DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3004#0068
dustry at its present point of development in Belgium, are above
all praise. No effort has been spared. Every point has been
carefully considered and brought out ; and why ? It must be
evident to everyone that, in the event of a relaxation of the French
tariff on iron manufactures, the country who can show the best
claim is likely to reap the greatest advantages.
COLONIAL PRODUCE.
It was our intention to have noticed in detail the varied expo-
sitions of the products of our colonies, more especially in their
relation to the supply of materials calculated to be useful in the
arts. As it is we must be content with simply glancing at some
of the leading features of the more prominent, and without precisely
defining our East India possessions as coming within the category
of a Crown colony, it may be most convenient to allude here to
the very remarkable display which the India Board has caused to
be made of the products, artistic and otherwise, of the immense
territory placed under their direction. Forming an interesting
and complete exhibition of itself it would require a special and
lengthy notice to do justice to its varied excellencies. Looking at
it, however, from the stand-point we have chosen as to how far
the specimens of the various arts of India are calculated to
influence usefully kindred arts in Europe, it is by no means clear
that the result will be at all commensurate with the trouble taken
to bring so unique a collection together.
Probably the most complete display of Colonial produce, properly
so called, is that of Canada. Improving upon the experience of
1861, and satisfied that the exhibition of its products on that
occasion had been of immense value to its commerce, the colonial
legislation voted a large sum of money, purchased or guaranteed
the sale of all articles it thought worthy of being sent to Paris ;
and thus in completing the arrangements for a proper represent-
ation of the interests of the colony, it rendered those to whom the
management was intrusted totally independent of the exhibitors.
The result is a most useful and even tasteful display of trails-
Atlantic utilities and products. Among the former may be quoted
a deal window-frame with sashes, and Venetian shutters, manu-
factured by machinery for sixteen shillings English ; and a door-
frame, door and finishiugs of the same material, and manufactured
in the same manner, for about seventeen shillings. The workman-
ship is perfect in every respect. Such is the result of the
application of machinery to the working of wood as practised in
the United States of America and in Canada. The edge-tools
also of Canadian manufacture took a higher position in the opinion
of the Jury than those of England, and those stood relatively
twice as high, numerically, as those of France. The woods of
various kinds, many of them highly ornamental, and all useful,
carefully cut into slabs and polished, form another useful feature
in the Canadian department. The manner in which Mi-. Logan,
the Canadian Commissioner, and Mr. Perry, the curator, have
discharged their duties in the arrangement and superintendence
of the Canada exhibits, entitles them to the best thanks of all
interested in the produce of our North American colonies.
The valuable native woods of Australia are well illustrated by
the manufacture in Paris of various articles of furniture, in which
the different coloured woods are made to play a most important
part alike in the result, as in carrying out the purpose of the
exhibitors in showing the produce of their colony. The wines too
of Australia are brought forward on this occasion, and a strong
opinion has been expressed in their favour. Gold too is shown in
abundance.
New South Wales brings its products into the field in a very
practical form, and the excellence of its cotton receives a remark-
able illustration in the fact that Messrs. Gardner & Bazley, of
Manchester, have spun a sample of 500s. which being of sufficient
fineness to enable the native weavers of Dacca in the East Indies
to weave, it was sent to that place, and a specimen of muslin of the
true Dacca texture is the result, and is exhibited by the spinners
of the yarn in the Manchester department. Ceylon exhibits some
remarkable examples of native work in inlaid furniture. Van
Dieman's Land, British Guiana, Jamaica, Trinidad, and the Cape
of Good Hope, also display largely of their peculiar products ; nor
is the French colony of Algeria behind in this race of the New
World against the Old. Silk of excellent quality, proved by its
being manufactured into costly fabric by Lyonese looms ; furniture
of great beauty, constructed from the native wood of Algiers, are
amongst the results of its industry and enterprise. Altogether
this colonial display, to which we have been compelled to allude
thus briefly, is a remarkable illustration of the Commercial and
Industrial value of periodical expositions, since it is quite clear that
they tend to develope and make known resources which might
otherwise remain hidden for ages in the undeveloped civilisation
of a semi-barbarous country, but which once made known are
calculated to be of immense benefit in the promotion of the arts of
Industry, and consequently of the useful employment and happiness
of mankind at large. The colonist turns his attention to the
preparation and supply of the material which the home worker
needs. Each obtains an additional market for his produce or his
industry, since the raw material of the one purchases the manu-
factured article of the other ; the circuit of commerce, industry,
the arts of peace and civilisation is completed, and thus from the
little centre of the Crystal Palace of 1851, or the Palais de
l'lndustrie of 1855, many comforts and many blessings may flow,
which the small-eyed moles of a grovelling policy, based on intense
selfishness, and erected into a superstructure of over-weening
conceit, cannot see, or seeing will not acknowledge, because it is
beyond the pale of their conception, or involves a sentiment too
lofty for such intellectual fledglings to ascend to.
