The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-10 00:00:00

GREAT EXHIBITION SURPLUS.

( From the Journal of the Society of Arts.)
, Sir,—As a member of the society, ,I have perused with
interest, not unmixed with astonishment, the recent re-
port of the Royal Commission. It has fallen coldly upon
. the public, been protested against by the learned bodies
of the metropolis, and is disposed of with more candour
than praise by our Council. When every one was on
the tip-toe of expectation to know what would be done
with the surplus of the Great Exhibition, down upon
their anxious upturned faces, like a shower-bath, comes
the announcement that sixty-eight and a half acres of
land have been purchased at Kensington Gore, for a
sum which more than entirely absorbs it. They look
for explanations, and they are favoured withtheutmteisrtlyy
outline of an impossible scheme, which it seems
unaccountable how such men as compose the Royal
Commission could ever have given their sanction to.
Even assuming that an investment in land was neces-
sary, the selection of a site cannot be regarded as a
happy one.
The masses were once attracted to Ken-
' sington ; but did they go there conveniently to them-
selves, or with the favour of the inhabitants ? Was it
looked upon as a vulgar invasion or not ? and will they
go again? Will students, who find it hard enough work
to struggle to Somerset-house and Marlborough-house
from the cheap suburbs, be able to reach Gore-house
day after day ? Does the organisation of this vast me-
tropolis, which is constantly changing, justify so enor-
mous an expenditure as is contemplated for a site which,
twenty years hence, may be the least accessible part of
town ? It appears to me that the Royal Commission
have deliberately sacrificed the surplus of which they
were the trustees to the conveniences of Government.
Government wanted space for the new National Gal-
lery, and for portions of the British Museum, and they
rush with the shillings of the millions to help it, without
inquiry whether such an alliance is necessary or desir-
able. They commit the proceeds of a great voluntary
effort to a dubious partnership with State establish-
's/tents, which have never been satisfactorily managed.
What can the people think of an act which associates
their contributions with ideas of Trafalgar-square archi-
tecture, picture-cleaning carried out with the scrubbing-
brush, railings that cost 14,0001., the jobbery, and the
bickerings—extended to the surplusage of the Old
Curiosity Shop in Bloomsbury ? Then, as if all this was
not sufficient, the most triumphant success of modern
times is to be associated with the Government School of
Design, hitherto an admitted failure, and the Govern-
ment School of Mines, which has already had a home
provided for it in Jermyn-street, far more comfortable
and splendid than, by its usefulness, it has yet been able
to justify. Even if these schools had given much olearer
evidences of a suitable return for the vast outlay upon
them, surely the Royal Commission need not' have
interfered with the State as long as it felt disposed to
act as their wet nurse. I feel satisfied that the applica-
tion of the Great Exhibition surplus to any scheme
dependent on Government co-operation is a monstrous
mistake. It chills all the enthusiasm of popular sym-
pathy ; it substitutes the idea of taxation for that of
voluntary contribution ; it puts the industrial arts under
the shadow of a State machinery; it refers to parlia-
mentary votes what every man who lives by labour
would like to honour with his independent support.
But let us assume that this union is a right one—that
the Commission and the Government between them may
properly spend 400,0001., or more, upon a site of 150
acres, without having commenced to lay one brick upon
another ; what remains to be done afterwards, and how
is it proposed to proceed ? Buildings are. to be erected,
museums to be formed, a great university to be en-
dowed, and the learned societies of the metropolis to be
brought into "juxtaposition." The most magnificent
schemes must submit to the vulgar test of practicability ;
for that, after all, is what distinguishes greatness from
charlatanry. Mahomet went to the mountain when it
would not come to him, but the Royal Commission have
no such alternative. Suppose the learned societies object
to be exhibited as a happy family,—the Geographicals
refusing to lie down with the Geologicals, and the
Asiatics, the Chemicals, the Engineers, the Antiquaries,
the Agriculturals, each preferring their own fig-tree,
as they at present possess it. The Royal Commission
have included these bodies in their plans without even
the formality of consulting them. They make the
supply of a want which they have not ascertained the
existence of a plea for a land investment at Kensington.
Again, take the money question,—where in the name
of all that is fortunate, are the funds to come from with
which to construct immense buildings, collect great
museums, and salary a pompous array of professors ? It
is not, surely, expected, that all this will be done by
voluntary contributions. Then you fall back upon the
public purse—Government interference mismanage-
ment, failures ! Alas ! for the Royal Commission !
They have sunk the money with which they were
entrusted in a land speculation,. and they will never get
it back again. Something might be hoped for if they
turned market-gardeners, or if they came to terms with
some " disinterested Mr. Kelk," who would cover their
estate with houses. But the cheese-paring economists
of Parliament will never vote supplies to relieve them
from the position in which they have so hastily involved
themselves. Even the first appeal to the House of Com-
mons on this subject excited murmurs which could not
be mistaken ; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer had
to give assurances which will not be forgotten hereafter.
Yet I am willing to argue this question as if all that
has been done is right, and as if all that is contemplated
were feasible. What then ? Is this vague scheme that
has been put forward without details, and defended by
an appeal to the most doubtful continental experiences,
so desirable after all ? Is it the best way of going to
work for the promotion of the Arts, and of industrial
education Will it most help on the objects to which
the Great Exhibition was dedicated, and thus satisfy the
public as to the discretion with which the Commission

