The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-18

| From the London Times.
| There are few situations more embarrassing
than that of persons who have collected larg,
assemblage without adequate preparations for IL
entertainment, instruction, or good order. Ii til,
spectacle itself is ab0rtivs, or the programme in
complete, or the performers not at their post, OF
anything else 10 wanting TO the occasion, the mar
who has summoned that audience is on the edg.
of an abyss, from which nothing but fortune OF
consummae address deliver him. To sing
|ers who are hoarse, 10 balloons that will not fill
to hounds that cannot find, and TO skies that viii
not be proptious to pic nice, the public can be in
dulgent or resigned; but when no excuse whatev
| err can be given, when the inviter has had weeks
before him and everything under his control, and
yet allows himself to be taken by surprise, fol
him there is neither patience nor pardon. These
reflections which have doubtless occurred with
fearful force to every one who has ever signed q
requlsiton for public meeting, or invited fifty
children on twelfth night, or mustered any other
mob of human beings, receive extraordinary
Importance on the eve of the great exhibition
London has undertaken to entertain all the ma
tons OF the earth under its everlasting canopy OF
smoke and it's ever dingy walls. London, re-
noWned neither for luxury, nor for cheapness
nor for hospitality, nor for amusements, nor for
elegance, nor for picture galleries, not for its
Salons nor for public eusss and receptions, nor for
anything particularly suited to the wants of a
season on the banks Of the Thames. A III classes
are invited, and all will attend; for as there will
be something or everything to be seen, so there
will be some of every sort to behold. There will
be the noble, the learned, the scientific, the fas-
iidious, the gay, the ignorant, the hungry, and
the desperate. There will be men of rank, men of
letters, men of fashion, men of pleasure, and men
Of every school that exists in the civilized world.
As to the audience, then, there can be no doubt
London will be great theatre, and there is every
promise of an overlooking house-pit, boxes, and
galleries, all full. Unless something very unfore-
seen should occur, we do not expect that ours
will be the of the king who made great sup
per and was disappointed OF his guests. The
shortcoming, if any, will be on part, and
should there be any failure, it will be most con-
| spicuous and disgraceful.
Now, there many points in which it may
be said, without presumption. that everything has
been done that could be done. The building is
nearly finished, and is the largest ever reared by
human hands. The contents are promised, and
bid fair to be worthy of the occasion. The in
terna arrangements appear to be in the best posi-
BILE hands, and everything that transpires shows
vigilance and sagacity So far as regards the spec
tacle itself, and all that be accomplished with
in the walls Of Hyde-park, we have every pledge
Of success. Our fears, if we have any, are on ac-
count Of the vast multitude that will probably be
assembled in this metropolis, and which will
exist to many other purposes than an industrial
exhibition. But even with regard to them we
feel but slight mlsgvings as to their general be-
havior. We do not expect that the "World's
Exhibition" will be made the pretence ola worlds
msurrectIon, or worlds conspiracy, or any
thing studiously and outrageously bad. Till there
are better grounds for apprehension than the
superstitious alarms of those who think the build
ing Babel and expect year of confusion, we
would rather look on the approaching assembage
in its passive than in its active capacity We will
imagine few hundred thousand provncials and
foreigners, as sheep without shepherd, lost in
the endless streets and nextricabIe labyrinths of
this huge metropolis. We will remember the
| wolves ready to prey on this vast flock, and all
the other dangers to which they will inevitably
be exposed One or two of our contemporaries
appear to think that confux Of strangers must
| necessarily lead to some monstrous and dangerous
form Of organization. Union makes strength and
it is the union OF the incongruous host that they
dread. For our own part, it is the utter want of
union and the difficulty of organization that make
us fear, not for the public peace and the security
of our own persons and institutions, but for the
health, the safety, the purses, and the morals Of
our visitors themselves.
The greater part of these strangers will find
themselves at once in new world, and to theirun-
derstandings very strange and inhospitable one
In the mere matter Of hotels, dinners, breakfasts
coffee, wines, and such trAes, the Frenchman
and the German, and much more all other coun-
tries Of Europe, will find they have great deal to
learn. Where is the foreigner to get his table hote
his dinner of dozen or two courses for two francs
and half, hia lunch breakfast, his cup of coffee,
and his glass Of eau de pie If he orders beef
steak or mutton chop. his teeth will never pierce
and his stomach will never digest these peculiarly
English delicacies If he orders n bottle OF wine,
he will soon discover that pint of our sherry or
our port will be sufficient to intoxicate him for
week. If he enters a decent hotel, and orders a
dinner, simple enough as he thinks it, he will not
be able to get 1t down, and will be ruined by the
bill. IL he tries more economical places he will
fall into very odd company, A gain, we do not
possess in this metropolis that useful though
troublesome race that alternately guides and ex-
asperates the travel abroad There are scarcely
any commissionaires, or professional guides, at
tached to our hotels, warranted by the landlords,
and ready at moments notice to accompany
tourist any number Of hours for any amount of
sight seeing. The few persons now available for
this Office are utterly unfit to do common Justice
to the treasure and beautles of this metropolis
Any one who knows the Oxford guides will
probably be able to form from them a rather fat
tering estimate as to the persons who would be
commissioned by any of our hotel keepers to
conduct stranger through the metropolis. Again,
every continental city contains more places Of
amusement ia which gentlemen and ladies' can 90
casionally enter without loss Of reputation than
our own Unless our visitors have some little
warning, they will be liable to stray into places
where the company is almost exclusively of one
kind and that the worst; and under such cireum-
stances they are likely to form a strange idea Of
English GooietY. There is another lamentable
feature Of this metropolis in which it stands in
disgraceful singplarity among the capitals Of Eu-
rope,
Other countries hide their vice. London par-
ades it. We may be more moral than Paris, but
not so decorous. A Partisan is astonished at the
spectacle presented by our principal thorough
fares, and asks where are our morals, our reIi-
gion, and above oil our police. Now, on this
point we conceive that either some Improvement
should be attempted, or, that II these things are
allowed to remain they are. foreigners should
be warned, and the national morals TO some ex-
tent INDICATED. These are some Of the points IN
which our apprehensIons have been moved in be-
half Of our vistors. If our readers will only put
themselves in the position Of simple foreigner
launched in our streets for fortnight's lionizng
they will at once perceive that every step he takes
he is beset with new dangers.
We beg to suggest that for suoh matters as the
sights of London, lodging, board, cabs, and the
like, it might be desirable that the royal commits.
sioners, Of the exhibition should publish a simple
guide in the principal European languages. By
the help of Murray, the veriest cotkney, the
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