Our self-imposed task is completed, so far at least as time and
the space at our disposal permits. The infinitude of objects
commanding attention, aud the interests involved in the Exposition
TJniverselle of 1855, might have engendered some hesitation ia
undertaking such a review of this battle-field of the peaceful and
Industrial Arts. For ourselves we had no misgivings, except that
when the encounter of opinions brought us face to face with
old and valued friends it was possible, nay probable, that the
true principle might be forgotten or compromised in personal
respect. We are unconscious of having sacrificed one iota of
the Art-faith that is in us in any such form. As regards the
full results of the Exposition of 1855, it would appear that its
failures have been manifold, alike in administration a3 in its not
attracting that attention, in England, that its sterling merits
deserved. In this respect it is by no means singular, and
we cannot but think that the Exhibitions at Dublin and New
York, within two years after the gathering of 1851, have had
much to do with bringing about an apathy and distrust which has
seriously affected the result, in England and the United States at
least. Well-meaning as was the Dublin Exhibition, and honour-
able as its promotion was to the man who bore the pecuniary
liabilities, its wisdom was of a very doubtful character ; its
management, aud the effects produced thereby on the minds of
many unfortunate exhibitors, was at once calamitous and not
easily to be repaired. As a means of encouraging and developing
Irish industry it was simply absurd, since these expositions can
only be successful when industry is organised, and the Dublin
experiment was to Hibernian industry wdiat a dress coat and
white kid gloves would be to the shirtless, shoeless, and bare-
headed " gossoon." The current interests of steam-packet and rail-
way companies were undoubtedly promoted by the experiment, and
in strict justice these corporations ought to reimburse Mr. Dargan.
The New York Exhibition laboured under the disadvantage of
professing to be a national undertaking, so to speak, sanctioned,
but not supported in any way by the Federal government, and
obnoxious to the charge of being a private speculation under the
cloak of a patriotic movement. Viewed with jealousy by all the
other great cities of the States, laughed at in New England,
" pooh-poohed " in the south, and repudiated in the west, launched
upon the sea of public opinion without a rudder, the ship struck
before she left her port, aud although kept afloat by a certain semi-
official prestige, such as the opening by the President, and its recog-
nition by some of the European states as a Federal undertaking, it
eventually collapsed from bad management or over-government,
it is difficult to say which, to the disgust and serious loss of many
exhibitors, Hence we may account for much of the apathy and
distrust which has characterised the part which Great Britain
has taken in the preparations for the Exposition of 1855, and
looking at the very unsatisfactory commencement of the under-
taking, the non-administration of those charged with the execution
of the work on the part of the French government, the difficult
position in which the British executive has been placed through-
out, it is not too much to say that we do not wonder that many
who would have done honour to themselves and their country,
have congratulated themselves that they had nothing whatever to
do with it; and even those who from official position were com-
pelled to take a share in the work of organisation derived so little
satisfaction from their labours, as to seek to escape from labours
and responsibilities, the end and purpose of which it was im-
possible to understand.
