The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-06 00:00:00

THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.

The centenary of this society was celebrated on Tuesday
by a grand dinner at the Crystal Palace. The Duke of
Newcastle was announced to take the chair, but his
Grace was unable to do so. Earl Granville in conse-
quence presided. From 750 to 800 gentlemen sat down
to dinner, which was served with an abundance and
excellence highly creditable to Mr. Home, the head of
the refreshment department at the Palace. The enter-
tainment took place in the basement story, where, a
few days ago, the directors and shareholders of the
company gave a dejeurter to the distinguished foreign
visitors present at the opening of the building. If on
that occasion the arrangements deserved commendation,
it was still more due on Tuesday, the number of persons
present being greater, and the proceedings being charac-
terised by a succinctness most unusual in the post-
prandial celebrations of this country. It was after five
o'clock before dinner commenced, and at half-past eight
all was over, the lists of toasts exhausted, and the com-
pany on their way home, much gratified with an enter-
tainment which had been brought to a close before it
became tedious. The society has every reason to be
satisfied with the demonstration made yesterday in its
favour. More convincing evidence of the recognised
utility of its labours could hardly be given. The Crys-
tal Palace Company, tracing their patronage to the
society, gratefully offered its members the facilities for
celebratiug their centenary in a worthy manner.
Dinner over, the Dean of Hereford returned thanks.

Earl GRANVILLE then rose and said that the Duke of
Newcastle had been prevented from being present and
taking the chair by the departure of his youngest son in
the Dauntless for the Baltic. Every father who heard
him would understand the validity of such an excuse.
The noble Earl concluded by proposing, in happy terms,
" The Health of her Majesty the Queen."
The toast having been received with loud cheers,
The CHAIRMAN gave "The Health of his Royal High-
ness Prince Albert, President of the Society." He carts
sure the toast would be received with every mark of re-
spect and regard, when they considered how valuable
his Royal Highness's connexion with that society had
proved to science and art. As president of the Society
of Arts, he believed the connexion had proved most use-
ful both to the society and to his Royal Highness. The
Society of Arts had most materially assisted in carrying
out those propositions which his Royal Highness had
brought forward for the promotion of art, while he be-
lieved the society had materially benefitted by the com-
bination of talent and position which his Royal High-
ness had brought to bear in support of an institution in
which his love of art and science had induced him to
take so great and lively an interest. (Loud cheers.)
The toast was responded to amid loud applause.
" The health of his Royal Highness Albert Prince of
Wales and the rest of the Royal family," having been
drunk,

