The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-08 00:00:00

LONDON, •FRIDAY

cessfully carried nut, wa3 pricl on Tuomtly last to
that dis.irguished man by the gentry of the good
town of Derby. Nov the least intereting feature of
the entertAinrrov. was the pre ence of the princely

owner of Chatsworth, who erjoys the proud con-

scionsnEss of having in years gone by given a helping
hand to the steady and hardworking South who was
destined one day to win so high a station in the ranks
of nature's nobility, and of witnessing the world-
renowned fruits of his former generous patronage.
When the design for the unparalleled structure, was
first propounded by Mr. PAXTON, it was regarded by
many with astonishment verging on incredulity, but
the Duke of DEVONSHIRE knew his man. He felt a
thorough confidence in the powers and perseverance
of one whom "he bad never known to fail in any-
thing be had undertaken," in his " well regulated,
clear, and active mind—his powerful and persevering
will," and it was with a generous and just exultation
that be was enabled on Tuesday evening to proclaim
his pride in being connected with the pcssessor of
" mind, integrity, simplicity, and talent, to enjoy
whose confidence was as gratifying to his (the Duke's)
feelings as his extensive services had been conducive

to his worldly prosperity." Cordially do we unite in
the certainty expressed by the noble speaker that,
should the arrangements and regulations of the
Crystal Palace hereafter be confided to the inventor,
its merits and advantages in a second state would
be as striking and as well appreciated as they were in
the first."

The speech of the honoured guest of the occasion
afforded an interesting expression of the feelings
which inspired him, from the very first, as regarded
the stupendous edifice. " When the Exhibition,"
said he, " was first propounded, I hailed it with un-
mixed pleasure ; it appeared to me like a beam of
light of vast magnitude, embracing a field of opera-

tion, the true advantages of which could only be felt
in after times, when the great efforts made would un-
fold themselves in a thousand different and unlooked
for channels This is, the seed time, the harvest will
assuredly follow. Not only will the mechanical in-

genuity of man find means for extended improve

meat, but the social nature of man will receive its re-
wards in the sweeping away of national prejudice,
and establishing between nation and nation, and man
and man, a kinder appreciation of each other's worth,

and a more charitable view of each other's frailties."
And of the correctness of those views we are now,
fortunately, enabled to judge from the ex-

perience of the last three months. Nor can
the lucid statements made - by Mr. PAXTON,
of his connexion with the magnificent scheme,
and the reasons which induced him to furnish a plan,
be perused without exciting interest throughout its
details in the breast of every one less insanely pre-
judiced than the Gallant Representative of Lincoln.
Perseveringly and confidently we find him working
out his absorbing object from the first sketch made o❑
a sheet of blotting paper, and which indicated the
principal features of the building as it now stands as
much as the most finished subsequent drawings, to
the realization of the marvellous conception. We may
direct attention en passant to the refutation of an
opinion which we shared in common with the rest of
the world, that the circular roof of the transept was
designed by Mr. BARRY, and not by Mr. PAXTON.
" Sui cuique honores." The architects of the two
great palaces have each sufficient laurels of their own.
Nothing, however, could exceed the handsome and
ungrudging manner in which Mr. PAXTON spoke of
all his coadjutors, awarding his cordial weed of
applause especially to the ability, energy, and
transcendent skill of Messrs. Fox and HENDERSON,
and the admirable judgment displayed by Mr. OWEN
JONES in his selection of colours for the interior
of the building. In referring to a notion
on the part of some that the plan
of the structure was merely " a fortunate idea," the
speaker happily observed—and we would direct atten-
tion to the concluding sentences of the paragraph as
a graceful specimen of sincere and unfulsome grati-
tude,:—" The idea, though fortunate, was not a for-
tuitous one. It was the result of long study and long
labour, without which no really practical idea can be
worked out into a distinct and palpable design. The
great experience I had in the erection of glass struc-
tures, and the invariable success which had attended
my exertions, emboldened me to produce that design,
because I had not a doubt of its practicability if pro-
perly carried out. I had two objects in view in offer-
ing a design—the first was, that my proposal would
be exactly suitable for the exhibition ; and next, it
would meet a long cherished idea of mine fur a na-
tional winter garden. I have stated to you that the
Victoria Regia was the immediate cause of my send-
ing in a design for the Crystal Palace; but the Crys-
tal Palace does not derive its origin from the exist-
ence of that noble plant. No ! It owes its erection to a
nobler work of nature—the Noble Duke whom I have
had the honour and pleasure to serve for more than a
quarter of a century. It is to his fostering hand I owe
all I possess ; he took me when quite a youth and
moulded me according to his wants and wishes ; he has
given me all the advantages of extended travel with
himself, which could not fail to produce fruit in due
season ; by his confidence and liberality I have had
placed before me ample means for various experi-
ments, and without which, depend upon it, there
never would have been a Crystal Palace ; and if there
is one thing more than another that would en-
hance the pleasures of this day, it is that his Grace
has done me the honour to be present to see the flat-
tering tribute you have paid ma." It is because we
believe Mr. PAXTON to have attained his celebrity
not by luck, or fitful genius, but by thoughtfulness,
' observation, and assiduity, because we believe him to
deserve it, alike from the possession and combination of
those qualifications, and from an unselfish, un-
presumptuous , and kindly disposition, that we rejoice
in the public appreciation of his deserts, evidenced
in such manifestations as that which has reflected
credit on the citizens of Derby. Being personally
unacquainted with him, we can the more unreserv-
edly say, that, judging both from his performances
and his words, he may justly be pronounced de-
serving in the extreme of the popular admiration and
respect which gather thick around his name.