XX
all praise. No effort has been spared. Every point has been
carefully considered and brought out ; and why ? It must be
evident to everyone that, in the event of a relaxation of the French
tariff on iron manufactures, the country who can show the best
claim is likely to reap the greatest advantages.
COLONIAL PRODUCE.
It was our intention to have noticed in detail the varied expo-
sitions of the products of our colonies, more especially in their
relation to the supply of materials calculated to be useful in the
arts. As it is we must be content with simply glancing at some
of the leading features of the more prominent, and without precisely
defining our East India possessions as coming within the category
of a Crown colony, it may be most convenient to allude here to
the very remarkable display which the India Board has caused to
be made of the products, artistic and otherwise, of the immense
territory placed under their direction. Forming an interesting
and complete exhibition of itself it would require a special and
lengthy notice to do justice to its varied excellencies. Looking at
it, however, from the stand-point we have chosen as to how far
the specimens of the various arts of India are calculated to
influence usefully kindred arts in Europe, it is by no means clear
that the result will be at all commensurate with the trouble taken
to bring so unique a collection together.
Probably the most complete display of Colonial produce, properly
so called, is that of Canada. Improving upon the experience of
1861, and satisfied that the exhibition of its products on that
occasion had been of immense value to its commerce, the colonial
legislation voted a large sum of money, purchased or guaranteed
the sale of all articles it thought worthy of being sent to Paris ;
and thus in completing the arrangements for a proper represent-
ation of the interests of the colony, it rendered those to whom the
management was intrusted totally independent of the exhibitors.
The result is a most useful and even tasteful display of trails-
Atlantic utilities and products. Among the former may be quoted
a deal window-frame with sashes, and Venetian shutters, manu-
factured by machinery for sixteen shillings English ; and a door-
frame, door and finishiugs of the same material, and manufactured
in the same manner, for about seventeen shillings. The workman-
ship is perfect in every respect. Such is the result of the
application of machinery to the working of wood as practised in
the United States of America and in Canada. The edge-tools
also of Canadian manufacture took a higher position in the opinion
of the Jury than those of England, and those stood relatively
twice as high, numerically, as those of France. The woods of
various kinds, many of them highly ornamental, and all useful,
carefully cut into slabs and polished, form another useful feature
in the Canadian department. The manner in which Mi-. Logan,
the Canadian Commissioner, and Mr. Perry, the curator, have
discharged their duties in the arrangement and superintendence
of the Canada exhibits, entitles them to the best thanks of all
interested in the produce of our North American colonies.
The valuable native woods of Australia are well illustrated by
the manufacture in Paris of various articles of furniture, in which
the different coloured woods are made to play a most important
part alike in the result, as in carrying out the purpose of the
exhibitors in showing the produce of their colony. The wines too
of Australia are brought forward on this occasion, and a strong
opinion has been expressed in their favour. Gold too is shown in
abundance.
New South Wales brings its products into the field in a very
practical form, and the excellence of its cotton receives a remark-
able illustration in the fact that Messrs. Gardner & Bazley, of
Manchester, have spun a sample of 500s. which being of sufficient
fineness to enable the native weavers of Dacca in the East Indies
to weave, it was sent to that place, and a specimen of muslin of the
true Dacca texture is the result, and is exhibited by the spinners
of the yarn in the Manchester department. Ceylon exhibits some
remarkable examples of native work in inlaid furniture. Van
Dieman's Land, British Guiana, Jamaica, Trinidad, and the Cape
of Good Hope, also display largely of their peculiar products ; nor
is the French colony of Algeria behind in this race of the New
World against the Old. Silk of excellent quality, proved by its
being manufactured into costly fabric by Lyonese looms ; furniture
of great beauty, constructed from the native wood of Algiers, are
amongst the results of its industry and enterprise. Altogether
this colonial display, to which we have been compelled to allude
thus briefly, is a remarkable illustration of the Commercial and
Industrial value of periodical expositions, since it is quite clear that
they tend to develope and make known resources which might
otherwise remain hidden for ages in the undeveloped civilisation
of a semi-barbarous country, but which once made known are
calculated to be of immense benefit in the promotion of the arts of
Industry, and consequently of the useful employment and happiness
of mankind at large. The colonist turns his attention to the
preparation and supply of the material which the home worker
needs. Each obtains an additional market for his produce or his
industry, since the raw material of the one purchases the manu-
factured article of the other ; the circuit of commerce, industry,
the arts of peace and civilisation is completed, and thus from the
little centre of the Crystal Palace of 1851, or the Palais de
l'lndustrie of 1855, many comforts and many blessings may flow,
which the small-eyed moles of a grovelling policy, based on intense
selfishness, and erected into a superstructure of over-weening
conceit, cannot see, or seeing will not acknowledge, because it is
beyond the pale of their conception, or involves a sentiment too
lofty for such intellectual fledglings to ascend to.
