The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-23 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN EXHIBITIO.

NEW YORK, JUNE 9.—lt is the boast of progress tint,
from a small beginning, it advances with every hour t.)
a more perfect development But in the enterprise of a
World's Fair"—and speaking solely with reference to
its American successor—this boast becomes a brag.
The glittering avalanche of Hyde-park has dwindled to
a snow-ball; and the country proud of the " tallest cata-
racts," and the "loudest thunder," will probably pr.°'
duce an Exhibition inferior to that now being held la

the Irish metropolis.
An undertaking so vast seemed to require the sanc'
nte
Lion and support of something more than private e- • ri
prise. Nevertheless the form of the American politica
system, and the constitutional restrictions imposed on
the Federal Executive, rendered it impossible that the
by the
matter should be taken up and carried through
Government. It therefore devolved upon o
fanY
and it is but just to add, that the directors o the Awe;
rican " Association for an Exhibition of the Industry °'
all Nations" have laboured energetically, if not with all
very brilliant success, to carry out the immense and mos
beneficial design.
Difficulties of all kinds beset them at every turn
rival
19
the very outset, local jealousies refused topermit a
city to usurp the importance of a national emporium.
Boston demanded that it should he the favoured localitY,
and so with Philadelphia, Baltimore, &c. As, ).
ever, a display of European products was conternpbte '
the .commercial, financial, and geographical preera'
nence of New York was reluctantly conceded ; and °3
the 11th of March, 1852, the Legislature granted to the
provisional directors a charter of incorporation. On
the 17th of the same month, Theodore Sedgwick, Esq.'
a lawyer of some celebrity, was elected president o
Oa
f the,
association, and Mr. William Whetters, treasurer

• _
secretary. „ with
The company was chartered for five years' .100
liberty to raise a capital of $300,000, in shares of qr
each, no one subscriber to hold more than fifty Owe!,
The City Corporation granted a site for the buddingl.
Reservoir-square, and it was announced by the dire!.
tors, without reserve, that the Exhibition should "
mence upon the Ist of May, 1853." ience
Mr. Charles Buschek, of London (whose expera, e
as Austrian Commissioner at the Hyde Park P I
3thcae
recommended him), was now appointed to organise
Foreign Department of the enterprise ; and the foreig.t
Ministers at Washington promised the cordial supr!,
of their respective Governments. Mr. C. E.
and Mr. Horatio Allen were appointed consulting a,,,r
chitects and engineers ; and it now only remained
find a proper plan for the building. •
an'
Sir Joseph Paxton gratuitously furnished one of
e•
gular beauty, but the paltry desire to make an " 11-
rican" Exhibition of it induced the directors to deal
his offer. Finally, however, they were necessitated
to adopt the design of two German architec
but recently settled in the country, Messrs. Carstens
nil
and Gildemeister. The masonry contracts were take
Detinoia.
by Messrs. Smith and Stewart and Mr. Lorenzo g°6enB„,
while the iron works required were portioned out t°
less than eleven contractors. According to agreetne
°f
the foundations were to be laid, and the greater Part
the iron delivered, by the 21st of last October. ,of
It is now the Bth day of June, and the mere husk
the Palace—that was to be finished and freighted bY
Ist of May—is not yet completed ! About one.third e
it requires to be glazed, and the rounding of the don.
is more a matter of ingenious experiment than inecbsOl,
cal skill. True, the directors state that the
will commence on the 16th of next month (July) ; b°
having failed so egreoiously in their:first engagerne°
which failure, by the way, they left unannounced ft,
nd
unexplained up to the last moment—the public a,re it'd
far from satisfied that they will prove more faithful
their present promise. Greek
The original idea of this edifice was that of a ,0
cross 365 feet in each diameter, each arm of the nrc"T.
149 feet broad and 75 feet high, the whole to be 5111;
mounted by a central dome 100 feet in diameter and 1
feet up to the crown, a ball 31 feet higher than the top
of the dome surmounting the whole. The gallerienri
Exhihitiot
24 feet from the floor, and octagonal iron towers, 8 at
in diameter, and containing wining staircases, stun' -of
each corner. In view, however, of the deficiency a
space, the angles of the cross were finally enclosed he
roofed in to where the galleries strike the sides of a
building • so that we have an octagon. on the gr,°ll°,ol
floor, while the galleries retain their original erueu°,,i
design. Each arm of the cross is divided into a eentrb,
nave, 41 feet wide, with two side aisles 54 feet ea,e „
covered by galleries of a similar width ; so that 14".1:
Crystal Palace contains a total area, on floor and our,
leries, of some inconsiderable fraction less than '-
acres. - fel

This building of glass and iron is placed within a rig
vi
yards of the great reservoir, from which Croton llte ive
served out to the city, and there is a harsh displeasp)
contrast between the brilliant lightness of the one, The
the massive granite buttresses of the other. e,
neighbourhood of the palace has been occupied by °Pio
culators of all sorts ; there at least fifty groggeries 3io
drinking saloons within a stone's throw of the TOP
of Industry ; and half-a-dozen menageries, panorarei4s'
and petty theatres have likewise sprung up around it•
All the space in the American department has be
at
allotted to exhibitors ; but it is to be regretted the,'
many of the first manufacturing and commercial hou
have held aloof from, or, at best, given but a cold OP.
port to the concern.
The newspapers—except those directly paid to ador:
tise the palace—have abused the association as a c°o
pany of "jobbers," who seek to make money by fl
calculated to injure domestic trade ; and none of tbe
public men of the country (the late Daniel Webster er
cepted) ever gave any efficient countenance or credit,t°d
the directors in their attempts to place the undertalo3°
on a national basis.

