Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1851-06-12
INDIANA STATE SENTINEL.
ZION he london A.hensam.l
e Great Industrial Exhibition.

On Thursday morning last, amidst The roar OF can
nOn, the voice OF trumPets, and the pomp and pa
geanry of royal ceremonial, the great fact of the
year was announced the Exhibition of the Works
Of Industry of all Nations opened in Hyde Park.
1t is hardly figure of speech to say, that all the
world was represented at the ceremony. Royalty
was there The delegates of Kings were there The
deputies of foreign nations were there Much OF all
that Europe boasts as most distinguished in rank and
genius, in wealth and fashion, gathered on the
first of May within the Crystal Palace ;tand the hun
dred thousand yotarieS of Labor proud OF their tenn
pie pro1der still of the event which for years to
come will lend dignity, fresh interest to their
toils-crowded round the wondrouS work, and ech-
oed back the Joyous acclamatons OF those within the
building when the royal lips uttered the longantici
pated wOrds-the Exhibition is opened
Within and without, the scene was one which they
who saw it will remember when they old, and try
vanly to picture to the young. All the accidents OF
the day were propitious:-and up TO this important
point, the execution of the magnificent conception
is an unmixed success The feeling OF the day was
that which the scheme demanded-klndly and inter
national; AMI all whom we heard and saw seemed
smiten into establishment at the marvellous beauty Of
the long talked-of-nteriOr which they looked at
last. The grandeur of the scheme, too, seemed 10
speak 10 the heart with new revelation In this It's
visible embodiment. Whatever anticipations might
have been formed by those who have witnessed the
growth of this wOndrouS ediice, more than real
lied by its full and completed Observation-Disclosures
doubts might have been nurSed, are gone forever.
There is no flaw in the event and the incidents Of
weather conSpired, TO a MARVEL TO make this
unrivaled structure speak, on its opening day, its
most eloquent language. bright May morning
looked smngly dOwn,-but not too bright. The
gentle breeze which kept all the sreamers extended
and iuttering without carried light clouds across
the sky that touched every hue and brought out every
graduated tone of beauty within the Palace OF Glass.
The transept above the chair of state erected for the
Queen is uncovered and all through the morning,
wherever else the shadows lay, the sunlight fell on
the light blue silk of the canopy overhead, on the
crystal fountain and its gushing and gambong wa
tiers, and on the uniforms of red and gold that made
a circle round the centre of Inauguration. The effect
wonderfully picturesque; and the heart made
superStitiOus by beauty, could not but accept it
blessing and an omen. Marvellous, too, it was TO
when CLEAN of sunshine, determined by the
action Of the cloud would TO travel up the long
perspective Of the nave,-Or run down some shaft
bringing il suddenly into colored relief. Bits of the
fairy walls would blush into purple with the sudden
ness of smile. Just as the cheering without an
nounced the coming of the Queen, the clouds which
had sent down rain, and threatened more, passed
away-and sunlight broke out at once over all The
building.
A gallery for the accommodation of visitors had
been erected at the eastern extremity Of the building,
under shelter of The American Eagle:-and from this
the view down the long intermnable nave-travel-
ling the sunny central spot and bringing all the
features and accidents of this main aisle into single
picture-waS marvelfo behold. Strange measures
of distance presented themselves al this point When
the ceremonial was in progreSS,-Ol the loud Anthem
performed in the tranSePt, halfway down, sound
reached The eastern gallery and when the thousands
cheered the sound came to the ear like far faint
and often doubtful echo. From the moment when
the Queen turned west out of the tranSep her cir
cult of the nave till she reached it again by the OPP
posite side, all silence for those in the gallery.
OF the swelling music that everywhere accompanied
her march not a note came over the American from
fiar ha in fha irlf
well have been playing over seas. The organ on
the floor far east of the nave which poured forth its
music as the head of the procession came alongside,
the first reporter to the ear of what was going
The eve also took measures of distance at this
point which were among the curious experiences of
the day. CHANGING along the greatly narrowed ave-
nue. marked by the continuous double line OF specta-
tors between whom the Queen TO pass up the
southern side, the perspective seemed TO stretch inf
nitey away,-and the termination was point which
the eye could not define. When the procession
turned this point the fact could not he ascertanedby
the unassiSted vsion-and it had made some pro-
gresS up the avenue when it discovered by means
of telescope Then, IT was curious to watch how
something dim and underlined seemed bloting out the
line along which the eye ran-shortening the distance
without revealing ITSELF like the travel Of a shadow
till gradually il took masses and forms, and finally
resolved itself into its gay elements and taken
up by attending music!
Apart from the scientific and philosophic interest
Art and Industry-the applied and realized science
Of the world-the Crystal Palace is 10 the express
ion of great social fact. The collection of the ma
terias is as nothing compared with the collection OF
men. A powerful monarch mi ght at any time col
lect such specimens of industry and skill as now
view in Hyde Pari1,-the Emperor of China or the
United States Congress may either of them buy up
duplicate of the whole Exhibition PericleS, a
PtOlemy, Caesar, with great cost and difficulty
might have formed museum of the industry of their
times; but in age except the present-in cOun-
try perhaps save EngIand-could the industry and
the industrialS the conceiving mind and the
tive hand, of the world have been brought together
under the same conditions of free emulation. What
has antiquity TO show in comparison with the scene
in HYDE Park The nOblest congresses OF the an
cien world look narrow inSular and local by lis side
The glory of the Olympian Games pales in contrast
with the Festival Of Industry. Percles could not
have called the producers of the world together be-
cause Greeks could not associate equal terms
with foreigners. At the Olympian games the stran-
ger had no place. 1t was thought enough to allow
him to be present spectator In their exclusive
pride of race the Greeks recognized only the man
Of their blood. Kings and princes begged in
vain to exhibit at their games and contend for their
oaken That this old and formidable barrier
between nation and nation is thrown down for the f-
ture, the Crystal Palace is pledge. 1t is the work
Of nations performed in their individual as well as
in their corporate capacities. While looking down
the eastern along the line of American and Con-
tinental art the memory reverts TO the Southampton
water where the nOn-armed war-ships of Turkeyand
Of the United States ride at anchor, after having
poured out of their holds, instead Of missiles of war;
the trophies and the ministers of peace. On this
common ground are united nearly all the princes of
the world-the energies of governments and Of peo-
pie; and nothing less than this combination could
have achieved the object in view. In this co-opera-
ton on equal terms, for a common end, and in the
uJo1