The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

MAGAZINES, &c. CID.) -
&14,...NTLL/11A/V6 MA GA Z 1 /V _h;
Sylveitus Urban, albeit be c,,cimweth party politics,
yet, S 4 a student of history, b.,1.3 felt it ineileieeee uri
him to consider the recent Piton' bull festorically,
end well his he considered it. He has, in two lines,
exactly exixessed the great caue of offence in this
document, and in,,the missive of Cardinal Wiseman—
" the objection is that these documents do not deal
with Roman Catholics merely, but with " THE KING-
DOM OF ENGLAND," and he thus proceeds to state the
argument :
.‘ W hen the Emancipation Act was passel the Roman
Catholics were unquestionably placed upon the same
footing as other Dissenters. They became entitled to
partake in all civil rights; they oecame, eiititl-d also to
the free exercise of their redgion. Beat they were not
entitlsd, any more than any other Di-senters, either to
set up as a ruling dominant sect, or to do anything
which is detrimental to the just rights af the Cianch es•
tablished by the State. They were not entitled to deal
wit;i the • kingdom,' io declare that it had ceased to be
Protestant and had become Catholic, to create cities or
to govern counties. If these preknsions are mere mat-
tots of form, they are off,nstve and foolish forms, and
should be withdrawn. It th(-y meet what they assert
and seem to mean, they constitute a gjavo offence; they
are totally at variance with the assertions of ;he Catholics
theins,lves when ernatieqation was granted to them; they
are an outrage against the principle of tolerau-n, a
high indignity to the English clown and p.,opie, and
they render necessary an entire revisiAi of the terms
upon which Catholic:, were admitted to sh tie the pii-
vileget of the Cotislitution.
But it is said that the Pope could not be expected
to admit the supremacy of the Queen or the validity of
our orders. Certainly not. But what the Pope might
have adruittA, and should have admitted, is the fact of
the existence of our Queen and her authority, and the
tact that England has an eAablished Church, and is a
Protestant nition, in which the people who adhere to
His Holiness have only certain rights and uo more. It
does not impugn Papas infallibility to admit the existence
of facts. R)man Catholics, and especially the laity,
should consider that if their supreme head is wilfully
blind to the existence of great facts, if he regards all
mankind who do not acknowl« dge his away as mere
stocks or stones, and acts as if he himself had all power
and authority, it may become a question whether it is
possible for his sutjects to be allowed to continue in the
exercise of the privileges of complete toleration, which
is based upon t,,e notion of equality of pretensions.
Whilst all sects merely claim to be right, all sects may
be tolerated; hut, when one sets up a pretence of uni-
versal dominion, complete toleration becomes difficult,
it not irnoossible. Of course we do not mean that
Roman Catholics, or any other Dissenters, should not
have freedom to exercise their religion; but it na.ty be
doubted whether there are nut civil privileges include-d
in the idea of complete toleration t which, under such
circumstances, Roman Catholics cannot safely be ad-
mitted ; more especially, as we are now told, both by
Mr. Bowyer and by Cardinal Wise-man, that complete
toleration of any particular sect means toleration of
whatever that seat may consider essential to its • perfect
development.' The • perfect development' of Roman
Catholicism has hitherto, both in our own country and in
others, generally been found to include many things (the
Inquisition for instance), the introduction of which was
cerainly not comtemplated by the passers of the Emanci-
pation Act. According to the doctrine of these gen-
tlemen, convenient and no doubt conclusive in their own
estimation, but a doctrine which we do not think will
find favour in this country, we are now bound to allow
whatevetethey may think fit to introduce, under pain of
being considered intolerant and unjust.
" As between the English nation and the Roman Ca-
tholime the question so tar as it rests upon this bull and
pastoral, is one of politics, or of political philosophy,
rather than of religion."
This is, perhaps, the best, as it certainly is the
must unimpassioned statement of the case, as between
the Papacy and the nation, that has as yet ap-
peared. The opening paper is an extract from the
journal of Mr. Neville, giving a minute account of
an evening which he passed with Voltaire
at Fernay, on the 4th of July, 1772 ; it is
communicated by Lord Braynrooke, the grandson of
Mr. Neville. From the interesting nature of the present
communication we hope that his Lordship may be
induced to give the public some more leaves from the
journal of Mr. Neville. Mr. Harwell furnishes a
memoir of the eccentric Abbe St. Pierre, and Air. J.
Payne Collier the first of a series on Thomas Lodge
and his works ; this latter series promises to be most
interesting, not only to the literary man but to the
antiquary and the bibliographer. It is strange that
so sweet a poet and so inventive a novelist (it is to
homas Lodge's novels that Shukspere is indebted for
his plot of As You Like It, and also for the plot of
the Winter's Tale) should be so little known ; he was
a great voyager, too, having gone to sea with "Master
Cavendish," and doubled Cape Horn ; let us hope that
the labours of Mr. Payne Collier will yet rescue him
from his undeserved obscurity. The other articles in
the Gentleman's are all of great merit, and the illus-
trations are beautiful.

