The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-14 00:00:00

Woiking Classes Industrial Exhibition.

On Saturday afternoon the prizes were distributed
to the successful competitors at the recent " Metro-
politan and Provincial Working Classes' Exhibi-
tion." The Exhibition, which commenced on the
3d of September and closed on the 12th November,
was held in the Agricultural Ball at Islington.
Financially the results were satisfactory. Nearly
600,000 persons entered the building between those
two dates, and the receipts from all sources amounted
to upwards of £5,400, while the expenditure was
only £1,530. The council had thus a balance of
about £9OO, out of which they provided the prizes,
consisting of silver and bronze medals, the certifi-
cates of honourable mention, a framed view of the
Exhibition for every exhibitor, printed reports, &c.
In the first notice of the Exhibition printed in the
Times it was remarked that while the display was
an improvement on the local Exhibitions which had
preceded it, the articles sent in could not, as a whole,
be deemed satisfactory specimens of what the arti-
sans of the metropolis arc capable of doing, and
actually accomplish, every day for their emphters.
It would appear that the adjudicators took a similar
view, for the concluding paragraph of their Report
is in these terms :

" In expressing our opinion of the general character of
tl&is Exhibition, we feel bound to state that, with certain
honourable exceptions, the objects exhibited do not attain
to great excellence. The chief deficiencies aro in those
important qualities which result from well-directed study,
and in originality of design, the offspring of independent
thought. At the same time, there are abundant evidences
of patient, laborious perseverance, of earnest assiduity, and
particularly of technical skill and manual dexterity, which
give promise of more decided excellence in future Indus-
trial Exhibitions."

There was a large amount of amateur work in the
show at the Agricultural Hall, many tradesmen
and artisans exhibiting in classes with which
their own particular calling had no occupation.
Thus a cheesemonger competed in and gained
the second " special" prize for fancy needlework.
The question whether amateur work should be much
encouraged in Industrial Exhibitions is a disputed
one, but it is not easy to see how either art or manu-
facture is usefully promoted by a cheesemonger ex-
celling in crochet or embroidery. In the fine arts'
department most of the pictures were by amateurs,
and of this portion of the Exhibition the adjudica-
tors remark :—" Many of the works that have found
their way into the galleries are quite unworthy to be
exhibited under any circumstances, and some pos-
sess but slight claims for appearing in public." In
almost every instance of an artisan exhibiting in his
own class the result was highly creditable ; but it
may be hoped that in future Working Men's Indus-
trial Exhibitions there will be fewer useless models,
and worthless patchwork quilts and beadwork ships,
which show but little ingenuity, and no taate, and
are only so many records of misapplied patience.
The ceremony of Saturday, which took place at
Exeter-hall, was opened with prayer by the Rev. R.
Maguire.

