The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-27 00:00:00

EXHIBITION OF INDUSTRY OF

ALL NATIONS.
(From the Times.)
The Prince Consort can claim the credit of having
projected a festival in the appreciation of which all
men and all nations concur. Such unanimity of ap-
proval has never yet been gained for any object, how•
ever intrinsic ally laudable, however sincerely pro-
moted, or however enthusiastically desired. There is
scarcely any example of a religious or social or poli-
tical association which is not in some sense exclusive
and in some opinions objectionable; but the Exhibi-
tion of the Industry of all Nations collects on the
same platform prelates and nonconformists, peers and
tradespeople, ambassadors and manufacturers, Whigs
and Tories, Free-traders and Protectionists. Even
Lord Brougham put off his idiosyncrasy and became
an ordinary mortal for the occasion, avowing, like
a great orator of antiquity, that his resolutions of
silence and reserve were unable to withstand so
impressive a call. "Diuturni silentii P. C, , quo
eram Ms temporibus uses finem hic dies attulit." We
were not aware, we confess, that his Lordship had
been living in the observance of any such vows of
taciturnity and retirement. Perhaps, if the peaceful-
ness of our theme did not preclude the remark, we
might question whether his address was apt to pro-
duce the harmony and progress he was advocating.
We will not linger, however, on such points, but will
thankfully acknowledge the accession to 30 noble a
cause.
For what was the cause in behalf of which such
eloquent appeals were delivered on Thursday ? Ac-
cording to the Bishops of our Church, it was a
cause singularly calculated to promote the progress
of religion, the growth of Christian principles, and
the amelioration of mankind. According to states-
men of high authority, it was calculated to increase,
establish, and perpetuate the peace and harmony
of all nations with each other. According to the
most eminent of our merchants, its infallible ten-
dency was to improve all products of art and
labour, to facilitate every man's industry, to lighten
every man's toil, and to augment the resources of
each for the benefit of all. Such a cause can surely
not fail of success. Its promotion in the present
shape is certainly a novelty, but novelties are not
usually unwelcome. On a similar scale and with
partial effect ,the experiment of industrial conven-
tions has been already triumphantly tried, but it was
an idea as new as it was felicitous to consider all man-
kind as one people, and to transform the metropolis
of Britain into the hospitable rendezvous of the
world.

"In ancient times," says gibbon, " the nations
of then earth were brought together by the pursuits
of piracy or the practices of pilgrimage. The for-
mer of these institutions has certainly been regarded
of late with singular indulgence, but unless it is to
be revived under an elaborate system of reciprocity
and protection, some substitute must be found for
those calls of conquest which for the last three cen-
turies have furnished the peoples of the world with
their opportunities of contact and their means of in-
ternational acquaintanceship. If war is to give place
to commerce, exhibitions of industry supply
the •only form which national demonstrations
can take. Our grand reviews must be all
under cover. Our parades must be of manufac-
tures, not of men. We may still eompete, en.
champ clos, with our neighbours and our rivals, but
on better conditions and with surer hopes. Nothing
will now be left to chance or fortune. In these con-
tests the race will really be to the swift and thebattle
to the strong. The most industrious, the most inge-
nious, and the most patient will infallibly be the con-
querors. And as war, according to the old fashion,
was the only game from which both parties inva-
riably rose losers, so these new lists will exhibit the
only contests in which both parties must necessarily
be winners. Those who gain the day communicate
the means Isy which they were enabled to excel ;
those who lose it appropriate the excellence in virtue
of which they were surpassed.
The great festival of inauguration is already taking
palpable shape. In a speech replete with imaginative
eloquence Lord Carlisle announced some of the dis-
tinctive features of the exhibition. Its two stages are
to be different in their respective characters. Up to a
certain point the undertaking is to be exclusively Bri-
tish, beyond this it is to be universal. The competi-
tion is to he international—the preliminaries national.
We are to provide accommodation for the works ex-
hibited, and a hospitable welcome for the exhibitors.
As a natural consequence, the arrangements rest with
ourselves alone. When these are once completed
our peculiar functions cease, and the representatives
of all nations step in to share the entertainment we
have prepared. Such a bidding as this must needs
be emphatically public, and our readers are aware
that proposals of private responsibility liberally
made, and at first regarded with approval, have been
now declined in deference to that opinion which a few
days' reflection sufficed to develope. The undertaking
must, in every sense, be national, and though ample
funds will be required, yet the magnitude of the
amount vanishes altogether when compared with the
multitude of the contributors. In the next place
comes the question of accommodation, and then that
of the classification to be adopted for the multifarious
articles of the show. The latter subject is at this
moment under the consideration of the Commis-
sioner., -and the results will shortly be submitted to
public discussion. We forbear to give examples of
the form they may take. The talent of classification
is one of the must important connected with science,
and ample scope will be given on the present occasion
to all the faculties of organization and order.
We have said that the sums required to carry out
the project, considerable though they may be, are
scarcely appreciable when balanced against the re-
sources of the people entrusted with the work, and if
it is only remembered what collections have been
made for purposes not only of charity and benevo-
lence, but for objects of less universal pretensions,
and even for the recompense of private individuals, the
truth of our remark will be evident at once. There
must, however, he no parsimony in the preparations.
Upon the liberality of the arrangements depend the
whole practical success and utility of the adventure.
lit must he an exhibition, not only for show, but
for study. There must be room and oppor-
tunity for the deliberate and leisurely examina-
tion and comparison of every article exhibited,
and these advantages must be at the command of
every visitor, however humble. Every manufacturer
and artisan should have the opportunity of compre-
hending the whole exhibition as readily as he would
examine the museum of a country town, and it is the
en ,rmons space required for insuring all these facili-
ties which will entail such demands upon the funds.
But the demands mast he met. It is the interest of
all alike that there should be no restriction of privi-
leges, and that one man should enjoy as freely as
another the adv.antages of so important a chance. All
depends upon the liberality of the details, and, there-
fore, upon the adequacy of the funds. There are a
dozen towns in the kingdom which could subscribe
the amount in an hour ; but it is far preferable that
the contributions, like the benefit forthcoming, should
be universal, and that all should be sharers alike in
the responsibility and enjoyment of the exhibition.

