Mr. Babbage on the Exposition of 1851.

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ART. IX.-The Exposition of 1851; or, Views of the Industry, the Science, and the Government of England. By CHARLES BABBAGE, Esq., Corresponding Member of the Academy of Moral Sciences of the Institute of France. London, 1851. Second Edition.

THE Exposition of 1851-the great experiment of modern times, at first an idea, at last a reality-now stands before us, gigantic and sublime, commanding the admiration, and challenging the criticism of the civilized world. Commingling its crystal canopy with the azure vault which surrounds it, and stretching its magic corridors beyond our visual range, we are at once startled by its colossal magnitude, and enchanted with its fairy trellis work. In its moral and political, more than in its physical aspect, it is instinct with deep instruction, and pregnant with matchless results. Within the precincts of the lofty bazaar are displayed the productions of a planet-its diamonds and its gems; its gold and its metals; its coal and its minerals; the ancient and the recent productions of its soil; and the rich spoils of its animal and vegetable life;-the elementary materials, in short, of the terrestrial freehold which the Great Benefactor has made over to man. Around them stand in proud array the noblest efforts of human genius; the lifeless portraiture of forms divine; the brilliant fabrics; and the wondrous mechanisms which science and art have combined their powers to create. The sage and the artist of every clime, of every colour, and of every faith, are here enabled to study the productions of each other's country, to ponder over each other's labours, to share each other's wisdom, and to learn those lessons of love and charity, which a community of race, of interest, and of destiny, cannot fail to teach. Thus has the Palace of the Arts become a cosmopolitan gymnasium for the instruction of the world, and a temple of concord, in which a thousand hearts may beat as one, and a thousand anthems issue from every tongue. Nor will this knowledge be fruitless, and this community of feeling cease, when the Palace itself has been dissolved, and its riches scattered, and its occupants dispersed. If in the material world the most repulsive elements may be permanently compressed within their sphere of mutual attraction;—if in the world of instinct natures the most ferocious may be softened, and even tamed, when driven into a common retreat by their deadliest foe,-may we not expect, in the world of reason and of faith, that men, severed by national and personal enmities, who have been

toiling under the same impulse, and acting for the same end, who are standing in the porch of the same hall of judgment, and panting for the same eternal home-may we not expect that such men, thus temporarily united in heart and in purpose, will never again consent to brandish the deadly cutlass, or throw the hostile spear? With such feelings, we doubt not, has the Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations been viewed by every party who has visited it; by the sanguine, who never doubted of its success; by the more cautious, who feared it might be impracticable; and, we hope, also even by its enemies, who not only anticipated, but desired its failure.

The history of so remarkable an event as the "Exposition of 1851," in its origin, its objects, and its probable consequences, cannot fail to be a subject of the deepest interest, not only to those who have been its most frequent visitors, but to those who have never seen its exterior, or entered its walls. We shall endeavour, as briefly as we can, and yet as fully as our limits will permit us, to gratify the wishes of these two classes of our readers.

As early as the year 1845, after his Royal Highness Prince Albert became President of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures, he suggested the formation of a great periodical exhibition of the produce of British industry, in arts, manufactures, and commerce. A committee of the Society was appointed, on the 16th June 1845, to carry this suggestion into effect, and considerable sums were liberally subscribed to defray the necessary expenses; but the indifference of the public, the lukewarmness of manufacturers, and the hostility of some of the most eminent of their number, induced the committee to abandon the attempt.

There are some men, however, whom Providence occasionally summons to its aid, as the pioneers and the promoters of great undertakings-men of moral courage, whom no self-interest seduces, and no failure daunts, and no opposition subdues-who, looking beyond the influences of the passing hour, and viewing measures in the maturity of their results, determine at once to realize them. The Committee of the Society of Arts contained men of this high organization. Mr. Scott Russell, in December 1845, placed £50 at the disposal of the council of the Society of Arts, to be offered in "prizes for a series of models and designs of useful objects, calculated to improve general taste;” and it was further proposed, "that they should collect and exhibit models of the most exquisite works in art, for the improvement of the taste of workers and manufacturers in metals." To this sum Mr. F. Cooke added £50, and the Society of Arts the same sum. A competition for these prizes

Early History of the Exhibition.

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took place in May 1846; but few competitors appeared, and the judges had some difficulty in finding subjects deserving of re

ward.

The first exhibition of select specimens of British manufacture took place in March 1847, but it would have been a complete failure, had not two individuals, by personal exertion, obtained from a few great manufacturers a sufficient number of articles for show. The exhibition, however, was successful. Twenty thousand persons visited it, and the manufacturers, who had hitherto stood aloof, were now convinced that the articles had been favourably seen and rightly appreciated. In 1848, the exhibitors came forward unsolicited, and the Exhibition was witnessed by upwards of seventy thousand visitors. The third exhibition, in March 1849, was still more successful. Prince Albert offered a prize for the encouragement of colonial manufactures, and another for the improvement of an important art. Her Majesty, and several of the nobility and gentry, contributed objects of art to the exhibition, and a larger number than usual of medals and prizes was conferred by the Prince on the more eminent manufacturers. The success of these preliminary arrangements encouraged the Prince and his coadjutors to advance with a still bolder step. The Board of Trade had agreed to co-operate in the scheme of a great triennial exhibition, and the First Commissioner of Words and Forests had consented to give a site for a suitable building. It was accordingly announced to the public in March 1849, that a series of periodical exhibitions of British industry, and an appropriate building, would be immediately commenced.