THE CRYSTAL PAL 4CE in HYDE PARK.

Saice our last notice of ,his great building the pro-
gress made in its construetion has really been won-
derful. The rapidity with which the work is pushed
forward beats everything of the kind which has ever
been attempted even in this land of industry, and we
know of nothing which can at all compare with it,
except, perhaps, the growth of particular branches of
our manufactures, developed by the full force of
auc-
ces,sful enterprise. Only a fortnight ago, though
extraordinary progress had then been made, little more
bad been done than arranging the bones and verte-
bra, so to speak, of the vast skeleton ; but now the
details have been filled up over a large portion of the
edifice, and the realisation of Mr. Paxton's design is
brought within the limits of a few days. There now
remains no room for doubt that before the close of the
year the Crystal Palace will be completed, and that
what Messrs. Fox and Henderson, the contractors,
have under ken they will fully perform. Looking to
the magnitude and novelty of the enterprise one can-
not help being struck with the extraordinary energy
and skill of which this building will be a lasting menu.
men!, and great as unquestionably is the merit of that
happy idea which first suggested that the master-
pieces of the world's industry should he enshrined in
a gigantic glass case, even that splendid suggestion is
almost lost sight of in the presence of !hose wonderful
executive powers, those nice calculations of propor-
tion and forces, that dexterous application of mecha-
nical facilities, and, above all, that organized distribu-
tion of labour, by which in little more than three
months so vast an amount of difficult and untried
work has been achieved. It is but right, now, while
the undertaking is in process of completion, while the
busy hands of more than 2,000 mechanics and arti-
sans are engaged in the actual labours of construc•

Lion, to stamp with its true character that energetic
execution which has here been so remarkably dis-
played. The uninitiated can form no idea of the task
which the contractors for the erection of the Crystal
Palace have undertaken, and the public when this
great work has been finished will with difficulty
recall the exertions requisite to fill up a scheme not
planned by a regular architect. It is unfortunate
in some respects, that when such a structure is com-
pleted the energy which created it cannot be very
forcibly realised ; but if, in the approaching exhi-
bition, a rare proof is required ut what within a
given time English enterprise and English capital
can do, the great building in Hyde park will furnish
that evidence. Its pillared terraces are now at length
to be seen in their full proportions ; for of the four
extreme corners, east and west, three have been
reached. The transept too begins to be crowned
with its spacious arched roof, the happy suggestion
of Mr. Barry, who, it should be known, has intro-
duced several very important features into the &sign
of the building, by which the general effect will, no
doubt, be greatly heightened. The raising and
placing of the ribs which are to torn the roof bas
only just been commenced. The operation is one of
great nicety, end involves, perhaps, a greater amount
of mechanical skill than any other part of the work.
Some account of the process may be interesting, and
we interrupt our narrative of the actual progress
made in order to supply it. For the last two months
the most remarkbly•looking objects in the huge
piles of material collected upo❑ the ground have
been a number of huge semicircular wooden ribs,
which one might have thought had been originally
ietended for the waist of a man-of-war These are
raised upon end and set up in pairs, with "purlues"
titt,.d in, distance-pieces to support the intermediate
gutters, and six sets of cross .bracing to make the
whole sufficiently stiff. Ropes are then attached to this
framework from scaffolding on either side of the transept,
at the point of intersection with the centre aisle, and
the power used in raising the ribs consists of four
" crabs," so disposed that the men working them can
see exactly the extent to which the rope affixed to
their crabs should be pulled. As the framework is
necessarily broader than the transept, one side is
raised about 36 feet higher than the other until the
whole mass is raised to the desired elevation. It is
then moved on rollers to its proper position in the
arch, and dropped into a socket four feet deep, formed
for its reception at the top of each cast-iron column in
that part of the third tier. The whole of this arrange-
ment is exceedingly ingenious, and the simplicity of it
is not less admirable than the strength and stability

which are insured. Eight pairs of ribs are required
to complete the roof of the transept, and Messrs. Fox
and Henderson calculate that all will be raised and

placed in about ten days. Yesterday two pairs had
been mounted, and on one of them, at the very crown
of the arch, the Union Jack was flying, as if in token
of the triumph thus achieved. The transept and the
parts of the building adjacent to it have supplied
the chief difficulties of construction with which the

