The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-21 00:00:00

INTERNATIONTLiIi lIIBTTIII7, 1862.

The following letter from the Commissioners for
the Exhibition of 1862 has been received by Sir
Thomas Phillips, Chairman of the Council of the
Society of Arts :

" Council•office, Feb. 20, 1861.
" am directed to acknowledge the receipt
of Mr. Foster's letter of the 16th of February, en-
closing the charter which has been granted to the
Earl Granville, K.G., the Marquis of Chandos, Mr.
Thomas Baring, M.P., Mr. C. Wentworth Dilke,
and Mr. Thomas Fairbairn, incorporating them as
Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1862.
" The Commissioners, on the 22d of November
last, agreed to act after a guarantee had been pro-
mised to such an extent as to show a strong
opinion in the public mind that the time for holding
a second International Exhibition in this country
had arrived—after the guarantors had expressed
an opinion that the absolute control of the under-
taking ought to be intrusted to five gentleman
named by them—and after the Commissioners of
the Exhibition of 1851 had intimated their appro-
val of the project, and their confidence in the pro-
posed mode of management, and had promised their
support and assistance. The Commissioners, there-
fore, gladly accept a charter which conveys to them
her Majesty's gracious assurance that she is ear-
nestly desirous to promote the holding of an Inter-
national Exhibition of Industry and Art in the
year 1862, and that she is pleased to sanction the
proposed arrangements.
" The powers conveyed by the charter will, how-
ever, be practically inoperative until the deed of
guarantee has been executed. When this has been
done the Bank of England has agreed to advance
the necessary loan of money on liberal terms. The
Commissioners therefore desire me to request that
you will represent to the Council the necessity of
having the deed signed as soon as possible.
" The Commissioners, unwilling to lose valuable
time, have, during the interval required for the
preparation of the requisite legal powers, taken
sueh provisional steps as their position permitted.
" The most pressing point was the building re-
quired for the Exhibition. In 1850, notwithstand-
ing the possession of considerable funds, and the
assistance of the most eminent architects and engi-
neers, seven months elapsed before a design was
adopted. The Commissioners therefore left that
if they postponed the consideration of this subject
until they were a legally constituted body, the cost
of the building would be greatly increased, and a
serious risk incurred of its non-completion by the
appointed time.

The arrangements made by the Society of Arts,
when negotiating for a site on the estate of the
Commissioners of 1851, and their announcement
that the Exhibition was to include pictures, a
branch of art not exhibited on the former occasion,
rendered it necessary to contemplate the erection of
a building in some parts of a more substantial
character than that of 1851.
" A plan was submitted to the Commissioners by
Captain Fowke, R.E., who had been employed by
her Majesty's Government in the British Depart-
ment of the Paris Exhibition of 1855. This design
was adapted to the proposed site, and was intended
to meet the practical defect which experience had
shown to exist both in the buildings in Hyde Park
and in the Champs Elysees. It appeared well
adapted for the required purposes, and its principal
features were of a striking character, and likely to
form an attractive part of the Exhibition. The
Commissioners submitted the design to the compe-
tition of ten eminent contractors, four of whom took
out the quantities. Three tenders (one a joint one
from two of the contractors invited) were sent in on
the day named in the invitation, but all were greatly
in excess of the amount which the Commissioners
could prudently spend, with a due regard to the
interests of the guarantors.
" The Commissioners have, therefore, had under
their consideration modifications of the plan, which,
without destroying its merits, would materially
reduce its cost.
" The Commissioners having learnt that the
French Government had applied, on the 3d of
November last, to the Foreign-office, to know
whether it was intended to hold an international
Exhibition in England in 1862, entered into private
communication with that Government, from whom
they have received satisfactory assurances of sup-
port, accompanied by a statement that it had been
the intention of the Emperor to hold an interna-
tional Exhibition in Paris in 1862, had the project
not been entertained in England.
" The Commissioners also requested the Duke of
Newcastle, the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
to announce the design entertained of holding an
Exhibition, and the intention of the promoters to
apply to the Crown for a charter • and the Commis-
sioners have been informed that his Grace has
addressed a communication to that effect to all the
governors of her Majesty's colonies.
"The Commissioners have had under their con-
sideration the revision of the rules laid down in
1851 respecting the award of prizes, the constitution
of juries, the affixing of prices, the distribution of
space, the mode of classification, and also the orga-
nisation of the additional department of the fine
arts.

" When, therefore, the guarantee deed has been
executed, the Commissioners hope to be able to pro-
ceed at once with the construction of the buildings,
and to announce the rules and regulations for the
arrangement of the Exhibition.
" I have the honour to be, sir,
" Your obedient servant,
"F. It. SANDFORD."