Our self-imposed task is completed, so far at least as time and
the space at our disposal permits. The infinitude of objects
commanding attention, aud the interests involved in the Exposition
TJniverselle of 1855, might have engendered some hesitation ia
undertaking such a review of this battle-field of the peaceful and
Industrial Arts. For ourselves we had no misgivings, except that
when the encounter of opinions brought us face to face with
old and valued friends it was possible, nay probable, that the
true principle might be forgotten or compromised in personal
respect. We are unconscious of having sacrificed one iota of
the Art-faith that is in us in any such form. As regards the
full results of the Exposition of 1855, it would appear that its
failures have been manifold, alike in administration a3 in its not
attracting that attention, in England, that its sterling merits
deserved. In this respect it is by no means singular, and
we cannot but think that the Exhibitions at Dublin and New
York, within two years after the gathering of 1851, have had
much to do with bringing about an apathy and distrust which has
seriously affected the result, in England and the United States at
least. Well-meaning as was the Dublin Exhibition, and honour-
able as its promotion was to the man who bore the pecuniary
liabilities, its wisdom was of a very doubtful character ; its
management, aud the effects produced thereby on the minds of
many unfortunate exhibitors, was at once calamitous and not
easily to be repaired. As a means of encouraging and developing
Irish industry it was simply absurd, since these expositions can
only be successful when industry is organised, and the Dublin
experiment was to Hibernian industry wdiat a dress coat and
white kid gloves would be to the shirtless, shoeless, and bare-
headed " gossoon." The current interests of steam-packet and rail-
way companies were undoubtedly promoted by the experiment, and
in strict justice these corporations ought to reimburse Mr. Dargan.
The New York Exhibition laboured under the disadvantage of
professing to be a national undertaking, so to speak, sanctioned,
but not supported in any way by the Federal government, and
obnoxious to the charge of being a private speculation under the
cloak of a patriotic movement. Viewed with jealousy by all the
other great cities of the States, laughed at in New England,
" pooh-poohed " in the south, and repudiated in the west, launched
upon the sea of public opinion without a rudder, the ship struck
before she left her port, aud although kept afloat by a certain semi-
official prestige, such as the opening by the President, and its recog-
nition by some of the European states as a Federal undertaking, it
eventually collapsed from bad management or over-government,
it is difficult to say which, to the disgust and serious loss of many
exhibitors, Hence we may account for much of the apathy and
distrust which has characterised the part which Great Britain
has taken in the preparations for the Exposition of 1855, and
looking at the very unsatisfactory commencement of the under-
taking, the non-administration of those charged with the execution
of the work on the part of the French government, the difficult
position in which the British executive has been placed through-
out, it is not too much to say that we do not wonder that many
who would have done honour to themselves and their country,
have congratulated themselves that they had nothing whatever to
do with it; and even those who from official position were com-
pelled to take a share in the work of organisation derived so little
satisfaction from their labours, as to seek to escape from labours
and responsibilities, the end and purpose of which it was im-
possible to understand.
XX