FRENCH PLATS, ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.—Her
Majesty the Queen has graciously intimated her intention of
visiting the French Plays this evening, on which occasion
Monsieur Bouffe will appear in his celebrated character of
Grandet, in the popular play of "La Fille de l'Avare ;" and
Monsieur Lafont in Alfred de Musset's comedie, " 11 faut
qu'une Porte wit Ouverte on Feriae."

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT.—Another of the
meetings, making up the grand " Teetotal Demonstration
for all Nations in 1.51," was held yesterday evening in St.
Martin's-hall, Long-acre • Mr. Livesey, of Preston, in the
chair. At six o'clock, the hour announced as that at which
the proceedings should commence, the attendance was ex-
ceedingly thin; but this circumstance the chairman ex-
plained, by a statement that some of the placards had, by
an unfortunate mistake, given the time of assembling as
seven. Various temperance melodies were sung to fill up
the interval, and Mr. Livesey, who was loudly cheered, de-
tailed to the audience the progress of the temperance move-
ment, especially in Preston, whence he came. Subsequently
the hall became densely crowded, remaining so till nearly
eleven o'clock, by which time many more songs had been
sung and many more speeches delivered, much to the satis-
faction of the numerous audience brought together by the
occasion. A letter from the proprietor of the Surrey Zoolo-
gical Gardens, where the teetotallers in very large numbers
(25,000 in all) gathered recently, informed the secretary of
the extreme orderliness and propriety of behaviour there
maintained ; and the reading of this epistle to the meeting,
complimentary as it was to the body to which the majority
belonged, called forth moat vehement applause.
THE CONDEMNED CONVICT AT NORWICH.---The
execution of the condemned convict, Henry Groom, who was
tried and found guilty at the last Norfolk assizes for an ag-
gravated case of murder, is fixed to take place on Saturday,
the 9th instant, at twelve o'clock, in front of Norwich
Castle. Since his condemnation, the miserable culprit
seems to be perfectly alive to the fearful nature of his po-
sition, and has made in general terms a full confession of his
guilt to the gaol chaplain. He is most attentive to the reli-
gious consolation offered to him, and admits the perfect jug•
tice of his sentence.

THE PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.--Yesterday
a report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons
appointed to settle the order in which the Members shall
accompany the Speaker in the opening or proroguing Par-
liament was printed. Every Member desirous of attending
the Speaker is to communicate his intention in writing to
the Clerk of the House, in case the House is not sitting, be-
fore five o'clock on the day preceding, and if it s
itting, be
" between the hour of three in the afternoon an
House d the rising
of the House on the ea), preceding." On the being
summoned to attend her Majesty the Cabinet Ministers pre-
sent are immediately to follow the Speaker. On the day of
meeting, or the prorogation, before any other business be
done, the names of the Members are to he put into a glass
and arranged according to the order in which they shall be
drawn forth therefrom—the Members to proceed to the House
of Lords in ranks of four. After the House has been sum-
moned to attend her Majesty no Member is to remain in,
cross, or pass through, any door leading to the House of
Lords, and the Sergeant-at-Arms is to keep the passage clear
of Members.

ELECTION OF A REPRESENTATIVE PEER FOR
SCOTLAND.—Lord Colville, of Cuhoes, was elected at Holy—
rood, on Wednesday, a representative peer for Scotland, in
roil of the late Viscount Strathelleus