Mr. HARRY CHESTER rose and said,—As chairman
of the council of this society, I have been requested by
my colleagues to propose a toast. Upon ordinary oc-
casions those who visit this remarkable building come
here as visitors and guests of the Crystal Palace Com-
pany. Upon this occasion, however, we are here in a
somewhat peculiar character—being in one sense the
guests, and in another sense the hosts of the directors
of the Crystal Palace Company. I have, my Lord and
gentlemen, to request you to drink " Success to the
Crystal Palace," (loud cheering) ; and I will blend with
that " The Health of the Chairman of that company,
Mr. Laing." (Renewed cheers.) I take it the mem-
bers of the Society of Arts are, generally speaking, per-
sons having a lively personal interest in arts, manufac-
tures, commerce, and education, and no one who has
any special and real interest in these objects can fail to
feel a deep interest in the success of the Crystal Palace.
(Hear.) I will not say it is the Palace—l would rather
say it is the happy and natural home of arts, manufac-
tures, commerce, and education. (Cheers.) I now
simply ask you to drink this toast, and, coupled with
it, the health of Mr. Laing, a gentleman who, I am
sure, has exerted himself, and will continue to exert
himself, to provide for the recreation and instruction of
the visitors to this wonderful structure, as well as for '
the profit of those public-spirited individuals by whose
means the innumerable works of art with which this
building is enriched have been collected together. I
give you, my Lord and gentlemen, "Success to the
Crystal Palace Company, and the health of its chair-
man, Mr. Samuel Laing." (Loud cheers.) -
Mr. S. LANG, M.P., in replying, said—l regret ex-
ceedingly that the absence of my friend, Sir Joseph
Paxton, whose name is so much more appropriately as-
sociated with this noble undertaking, should make it in-
cumbent on me to reply to the present toast. The popu-
lar sentiment has so connected his name with the enter-
prise of the Crystal Palace, that I confess that it is with
a feeling of disappointment that I now get on my legs
to address you, and that I do not see Sir Joseph in his
proper place. That absence I regret exceedingly on the
present occasion, because it is obvious that, associated
as he is in the eyes of the nation with the Crystal Pa
lace, he would more properly than myself welcome be-
neath its crystal dome that parent society, the Society
of Arts, to which we are so deeply indebted. I think
that there is another reason why we should be exceed-
ingly glad to hail and welcome the Society of Arts. It
is evident that if the Crystal Palace is to carry out those
objects for which it has been designed, it must be asso-
ciated with the education and advancement of the people
of England. (Cheers.) We have practically to carry
out the Horatian maxim, and mix the utile with the
dulce. As regards the agreeable, there can be no doubt
that we have succeeded in providing for the people of the
metropolis a most agreeable resort. There is no doubt
that those who are now above stairs are enjoying a great
deal of harmless instruction—(laughter)—and that the
Palace is every day becoming an essential part of the
existence of the citizens of London. It is, in fact, an
approximation to the most agreeable part of continental
enjoyment, where they look on the most beautiful in
nature and art undisturbed by the inclemency of weather.
I am not disposed to underrate the educational advance-
ment to be made in such scenes, where we are sur-
rounded by the sight of all the most charming in nature
and the most excelling in art. For the general diffusion
of education, however, among the masses of the people,
we must trust to the operation of associations such as
this, and to men who come up like those whom I see
around me representing them. (Hear.) If we were to
attempt to take into our hands the ferule of the school.
master, and say to the million what we think they should
particularly attend to, and I believe that we would most
assuredly not advance, but render ourselves ridiculous.
(Laughter.) If, on the other hand, gentlemen like those
whom I see around me will take the matter in hand and
organise it, then a great deal of good may result to educa-
tion. I do, therefore, trust that our connexion with the
Society of Arts—from whose loins I may say we have
sprung—may be the means of promoting co-operation be-
tween us in our endeavours for the same object. I can
now only return you on my own part, and on that of
the Crystal Palace Company our most sincere thanks for
, the honour you have done us, and I hope that the Crys-
tal Palace--sprung from the Society of Arts—may turn
out to be an institution of which the parent society may
never have reason to be ashamed.
The CHAIRMAN then rose and said,—Gentlemen, the
toast which I have now to propose to you is that of the
" Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures,
and Commerce." (Cheers.) The only thing which I have
to consider in proposing, and you in accepting, the toast
is, whether the objects of this society are desirable in
themselves, and whether the attempts to carry out those
objects have been successful or not. With regard to the
objects, I really should have imagined that there could
have been no doubt upon the subject. (Hear.) But it
having happened that within a very short time two of
the most intellectual and highly-cultivated members of
the Legislature—one in each house—have thrown some
disparagement upon the necessity of elementary educa-
tion and the use of trying to instil arts and sciences among
the masses of the people. For my own part, I cannot
help thinking that it is a proof of the overwhelming con-
fidence which such highly-cultivated minds feel in them-
selves that they indulge in what appears to me such a
perfect fallacy. (Cheers.) I maintain that here is repre-
sented pretty well the sense of this country. Among us
there are some of the most distinguished representatives
of the intelligence of somelof the most highly-cultivated
countries in the world. If any one of the 750 gentlemen
who are berg present is inclined to take the line of argu-
ment which I have just distinguished, I will undertake
to argue it with him, and I would do so not from any
confidence in my own liabilities, but because I believe
that, ho ?fever inferior the understanding of one man
may be to another's, if they take up an argument upon
a proposition of Euelid, the one who argues against that
proposition in the long run must get the worst of it.
My challenge does not seem to be accepted.
(Laughter.) a u g
thereforeht e r.
) presume you agree with me that the object
With of this society is a desirable one. (Cheers.) re-
gard to the means of carrying it out, I have read the ad.
In:L*4l'le address, and I think it is impossible for any one
to have heard the report read to-day, and not to be
struck with the manner in which this society had gone
on from mall beginnings to a
rest by the
from tile • e attention and interest of
almost exclusive great result ; how it has,
higher chase;
h lower classes of so-
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this country. The mode of imparting education
immensely forwarded and improved. A race of teachers
utterly unknown a few years ago has been created.hers
Without referring more in detail to anything which has
lately been done by the Government, I believe that the
regulations which have been adopted within the last
year will, within a very few years, show their result in a
very largely increased measure of instruction, both in
science and in art, being given in the elementary
schools of this country. (Hear, hear.) But when I
i have said this, so far from being proud of the progress
we have made, I feel that there is a lamentable I
defi-
ciency when we compare the state of education with
the powers and resources of this great nation. (Hear,
hear.) Plans have been suggested—many of which, I
believe, would work very well if all persons would com-
bine in carrying them out—but it is useless either for
Government or any other body of men to force down
conscientious objections to any particular plan when
those conscientious objections are founded on political
and religious feelings. (Hear, hear.) I think we must
for the moment, and only for the moment, ke satided

