Hillsdale Whig standard. (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1846-1851, 1851-05-06

The roof of the Crystal Palace is one i'm
mense sky-light, constructed of wood. glass
and putty, and upon the tightness Of this
roof depends the value Of the whole building
aud the success Of the Exhibition. As yet
the workmen have not succeeded In making
it tight and after every rain II drips in ten
thousand places along the eighteen acres Of
flooring. The contractors say II shall Be
made tight, and are doing their best TO make
it so. The internal arrangements Of the in
mense building will be complete by the Ist
Of M ay, and the opening Of the Exhibition
will then certainly take place. A London
( correspondent of tho N. Y. Commercial Ad-
yartiser thus writes, March 2eth, oi the Fair
and the American portion ofit
Seven immense organs are being built
within the palace, each on line with all the
others, forming objects Of prominent note in
tho great central avenue. In this avenue
also is much gigantic statuary. Here too,
opposite the division allotted 20 each nation,
is to be built pile ofits chief products, such
as will furnish an exponent Of what these
products are. On ono Of this avenue are
ranged the raw material and the manufao.
lures ofeaeh country from ond to ond Of the
building; on the other side, in like continuity
and the fine arts. In this way the juries Of
awards will have in ono continuous line be-
fore them tho class of articles il is their pro-
vince TO inspect, In this way too, the curl
Gus observor,in single Gay, may noto with
each the exact progress Utmost every nation
in the civilized world has made in similar
arts.
Apropos to custom house officers. in
tended to remark above, that while our a.
gents here have been treated with civility,
they have boon greatly disappointed by the
expense and the severity Of tho examination
Of thoir goods. So far from the goods being
admitted to their counters without cost, the
expenses of forwarding, of transportation, Of
labor, Of bonding, and Of inspection, have
been very great, five shillings sterling being
charged for the latter item alone upon each
package. Many Of our more beautiful gosds
are greatly injured. An exquisite model Of
tho Now York Exchange, which was greatly
admire before it was packed, was broken to
fragments on the passage. Some articles
wore ipjuriously sent, as think. As sam.
Piles Of binding. Moor's and Byron's works
were sont, absolutely contraband, since, in
tho language here. the editions were pirsted.
Although, at first positively refused to pass.
yet upon the ground that they were sent 40
samples Of binding alone, and with tho cheer.
ful assent Of Mr.. John Murray. they were
admitted, This, il must be allowed, was
generous.
1t has been feared by Americans here that
the articles contributed by our citizens would
not do justice IS nation. One cannot yet
tell wIa. tho comparative merit or our ooun-
try will be, side by side, in this strife Of the
peaceful arts, with the old nations Of the
earth. But feel sure that we shall not fall
far behind. In many specimens Of what
will come under the head Of "raw material"
| have seen abundant evidence to-day that
our show will be rich. Ores; timber. as sam
pies of our woods; grains, i'll the kernel and
ground into the whitest and finest flour, In
dian corn upon tho ear, and in its various
forms of samp. homny and meal; coal, iron,
copper, cotton, such as the great markets
mover receved rich in the ear, the kernel
and the -four; tobacco, from the Impressed
lea to the most aromatic cigar; and many
other things. which, occupying this classif-
cation, have been opened and examined to-
day, greatly to our satisfaction. In machine.
ry who shall not make large display. Still
even here. we have much that is beautiful,
and some that is not only new and ingenious.
but(and we speak of one in particular from
New York, )upon which should be willing
10 risk our reputation at tho exhibition.
Our agricultural implements excite great
attention. In ploughs, barrows. drills, reap
srs, threshers and the like. we are in ad-
vance of fwhatever have seen here from the
sentiment or from England. We have on
exhibition also many very beautiful and use
ful horticultural implements which are now
lere. The Lawrence Mills have sent sheet
ngs which will hardly be outdons by Man
chester, and tweeds, coach lace, ginghams,
'rnts and cassimeres have been placed upon
'ur counters.
In ncthing, however, do we excite so great
urprise as 10 our India rubber goods. This
s n thing almost unknown in England, the
ofIndia rubber into almost ev-
ry conceivable thing on earth! "Good Heav-
ms, what is this'" were ordinations con-
family heard, as case after case of the al
most infinite variety was opened. In dagu-
rreotypes, throughout the whole art, We are
lt ahead. 1t has been wise to send thus
hs likenesses of our good men. My friend.
ioyenor Briggs has had a crowd all day a
ound his perfect and admirable likeness.
'welvo hundred daguerrotypes, handsomely
nd hung judciously, will not be the least
ttractive part Of our exhibition, and I am
I'D that there is arriving that number Of
idividual portraits.