The great idea of Prince Albert, of an Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations, was now about to be realized. The ignorance and apathy of manufacturers, the indifference of the public, and the lukewarm acquiescence of Government, had given way before the zeal and energy of its promoters. In June 1849, Mr. Scott Russell first ventured to submit to the Prince his opinion, and afterwards to state publicly at the annual distribution of prizes, that the time seemed to have arrived for carrying out the original suggestion of His Royal Highness. Mr. Russell had an audience of Prince Albert, and a small committee, consisting of himself, Mr. Cole, Mr. Fuller, and Mr. Cubitt, assembled at Buckingham Palace on the 30th June 1849, when the Prince communicated his views regarding the promotion of a great collection of works of industry and art in London in 1851, for the purposes of exhibition and competition; and it was on this occasion that His Royal Highness mentioned the four great divisions of Raw Material, Machinery and Mechanical Inventions, Manufactures, Sculpture and Plastic Art, of which the Exhibition should

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consist. It was at this meeting, also, that the great feature of universality was given to the Exhibition by Prince Albert, and that it was agreed that it should comprehend the Industry of all Nations. Thus involving questions of international relations and colonial interests, and requiring the use of royal property for a site, it became necessary that the affairs of the Exhibition should be conducted under a Royal Commission. Six months elapsed before the Government came to a decision on the subject. In the meantime, the Committee and the Society of Arts continued actively to complete their arrangements; and when the Ministry saw the firmness and resolution with which the Prince and his friends prosecuted their enterprise, they issued their Royal Commission on the 3d January 1850. After naming the Commissioners, the Executive Committee, and their Secretaries, the execution of the plan was entrusted to any three or more of the Commissioners.*

Such was the sanction tardily given by the Government to this great undertaking. It involved them in no responsibility, bound them to no outlay of public money, and did not even imply the granting of a site on the property of the Crown. This ungenerous concurrence, however, did not daunt the ardour of the Prince and the Commissioners. They proceeded with great zeal to collect the necessary funds, and complete the necessary arrangements. Travelling Commissioners had been dispatched to the provinces to organize local committees, and Mr. Scott Russell had visited Prussia, and secured the co-operation of the authorities at Berlin, and of the States of the Zollverein in promoting the objects of the Exposition.

A site in Hyde Park having been fixed upon by the Commissioners, and granted by the Government, they advertised for a temporary and fire-proof building, which could be quickly erected, and still more quickly removed. No fewer than 245 designsf were speedily prepared, and exhibited by the Society of Arts; but though a few of these were selected as deserving of praise, yet the greater number were found to be of no value, from their inconsistency with the conditions laid down by the Commission. Beautiful and ingenious as some of the selected plans were, they were nevertheless all rejected as unfit for the purpose to which they were to be applied.

The only important fact stated in the Commission, is that £20,000 was invested in the names of certain Commissioners, to be awarded in prizes and medals to the exhibitors of the most meritorious works.

+ Of these plans 38 were by foreigners; France sending 27, and other European states 11. Residents in London sent 128; residents in provincial towns in England and Scotland sent 60; and 7 were anonymous.

Mr. Paxton proposes a Palace of Iron and Glass. 533

In this dilemma an event occurred so remarkable in itself and so singular in its results as to deserve being remembered. Mr. Paxton, who had superintended the construction of the Duke of Devonshire's hothouses, &c., at Chatsworth, was presiding at a Committee of the Midland Railway, assembled at Derby, to inquire into the conduct of a pointsman who had committed a railway offence: There lay before him a clean sheet of blottingpaper, upon which he was observed to be writing while the trial of the pointsman was going on: he was then asked to give his opinion on the case, as he had been paying particular attention to it. Having been previously acquainted with the particulars of the case, he had employed his time in making a sketch of the Crystal Palace, which, in the course of ten days, was expanded into regular plans, sections, and elevations of this remarkable design. The original sketch, thus so singularly executed, is displayed in the Exhibition, and is universally regarded as a document of peculiar interest. It represented a building consisting chiefly of glass and iron; and having been adopted by the Royal Commission, Messrs. Fox, Henderson, and Co., gave in a tender to construct it for £79,800. The Crystal Palace consists of a transept and a nave. The transept is 408 feet long from south to north: it is surmounted by a semi-cylindrical vault, 72 feet in diameter, springing from the vertical pillars at a height of 68 feet from the ground. The nave, including the width of the transept, is 1848 feet, the total length of the building. It is 64 feet high and 72 wide, and on each side of it extend aisles 24 feet in width, and above them at a height of 24 feet from the ground are carried galleries, which surround the whole of the nave and the transept. Beyond these first aisles, and parallel with them, at the distance of 48 feet, there are other aisles of the same width similarly covered with galleries of the same height as those over the first aisles. Bridges at frequent intervals span the 48 feet avenues, and divide them into courts. The 48 feet avenues, and the second aisles, are roofed over at the height of 44 feet from the ground. The rest of the building consists of one story 24 feet high without galleries. Access is given to the galleries by ten double staircases 8 feet wide. The total area of the ground floor is 772,784 square feet; and that of the galleries, which extend nearly a mile in length, 217,100 square feet. The cubic content of the whole building is 33,000,000 feet. There are 896,000 superficial feet of glass, weighing 400 tons,-2300 cast-iron girders,-358 wrought-iron trusses for supporting the galleries and roof,-30 miles of gutters for carrying water into the columns, and 200 miles of sash bars. Of wrought-iron, 550 tons have been used, and of cast-iron 3500 tons. The quantity of wood, including the flooring, is about 600,000 cubic feet.