with pushing education through every possible avenue
that we can find for it. Now, I think that the Society
of Arts, in their forthcoming exhibition, are likely to be
most useful for this purpose. This society numbers
among its members some of the most distinguished men
in every line of life that we have in this country, and yet
I do not value the society so highly for having pushed
any particular branch of science, as on account of its
universality and its versatility in shaping itself to
the wants and feelings of the present age. (Cheers.)
As a body, they are a rough-and-ready, bustling com-
munity (laughter) they are constantly pushing
themselves into corners where I really believe they
have no business to go at all—(renewed laughter)—and
where, if the Government attempted to follow, nothing
but the most irretrievable ruin and confusion would
be produced. (Cheers.) I had myself grave doubts of
the expediency of a society like this mixing itself
up with that most difficult question—strikes and lock-
outs ; but I believe the conference which took place on
that subject has resulted most usefully ; not only in the
discussion of it ; but the attacks that were made upon
the society for having embarked upon that topic have,
as forcibly as anything could do, brought before the
minds both of workmen and employers the real grounds
upon which that most difficult question rests. (Cheers.)
There is another exhibition to be opened in a neighbour-
ing country, in which the most liberal conditions are
proposed to the British exhibitors. The Society of Arts
took themselves to suggest certain modifications, which
were adopted with the utmost liberality by the French
Government; so that there can be no doubt that the exhi-
bition at Paris will be a highly successful one in every
respect. Another thing they have done. They have
circulated a proposal amongst local bodies in different
districts, who, it has been suggested, should establish
themselves as treasurers to take care of the savings of
those working men who may wish to visit Paris when
this exhibition takes place. (Hear, hear.) I look for-
ward to the result as one of the greatest use in opening
the minds of the working classes in this country, and as
highly calculated to aid in cementing still further the
union which now so happily subsists between the two
countries. (Hear.) As one of the Commissioners of the
Exhibition of 1851, I do not wish to be supposed to
attribute results to that Exhibition which may not be'
justly traced to it, but among the circumstances which
attended it were the intermixture of foreign with English
workmen, the intermixture of foreign and English exhi-
bitors, and the singular probity and honour which cha-
racterised the awards of the jurors ; and without being
considered invidious, I may particularly mention those
from the neighbouring country, as they formed the
greater number. And I think some small influence of
the same sort may have been exerted in producing that
cordial feeling which exists between the combined armies
and the fleets of the two nations, which have exhibited
nothing but the most generous rivalry and anxiety to be
distinguished in company with each other, in defence of
what we and they consider the just rights of civilisation
and the interests of Europe. (Hear, hear.) To such
an extent is this feeling carried, that when the French
sailor wishes to compliment the English sailor, not being
able to find words to express himself as be could wish in
our language, he slaps him en the back, and cries—
" Bravo, Jackey." (Loud laughter.) I now ask you
most cordially to drink the toast of the Society of Arts,
and join with me in wishing that it may continue its
course of usefulness, and by its future exertions confer
immense benefits, not only upon the population of this
country, but upon the people of the whole world. The
noble earl coupled the toast with the names of Sir C.
Eastlake for the fine and industrial arts, Mr. John
Dillon for manufactures, and the Lord Mayor for com-
merce.