Mr. G. J. GOSCIIEN, M.P., who presided on the
occasion, then addressed the exhibitors and others
assembled on the occasion. He commenced by con-
gratulating them on the fact that the Exhibition had
paid all its expenses and left a surplus to pay for
the prizes. It must, he thought, be gratifying to
those who had obtained prizes to know that those
prizes had been paid for out of the proceeds of the
Exhibition, at which many had been successful
competitors, and it must be gratifying to other ex-
hibitors who had been unsuccessful to feel that they
had taken part in an Exhibition the pecuniary re-
sults of which had been satisfactory. The gaining of
prizes was not the only object of those Exhibitions,
though, no doubt, it was an important object. Their
more important end was to induce persons to come
forward and submit their industrial and intellectual
efforts to public examination. In this way, such Ex-
hibitions afforded wholesome, rational, and intellec-
tual tests. The prizes which successful exhibitors
carried to their homes served as mementoes of many
hours profitably and agreeably spent. He looked
upon Working Men's Exhibitions as a very impor-
tant event in the present state of affairs. They
were proofs-that the working men had tastes, for
which some persons were scarcely prepared to give
them adequate credit. They proved that the work-
ing men did not devote themselves exclusively to
the labour upon which they depended for their daily
bread, nor give all their leisure time to pleasures,
which, though innocent in themselves, were often
abused ; but that, like persons in other stations,
they had a diversity of tastes, and were animated by
other feelings and sentitnents than those which some
attributed to them as a class. In certain senses
Working Men's Exhibitions stood upon a footing
different from that of those Exhibitions to which all
nations were invited. The latter indicated the pro-
gress made by the family of nations ; but the former
marked the progress made by a class whose tastes,
whose feelings, whose thoughts, whose advance in
mental qualification and social well-being were, he
regretted to say, too little known to the country at
large. He was not afraid of being misunderstood
when he stated that in this country one class knew
too little of another class, and that many of those
bitter words which in momenta of excitement were
dropped on one side and the other were the result
of that ignorance of each other rather than that of
enmity. Ile felt convinced that the more each class
knew of the other the more likely would each be to
trust the other. He did not think that classes in
this country were separated by hostile lines of
offence and defence. They were separated merely
by a cloud, which more light would dispel ; and he
valued those working Men's Exhibitions because
they would throw light upon the private life of the
working men. The curtain had risen on their
amusements ; and what a pleasant sight had been
presented in the Agricultural Hall ! He did not
wish to make too much of that Exhibition, because
he held that it was not right to judge of a whole
class by selected sections, and thus to make the
whole responsible for a part. Many persons, when
speaking of the working class, mentally included in
that class only paupers who could not work, and cri-
minals who were too lazy to work. This was not done
of malice aforethought, but the persons to whom
he alluded judged of a whole class from perhaps
four or five specimens who had come under their
own immediate observation. From a similar error
working men sometimes did great injustice to per-
sons in the upper class. He knew how often the
charge was made that those who addressed the
working class flattered them too much. That was a
fault which he should be very sorry to commit, be-
cause it would be most offensive to the working men
themselves. Besides, frankness was particularly
desirable at a time of so much misunderstanding
and so much doubt. He would observe, then, that
-while, on the one hand, the working class were
making progress in the direction to which he had
referred, on the other, doubts were expressed as to
whether those who took a part in our Exhibitions at
home were making that progress which was neces-
sary to enable them to take a part in our competi-
tion with other countries. It was said—he knew
not with what truth—that a canker was eating into
the vitals of English prosperity. Two causes were
assigned for this—the neglect of education and the
struggles between labour and capital. As to educa-
tion, those whom he addressed knew best whether
the charge was true or not—whether the working
classes ought. to do more for the education of their
children—whether sufficient sacrifices were made
by them in order that they might be able to give
their children such an edu...mtion as would prepare
them for the battle of life. If the charge made
against the working class on this head was true there
would be in the future a heavy weight on our people
in competing with other countries. He believed,
however, that the working class would not be be-
hiudhand in this respect. He believed that their
eyes were open to what was before them, and that
they were making progress in the direction of edu-
cation. Then, as to the difficult question of the
struggles between labour and capital, there were
many who thought that certain indications which
we had seen were the beginning of the end of the
prosperity of this country. He would not believe
that there was not enough of good feeling both on
the part of the employers and the employed to pre-
vent such a catastrophe as that of England falling
behind in competition with other nations. He be-
lieved tbat if the working class should find them-

selves on the wrong tack they would not be
ashamed or afraid to go upon the right one. He
believed they were not incapable of learning les-
sons from passing events, and he bad no doubt
that if our trade were jeopardised the patriotism
and good sense of all classes in the country would
prevent those dangers of which we had heard so
much. If the working class thought the time was
come when the questions to which he had alluded
ought to be removed from committee rooms where
those who discussed them sat with closed doors, to
another place in which there was a gallery of re-
porters, he believed the loyalty which was now
shown to Trades' Unions would become a loyalty to
the Parliament which made laws for the nation at
large. Those questions must be solved. He had
every confidence that they would be solved satis-
factorily, and that in Exhibitions held not at the
Agricultural Hall, nor in any hall of industry, but
in the markets of the world, where the prizes were
to be found in the custom of all the countries which
surrounded us, Englishmen would be able to main-
tain that pre-eminence, and the result of the com-
petition would be increased comfort and wealth to
individuals, and still greater prosperity to every
branch of English industry and manufacture. The
speech of the right hon. gentleman was listened to
with much attention, and several times during its
delivery, and also at its conclusion, he was loudly
cheered.