has discharged its trust ? I think not, and will state
shortly why I think so. It appears to me, that the ques-
tion of industrial education has been entirely misappre-
hended ; that you cannot successfully teach the arts of
life in schools, or safely hand over the principles upon
which they rest to professors. The tendency of all col-
legiate systems is to dogmatise, and dogmatisms are
fatal to progress. The first men in every branch of in-
dustry, and the best and surest instructors in it will give
their lessons to apprentices in the workshop, not to pupils
in the class-room. It must always be so. They will
labour where the rewards of their exertions and talents
are greatest • so that to inferior hands, or to pretenders,
the chairs of the proposed University will be surren-
dered. Our schools and colleges may with advantage have
the present course of instruction given in them widened.
Science, in its various branches, may share more equally
with literature the attention of our youth ; but any at-
tempt to introduce into this country the technical edu-
cation of the Continent, must prove an egregious failure.
There is not only no adequate proof that the want of
such a system is felt, but the whole weight of evidence
is in the other direction. Even the facts collected by
Dr. Lyon Playfair abroad tell more against than for
the views of the Royal Commission • and I do not hesi-
tate to say, that an inquiry of the kind, less partially
conducted, would have dealt a decisive blow against the
whole scheme. In this country our experience runs en-
tirely in the opposite direction. We have never tried
anything of the sort without its being followed by a
disastrous break-down. We have taken and still hold
the highest place as an industrial community, without
any such aids. Our great manufacturers and engineers,
for the most part, look down with disdain upon the feeble
efforts made to help them by a body which, if they
really wanted the thing done, they would begin by dis-
pensing with. They know very well that if technical
education was desired, they themselves must supply it ;
nor will they readily consent to spoil the training of the
workshop by making it a school, or that cf the school
by turning it into a workshop. Except in very rare in-
stances, the two things are incompatible, for when labour
commences, scholastic instruction terminates ; and in
learning to earn his bread by his own industry, the boy
becomes a man. He will give or take information upon
equal terms, but he can no longer be taught. I believe
in the desirableness of a more liberal, and less purely
classical, or mathematical course of education in schools
and colleges. I believe in a more open and expansive
system of study at our Universities ;#I think the exist-
ing machinery may be made more useful, and more ap-
propriate to the wants of the age : but a new university,
new professorships, new degrees, and a new curriculum,
can no more be made respectable in the eyes of English-
men, than a new empire or a new aristocracy. The whole
thing would have a Brummagem character at once, and
even the west end site, the enormous expenditure, and
the influence of museums and galleries of art, would not
save its reputation. If more science is wanted in this
country, the want will create its supply in the natural
way, without any State forcing ; if scientific men do not
meet with adequate encouragement and support, it is
because they have not condescended to give to practice
the full benefit of their abstract labours.
Among a free community like ours everything that is
worth knowing soon finds its way into print ; and a
large, intelligent, and increasing body of readers offers
to intellectual effort the strongest incentives on the one
hand, while the pressure of necessities, as they arise, sti-
mulate on the other. Our system of voluntary associa-
tion for the promotion of all public objects, guarantees
us against the neglect of any flagrant evils in our social
state ; and it is far better that we should try to improve
and strengthen the means we have got for accelgrating
the progress of the arts, than to embark all our resources
in new and doubtful ventures.
As a member of the Society of Arts, I feel indignant
at the treatment which it has received from the hands of
the Royal Commission. The scheme of the Great Exhi-
bition originated in our Council—its success was largely
due to members of that body. The early responsibilities
of the undertaking were allowed by the Commission to
rest heavily upon us, and if a strong claim existed on the
appropriation of the surplus, it was ours ; yet we are
coolly placed on a level with all the rest of the world,
and a formal application which we made was not even
formally replied to. I am not surprised, therefore, at
the guarded tone of independence with which the Report
of b
the Commission has been treated by the Council.
The freedom of a correspondent writing on his indivi-
dual responsibility exempts me from their reserve ; and
it is well that the conflict of opinions on such matters
should find vent in theSowchieiutyh'sthJeoßuornaall.c I do not
question the sincerity with d _ y
have sought to discharge
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[ADVERTISEMENT.]—Diseases of the Kidneys, Blad-
der, &c.—Dr. Denis Cronin has removed from Leicester-
place to 35, Bruton-street, Berkeley-square, where he
may be consulted, as usual, from ten till two, on his
treatment of affections of the kidneys,
bladder, and
prostrate gland, in their connection with diseases of the
stomach and liver. Urinary Analysis (the importance
of which to the successful treatment of disease is now
fully acknowledged) conducted daily, in accordance
with Dr, D, Cronin'o new theory.