Sir C. Eastlake, Mr. Dillon, and the Lord Mayor
having briefly acknowledged the toast,
Mr. C. KNIGHT proposed the " 355 Institutions in
Unio❑ with the Society of Arts." He felt singularly
honoured in being permitted to propose the toast, seeing
that these institutions represented more or less the pro-
gress of education in this country. It was a great thing
to see assembled so many distinguished men connected
with arts, manufactures, and commerce. He dwelt on
the vast number of mechanics' institutions which had
sprung up in a few years. He recollected, only a few
years since, that such institutions were comparatively
unknown, and he now found 355 such institutions in
union with the parent society.
Mr. EDWARD BAINES returned thanks, and said he
had seen the rise and progress of mechanics' institutions.
The Society of Arts had attained its centenary, and for
two-thirds of that period its benefits had not been ex-
tended to the working classes. Mechanics' institutions
had not been in existence more than 30 years, the Lon-
don Mechanics' Institution taking the lead, when it was
held in an old chapel near Falcon-square. There were
now in the country 800 such societies, and in Yorkshire
there were societies numbering 20,000 members. He
believed that the mechanics' institutions had a great in-
fluence in sustaining the Society of Arts, and in making
possible the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the magnifi-
cent Crystal Palace of 1854. He wished all prosperity
to both, and again returned thanks on behalf of the in-
stitutions in union.

Lord Viscount MAHON gave, the distinguished
foreigners, commissioned by their respective Govern-
ments to take part in the Educational Exhibition, and
with it coupled the names of M. Milne Edwards on the
part of France, and on the part of our brothers of Ame-
rica, the Hon. Henry Bernard, of the State of Connec,
ticut.

M. MILNE EDWARDS said, that France could not but
feel deeply animated by that generous and enlightened
sentiment which actuated the promoters of knowledge
assembled in the spacious hall of that fairy castle. (Hear,
hear.) He begged leave to state on the part of the Em-
peror (by whom he was ordered to visit this country)
that he felt a deep and warm interest in the cause of
education. (Cheers.) Amon!, the most powerful, gener-
ous, and Christian features of present age was the
diffusion of knowledge in all classes of society, froth the
highest to the lowest. (Cheers.) France had long been
desirous of instilling into the minds of all her citizens
those elementary notions of science, of literature, and of
art, which were sought to be protected in a special mode
by the Society of Arts. The two nations which in former
ages caused so much blood to be shed uselessly, and led I
to the infliction of so much misery upon mankind, were
now rivals no longer as slaughterers in the field of battle,
but as the benefactues of the human race. (Cheers.) In
the work of civilization England and France could be no
rivals. (Cheers.) In history we could find no period in
which such successful and powerful efforts could have been
made. Our great predecessors in civilization—the Romans
—had but a slight influence over mankind, compared with
that actually in the hands of England and France. Their
steamers, like the radii of the glory which crowns the two
nations, were sweeping in all directions, carrying their
example to the most distant shores. (Cheers.) Our
predecessors, the Romans, quailed and fell before the
invading hordes of Scythian barbarians. England and
France would in their time be more fortunate. (Cheers.)
The Hon. H. BARNARD, of Connecticut, United
States, also returned thanks on behalf of the Foreign
Commissioners. The early settlers of Connecticut, he
said, were graduates in the grammar schools and uni-
versities of this country, and it was to them that they
owed it that they had inscribed on the laws of the State
the simple provision—and if there was ever to be a
monument erected with an inscription upon it to the
State of Connecticut, he trusted it would be the words
of that law—it was an injunction on the authorities of
the towns that they should not allow of so much bar-
barism to exist in the midst of this State as that of a
single child who was unable to read the Holy Word of
God and the good laws of his country. (Cheers.) He
trusted he would be permitted to say that there were
many of the public men of the State with which he was
connected who had had much experience of public life, who
stated that in the course of 50 years they had never seen
or met with a single native-born citizen of Connecticut
who could not write his name or read the laws of his
country. (Cheers.) The hon. gentleman concluded by
proposing " Success to the Educational Exhibition,"
which was drunk with loud cheers.
The Earl of HARIWWB: proposed the health of the
noble chairman in very complimentary terms. •
Earl GRANVILLE having returned thanks, the proceed-
ings terminated.

