New-York tribune., 1878-07-08
THE PARIS EXHIBITION.
SPAIN IN THE OLDEN TINE.

GREss TOWARD COMPLEXION.
lrRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRBUSE.l
| PARIS, June 26.-It was about the middle of last
! May that somebody look the trouble to telegraph
from Paris to London that the Exhibition was SUBJ
stantially complete. Tho statement was duly
published in London paper. 1t was transmitted
by cable to New-York by coDGding press agent,
| and you in your turn published it; as did many
another American paper. But 1t not true then; 4;
| 1t is hardly true now. From that day to this, the
hammer and brush have never been idle
within the precincts of the great show which the
President of the French Republic declared open oD
the 1st of May 1t was article of political faith
to believe it complete then. No good Republican
allowed himself to admit that there was any impor-
tant work still to be done the building. But it
was only three days ago that some official exhibit
was sOlemnly set going, with due solemnity and
ceremony in which the Minister responsible for the
delay bore his part unblushng. So it has been all
along, and so 1T will continue for while. If ever
said the Exposition would be ready by the 1st of
June it misprnt for the 1st of July.
| On Sunday last, the Spanish and Swedish see
tiOns of what the French oddly call the retro
spective department of the Exhibition were
opened to the public; which | went to see
for better reason than because it WAS
the newest. Spain and Sweden have about as
they occupy together the extreme end of the curvi-
linear gallery OH the right OF Passy side of the
trail edilice crowning the Trocadero heights. All
the left wing il mistake not, is occupied by the
French, and the arrangement corresponds thus
| far with that of the main building in the Champ
dc Mars; France has half and the other half is
for the rest of the world. ! have heard the
foreigner complain of this distribution of
space as unequal. The Frenchman, | don't
doubt. thinks it unjust to his own country. If
you set him to carve ont q political system for the
universe, France would certainly occupy the great
est space in il why should she not here AS be-
tween other countries, the arrangement seems left
much TO chance Spain and Sweden neighbors
in the alphabet, certainly; but then why does
Japan come nexti
Into Japan we were not allowed TO penetrate on
Sunday. Early as the japanese people were with
their display in the Champ dc Mars, they are out
stripped in the Trocad6ro by the Spaniards.
who were among the last to be ready across
the river Was It because these practical Japs
had things to sell in their modern section,
and have none here 7 For though it has
long been the custom TO sell their gods in Japan IL
is understood that traffic, whether in wares ce-
lestial OF terrestrial is permitted in these archao-
logical corridors. Nor was IL easy for the stranger
10 find his way to the new Spanish section. ii. and
1 entered at the Trocadero gate, and thought to
pass along the outer gallery Of the Sale des Fetes.
policeman stopped us. We tried the inner gallery
with no better luck; n Congress, or some
thing Of the sort, was going on in the
hail. and there no admission without
a ticket. Sure OF being allowed TO penc.
tratc beneath the hall in the main corridor, we
brought mp there, too. against func-
tionary In linen trousers. There was barrier.
the passages were unfinished workmen were IN
possession. fourth attempt to pass in front OF the
whole building met with no better success. More
barriers. more workmen. more police. Nobody had
vet been able 10 tell us where We really ought to 90,
bnt this last officer touched by our despair. SAID the
only way was TO walk down into the grounds and
nm ON the Other side. And he was wrong we were
finally permitted to traverse a tunnel under The
cascade; thin sheet of water twenty feet broad.
which falls from n vase below the central arch of
the gallery into pool beneath. The wind blew
tl,e suray against us. Women ran through
with little screams and shrill laughter,
and | heard a wicked foreigner telling
n creduous Frenchman that it was like pass
ing under the Falls of Niagara. lt has pleased
Krantz 10 direct that these long galleries shall
only be entered at their extreinities. fou cannot
enter either of them from the central hail. although
this hall Is itself approached directly from the
Trocadero gate. and that gate ia the one to which
the visitor naturally beakes himself. The object OF
this il plainly to have but one stream OF humanity
flowing all the time in the same direction. In Itself
the idea is good one, for the galleries are narrow
and much encumbcred. But it would be more con-
yenient for humanity if it were permitted to How III
the opposite direction.
But all mistakes have their advantages, and the
advantage of this is that you forced to see the
III, n IN q la
artist meant you should it, in ascending. IL Is
hung. a. n great part of the gallery is hung, with
tapestry: tapestry of what date and place l know
not but soft and harmonious in color, vigorous IN
design and of unusually large size. With this, as
with other things about which you would like to
lpow tho difficulty is the want of catalogue
There are labels on many OF the exhibits, but their
sunpy of useful information is scanty. And the
American side of the display is not what the Ameri
can might hope. With one notable excep-
ton. | saw few relics of the relations De-
tween Spain and her American colonies. There are
ooIIections of Peruvian and Mexican pottery and
other products, which one has seen before; indeed,
there is too much of what every museum has TO oer
Won. The one exception IL suit OF arinor whlch
hears the name of Christopher Columbus. III bears
also aas legend TO the effect that IL Is SAID 10 De
his. confession of its want OF authenticity which
one would almost have preferred they should omit.
"Tbev might as well have said it was Benjamin
Fronklins armor" remarked my friend. To my re-
nonstrance that Franklin was not a Spanlard. he
retorted .No more was Columbus" If ever the
great enoese put on this coat of mail il must have
been when he was Grand Admiral. 1t is elaborately
wrought. covered with quaint devices, and height
ened with broad bands of gold.
Much simpler is tho armor once worn py man
ubo IL he did not discover new world, ruled the
old one. Charles V. Like that Of Columbus, 1t Is
from the famous Madrid collection, the Royal Ar
mory, perhaps the finest assemblage of historical
and highly ornamented arms that exists in Europe,