tion. The guns and gun-carriages, and mortars,
and old sixty-eights which are now in the building
are the best evidence of the intentions of her Ma-
jesty's Government in this respect. At the Exhi-
bition of 1851, Mr. Cobden, who was one of the
commissioners, proposed that all weapons of war
should be excluded, on the ground that the world
was about to inaugurate the reign of peace. It was
only when the late Sir R. Peel, supported by some
others of the Royal Commissioners, pointed out that
important branches of industry were connected with
the production of these " vile guns," and other im-
plements of warfare, that the point was conceded.
The last ten years do not seem to have brought us
any nearer to the milleninm of the Peaoe Society,
And the questions which at the present time oc-
cupy, perhaps, the largest share of public atten-
tion are those connected with the preparation
for defence. Since 1851 the volunteers have sprung
into existence, and the rifles of Turner, Whitworth,
Henry, and others will be examined with an amount
of interest which ten years since it was never
dreamt would be shown in them by the thousands
of Englishmen who have learnt to use them. The
Birmingham and London makers will be well repre-
sented, and every stage in the process of manufac-
ture of the Enfield rifle will also be illustrated. The
royal carriage works at Woolwich will send some
fine specimens of their workmanship. A device has
been cut in the hardest description of wood, called
"the beam wood," used in the carriage manufactory
at Woolwich, for the purpose of testing the capa-
bilities of the band or endless saw. The device
which has been cut by the saw represeny the rose,
shamrock, and thistle, surmounted by Pie crown,
and beneath it are the words " Royal Carriage De-
partment, Woolwich Arsenal."
Mr. O'Connor is preparing a great display of
stained glass. It will be exhibited in the gallery
opposite the entrance from the Cromwell-road, and
near the cross gallery leading to the range of picture
galleries. Above the space to be occupied by the
stained glass there is one of the inscriptions, with a
slight verbal alteration, which was selected by the
late Prince Consort for the shilling catalogue of the
last exhibition. /t is—

"The progress of the human race, resulting from
the common labour of all men, ought to be the final
object of the exertion of each individual. In pro-
moting this end we are carrying out the will of the
Great and Blessed God."

Considerable disappointment is felt at the refusal
of the commissioners to grant to the National Life.
boat Institution space for the exhibition of one of
their lifeboats. In 1851 the society's exhibition
was a most interesting one, and additional import-
ance was given to it by the very liberal prizes which
were offered by the Duke of Northumberland for
the best lifeboat which should be exhibited. It is
hard, indeed, that in a great exhibition of the world's
industry there should not be found room for a life-
boat. Last year 743 lives were saved through the
instrumentality of these boats and the heroic crews
who manned them. Among those whe may visit
the Exhibition there will be hundreds of thousands
from inland towns, and even from the metropolis
itself, who have never seen a lifeboat, and who
will be unable from a small model to form anything
like a correct appreciation of this useful invention.

PRINCE CONSOR2'S MEMORIAL FUND.

Yesterday afternoon a preliminary meeting was
held in the council room of the Society of Arts, with
a -view to taking into consideration the steps neces
sary to be adopted in order to afford opportunities
for the great mass of the people who are anxious to
contribute to send in their subscriptions to the me-
morial to the late Prince Consort. The meeting
was entirely of a privt.te inaugural kind, and only
assembled to discuss the best course to be adopted
to receive small subscriptions throughout the c Jun-
try. As a matter of course it acts in entire accord-
ance with the chief committee, presided over by the
Lord Mayor. That committee, however, has from
the commencement received almost exclusively the
contributions of the upper classes. These have now
reached a very large sum, but it is evident, from the
mass of correspondence which has reached the com-
mittee from all parts of the country, that a very
much larger sum is ready to be subscribed, and only
waiting the establishment of local and district com-
mittees in the various counties to be sent in at once.
There are in all upwards of 13,000 parishes in the
United Kingdom, and it is not by any means a san-
guine estimate to suppose that, with a properly or-
ganised system of local committees to receive the
contributions ready to be forwarded, at least £3 or
£4 on the average would be given in each palish,
which in the aggregate would form an ample sum
for the completion of the most splendid memorial.
Among those who attended the rneetingyseosiresriadlay
il
were the Duchess of Norfolk,
the l‘itihaerclui Countess of
a Malmsbry ,Ly
Salis-
bury, the Duke of St. Alb
Derby, the Earl and Countess onf
e Lord HH. uL
ennad
Manners, Viscount Torrington
,
ox,
Frederick Byng, the Hon. Arthur
M.P,, the Hon.
Kinnaird, the Rev. Canen Lonsdale, Mr. John Kelk,
Mr. Pownall, Count Strzelecki, the Chaplain-Gene-
ral of the Forces, &o. _ .

—The Marquis of Salisbury having taken the
chair, letters were read from the Bishop of Oxford,
and also from the Primate expressing their
regret at not being able to attend the meeting. The
latter added " I shall be ready to concur so far
as I am able in whatever means may be thought
desirable for promoting the object which we all
have somuch
Which, I am sure, needs
onlyto be
generally made known in order to elicit
the ready
sympathy of every class in the country."
After
at heart, and
some short discussion upon each, the fol-
lowingre resolutions were put and carried unani-
mously

It was mcved by Lord H. LENNOX, and seconded
by the Hon. A. K.INNAIRD,_
~ That this meeting cordially agrees with the
Council, and heartily concurs in the
report of the
proposal that arrangements be made to afford to