DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0192
160 THE GREAT EXHIBITION
The above flying notes, though unimportant in themselves, may be interesting some
future day, as affording a notion of the position held by the Fine Arts in the Great Exhi-
bition of Industry of All Nations of 1851.
CHAPTER XXII.
CUTLEEY—From the Junes' Report.
VAHIOUS CONTRIBUTIONS—-ENGLAND—ERANCE—BELGIUJT—THE ZOLLVEREIN—AUSTRIA—RUSSIA
—SWITZERLAND—SUPERIORITY OP ENGLAND----SHEFFIELD CUTLERY----INDIAN TOOLS—SPAIN----
PORTUGAL—TURKEY—EGYPT----TUNIS—CHINA----AMERICA.
Tt appeared, according to the information laid before the jury, that there were, altogether,
about 368 exhibitors in this class, distributed, very unequally, among twenty-two of the
geographical divisions contained in the official catalogue. The United Kingdom, as was
to be expected, furnished a proportion amounting to not less than forty-five per cent, of
the whole list: and among these were to be found many contributors, on so extensive and
varied a scale, that its share in the total display of these articles was much larger than
the above numbers would imply. The second place was occupied by Austria, whose
exhibitors constituted twenty-seven per cent, of the entire sum. After her the
Zollverein States of Germany furnished about eight per cent., Erance about three per
cent., Sweden and Norway in nearly the same proportion. A very small number of
exhibitors from the remaining countries completed the list, though some of these
national collections, however confined to few individuals, contained objects well worthy of
attention. These results must not be taken as any certain indication of the comparative
proficiency of the respective countries in the production of commodities of this kind, or of
the value of their contributions. It is probable that, in some degree, they might have
shown the character and nature of the manufacture as carried on in these different states,
and corresponded with its subdivision among mGre or less numerous hands in comparison
with its total extent. In Austria, for instance, we found by the catalogue, that the
collections specified as assignable to each exhibitor consisted, for the most part, of one
kind of manufactured article, scarcely any of more than two or three j and we might,
therefore, perhaps venture to infer that the high number of these, as compared with
some departments where they were individually more comprehensive, arose from a very
different distribution of capital among their separate establishments in this branch of
industry. But this is not to be considered as a disparagement to their contributions.
Such a condition of the manufacture may be best adapted to the supply of the particular
demand for which it exists; and, as regards the late Exhbition, even apart from such con-
siderations, the appearance of a numerous list of exhibitors from any one country might
have been reasonably taken as a gratifying evidence of the interest and activity awakened
there by the invitation to co-operate in a display of the works of universal industry, and
of an active desire to share in its honours. The characteristics of the different national
collections were, however, interesting in more than one point of view. We detected, in
various instances, indications of the peculiar condition and habits of the people whence
they came, of their social and industrial wants and aims, as well as of their natural or
acquired advantages.
In England, the close proximity of coal and iron, together with abundant facilities
The above flying notes, though unimportant in themselves, may be interesting some
future day, as affording a notion of the position held by the Fine Arts in the Great Exhi-
bition of Industry of All Nations of 1851.
CHAPTER XXII.
CUTLEEY—From the Junes' Report.
VAHIOUS CONTRIBUTIONS—-ENGLAND—ERANCE—BELGIUJT—THE ZOLLVEREIN—AUSTRIA—RUSSIA
—SWITZERLAND—SUPERIORITY OP ENGLAND----SHEFFIELD CUTLERY----INDIAN TOOLS—SPAIN----
PORTUGAL—TURKEY—EGYPT----TUNIS—CHINA----AMERICA.
Tt appeared, according to the information laid before the jury, that there were, altogether,
about 368 exhibitors in this class, distributed, very unequally, among twenty-two of the
geographical divisions contained in the official catalogue. The United Kingdom, as was
to be expected, furnished a proportion amounting to not less than forty-five per cent, of
the whole list: and among these were to be found many contributors, on so extensive and
varied a scale, that its share in the total display of these articles was much larger than
the above numbers would imply. The second place was occupied by Austria, whose
exhibitors constituted twenty-seven per cent, of the entire sum. After her the
Zollverein States of Germany furnished about eight per cent., Erance about three per
cent., Sweden and Norway in nearly the same proportion. A very small number of
exhibitors from the remaining countries completed the list, though some of these
national collections, however confined to few individuals, contained objects well worthy of
attention. These results must not be taken as any certain indication of the comparative
proficiency of the respective countries in the production of commodities of this kind, or of
the value of their contributions. It is probable that, in some degree, they might have
shown the character and nature of the manufacture as carried on in these different states,
and corresponded with its subdivision among mGre or less numerous hands in comparison
with its total extent. In Austria, for instance, we found by the catalogue, that the
collections specified as assignable to each exhibitor consisted, for the most part, of one
kind of manufactured article, scarcely any of more than two or three j and we might,
therefore, perhaps venture to infer that the high number of these, as compared with
some departments where they were individually more comprehensive, arose from a very
different distribution of capital among their separate establishments in this branch of
industry. But this is not to be considered as a disparagement to their contributions.
Such a condition of the manufacture may be best adapted to the supply of the particular
demand for which it exists; and, as regards the late Exhbition, even apart from such con-
siderations, the appearance of a numerous list of exhibitors from any one country might
have been reasonably taken as a gratifying evidence of the interest and activity awakened
there by the invitation to co-operate in a display of the works of universal industry, and
of an active desire to share in its honours. The characteristics of the different national
collections were, however, interesting in more than one point of view. We detected, in
various instances, indications of the peculiar condition and habits of the people whence
they came, of their social and industrial wants and aims, as well as of their natural or
acquired advantages.
In England, the close proximity of coal and iron, together with abundant facilities