The distribution of prizes was then proceeded
with. The special prizes amounted in the aggregate
to £57. The first of them, a £lO-note, the gift of
the Agricultural Hall Company, was presented to
H. A. Major, a letter carrier, for the best painting
in oil. Sums of £5 each, the gifts of the same com-
pany, were [presented to R. C. Dunham, butcher,
for a decimal key ; W. H. Myers, printer, for a
working model of railway signals ; and E. R. May,
late lieutenant in the Indian navy, for boat-lower-
ing apparatus. Miss Alice Haselden, aged 17, was
presented with £5, the gift of Mr. J. Harris, for
the best watercolour drawing. The young lady was
loudly cheered as she stepped up to receive her prize.
Mr. W. A. Latta, a compositor, received a prize of
£2 25., the gift of Mr. J. E. Wilson, for the best
specimen of ornamental typography. Miss Ellen
M. Hammond, governess was presented with a prize
of two guineas for the best specimen of fancy needle-
work. Mr. Franklin was awarded both a silver cup,
the gift of Mr. J. Howard, and a silver medal for
agricultural machines. After the special prizes, the
silver medals, 85 in number, were presented ; next
the bronze ones, of which there were 187 ; and then
the certificates of honourable mention, 189 in num-
ber. The distribution of the pictures of the exhi-
bition followed. This was a very tedious process,
occupying over two hours. When all the prizes
and pictures had been delivered,
Mr. BERESFORD HOPE, M,P., rose and said that
at the request of the Council-of the exhibition he
had intended to have addressed to the assembly cer-
tain observations on the subject of art ; but the
proceedings of the day had occupied so much time
that he
,felt he would not be justified in making
more than a few remarks on the subject. The hon.
gentleman then proceeded to combat the notion
that workmanship and art were in no way con-
nected. He observed that in some minds there was
too much of the idea that workmanship was one
thing and art another—that workmanship was the
work-day clothes, and art only the Sunday vest.
This was a fallacy and heresy. To be good at all,
the workmanship must be artistic. There was as
much art in a well-made table as in a well-painted
picture. He did not mean to say there was as high
art in the one as in the other, but, if rightly made,
a table must possess two qualifications. It. must
please the eye and be adapted to its purpose. All
art was to be learnt from the human face ; and a
beautiful face—a face in which all the features were
best proportioned, best modelled, best put together
—best fulfilled all the purposes which the human
face was made to carry out. If a clumsy workman
were about to make a table, it was probable that
he would not consider whether the article was in-
tended to be such a one as would bear heavy weight
or a table to he moved by a lady's hand ; but it was
not so with aworkman who had any knowledge of art.
11e would be aware that the various portions of the
table should be in proportion one with another, and
that if they were not so it would be both offensive

to the eye and ill-suited for the purpose to which it

was intended to apply it. He implored of the
working men who heard hint not to believe there
was any royal road to art. Exhibitions like the
one recently held at Islington were most creditable
to those who took them up ; but even in such
exhibitions there might be mischief lurking if they
led persons to think that their own natural in-
genuity would enable them to dispense with instruc-
tion in the principles of art. The working men
should not require those exhibitions as fields on
which they could canter their own ingenuity, in
order to see how they could go without real
systematic learning. The great object to be
achieved was the particular improvement of every
man in his own particular studies ; and, with
all respect to the gentleman who organised working
men's exhibitions, he must express his opinion that
while prizes should be given to those who in their
hours of recreation produced works out of their
own business, something more special should be
given to those who, as a labour of love, prepared
articles for exhibition in that profession to which
they had devoted their life. The remarks of the
hon. member were much applauded.
On the motion of the Rev. Dr. Solly, seconded
by Mr. Holms, thanks were voted to the chairman,
and the proceedings were then brought to a close.

AGRICULTURAL POLITICS IN
LEICES fERSHIRE.

The inaugural dinner of the Leicestershire
Chamber of Agriculture took place at the Bell
Hotel, Leicester, on Saturday, under the presidency
of the Duke of Rutland, the Lord-Lieutenant of
the county, who was supported by the Mayor of the
borough, Lord Berners, Viscount Curzon, M.P.,
Mr. E. B. llartopp, M.P., Mr. C. S. Read, M.P.
for East Norfolk, Sir A. G. Hazlerigge, Sir F. T.
Fowke, Mr. A. Pell (chairman of the Central
Chamber of Agriculture), and over 100 others.
After the loyal and patriotic toasts had been
disposed of, Mr. W. U. IIEYGATE, ex-M.P. for the
borough, gave " the Health of the Lord-Lieutenant
of the County."

