The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-05-02

The First Hours OF the Great Expo
sition-Our Pen Pictures and Greet
ings from Vienna.
While the great world-gatherinS at the
capital of the Austrian Empire was holding
high festival yesterday in the glorious temple
| devoted to the cause Of universal progress
| the genius of the HERALD correspondents and
the wonderful powers of the ocean cable were
quietly preparing practical illustration of
those mighty achievements Of science, those
grand triumphs of the human intellect, which
are npidly drawing the people of all nation
alities and of all chimes into close and COM
mon brotherhood. Even at the very moment
in which tongues were busy in Vienna dis
cussing in every language of the globe the
incidents of the earliest moments of an expo
sition that seeks to bring into communion the
thought, the labor and the genius of the
world, in order that by discussion and compar-
ison they may work out benefits for all
humanity, the little wire under the sea was
flashing through three thousand miles of ocean
those graphic descriptions of the scene and
those happy thoughts of some of the
to-day. Yesterday German greeted German
in the streets Of the Austrian capital,
in the splendid walks Of the Rrater,
or within the walls of the building now des-
tined to become historical, conveying hearty
congratulations to each other upon this hap
piest festival Of the goddess of the opening
Spring. To-day two Of the most eloquent
tongues in Fatherland speak words Of greeting
and affection to their countrymen across the
Atlantic, through the columns Of the American
press, and bid them share in the rejoicings Of
their kindred at home Yesterday the Arch
duke Charles, standing beneath the splendid
dome of the Prater building. welcomed the
Emperor of Austria to s'the halls devoted to
the peaceful progress of mankind through
culture and labor" To-day his words and
the imperial reply meet the eyes Of millions of
people all over the world. So here in New
York, as in other places thousands Of miles
from Vienna, the mighty power of the electric
telegraph and the enterprise of the modern
press are illustrating to-day in practical
manner the fact that all the world may soon
become Universal Exposition, and that the
peoples, although divided by mountains and
oceans, may ere long be drawn together in o
community Of thought and interest and
progress as efectually as their representatives
were yesterday drawn together beneath the
dome of the Austrian palace.
Yesterday was not an suspicious day at
Vienna, so far as the weather was concerned,
for the opening of the great Exposition. The
balmy air and genial sunshine which ordi-
narily greet the Austrians as they pour in
multtudes into their glorious park to cele-
brate the May festival were wanting. The
beautiful Prater-beautiful in joy or sorrow-.
lay cold and sobbing and in tears in the out
stretched arms of the rufled but loving
Danube Why was it that the clouds
gathered darkly over the brow of heaven,
that the rain came down and that the wind
sighed sadly through the trees on this event.
full dayP Did the spirit of War, once so proud
of the martial fame Of Austria, mourn for the
humiliations of the past, and grieve at the
coming triumph of peace? Could the tears
and the signs have been called forth by the dis
graceful sight Of the flag of the Western Re-
public, the sheet anchor of the oppressed of
all nations, flying, union down, over closed
American department., sdark, barren and
dingy, like an abandoned railway town on
the plains?" Might not some imagi-
native and doubling German mind have
discerned in the incident of the
unfavorable weather a bad omen for the tran
quillity of Europe, portent that foretold
troubled close to the great carnival Of peace?
No doubts or fears, however, seem to have
troubled the minds Of the masses Of people
who focked to the scene Of the days event
the opening Of the Exposition building-and
the weather appears to have been the only
depressing feature Of the hour. 1t was per-
haps, natural for the English temper to be
ruf1ed by the rain and the wind and the cold,
and we are not surprised that, seen from an
English standpoint the picture looked all as
drsary as the weather and as unenjoyable as
the Inauguration Of President Grant The
bold Briton loves his comfort, and alth ough
his darling London spreads over him con-
slant moisture Of rain, sleet and fog, he re-
serves his inalienable right to grumble at
cloudy skies elsewhere. At home where the
sun is seldom seen, he arms himself with an
umbrella as naturally as an Indian on
the warpath arms himself with his
scalping knife; but away from home,
where he expects sunshine and discards his
umbrella, what right has the sky to be over
cast and the rain to fall? The gay crowds
that focked to the Prater evidently did not
cherish such feelings for they seem to have
do honor to the momentous event
The scene is brought wildly before our
eyes by our cable dispatches, and we can
almost picture it as an occurrence of yester-
day in our own city, SO graphically is the story