Fremont weekly freeman. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1850-1853, 1851-06-07
Editorial correspondence N. Y. Tribune.
Chances at EurOpe.sNO II.
Opening of the Fair.
LONDON, Thursday, May /, 1851,

regard 1t. The observer Will be lmpeIed TO
laugh or to weep over it as he shall fix his at
tention on mems follies or their sufferings.-
So of the great fair, and more especially its
royal Inauguration which have Just returned
from witnessing. There can be no serious
doubt that the Fair has good points; think
it is good thing for London first, for England
next, and will ultimately benefit mankind
And vet il would not be difficult SO to depict
it land truly,) that its contrivers and managers
would never think of deeming the picture
complimentary.
But let us have the better side first, by all
means. The show is certainly a great one
greater in extent, in variety, and in :he ex-
cellence or large share of its contents than
the world has hitherto seen. The Crystal
Palace which covers and protects all is better
than any one thing it contains-it is really
fairy wonder, and is work of iestimable val
ue as suggestion for future architecture. 1t
is not merely better adapted to its purpose
than any other edfce ever yet built could be,
but it combines remarkable cheapness with
vast and varied utility. Depend on it, stone
and timber will have to stand back for iron
and glass hereafter to an extent not yet con-
ceivable. The triumph of Paxton is perfect
and heralds revolution.
The day has been very favorable-fair,
bland and dry. 1t is now P. N. and there
has been no rain since daylght-the longest
exemption from falling weather have known
since 1 left New York, and believe the daily
showers or squalls in this city reach still fur
ther back. True, even tlis day would be
deemed dull in New York, but there was a
very fair imitation of sunshine this morning,
and we enjoy rather more than American
moonlight still though the sky is partially
clouded.-[ How can they have the conscience
to tax such light as they get up in this coun-
try?l Of course the turn out has been i'm
mense. l estimate the number of the build
ing at thirty thousand, and l presume ten
times as many went out of their way to gaze
at the procession, though that was not much.
Our New York Fire Department could beat it /;
so could our Odd Fellows. Then the most
perfect order was preserved throughout; ev-
cry thing was done in season and without
botching, no accident occurred to mar the fes-
tivity, and the general feeling was one of
hearty satisfaction. If it were "a new thing to
see Queen, Court and Aristocracy engaged
in doing marked honor to Industry, they GER
lainly performed gracefully the parts allotted
them, and with none of the awkwardness or
laundering which novel situations are expect
ed to excuse. But was the play well cast?
The Sovereign in monarchy is of course
always in order; to be honored for doing
his whole duty; to be honored more signally
if he does more than his duty Prince Albert's
sphere as the Sovereign's consort is very linn
tied, and he shows rare sense and prudence
in never evincing a desire to overstep it. ]
think few men live who could hold his neu-
trail and hampered position and retain so en-
tirely the sincere respect and esteem Of the
B ritish nation. His labors in promoting this
exhition began early and have been arduous,
persistent and effective. Any Inauguration
of the fair in which he did not prominently
figure would have done him injustice. The
Queen appears to be personally popular in a
more direct and positive sense. / cannot re-
member that any one act of her public life has
ever been condemned by the public sentiment
of the country. Almost every body here ap-
pears to esteem it a condescension for her TO
open the Exhibition, as though it were Par
lament, and with far more of personal exertion
and heartiness on her part. And while
must regard her vocation as one rather behind
the intelligence of this age and likely TO go
out of fashion at no distant day, yet | am sure
that change will not come through her part
was glad to see her in the pageant to-day,
an hope she enjoyed it while ministering to the
enjoyment of others.
But le. us reverse the glass for mo-
ment. The ludicrous, the dissonant, the in
congruous, are not excluded from the exhibi-
ton; they cannot be excluded from any COM
plete picture of its opening. The Queen, we
will say, was here by Right Divine. by right
of womanhood, by universal suffrage-any
how you please. The ceremonial could not
have spared her. But in inaugurating the
first grand cosmopolitan Olympiap of Indus
try, ought not industry have had some repre-
sentation, some vital recognition. in her share
of the pageant? If the Queen had come in
State to the Horse Guards to review the elite
of her military forces, no one would doubt that
the Duke should figure IN the foreground,
with brilliant staff of Generals and Colonels
surrounding him. 80, if she were proceeding
to open Parliament, her fitting attendants
would be Ministers and Councillors of State.
But what have her Gentleman Usher of Sword
and State 'LoIds in waiting Master of
Horse Earl Marshall Groom of the Stole
Master of the Buckhounds,' and such uncouth
fossils, to do with the grand Exhibition of the
fruits of industry? What, in their oficial-ca-
pacty, have these and theirs ever had to do
with its products except to consume or destroy
them? The Mistress of the Robes would
be in place if she ever fashioned any robes,
even for the Queen; so would the Ladies of
the Bedchamber' if they did any thing with
beds except to sleep in them.
As the fact is, their presence only served to
strengthen the presumption that not merely
their offices but that of Royalty itself is an
anachronism, and all should have deceased
with the era to which they properly belonged
1t is well indeed that Paxton shonld have
a proud place in the procession; but he held
it in no representative capacity; he was not
there in behalf of Architecture but of the
Crystal Palace. To have rendered the page
ant expressive, congruous, and really tribute
to Industry, the posts of honor next to the
Queens person should have been confded on
this occasion to the children of Watt Ark
wright and their compeers (Napoleon's real
conquerers;) while instead of grandees and
IL, 4. r. ofE ENI,I