The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-13 00:00:00

army of British art workmen would find their skill
and ingenuity wonderfully increased by employing
those leisure moments and winter evenings, which
might not otherwise be so profitably spent, in these
extraneous labours of love. Vast, indeed, was that
army. That exhibition, he believed, had for the first
time called forth that array of provincial as well as
metropolitan art-workmanship ; and it was most
gratifying to know that in the opinion of the adju-
dicators some of the most meritorious designs bad
emanated from provincial towns. Another impor-
tant consideration connected with these exhibitions
was the additional zest they communicated to the
pleasures of the domestic hearth and the social circle.
They could easily picture to themselves many a long
winter night occupied by a father, a husband, a bro-
ther, or a son over his labour of love, the progress
or which was watched, many of those present knew
how fondly and proudly, by the wife, the daughter,
the sister, or the parents, who speculated hopefully
on the place which some little article--a unit in a
great whole—might hereafter occupy in a collection
like the present. Nor did the beneficial influence of
these exhibitions stop there. The half million and
more persons who had lately visited that noble hall
were composed not exclusively, but mainly of work-
people, with their wives and families. Therefore he
might safely say that the domestic influence exer-
cised by these exhibitions was not confined to the
immediate circle in which it was created. Again, let
them mark how, around these productions of the
working men, had been grouped the charms of music
and the various branches of knowledge which were
to be acquired from the lectures that had been deli-
vered. Thus they saw how one thing, small
perhaps in its inception, might lead to great
and varied results, and they might, moreover,
gather from the results of these undertakings en-
couragement for the future. The report of the
adjudicators had told them what was reasonably
to have been expected, that perfection had not
yet been attained—(a laugh) ; but at all eventsthere
was enough excellence shown to stimulate every ex-
hibitor to go on and prosper in future years. Again,
that Exhibition had been visited with interest and
delight by many men and women of all classes, and
he saw in it one link the more added to the golden ,
chain which should bind together all sections of that
great community. (Cheers.) In these days, when
so much was said and written to disintegrate society,
let them take heart and hope from witnessing the
triumphant success of that great Industrial Exhibi-
tion. (Cheers.) And great as had been the benefit
derived from that Exhibition, considerable as had
been the pleasure, the recreation, and instruction
afforded there during the last ten weeks, let them
take away from that which might otherwise be a
somewhat sad closing ceremonial the consoling
thought that in the future in their various spheres
they would derive fresh encouragement for works
of that magnificent character, and carry home with
them aspirations, sentiments of mutual forbearance,
brotherly kindness, and an enlarged humanity to
cheer their hearths and warm their hearts under the
snows of winter, and to burst into virgin flowersand
Christian fruits beneath the suns and the fires of
Pentecost. (Loud cheers.) The noble lord con-
cluded by thanking the adjudicators and exhibitors,
on behalf of the committee, for their co-operation,
and then declared the Exhibition formally closed.
Au appropriate prayer having been offered, the
choir sang Kent's anthem " Blessed be thou," and a
vote of thanks to the chairman was passed by ac-
clamation. In acknowledging the compliment,
Lord J. MANNERS said that about a quarter of a
century ago, when he began to regard himself as a
working man, he recollected at the close of one of
those arduous Parliamentary campaigns which re-
sulted in the triumph of the Ten Hours Bill, attending
a meeting which, with the exception of the present
one, was certainly the most numerous meeting at
which he had ever been present, in the Free Trade-
hall at Manchester. There they celebrated in the
heartiest manner the successful termination of
that protracted struggle, and he well remembered
that throughout its progress it was alleged by those
who opposed the abridgment of the hours of labour
that the work people of this country, if they ob-
tained that boon, would not use it in the way that
its advocates asserted they would do. Well, years
had rolled by since then, and there, in that Exhibi-
tion, as well as in many other displays, innumerable
proofs had been given of the soundness of the views
held by himself and his friends on that point, and
it was now an established fact that the working
people of this country, to whatever class they be-
longed, would make a good not a bad use of those
leisure moments which might be secured to them,
whether by means of legislative enactments, or
through the improved regulations of trade.
The noble lord then invoked three cheers for the
council, the adjudicators, the exhibitors, &c., which
were given very heartily by the whole assemblage ;
and after one or two formal resolutions, the diver-
sified ceremonial was at length brought to a close
by a further musical performance.