The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-27 00:00:00

THE NET

7BITION.

Besides the Earl of Ellesmere, Sir Charles Lyell, and
Mr. Dilke, the Royal Commission which is about to be
issued for the American International Exhibition, will,
we understand, embrace the names of Professor G. Wil-
son, Mr. Whitworth, and Mr. Wallis. It will thus con-
sist of six members, and form a body.well calculated not
only worthily to represent this country on the other side
of the Atlantic, but to bring back, in the shape of official
reports, the results of the approaching industrial display.
The nobleman who is placed at the head of the Commis-
sion is thoroughly qualified to pronounce a judgment
upon the merits of the Fine Arts' section, while he
unites with a highly cultivated taste the prestige of rank
and wealth. Science, especially in the departments of
raw produce and mineralogy, could not find in this
country a worthier representative than Sir Chirles Lyell;
and Mr. Dilke, the least rewarded, and certainly notthe
least valuable member of our own Executive Committee
in Hyde-park, by his practical good sense, his business
habits, and his experience, may fairly •be expected to
stamp the new Commission with a useful as well as a
merely dignified character. Professor Wilson is favour-
ably known to the public from the attention which he has
paid to scientific agriculture, and it may be anticipated
that at Now York he will find the materials for much
useful information to his own countrymen in that and
kindred Lramehes of knowledge. The appointment of Mr.
Wallis also is a very judicious one. He was one of the most
valuable and active officers employed at Hyde-park in
1851, and, apart altogether from his acquirements as a
teacher of the first principles of practical art, he has.
a rare and extensive acquaintance with the merits of
textile fabrics in every branch of their manufacture.
Perhaps, however, for the material interests of this
country, so far as they are likely to be affected by the
New York Exhibition, the most valuable member of the
new Commission is Mr. Whitworth, the leading maker
in this country of what are called " Manchester tools."
Mr. Whitworth is the very best man that could be
selected to concentrate into a report the mechanical
results of the New York Exhibition ; and, ingenious
and inventive as the Americans undoubtedly are, we
need not be ashamed to send over to them, as a reporter,
the mechanic who can, by the unaided exercise of his
craft, measure the millionth part of an inch. The Com-
mission goes to America carrying with it souvenirs of the
display of 1851, with which all its members have been
intimately associated. It is accredited neither to the
Committee of the New York Exhibition nor to the
Government, for the former is a private commercial body
which this country could not officially acknowledge, and
the latter only indirectly patronises the undertaking.
It has, however, ample powers and a useful and digni-
fied mission. It is charged with the duty of representing
the industrial interests of England at the forthcoming
display, and of reporting, in an authoritative manner,
upon the results thereof. The Government have
issued it upon the suggestion of the Surplus
Commissioners, and they have further shown
their zeal in the matter by getting several of the
cilia departments of the State to contribute. The
Ordnance, the Admiralty, the Mint, and the Board of
Trade, through its School of Mines, intend to send arti-
cles for exhibition ; and it is worthy of remark that, little
as we may show, compared with the constituted authori-
ties of other European communities, we have done far
more as a body politic for the New York Exhibition than
we did for our own. In Hyde-park the Government
showed itself chiefly active in snubbing the Royal Com-
' missioners and worrying it through Lord Seymour. Dr.
Royle is busily engaged in selecting, on the part of the
East India Company, a brilliant show of Oriental manu-
factures wherewith to dazzle the Western world. About
800 British exhibitors, comprising the leading houses in
important departments of our national industry, have sent
contributions. Our artists are admitted also to the field of
competition which embraces paintings, and among the
champions of the national industry is included the name of
the Duke of Thsccleuch. Considering the extent to which
other European States as well as our own intend support-
ing the approaching Exhibition, it is a matter of some sur-
prise that the building in which the display takes place is
one of such small dimensions. The site upon which it
stands is not more than 500 feet square, and the structure
itself has been already supplemented by additions for ma-
chinery. We Londoners grumble at the want of space
available for such objects, and the surplus of the late Exhi-
bition has been sunk in one lump to secure more elbow-
room for our public institutions ; but in New York, with a
Continent in the back ground, the evil seems to be still

more severely felt, and they appear there to have been
driven into a situation not much more convenient than
that at one time contemplated for the display of 1851,
when it was seriously proposed to hold it in Leicester-
square. Only one-third of the area has been reserved for
native exhibitors, the rest being devoted to the products
of European industry and art. The openingis postponed
till the first of June.