The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-12 00:00:00

CRYSTAL PALACE.

Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from a most
excellent and worthy and clever man, Mr. Joseph Pax-
ton, of Chatsworth, against the taking down of the
Crystal Palace.—(Hear.) He had, when Mr. Paxton
asked him to present the petition said he was the last
person who should be asked to present the petition, be-
cause be had always been against placing the Exhibition
in Hyde-park—not against the Exhibition itself, because
he had always expressed his approval of the Exhibition
itself as a work of not only British but European
utility—but he had opposed the Exhibition taking place
in Hyde-parka because the erection of that building
and the taking it down would be a nuisance. And he
had also been of opinion that the erection of it would
encroach upon the Park, and would be illegal; and he
still felt that his Hon. and Learned Friend, the now
Master of the Rolls, ought not to have interfered to pre-
vent the question, as to the legality or illegality of that
erection, from being discussed in a court of law;
and if the same thing were to go over again, he
should probably argue as he had done, and be of pre-
cisely the same opinion that he had been; he therefore
would not go into the question but let Mr. Paxton state
his own case in his own words. There was a great
difference between being opposed to the placing the
Palace in Hyde-park and the consenting to its removal.
,(The Noble Lord then proceeded to read portions of the
petition of Mr. Paxton, in which he stated that had
the duty on glass continued no such building as
the Crystal Palace could have been constructed.
The existence, therefore, of the Crystal Palace was due
to the measures of Sir Robert Peel.) Mr. Paxton said
that nothing could be more useful to this metropolis than
to retain that vast space as a winter garden for the re-
creation of the people during the six months of winter.
Such a building so maintained would not only tend to the
amusement but to the useful instruction of the'paople by the
transfer to that building from the over-crowded rooms
of
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fully heard and to a certain degree deferred to, and he
had no doubt bat that for a less amount than the funds
at the disposal of the Commissioners it might be trans-
ferred into a winter garden and museum, and that from
the annual income derived from admission, the whole of
the - expenses of its maintenance might be pro-
vided for, and he prayed their Lordships 'to pre-''
vent the Crystal Palace from being removed or destroyed,
He hoped that before the great building should be re-
moved the fullest investigation would take plaee into the
allegations of the petition, and that due consideration
should be given to the reasonss on the one side and on
the other. He ventured to say that the people of this
country were decidedly of opinion against its removal.
For after this Exhibition had succeeded in a manner which
exceeded the expectations of its most sanguine supporters,
if they were to destroy the building they would be giv-
ing to the world, after an Exhibition of the Industry of
all Nations, an unparalleled exhibition of the folly and
vacillation of this nation; and therefore he believed that
the people of this country were opposed to the destruction
of the Crystal Palace.—(Hear.) The great benefit of
the Exhibition had not, however, been without
alloy.—(Hear.) That success had inflicted great suffer-
ing on the shopkeepers, but that suffering would not be
occasioned by the change of it into a winter garden.
He was convinced that without lir. Paxton that Exhi-
bition would never have taken place. If the building had
not been erected according to his plan of glass and iron,
that Exhibition would not have taken place. Mr. Pax-
ton had consulted him on the subject, and he had ad-
vised him to submit his plan, and it was infinitely to the
credit of the committee, whose conduct throughout had
been admirable, and nothing was more entitled to ap-
proval than their immediate adoption of the plan of Mr.
Paxton. What he wished them now to do was to pause ,
be-
fare consenting to its destruction. He had the honour of
! being chairman of a well-known society—that of Useful
i Knowledge; and he knew that they were about to petition
in favour of maintaining the Crystal Palace, as they be-
lieved it would be a great support of their ally, the school-
Mager, 40 A grot opport agaiagt their riyal, or rather ad-
• ~ .