The New York herald., 1851-10-30


On Saturday the great exhibition closed its won.
derful career md the public took their last farewell
Of its splendors After being open for Ave months
larger amount Of sdmirssion than has ever been
given within the same period TO the works of man,
the pageant terminates, the doors OF tho Crystal
and in few days hence thousands of hands will be
busiIy engaged in removing all those triumphs OF
human skill, and those evi iences OF natural wealth
which the world was assembled to behold II was
natural that such event should be reg arded by
all who witL essed it with no ordinary degree Of
emotion. Feelings Of gratifed curiosity, of national
pride, and OF enthusiasm at the public homage paid
TO industrial pursuits, were tempered With regret
that spectacle so grand and unique should ever
have a termination The ephemeral existence as
signed to the exhibition has all along been fully
cognized, yet 1t was impossible that so marvellous
an undertaking could rrn its brief career without
gathering around it many attachments sympa. .hies
and associations which at last it was ,ut to sever
Each person who has vsited the building had found
therein some objects by appealing to his imsg
nation or his tastes, had gradually gro Wn ntofa-
vorites With large proportion il was the edifce
itself which took the frmet hold upon their hearts.
Its yattness, its simplicity, and regularity Of sruc
tuIai details, and certain atmosphere of myste-
rious grandeur which pervades it, are features
which harmo nize perfe Sly with character, as
people, that they must have left a strong impress
sion. II the whole country does not now protest
against the wanton and aimess destruction of the
Crystal Palace, we shall be very much surprised
IL is only when we are about to lose them that We
begin to find the value Of objects which have insen
sibly become endeared to us. AS with the building
so i: was also with many of the works of art, the
treasures of wealth. and the examples Of ingenuity
which it contained. The "Amaz,n," Van der
| Yen's "Eve," Strazza's "lshmael," the two
French bronses, and many other contributions
OF the highest artistic merit, were, for the
last time, to be gazed at by the admiring
multitude. All who had wondered over the
clpt G'GHces of Sevres and the Gobeins, who, in
Tanis, had spent pleasant hours in examining
everything ftom the richly brosaded dresses to the
eat hung with wild beasts skins; or who, in India
had fea,ted heir eyes the splendid evidences of
ancient eiyilizaton-all had to take final fare
well Of what had interested and moved them
strongly The mechanical wonders of the place
were about TO be Withdrawn from public view.
The card making machine, the circular wool comb,
Appold's pump, and Whitworth's tools, were to
he seen no longer. The gratuitous distribution OF
envelopes and soda water was TO cease, and tho
alarm bedsteads were TO do duty before admiring
groups of cham oermaids and cooks no longer. Even
the time of that king Of diamonds, the kOh moor,
was up; and after having attracted more curiosity
and inflicted more disappointment than anything
OF its size did sir the world was created the
period had arrived when it must cease to shine its
best before the public. Under such circumstances
and with the mingled feelings which they could
not help suggesting, the crowds Of half crown visi
ters bent their way to the Crystal Palace Satur
day. The weather was s. iendid, and the sun look
cd down warmly upon the only great building in
the world which does not inhosptaby exclude his
rays. About nine o'clock visters began to arrive,
the closing bells had commenced to ring. All who
came remained to the last, and, although the mum
bers present were not so great as some had antic.
pated, they rose higher than on any previous half
crown day, and were ply sufficient to make the
death scene Of tho exhibition worthy Of it, unpre-
cedented popularity. There were 53,06i visiters
altogether, and, as might have been expected,
they busted themselves during the entire day in
exsIDining once more all the objects which, on
former occasions, had chiefly attracted their inte-
lest. Some few were strangers, taking. at one
thxir o,l la lnny ynf la hch
in grandeur, they might not hope soon to see
equalled There was also slight sprinkling Of
the humber orders present, and among them
p bs @a 0 ssS sa
assemblage belonged to the middle and wealthier
classes and consisted Of ha6unes Of the Exhibition,
or, at least, of people who had been there several
times before. Faces that had no. been seen in the
interior, since the first moAtn after the opening,
were recognized among the crowd, and IL was evil
dent that every rank and grade Of society was
fairly represented upon an occasion interesting
alike to all. An eager desire was manifested,
especially in the French department, to purchase
mementos Of the great display, and, in conse-
quence, everything but an open sale was in pro-
gress. AS the day wore on a remarkable cancen-
uation of people IN the nave began to be discern
ible. The side avenues AMI courts were deserted,
and from end to end of the building nothiog was
to be seen but great sea Of human beings, filling
up the centre, and agitated by a thousand diff
ierent currents Of curiosity, which KEEP: tue mass
in motion without progress. Time passed, aud the
circulation in the ransept became rather impede d.
be people seemed II be taking up their position
there, and the galleries, ss far as the eye could
reach, were occupied by spectators, who, as they
gazed ON the vast assemblage beneath, evidently
appeared TO expect that some public demonstration
was about to be made The organs, which had
been played constantly during the early part Of
the day, were nox silent, and even thai wonderful
man, Herr Sommer, with his still more wonderful
instrument, sent forth ne leDger those astonishing
volumes Of sound which have rendered him, par
e1cditaoe, the trumpeter of the exhibition. No
thing was to be heard but that strange and myste.
rious hum Of voices which, rising from all large
asstmblages, is imposing, but which in the Crystal
Palace, swelling upwards from more than $4,000
people leaves an impression upon the mind not soon
to be forgotten. II was drawing near five o'clock,
from the top Of Keith & Co g Spaltfelds silk tro-
ply the whole nave, eas. and west, the Of the
ransept, and the galleries yht be seen packed with
dense mass Of black hats, through which at inter-
there into light The vast multitude ad now beco ne
stationary, and were evidently awaiting in silent
butinteDse excitement, the las act of great event,
immortal In the annals of the nineteenth century.
10 was a most solemn and affecting scene, such es
has rarely been witnessed, and for whieh an op2or-
tunity cannot soon again arise. Words cannot do
il justice, and fail utterly to convey the mystery
and the grandeur thus embodied to the eye. Let
the reader fancy whatit must have been to COM
pTeLend within glance fifty thousand people as
sembed under one roof in fairy palace, with walls
ofiron and glass, the strongest and the most fragile
materials happily and splendidly combined. Let
in the centre Of that edifse filed with specimens Of
human in iustry and natural wealth, from every
civilized community end the remotest OF the
gltbe. Let him tax his Imagination 10 the utter.
most, and still beyond the material magnfcence Of
tho spectacle presented TO him-let him remember
that the stream Of life which he looks down con-
tsins in it the intellect and the heart Of the greatest
metropolis and tho most powerful empire in the
worldthat strong feelings, such rarely fnd Ut
terance in form sublime, about to find expires.
sion from that multitude, and that In he,tben
IN vi lfartu actsi
the earth the voice Of the people was held 70 be
tie voice Of God Not only the days but the
minutes Of the great exhibition were numbered,
and the FIRST sign Of its dissolution was given by
Cs'or's crystal fountain. Just before Eve o'clock
struck, the fsthery jet Of water from it's sumo nit
suddtnly ceastd and the silence of the vast assem-
blage became deeper and more intense The mo-
meBt at last came. Mr. belshaw appeared ut the /
Mast corner of the transent rallarx IN the snnlh