SAVINGS' BANKS.—It is another " great fact," that
those officers of savings' banks, who have proved de-
faulters, were persons in excellent stations in life. Trus-
tees and managers of sume of those institutions appear
to have had a special liking in the appointment cf such
persons (a sort of favoritism to worldly-minded men) to
the exclusion of competent and upright individuals,
to whom tle situations would have been a benefit. ana a
credit to those appointing them. But the appointments,
• being not of a personal nature to such trustees and
managers but a public concern, why they could serve
pet men more easily end more conveniently to themselves.
Raving done se, the fivourecl men were left to the almost
uncontrolled management of the banks (for it would net
do to watch, much more suspect, them) and the result
has been what all the world now knows. So much for
favoritism and injustice I
STRENGTH OF GUTTA. PERUSAL TUBING.—A trial
of the strength of gutta percha tubing took place a
few days ago at Stirling in presence of a Committee
of the Town Council, with a view to its applicability
fires, flushing drains, &c. The
for extinguishing
tubing, which
was oneeind-a-half inch bore, was at-
taehed to the water-pines; and, although the pressure of
ili water is perhaps the greatest in the kingdom (being
about 450 feet), not the slightest effect could be per-
ceived upon either the tubing or the joints, whilst the
same amount of pressure upon strong leather hose scat-
tered the rivets in all directions.—Edinburgh Advertiser.
SALVED SPIRITS.—A firm having purchased of the
Admiralty agent, at one of the northern ports, a cask of
turn, which had been picked up at sea, and brought into
the port. by a foreign vessel, the cask having on it Eng-
lish marks, and all the appearance of being of British
manufaciture, application was made to the authorities of
the revenue to allow them to vat the rum in bond, and
then reduce it to proof strength for exportation as stores.
It will be.observetithat the cask of rum was picked up
at sea by a foreign vessel, on her voyage from a foreign
port to this country, and had been purchased by the par-
ties from the Receiver of Droits of Admiralty at the
place, and therefore, with regard to this application to
vat it for exportation as ship's stores as of the produce
of a British possession, it was considered that as the cask
of spirits was required to be vatted, or mixed with other
spirits of the same sort, and reduced with water, for
shipment as stores of vessels, and which could not,
therefore, be afterwards cleared for home use, there did
not appear to be any objection to the request being
allol3siEev.if6lAN Hors.—The importations of hops from
Belgium are on the increase, and are of considerable in
terest and importance. Tho steamer Triton, arrived
from Ostend, has brought, as part of a geueral oargo, 30
bales of hops, consigned to order; the Sir Edward
Banks, from the same part, 9 bales; and the Commerce
de Gand, from Ghent, has brought 60 bales of the ar-
i. igned to commercial firms aid to order, the
X ~ _ „,, . , .roduce of Belgium. In addition to these
;eIZ ..• --.. 1442' -Xlie vessel Albatross, just arrives at the
k.,
0.....
,-.,-`,. - 91',1r,... Both Antwerp, has brought 76 bales of
Fes- , ,is by far the largest importation of the kind
Avi
* _ eielueett Jute :talon place at that port
from abroad, the
es • -*us tteiivalt into Bull h . beau 0f a limited
vizir%
. \ •.'?.,411_....9,