The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-15 00:00:00

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Her Majesty, aeeompanied by the rrinoe, ei ' ' -,'`:.."..
again to the building yesterday morning, and ma --'`
the round of the galleries. There they were gesenteltad
by Mr. Henry Spicer and Mr. George Clowes with
handsomely bound copies of that valuable work, the
•_Official Illustrated Catalogue," which has at length
been-completed. The Queen then visited portions of
the United Stat Russian, and Belgian displays, and
in taking her departure shortly before 12 o'clock,
with her usual kindness and condescension took notice
of the old Cornish pedestrian tfisherwoman, who bad
been placed in her way, and with hearty emphasis
said, " God bless your Majesty." The rumour that
the Queen was to be present to-day turns out to be
unfounded, and the last observances connected with
the Great Exhibition will pass off ungraced by the
personal attendance of the Sovereign. Were her
Majesty less popular or less beloved than she is, her
absence would be less severely Lk, but remembering
the extraordinary marks of favour which she has con-
ferred upon this undertaking, and the persevering
energy with which she has explored the wonders of the
Crystal Palace, we believe we are only echoing the
sentiments of every exhibitor therein when we say
that the proceedings of this day lose hail their attrac-
tions since she is not to be present. Wby or how it
is that so much pains should have been taken to baulk
public enthusiasm, and to disappoint the national ex-
pectations to which such an occasion gives rise, we
are quite at a loss to conjecture, but there cannot be
a doubt that a complete disregard of popular feeling
has been shown by the Commission in the mode
which they have adopted for closing the Exhibition.
They have studiously thrown cold water upon their
own enterprise when it had attained the height of
success, and instead of sending exhibitors away from
Hyde-park gratified by the splendour of a closing cere-
monial, they dismiss them with a frigid and meagre ac-
knowledgment, to receive and digest as they may
awards which are not very likely, from all that we can
hear, to give public satisfaction. The Prince Consort,
great as his merits have been in connexion with this
undertaking, would be seen terminating its labours
far more advantageously in the presence of her
Majesty than acting on his own strength; nor is it
forgotten that at an early stage of the history of the
Great Exhibition the high honour of rewards received
from the hand of the Sovereign was held out as one
of the strongest inducements for the industrial com-
munity to give it their support. As matters stand,
after months of excitement and a career of unex-
ampled success, the vast display in Hyde-park reaches,
by the confessed act of the Commission itself, a tame
and awkward conclusion. A list of prizes is an-
nounced, of the merits of which it cannot speak with
confidence. The public tathusiastn is drowned in the
noise of gongs and bells, and exhibitors, foreign com-
missioners, local committeemen, and jurors are all
taken leave of with a degree of haste and a want of
ceremonious and dignified observance which contrasted
with the opening cannot fail to cause umbrage and
disappointment. It is now unfortunately too late to
alter existing arrangements, and we can only express,
a hope that the best may be made to-day-of a bald
and unpromising programme.
The attendance of exhibitors and their friends yes-
terday was much more numerous than on Monday,
but still the interior was by no means inconveniently
crowded. The preparations for the final ceremonial
were in rapid progress, and among the visitors a
painful sensation was experienced in finding that the
Crystal Fountain, that favourite rendezvous, that
central attraction of the building, had been entirely
removed during the preceding night. This was a
necessary step, and Mr. Osier submitted to it with a
cheerfulness worthy of the highest praise. Mr.
Paxton was less resigned, naturally regarding the
clearing away of the fountain as the first of a series
of destructive acts which might terminate in the en-
tire demolition of his fairy design. We trust that
his fears upon this subject are groundless, and we
are not without hope that the Crystal Fountain may
yet be restored to a position where it has excited so
much admiration, and to which,;if the building stands,
it has a strong priority of claim. Messrs. Keith and
Co.'s Spitalfields trophy is also, we hear, doomed,
that firm having liberally consented to its removal in
order to facilitate the arrangements for to-day. But
the clearing-out process is not confined to the two ob-
jects named, for the portions both of India and China
which look into the transept have upen already
swept away, and we have no doubt that this morn-
ing still more extensive clearances will be made
manifest.
The following liberal and highly praiseworthy cir-
cular to British exhibitors has just been issued by the
Royal Commission :
" Many of the Foreign Acting Commissioners having
represented that international advantages would be
,
likely to arise if their countries' possessed a collection of
specimens of raw materials and produce, and patterns of
some classes of manufactures shown by British exhi-
bitors, together with the wholesale prices of them, and
having expressed a desire that such collections should
be formed, her Majesty's Commissioners have au-
thorized the Executive Committee to assist in forming
them.
" British exhibitors who may be willing to present
specimens and patterns for this purpose are requested to
communicate immediately with Lieutenant Tyler, but in
those cases where they may not consider such presenta-
tion to be a sufficient commercial advantage to them-
selves, the Executive Committee are authorized to treat
for the purchase of the necessary quantities, and exhi-
bitors are requested to forward ther terms for the pur-
chase to Lieutenant Tyler before removing their a-
xles from the building.

" M. IJIGBY WYATT, See.
-' Exhibition Builling, Oct. 14."
At the close of the Exhibition this document has
a peculiar significance, and is, we trust, the har-
binger of other international acts of courtesy and
mutual accommodation which may tend to cement
into one harmonious system the industrial energies.of
the whole world.
As an example of the extensive sales at present in
progress in the Exhibition, we may state that Mr.
Pothergillir a well-known consulting engineer, at
Manchester, purchased on commission, and for the
most part yesterday, the following objects :—Craw-
hall's rope-making machine; the whole woollen
machinery shown by Mason, of Rochester ; Ryder's
forging machine ; Schlesinger's paging machine ;
French circular weaving machine by Matthieu :
Sewoli's lace-making machine, for plain and figured
work; a brick-tile a❑d pipe machine, from Randell
and Saunders; a drain-pipe and tile machine by
Whitehead; a loom warping machine and dressing
machine by Kenworthy ; looms by Harrison and
Bullough ; two looms by Marls Smith ; and one of
Barlow's improved jacquards. We may also men-
tion that the splendid collection of tools shown by
Whitworth has been bought by the Austrian Go-
vernment.