The noble CIIAIR3fAN, in responding, said that he
had received letters of apology for non-attendance
from I.llr. Packe,.M.P., and the late High-Sheriff,
Mr. F. Palmer—the former being of opinion that
such associations were established 20 years too late,
and that it was high time the farmers should be
aroused to a sense of the mischief of modern legisla-
tion. Since the establishment of free trade, it was
an undeniable fact that the position of the British
farmer had not had a fair share of the consideration
of Parliament. (Cheers.) Too much attention had
been paid to the British manufacturer in competing
with foreign countries, and when farmers had met
for the purpose of complaining of a grievance they
had been mot with the cry of " No politics."
(Laughter and hear.) It was an insult to common
sense that where the pocket suffered the cause of it
should not be probed to the bottom by discussion.
The chairman thought he might sit down by saying
that he fully indorsed the sentiment. After apolo-
gi,ing for the absence of his brother, Lord John
Manners, who regretted that he was unable to be
there—(cheers)--as he left him in bed with an
attack of illness which had prevented his attendance
at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, he said their
object was to bring before the Legislature any griev-
ance
that they thought they laboured under, and to
induce the Houses of Parliament to consider and
respect their rights and redress their grievances.
They thought that of late years the weight that was
due to agriculturists, the largeness of their body, and
their wealth, had not been duly attended to in
the Legislature--(cheers)—and it was for the pur-
pose of bringing to bear upon the Legislature their
wishes, feelings, and grievances that the Chamber
was established. He believed they would agree with
him that for the useful and profitable working of
the Chamber it was important that party politics
should be excluded, but only party politics.
They might consider any question—whether the
Malt-tax, the toll-bars, or anything e. se coming under