In spite of all obstacles, the palace approaches
pletion, and, unless something unforeseen occurs, vjll
certainly open on the 16th of July next. The Frei),
and English departments are expected to be well filless
but of these I must postpone a description to my °u
letter. I thought it best, in my first letter, to give Y-c,
(even at the risk of being a little wearisome) a full 5..
count of the embarrassments through which the Arnercl.
can "World's Fair" has struggled ; you will then aPP
ciate more keenly the triumphs, or condemn less severe"
the reverses I may hereafter have to chronicle.—arr
pondent of the Morning Chronicle.

AQUATICS.—The Teignmouth Regatta takes places 013
Tuesday, the 26th, and the Torbay Royal :Regatta

Thursday, the 28th, July.
EXTENSIVE ROBBERY OF AN AUSTRALIAN* GO
DP.
DlGGER.—Yesterday afternoon information was !We'll:),
by the police on the Surrey side of the water of arved
bery of some magnitude from a person recently art the
by the Queenstown, from Port Philip. The name %Ars
party robbed is Frank Evylyn Frank, who two I 0,
ago left England for the gold diggings in Australia•unot
succeeded, after a great deal of labour, in realising e'v-the
2,0001., and left Port Philip in January last bY:flet.
Queenstown, which arrived in London on the 18th "tre
On Wednesday night he went to the Victoria Theeo.
with a fellow-passenger, having at the time 109 fter
vereigns, besides some silver, in his possession. *:lu
he left the theatre he entered a public-house situalost
Blackman-street, Southwark, and all of a sudden be the
his senses, and on his recovery he found hinaself iil
tha4l
street minus his money. He informed the police shits
the recollection be had was of a tall man with a °tea
hat, who sat next him in the public-house and eeevei
about the diggings, and he was missed suddenly lie
the house. The police have received some clue °The
thief, and most likely he will soon be apprehended' who
robbery was, no doubt, effected by a class of thieveig

look oilt for
OF-fresANh a
IRONrrials from Australia.
LAUNCH SCHOONER ITACHT,-09R Vet'
day last we had the pleasure of witnessing one of tb°s-
gratifying spectacles, the launch of an iron seb°°ver
eyseaicn,httEe,nebdque.id,lt
to replace
by Mr. J. Scott Russell for Robert Steei(i
n
readers
Ma.rP. This yacht is named the Titaniayhalts
i palawcearet,hewoaethdeiereotrfeytheadtbnyamfiree,
:volloic'after
our '
pa
competing with America. We undert7.4.
enVLstinsi:l79s-1!
SEASON ON THE fie .pit
season on the Continent appears to be remarkably
..„ds'
ward. A fortnight before this time last year 00°70
of baskets of cherries, besides other fruits, were ineihiiig
into
Southampton from France. Up to this time onsti
hardly but hothouse fruit from the Channel islariunsor
been imported into the above-named port. Sr%l°
tity of potatoes which have been imported into Pc418.0.
ampton from Lisbon has been unusually large thls2.o-
- the potatoes from Lisbon have betraye° '..7year
toms of the how perpetual disease which every
affects that root. 4.: of I°.
INTRAMURAL INTERMENTS.—The abomination ,b 6
tramural interments, which has so long discreaceo:i,
metropolis, is about to be abated. SeverarOrder
Council were issued on Tuesday week, requiring, ill/ilia,
suance of powers given by the 15th and 16th ie' re
that at and after certain dates therein sPecineciit'c of
less than 93 burial grounds in and about the
e Ore
London are to be closed. The fearful and retn3
disclosures relative to these receptacles made 110 are
George Alfred Walker, whose indefatigable exertiona
ex,
worthy of all praise, and the continued as and 0,0
posures of the press, have at length accomplishea
to
desirable result. We trust this is only prelimmlever,
more widely extended measure ; and that wbor, erlf
whether in town or country, graveyards itelle for
situated are to be found, speedy efforts will be roa,„..ected
their abolition. This we hoped to have seen ell
before this time in our own town, where the reed a 5
general burying ground has been long e"dernericleA
utterly insufficient for the decent interment of th
ss
and as a probable source of disease. Some progreria
been made towards the provision of a more appor,
place, but the works proceed languidly, and what loot
expected would be done in a few months at the per_,eve.,,
rate of progress, will require years to complete
Banbury Guardian. 1 p
THE NEW ACT ON COUNTY ELECTION
SCOTLAND.—On Saturday next, at the county ei
for Edinburgh, the new act, which received thee Vet,
assent a few days back, will, if contested, tak
The object of the act is to, restrict the continitna
of the polling at any contested election in
Scotlaa,,,,
to one day, and to provide for the increase or
rrof
ration of polling places. By this statute, a Pa' tiols
the act 2 and 3 Wm. IV., C. 65, relatiag to the
dure'r is
of polls, &c., at elections, is repealed, and pol„,ra.
now given to the sheriff, with the consent of the
Advocate, to increase or alter the number and arrioo
anent of polling places, so that not more than 010
electors shall poll at one place. No alteration is to 00
place until notice shall be advertised. Voters to§
claim to vote in other districts, and non-resident co
with island qualification may vote at the county towlss
The poll is to be kept open one day, and for two dale
Orkney and Shetland.