contractors have had to contend, but just in pro-
p•.irtion to the obstacles overcome will ba the splen-
dour of the effect produced. This airy and vaulted
compartment will enclose within it a row of lofty
trees without any violation of the rules of proportion,
and in 11;:rinony with the green leaves and wide-
spreading boughs in the centre, not only of the tran-
sept, but also of the whole building, will be placed a
splendid fountain thirty feet high. In anticipating
the effect which will be produced by this portion of
the new building, it cannot but be regretted that the
roofs of the transept ani the nave are not of the some
form and pitch. Mr. Barry proposed that the arched
roof should be carried along the whole centre aisle,
end, had his suggestion been adopted, the coup d'ail
would probably have been one of the fiuest in the
world ; but the Commissioners were frightened by the

ad litional expense, which was calculated at about
7,0001. We may here mention that the idea of the
trar,sept was originated by Mr. Henderson. Returning
to the progress made in the construction, as far as the

building has been carried the galleries are prepared
for the laying of the flour-boards. A very large pro •
portion of the glazing, also, has been dune, and this
part of the work is vigorously pressed forward. In a
tormer notice we described the sort of hooded carriage
in which the painters and glaziers carried on their
operations. In some portions of the building these
are now congregated in such numbers as to look like
a gipsy encampment. Not the least remarkable fea-
ture in the present appearance of the new building is
the extent to which accumulated stores of material of
all kinds—columns, girders, window-frames, sash-
bars, gutters, &c.—have disappeared from the ground,
where they lay piled in heaps, and taken their place
aloft. Yet the wants of the artificers are still fer
from being supplied. The contractors speak with
great warmth of the zealous assistance which they
have received from the North-Western Railway Com-
pany in the rapid transmission of material, and it may
be mentioned as not the least curious example of the

extraordinary facilities which Vis age and country
enjoy, that pieces of iron, shaped in the foundry of
Messrs. Fox and Henderson at Birmingham, are often
within eighteen hours fixed in their assigned places
in the Crystal Palace, Hyde-park. The visitor to
the busy scene within thehoarding will find in
what he sees there an ample compensation for
the ss. entrance fee which is at present charged.
The arrangement, the intelligence, and unfligging
zeal with which the work is pressed forward, the op-
portunity of watching how a great-, industrious, and
skilful population like ours supplies hands fit to ac-
complish the most novel and arduous undertakings—
all these things furnish an ample field for observation
and reflection, even when curiosity about the building
itself has been exhausted. Accordingly, the number
of visitors attracted there daily is considerable, and as
much as 20/ is usually taken at the doors. The
money thus collected is, we are informed, applied as
an accident fund for the benefit of the workmen. In
this respect, when the dangerous character of the ope-
rations is considered, the people employed have been
very fortunate.
Yesterday the Royal Commission held its first sit-
ting in the Crystal Palace, and was presided over by
his Royal Highness Prince Albert, who arrived there
as early as eleven o'clock, and, having minutely ex-
amined the works, expressed himself greatly pleased
with the progress made. One of the chief subjects
under discussion before the Commissioners was the
manner in which the new building should be painted
and decorated. In order to assist them in forming
an opinion on this point, flags were placed at differ
ent points on the exterior, and drapery suspended
within. A portion of the principal façade also was
fitted with the ornamental castings suggested by Mr.
Barry, and Mr. 0 wen Jones had prepared by way of
experiment some specimens of the way in which the
interior might be painted. As to the exterior, the
Commissioners decided that it should be p tinted plain
stone colour. The interior Mr. Owen Jones propos,d
to paint as follows :—Blue, white, and yellow for the
columns ; blue, white, and red for the girders; red,
white, and yellow for the roof. The effect o this
combination of colours he illustrated in two very
clever pictures, giving the perspective of the centre
aisle and the transept, and finished in the marvel-
lously short space of six days. These pictures were
certainly not ill calculated to do away with the
strongly unfavourable impression which the experi-
ment on a portion of the building produced on
nearly all who saw it. The Commissioners went fully
into the matter, and the result at which they have
arrived has considerably modified the suggestions of
Mr. Owen Jones. Red is to be expunged from the
roof, and white and blue colours, the most delicate and
the best adapted for a crystal palace, are to be substituted.
On the upright columns and girders red is rejected,
blue and white being retained, and just sufficient of
the yellow to reduce the effect of the whole to a neu-
tral tint. What the appearance of the interior may
be, with the colours which the Commissioners have
selected, it is not easy at present to say, but, at least,
their selection is an improvement upon the design of
Mr. Owen Jones.
As the Prince was 1, aving the Exhibition a singular
scene took place. ,A large brill at the entrance was
sounded, and in an instant, from every part of the
huge the 2,000 men employed came scrambling
onward, to give:him'a .parting cheer. It was a re-