The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-09 00:00:00

25 75
25 75

THE EXHIBITION OF 1862.

The British public are at present asking very few
questions about what is expected to be the world's
wonder in 1862.
About the building itself there are plenty of signs
of activity and progress, but still everything is in
that confused state which renders the obtaining a
definite idea as to the future impossible. There
are forests of scaffolding, and formidable heaps of

stores of every kind, the latter consisting princi-
pally of the iron work, all ready to be put up when
the masons and bricklayers have done. It is said
that already £40,000 worth lies strewed about the
wharf, and £25,000 more within the building.
The work required of the masons and bricklayers
is, it appears, very trifling, and hence the slight
inconvenience felt in consequence of the strike.
The main structure of the building will be iron,
and that has all been cast and forged, ready to
hand. There are a few Sappers and Miners en-
gaged, but chiefly in superintendence ; they do no
work for the contractors, but take their instructions
exclusively from the Royal Commission. Without
going into any tiresome details about the number
of bricks which are laid daily, or the cubic feet of
ironwork which are intended to be raised, we may
state generally that the picture-gallery will most
probably be roofed in in October, and that there is
not the slightest doubt, humanly speaking, of the
building and its multifarious contents being quite
ready to receive the rush of the million at the time
appointed next year.
With respect to those contents, we have not as
yet got much beyond expectation. The Commis-
sioners have sent their cards of invitation to
the four corners of the earth, and in every case
have, we were informed yesterday, received the
most satisfactory replies. The universal cry is
" space, space," but what the applicants intend to
put into that much desiderated " space" can only
be ascertained by a reference to Mr. M'Culloch's ex-
haustive dictionary of commerce, where their various
staples of product and manufacture are accurately
noted down. It is to be hoped that the Commis-
sioners will exercise a tasteful and careful dis-
cretion with respect to the articles they admit.
They must remember that to make their ex-
hibition a success, and thus to relieve their very
liberal guarantors from ultimate responsibility, they
must consider attractiveness as well as utility, and
not allow exhibitors to swamp their space with
clumsy articles at which nobody will care to look.
In the exhibition of 1851 how many of the thou-
sands who crowded to Hyde-park were attracted by
the novelty of Paxton's unique Palace of Crystal,
the noble elms in the central transept, with the
birds singing amongst the boughs, the oriental
splendours of the Indian Court—where are they
now ?—the Russian malachites 'and the wondrous
jewellery and plate of all the master craftsmen in
the world ? The huge lamps of coal and unwieldy
shafts of granite were placed judiciously out
of sight. Those who wanted them wore
told where to find them, bat they were not allowed
to mar the general coup-d'osil. This hint may be
unnecessary, as of course the point has not escaped
the Commissioners ; but an ominous array of " tons"
already crops up in newspaper paragraphs. Galig-
mini, for example, says, " The Imperial Com-
mission for the London Universal Exhibition
of 1862 has already received 2,686 applications
from persons (in France) who wish to be ex-
hibitors. At the Exhibition of 1851 the number
of French exhibitors was 1,700, and the total
weight of the packages sent 730 tons. It is already
certain that the French section of the coming Ex-
hibition will be much more extensive, as five Paris
houses alone purpose sending goods weighing 736 I
tons, or six tons more than the total weight of all
the articles exhibited in 1851."
We must beware of these "tons." The Koh-i-
-noor, to see which people came from all parts of the
world, weighed rather less than three ounces !
In addition to the French, the Belgians, the
Swedes, the Prussians, the Austrians, and the
Swiss are most anxious to exhibit. The United
States are otherwise engaged just at present, but it
is not impossible that peace may yet be restored
in time to send over some of its offerings to the
world's fair. The sympathy and exertions of our
myriad colonists are, we believe, worthy of all
praise. Victoria has voted £B,OOO, New South
Wales £3,000, Queensland £3,000, Tasmania
£2,000, to enable the inhabitants to send over their
products to London. From many of these places
delegates have already arrived, and are at present
in active relations with the Commissioners. It is
to be presumed that these gentlemen travel at
their own expense, as a voyage from the antipodes
and a lengthened sojourn in London would absorb
far too large a proportion of the votes of these en-
terprising colonies. The whole of British South
Africa is making strenuous exertions, and ther,,
are scattered ever its vast surface hundreds of ob-
jects well worth transmitting for inspection to
London.

The demands for hanging room in the picture
gallery continue to pour in, but as yet nothing has
transpired as to the merits of the applicants or the
character of their pictures. The commissioners
will have a very difficult duty to discharge in this
department, as they will no doubt be made the
targets of all the enraged victims of all the hang-
ing committees in the world. What makes the
matter worse is, that their English choice will be
limited to living artists, or to those of the century,
whilst the foreigners will have liberty to range
over their whole artistic history. All the great
collectors have been written to, as in the case of the
Manchester Exhibition, but there is no information
as to how many of their treasured masterpieces
will grace the walls. No doubt is however enter-
tained but that the number of pictures will be very

great.
Amongst the business arrangements it may be
mentioned that an additional piece of ground has
been obtained from the Royal Commissioners of
1851, running along the side of the Horticultural
Society's garden, and opposite the "annexe" of
the original plan.

THE WEATHER.

WEATHER EXPECTED TILL TO-MORROW OR

NEXT DAY.

North Britain ..
East Coast
South Coast....

Westerly to northerly, fresh ; cloudy.
Similar.
Similar.

Ireland .

North-west

erly, moderate; cloudy.