The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-22 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1851.

Considerable dissatisfaction was very naturally ex-
pressed at the announcement of her MAJESTY'S inten-
tion to " open" the Crystal Palace with " closed
doors." The absurdity of the bull itself sufficiently
indicates the anomaly and incongruity which would
inevitably have marked such a proceeding. Here
was an exposition of industry, not provincial in its
character, not metropolitan, not national, not Euro•
pears, but embracing within one comprehensive range
the whole family of mankind. It was promoted with
the avowed intention of celebrating the progress al-
ready made by humanity in carrying out the destinies
of modern civilization. It was no party movement,
no class demonstration, no exclusive festivity in ho-
nour of any one section of the masses—but a cosmo-
politan display of the products of art, industry, and
manufactures, calculated to promote good feeling
while tending also to excite emulation. The arena of
this international exhibition was one, moreover, of
appropriate importance : not the chief city of a sub-
ordinate state in Christendom, but the capital of that
great empire of the Anglo-Saxons which ex-
tends farther than the dreams of ALEXANDER,
or the colonies of CAtSAR, or the conquests
of NAPOLEON —an empire comprehending in
itself peninsulas, and islands, and even archipwla-,
goes, territories in each of the four great continents
and a new one of no inconsiderable dimensions,
namely, the southern continent of Australasia. It
was in the metropolis of this gigantic empire of
Britain that the representatives of the industry of the
nations of the earth were to assemble during the
approaching season, and the inauguration of their
assembly was to be rendered more peculiarly re-
markable by the presence of her Most Gracious MA-
JESTY the Sovereign of these realms of England.
Yet, at the very moment when every one prepared to
exult at the proximity of this auspicious ceremony,
the island was "startled from its propriety" by news
that the public would be excluded from witnessing
its celebration. No wonder that the first exclama-
tions of surprise dropped down gradually into sounds
not very unlike, in some instances, the mutterings of
indignation. No wonder the satisfaction with which
the multitude were anticipating the commencement of
the Exhibition was somewhat damped by intelligence
so peculiarly sinister and inauspicious. All kinds of
conjectures were, of course, indulged in by the mal-
contents, including those of a certain dread expe-
rienced as to the possibility of an assassination. As-
suredly, if such were the actuating motives in this
very extraordinary determination, fear had blinded
her MAJESTY'S advisers to facts which would have
been apparent under other circumstances to those
gifted only with the most ordinary amount of
common sense. Reason would have told them, had
they not perversely deafened themselves against her
persuasive accents, that a deed of this kind might be
much more readily effected outside than inside the
Crystal Palace. Besides, had these lugubrious whis-
perers of alarm such little confidence in the loyalty
of her MAJESTY'S subjects that they could dream of
any such atrocity being ventured upon without a cer-
tainty on the part of the assassins of being instantly
sacrificed to the frenzy of the popular vengeance ?
Shopkeepers we may be, cotton-spinners and manu-
facturers, but with all our thoughts of £ s. d.,
and with all our dusty habits of business,
there is still, we trust, sufficient chivalry left amongst
us to impel the vast body of the English population
to avenge even the pettiest insult:to our Most Graci-
ous SOVEREIGN. When SHAKSPERE says, in Hamlet,
that " there's such divinity doth hedge a king, that
treason dares not peep at him," he might have added
that that protection is somewhat enhanced by the
loyalty of a devoted and energetic multitude. Against
any calamity, therefore, of the kind imagined there
was the most effectual of all defences that could pos-
sibly surround the QUEEN—the bulwark of a nation's
love, and of an almost unexampled popularity. Our
beloved MONARCH has appreciated the force of this

consideration, and with that regard for the wishes o,

her people, which she has ever evinced from the pe-
riod of her accession, has at once consented to allow
the purchasers of season tickets to be admitted to
witness the ceremony of inauguration. For this
ready compliance with a generally expressed desire
we have reason to be thankful, in the first instance,
to the urbanity of the QUEEN, and in the next to the
assiduous exertions of Lord GRANVILLE and the other
members of the Executive Committee.

In consequence of the publicity given to the open-
ing of the Exhibition by her MAJESTY, it is intended,
we believe, to impart to the occasion an air of pomp
and grandeur of nearly unexampled magnificence.

With an edifice like the Crystal Palace, adorned by
such accessories, crowded by such an assemblage,
and invested with such associations, there will as-

suredly be no difficulty whatever in rendering the

event of its inauguration one of the most memorable

in the reign of VICTORIA. Among other things, ii

•
has already been suggested, we observe, that from
the noble organs already erected in the build-
ing should flow music of an appropriate

character, so to combine the blandishments
of this, about the divinest of the fine arts', with the

charms of other and equally charming decorations.
One of these superb instruments we had yesterday
ourselves the gratification of hearing as we stood in
the centre of the Palace, looking to the east and west
along the great transpt, and listening to the solemn
tones of the diapason as they rolled down those
sublime perspectives of blue and amber. To afford

any adequate notion of the effect of the whole spec-
tacle would be difficult if not altogether impracti-
cable. The exquisite proportions of the structure, the
lightness and delicacy of its colouring,
the symmetrical blending of its solid and

transparent materials, the astonishing variety,
and, in a thousand instances, the amazing
beauty of its contents—some gorgeous, others curious,

others ingenious, others vast and complicated, others

again remarkable for their compactness and sim-
plieity—render the whole scene one without a blemish
and without a parallel. Seeing the novelty as well as
the magnitude of the enterprise, it is earnestly to be

hoped that every endeavour will be made by the autho

rities to render the ceremony of its inauguration one
worthy not only of the occasion, but of the age, the

country, and the SOVEREIGN. That such efforts will
be adventured upon we rest entirely satisfied, from the

energy already displayed by those entrusted with the
conduct of the arrangements. As the project has
been undertaken magnanimously by England, we
trust that the Executive Committee will so act in
every particular as to render it creditable not only
to England but to Christendom.

Some short-sighted persons have thought proper to
censure the Liberal Members, more especially the re-
presentatives for the metropolitan districts, for yield-
ing too easy an assent to the imposition of the house-
tax. According to these sagacious personages, the
fiscal reformers should have " died on the floor of the
House" before they sanctioned so iniquitous and
partial a tax ; they should have insisted on the total
and unconditional abolition of the window-tax;
there should be no substitute for that which was so
utterly indefensible in itself; but the blot and
stain should at once and for ever be
erased from the national statute-book. Such are
some of the complaints that have been
forward with a view of impairing the con
b
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unwillingly yielded to the CiaNcELLo
to be carried
CHEQUER, and permitted his resolutions of the Ex-
without a division.
Sir CHARLES
WOOD, in framing these reso-
lutions, displayed a certain degree of mis-
chievous ingenuity, lie contrived it so that they
could not be subdivided, that it would not be practicable
to affirm the part that related to the abolition of the,
window-taz and negatiai that respecting the house.

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