The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-30 00:00:00

eb mina Altit.

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1851.

Advocates are daily multiplying in favour of pre-
serving the Palace of Exhibition. DENARIUS, the
anonymous pamphleteer,* who first suggested the con-
tinuance of the building upon its present site, has
been followed by a yet more influential supporter of
the same project—one no less remarkable than Mr.
PAXTON himselfej- the designer of the crystal edifice.
Than the arguments advanced by these two intelli-
gent writers we believe that nothing could be more
satisfactorily unanswerable. Remember, it is in no
instance proposed that the structure in Hyde-
park shall be purchased by funds especially
collected with that intention. Neither is it suggested
that the cost of its maintenance shall be defrayed
by moneys similarly obtained or by periodical
grants from the Government. The Crystal Palace is
to be bought by the surplus of the sums obtained by
the now flourishing Exhibition, and to be kept up
according to the self- supporting principle. Against
these hints there cannot remain any very serious ob-
jection. No individual is called upon to defray the
expenditure, but the institution is to create itself, and
to exist upon the strength imparted to it at
the period of its origination. In order very
briefly to demonstrate that these notions
are founded upon no illusory scheme, it
may be as well to glance over the items discoverable
in the first moderate calculations. For example,
therefore, it is argued that the receipts of the enter-
prise must at the close of the undertaking amount to
no less than 366,5871. 16.., namely, 65,0001. of sub-
'criptions already paid, 3 2001. by catalogue contract,
5 5001. by refreshment contract, 162,8871. 16,. by
season tickets and entrance at the doors to the
19th instant, with 130,0001. additional, esti-
mated to be the further proceeds of the
present charges of admission, thus making altogether
the aggregate of 366,5871. 163. already specified.
Against this total is opposed the anticipated total of
the expenditure, a round sum of just 221 8001.,
namely, 79,800/. for building purposes, 55,0001. for
extra galleries, counters, &c., 25,000/.' for the
management to Msy, 20,000/., for the prize fund,
30 000/. more for the management up to the closing
of the Exhibition, and at the very utmost 12,0001.
for the police and other attendance. Now
subtracting this sum of 2218001. from
the amount of the estimated receipts, 366,587/. 165.,
there will remain altogether in the bands of the
Loyel Commissioners a surplus of somewhere about
140,000/., enough in all conscience to defray the re-
quired cost of the Crystal Palace, in order to render
it in perpetuity the property of the public at how-.
Everyone knows by this time the numerous advan-
tages certain to accrue to the citizens of the
metropolis from such a permanent posses-
sion as the one here indicated. Everyone
knows, for example, that it would, among
other things, enable the people to have exerci4e in all
weathers, as DENARIUS has very delightfully sug-
gested in his title-page, and satisfactorily explained
in his argument, among fl ►were, fountains, and sculp-
ture. Imagine to yourself, for instance, the delight
of having some twenty acres of grasseplot in per-
petual verdure, sheltered by a transparent roof from
the inclemency of our climate, adorned with foun-
tains such as those now playing among the
specimens of the world's art and industry, intermingled
with statuary in stone, and bronze, and marble, with
the stuffed denizens of the forest and the wilderness,
removed from the crowded galleries of the British
N.luaeum, according to the ingenious proposal of a
contemporary, and, added to all this, an endless
variety of flowering plants, both exotic and indige-
nous, imparting a refreshing influence to the whole,
and lending to the comforts of a new order of archi-
tecture the charms of a perennial vegetation. It
might be observed, moreover, that in time the interior
of the roof itself would be trailed over with the vine,
while creeping plants of every imaginable description
would clamber up the pillars, and festoon in natural
garlinds across the naves and the transept. Con-
nected with a spectacle thus magically beautiful
might be arrangements of practical utility, arrange-
ments calculated to advance the cultivation of the
arts and sciences, and by that means to
forward the progress of civilization. Lectures of
a popular character might, for instance, at
stated intervals be delivered to the frequenters of
the institution, and annual exhibitions of statuary
might in like manner tend to foster the interests of
our national sculptors, while the masterpieces of the
latter might from time to time be selected as addi-
tional decorations. Recollect, also, that by purchasing
and preserving the Crystal Palace in its present state
the people would be best securing to themselves the
chances of some subsequent repetition of a display
like that of the present ludustrial Exhibition.

Nevertheless, it cannot be forgotten, that while we
are indulging in thoughts which at present are little
less subsiantial than day-dreams, the Royal Commis-
sioners are formally ar.d solemnly pledged to remove
the building within the limits of a certain interval.
DENARIUS has, in the emergency of the position,
called at least for a temporary respite, and the Hon.
Gentleman the Member for Northamptonshire, on
Friday evening, took occasion to request the at-
tention of the House of Commons to the
subject, so that the public interest in the
matter might not be altogether overlooked by
the Legislature. Fortunately the remarks of Mr.
STAFFORD elicited from the PRIME MINISTER the
observation that the ultimate decision arrived at re-
specting the maintenance or removal of the Crystal
Palace depended in a great measure on the expression
of their opinion by the population. It consequently
behoves the public at large to speak out plainly, and
that betimes, if they would have the present regula-
tion rescinded requiring the Commissioners to re -
move the palace in Hyde-park immediately after the
close of the Exhibition. Unless prompt and decisive
efforts be made to interpose between the promise of the
Commission and its fulfilment. the metropolis will be
deprivsd of very numerous and valuable advantages,
and of a truly brilliant ansi, remarkable adornment.
Minor suggestions relating to the matter, such as
that Ecoeitrians should be admitted to the advantages
of the shelter, we cannot regard as at all deserving of
encouragement ; but the principal proposal, to the
effect that the building should be preserved instead of
being t„ ken to pieces, we view with a really solici-
tous complacency.

A case of great interest to the commercial world
was tried before Mr. Baron MARTIN at the nisi prius
the Court of Exchequer during the past
siwteteikor
of
It was not the magnitude of the sum in dis-
pute (although 2,596/ 17sterling trifle) that
. s. is no
anxiety as to the result. That amount,
occasioned the
large as it unquestionably was, would have been a
trifle fl
defendantso the
wealthy
n the and influential firm who appeared
s
occasion. If they bad consi-
dered that they had been in error, or that there was
any legal or equitable claim in favour of the plaintiffs,
the matter would have been readily settled without
the intervention of the gentlemen the
long robe
being
An al I egel m was
required
But
custom importantto Principle was in-
v set up as binding on
bankers, which was not only not established by the
evidence—for a cu'tom to be binding must be general,
and not resorted to by a majority only, but which
would, if recognised, be contrary to the statute law of
the laud, and b 3 a direct fraud on the Stamp Act.
The jury, however, found for the plaintiffs,
contrary to the charge of the Learned Judge who
presided on the occasion. The matter is, however,
by no means concluded. The facts are only decided
by the trial, and it will be for the full court in
banco, or perhaps for the Exchequer Chamber, to pro-
nounce on the state of the law applicable to these
feints. All that has as yet taken place may be re-
garded as mere formalities necessary for placing the
case in a fitting train for ultimate decision. And
yet, under a well regulated system, this stage

•" Shall we keep the Crystal Palace, and have Riding
and Walking in all Weathers among Flowers, Foun-
tains. and Sculpture?" By Denartua. Bvo. pp. 16.
London: John Murray, 1851.
t " What is to b,come of the Crystal False:?" By
Joseph Paxton. Bw., pp. 16. London: Bradbury and
Evans, 1851.