THE um nil) STATES.

ARRIVAL OF THE AFRICA.

The British and American Royal Mail steam-ship
Africa, Lott, commander, arrived in Liverpool last
night direct from New York, having left that port
at noon on the 29th ult.

She brings 51 passengers, 104,000 dollars in
specie on freight, and the mails from the United
States and Canada.

The Africa, in steaming up the Mersey, ran foul
of a ship, by which considerable damage was sus-
tained, and great detention in the landing of our
newspaper dispatches.
By this arrival we have four days later intelli-
gence than that brought by the American mail
steam-ship Arctic on Wednesday last.
We have to state that the health of the newly-
elected Vice-President King had considerably un-
proved, and that great hopes are now entertained
of his recovery.
In Congress nothing of interest had transpired, it
having been arranged on the adjournment that no
business of importance should be entertained till
after the close of the year, the last week of which
were usually kept as holidays.
By the Africa we have news from California to
the Ist, conveyed by the American steam-ship
Uncle Sam. She reports that there was then on
the way to the United States specie to the extent
of nearly three millions in gold dust. The news
from the mines continued to be very favourable,
the rebuilding of the lately burned portion of the
cities was progressing very fast. Business was
good, but produce and other articles of import
commanded high prices.
Intelligence from the Sandwich Islands to the
6th of November had also reached New York by
the same vessel. The news is, however, unim-
portant. From the West Indies we have also
news via New York. From Jamaica, the dates
are to the 22d of December. The island is re-
ported more healthy, and business unchanged.
From Barbadoes we learn that the yellow fever is
very prevalent, but business fair.