Mr. Chidzey, of the London Tavern, officiated as
toast-mast er.

SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.

Familiar as these gardens are to the inhabitants of Cam-
berwell, Kennington, Walworth, and parts adjoining, it
is doubtful whether the extent of their fame is cornmen-
Eurate with their merits. A river is always found to be
an almost insuperable barrier to the inhabitants of a me-
tropolis, and, though there is no more difficulty in crossing
a bridge than in going down a street, the "other side of
the water" alwas conveys a notion of a sort of Ultima Thule
even to those who would eagerly seek the other side of the
Channel.

Now, in the case of the Surrey Gardens, there are certain
peculiarities, the contemplation of which well repays the
trouble of passing that magic boundary, the Thames. Here
only do we see pyrotechnic art turned to a purpose never
dreamt of by the old conventional contrivers of rockets,
stars, blue lights, and golden showers. A magnificent "set
scene," remarkabis even as a picture on a large scale, is set
up on the borders of a lake, with the real sky at the back,
and is a striking object by day, while it is the vehicle for
the fireworks at night. Chusan is the place represented,
and it is actually bombarded, until, history giving place to
fancy, it blows up into a storm of rockets. Fire-rafts that
float on the real water blaze till they fall to pieces and sink,
and what with the flames on the lake, and the explosion at
the back, a tableau is presented that is actually marvellous.
Nor is variety scorned by the exhibition. Before the
bombardment takes place the inhabitants of Chusan are
supposed to amuse themselves with a "feast of lanterns,"
and the lake is covered with all sorts of fantastic fireworks
and transparencies. To these sports of peace the noisier
manifestations of war come in as the terrible supplement.
The proprietors of the Surrey Gardens are almost puri-
tanical in their notions of decorum, and, such enemies are
they to late hours, that the fireworks are let off as soon
after nightfall as possible, becoming earlier and earlier as
the year declines from the summer solstice. There is an
orchestra, and there is singing (of very good quality), but
the art of Terpsichore is not acknowledged in the Ken-
nington Arcadia. Indeed, the various amusements are all
more or less of the grave and instructive kind. There is
a good stock of will beasts, there is a collection of work-
ing bees to ho seen in every stage of industry, there is an
eileerpohra b
ewr
ihni
sc la_ drawsa li
e" at a penny a-held, and shows wondrous skill in
turning round a corner' • there is an elastic bridge, which
eser givesay s w strongi
with communicating—whatmuch desired by the Em-
the modest, anpsement-seeker of the
t heevsied
sobere of its
entertainments
elasticitym en ts to all who cross it,
w wassensation. s
,Havingsaunbdu rs
be ef,recreatednret
thuer tnhse
pyro-
technicmto-
- to which they are the instructive preface,
to his home, which he reaches by a respectable supper-
time.

CRYSTAL PALACE, JULY S.—SIIILLING DAY--NO.
of season tickets sold to this date, 20,370.—Admission
at the doors, 13,006; acialisaiost by season tickets, 1,117
-- total, 14, 183.