the term of " politics," but nothing relating to
party. They cared not for the politics of any man so
long as he gave them his vote in the House. It was
right also that all internal jealousies should be done
away with, and if they meant the Chamber to be
useful they must lay aside all small prejudices, so
that landlord and tenant, foreman and labourer,
might unite in supporting it. He would not touch
upon the various questions to be brought before the
Central Chamber—much less would he venture into
the question of the malt tax or the toll-bars, for
their great object was to put a stop to injustice.
(Hear.) Therefore, be hoped he should not be con-
sidered to be bringing forward a question that was
altogether irrelevant to the object of their meeting
if he ventured to refer to a subject mentioned the
other day by the great agitator of the day—Mr.
Bright. In order not to misrepresent the hon. gen-
tleman he would quote the whole paragraph,
which be had copied from the papers. On
the sth of last December Mr. Bright in a speech
said :—" Again, in 1846, although every intelligent
man in every country in the world admitted the
justice of the force of our argument against the
corn laws, still it required the occurrence of a crush-
ing famine in Ireland, a famine which destroyed as
many lives in that country as would have been de-
stroyed by a great war, and which drove into exile
as many of the people of that island as would have
been driven into exile by the most cruel and relent-
less conquest—it required all that before the Par-
liament of England, the men among whom I sat,
among whom I sit now, whose faces are as familiar
to me as those of any person whom I have known
is life—l say it required all that before they would
consent to give up that intolerable wrong and cease
to tax the bread of an industrious community."
Now, if he was alone concerned in that paragraph
he should sit down, but there were those alluded to
in it who were now no more, who had been called
away, and whose characters were reflected upon.
(Loud cheers.) He was glad of that opportunity of
vindicating the memories of as great, as patriotic,
as honest, and as straightforward politicians as
the country had produced. (Cheers.) There was no
doubt those sentences were uttered in order to pre-
judice the people against what he might call the
governing party. But in point of fact it really did
not touch them, and if it referred to anybody it was
to the late Sir Robert Peel and to Mr. Bright's
friend Mr. Gladstone, and to no one else. (Cheere.)
Who was it that gave up the contest for protection
on the grounds of the Irish famine, but Sir Robert
Peel and followers ? He believed, nevertheless, that
they were actuated by pure and patriotic principles
—that they had conscientiously changed their opin-
ions. But when the Irish famine and the lives of
the Irish people were laid to the doors of those who
to the last defended that protection which they be-
lieved to be the best for their country he repudiated
any such imputation. He said that not so much on
his own behalf as on the behalf of Lord George Ben-
tinck, than whom there was not a more noble or
more conscientious man. Why did he adopt the
course he pursued at the time of the Irish famine?
Why, because—whether rightly or wrongly he would
not say—he conscientiously thought that the famine
was to be met by other and different means than by
the repeal of the corn laws. He thought it not a
question of food, but that it was a question of
bringing the food to the mouths of the people.
(Cheers.) He thought what they wanted was the
money wherewith to buy the food, and he proposed
that the people should be found employment, and he
therefore proposed a vast scheme of Irish railways ;
and who could tell, if Lord George Bentiuck's pro-
position had been carried out, that it would not have
been successful ?—that the Irish famine might have
been mitigated. And who could tell, if he had been
successful, that the emigration which followed would
never have taken place, and that Fenianism, of
which we had lately had so much, would never have
been heard of ? Now, he gave Mr. Bright credit
for conscientious motives—(no, no, and laughter) ;
but he said this, that a politician who could take so
low a view of his fellow-labourers, who could believe
not one, two, or three men, but that a large body
of English gentlemen could be so actuated by selfish
and unpatriotic motives—that the man who really
believed that (and if he did not believe it he would
not say what he thought of him), and took such a
low view of his fellow-countrymen as that, had not
those great, those ennobling, and those judicious
qualities of which our statesmen and our patriots
are made. (Loud and continued cheers.)
The health of the Mayor, Mr. T. W. Hodges,
having been drunk and acknowledged,
Lord SERVERS gave the toast of the " Central
Chamber of Agriculture." In doing so he said such
societies were to bring in the strongest bond of union
the landlord and tenant farmers and their employers.
Such was necessary because the landed interest had
not received from the Legislature that justice which
they ought to have received on many occasions.
(Cheers.) To show the necessity of such, and that
a proper stand should be taken in Parliament when
any agricultural measure was brought before it, he
would state that as far back as 30 years ago, when-
ever anything occurred to affect the landed interest,
it failed for want of co-operation. Mr. Huskisson,
when he first tampered with the physical regulations
connected with agriculture, by taking off the tax on
hemp and flax which were produced by the farmer,
increased the tax upon oilcake, clover, and other
grass seeds. When a remonstrance was made they
were met by the cry that it was too late. A similar
society to that was established in 1835 in conse-
quence of politics being entirely excluded from the
agricultural associations, and with the aid of the
Central and 67 local societies' exertions petitions
were sent to the King, and the next session the
claims of the agriculturists were acknowledged in
the speech from the Throne, and redress promised
to their grievances. Soon after the society failed in
consequence of the indiscretion of one or two of its
members, but in 1846 a special committee of the
House of Lords sat and took evidence, which re-
sulted in the redress of the grievances. Oue great
injustice at the present time was the inequality of
the rating of tenants, a question which the wholeof
those connected with the land should look well into.
The total sum received per year was something like
£9,680,000, and the expenses for administration of the
Poor-law only £6,423,000, the other charges amount-
ing to nearly £3,000,000, which charges were quite
distinct from relief of the poor. Why was the expense
of registration, vaccination, &c., which amounted
to about £173,108, thrust upon the land? When
the question was asked in the House of Commons
the Chancellor of the Exchequer replied—because
there was no other class that would like to bear it ;
they did not know where to put it. It was wrong
that one-third of the whole of the poor-rates should
be spent in four or five items unconnected with the
relief of the poor, which was equal to 23 per cent.
of the income tax. (Applause.) He then proposed
the toast.

Mr. A. PELL, chairman of the Central Chamber,
acknowledged the toast, and said the society was
established on the principles of Chambers of Com-
merce at Manchester and Liverpool, which meddled
in politics, the former sufficiently to make them
feel it with effect, it having boasted that it asso-
ciated itself with those measures which led to the
find repeal of the Corn Laws. It was, therefore,
the farmers' business to take care of themselves, and
he repudiated the assertion that it was a Radical or
Conservative maveinent. They desired to elevate
the labourer, and it was monstrous to blame the
farmers for the present condition of their servants
while such small profit could be derived from the
land. It was a great injustice to put a tax upon
that which was the very life-blood of the labourer
on a harvest day. (Cheers.)

" The Borough and County Members" having

been given,

Lord Curzon and Mr. lIARTorr, two of the
county representatives, responded, expressing their
approval of the organisation of such an association,
and the bitter hoping for a removal of the obnoxious
malt tax. If they did not get it removed in the
next Session, they would not the following, for
their efforts would be frustrated by the wild schemes
of some persons who would convert our time-tried
constitutional monarchy into a miserable republic.
(Hear, and cheers.) He was convinced that what-
ever reform the English people required ought to