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A.D. 1862.]

MR. LINCOLN'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.

heartily and entirely wish their cause to triumph; moreover, the United States Government and people were irrevocably bound, in the event of their obtaining such military success as did in fact crown their arms, to maintain for the future that freedom of the negro population which had been thus proclaimed.

On the 1st of December, 1862, Mr. Lincoln sent down a message to Congress, thoughtful, lucid, and at times rising to a rugged natural eloquence, in which he laboured to show the physical unity of the territory of the United States, and thence to conclude to the political indivisi

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quite so conveniently or profitably under two Governments as under one, therefore disruption is forbidden and branded by all laws, human and divine. Louisiana must remain one political community with Minnesota, however diverse may be the ideas, the political tendencies, the social habits, and the intellectual and æsthetic culture, of the two, because, if there were a custom-house between them, a percentage of profit might be lost to the Minnesota settler, and the "development" (by which is simply meant, in such reasonings, the filling up of a country with a motley, half civilised, and wholly uninteresting white

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bility of the Union. There is no line of boundary, he said, which could possibly be drawn between the great corn-producing region of the interior, lying between the Alleghanies, the Rocky Mountains, and British America, and the sea margins south, east, and west of the said region, that would not cut off its population from one or more of the outlets which Nature had provided for its trade.

(An argument which, pressed by some future President, when the Union has a hundred millions of inhabitants, may perhaps be turned against the British, as marring and embarrassing the beneficent appointments of Nature, while we "cut off" the said population from the outlet of the St. Lawrence.) Mr. Lincoln argues the question ably and earnestly, yet, after all, he regards it solely from the commercial point of view. What he says amounts to this: that because men cannot trade together VOL. IX.-No. 417.

population) of the interior region might proceed at a rather slower rate. And if it did, would the world be any the worse? Is not the rapid absorption of the vast and fertile prairies of America by a swarming semi-civilized population-insensible to the charm of ancient manners, dead to art, callous to philosophy, vulgarly self-confident in religion-one of the saddest among the many sad spectacles which the philosophic observer of mankind, during the last forty years, has been compelled to contemplate? What if some Virginian thinker had replied to Mr. Lincoln: Doubtless you may be right in maintaining that trade flourishes better-ceteris paribus-where there is but one political organisation; but man is not born for trade alone; and there is much reason for holding that literature, art, science-in a word, all that constitutes the highest culture of a people-flourish all the more for

there being a number of cultivated independent centres. Would Greece have taught us so much, had she been all Spartan, or all Theban, or even all Athenian? Is the oppressive moral monotony which prevails in a vastly extended state, in which the majority reigns supreme-is this no drawback to the account of prosperity? Again, utter want of harmony in religious beliefs may make it more desirable for two contiguous populations to be independent of each other, than to be politically united. No physical barrier divides Holland from Belgium; if commercial principles are to override all others, they ought to be one; yet we know that difference of religion, and diversity of historical memories and associations, made the two peoples fret against the tie which temporarily united them, and that since their separation each has prospered-in regard to all the higher forms of national prosperity-in an eminent degree. Bred up in the rough West, Mr. Lincoln, intelligent and virtuous as he was, could not but be blind to this whole class of considerations, which would have appeared to him mere fanciful refinements. Does it conduce to trade? that was his sole test by which to try every political organisation.

CHAPTER III.

The International Exhibition of 1862: Its Origin: Erection of the
Building at Brompton: Description of its Principal Features:
Comparison of it with the Building of 1851: Ceremonial at the
Opening-Multifarious Contents of the Exhibition-Number of

with enterprises of this kind to rest on the undoubted success of that of 1851. But sufficient light is thrown on the subject for our purpose by the statement contained in the address presented at the opening of the building by the Royal Commissioners. From this it appears that the Society of Arts, "a body through whose exertions the Exhibition of 1851 in great measure originated,” began to take preliminary measures in 1858 and 1859 for the purpose of ascertaining whether a sufficiently strong feeling existed in the country in favour of decennial repetitions of that great experiment to justify the prosecution of the scheme. The continental war of 1859 caused a temporary suspension of proceedings; but on peace being restored, the Society resumed the consideration of the question, although at a period too late to allow of the Exhibition being ready by the year 1861, which was their original desire. The Society obtained decisive proof of the existence of a general desire for a second Great Exhibition in the most satisfactory form-namely, the signatures of upwards of 1,100 individuals for various sums of from £100 to £10,000, and amounting in the whole to no less than £450,000, to a guarantee deed for raising the funds needed for the conduct of the Exhibition. The scheme having thus been started, the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, in the most liberal spirit, placed at the disposal of the managers of the new undertaking, free of all charge, a space of nearly seventeen acres on their Kensington Gore Estate, and subse

Exhibitors, British and Foreign-The French Department-Col- quently, when the original area was found insufficient, an

lection of Pictures-Close of the Exhibition-Number of Persons that had visited it.

THE year 1862 was marked by a second grand display, on a scale of colossal magnitude, of the products of the material and artistic civilisation of our age, contributed by the industry of all countries, but especially by that of England and her colonies.

The origin of the Exhibition of 1862 is involved in some obscurity. Though such is undoubtedly the case, several conjectures were diligently offered upon the subject; most of these conjectures, however, were so very far-fetched, that serious consideration of them is quite out of the question. A cynical writer in the Saturday Review, writing two days after the opening, could see in it nothing but a "gigantic advertisement,” a “gigantic joint-stock show-room," the "Palace of Puffs." On the other hand, a writer in the Illustrated London News, after severely condemning the levity or malice of his weekly contemporary, proceeds to refer the Exhibition to conceptions and motives which, however sublime they may be, are a little vague. "Looking," he says, "at this magnificent International Exhibition in the light of the high motives which originally suggested it, we see in it, first of all, a rich and multiform display of that Supreme beneficence which over-arches, if we may so express ourselves, the destinies of our race." The project of a second Exhibition has been often attributed to the Prince Consort, but it was said at the time, and on better authority, that so far from having initiated the Exposition of this year, he gave a somewhat reluctant assent to its being carried out, and was rather desirous of allowing his fame in connection

additional plot of eight acres, being all the land which could be made available for the purpose. In this way was the scheme originated, the cost of the necessary buildings provided for, and an eligible site obtained.

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The contractors for the greater part of the work were Messrs. Kelk and Lucas, and it could not have been in abler hands. But for the eastern dome the contract was taken by the Thames Iron Company. This dome was begun long before that on the western side; but a 'generous rivalry" sprang up between the builders, which resulted in something like a neck-and-neck race between them at last. The work was commenced in the latter part of 1861, and the contractors were bound to deliver the shell of the building, complete, to the Royal Commissioners on the 12th February, 1862. To do this they had to carry on the works by night as well as by day, and an interesting picture executed at the time represents the night effect of the western dome, as seen from the Horticultural Society's Gardens-the moonbeams from behind struggling to pierce through the network of ribs, rafters, and elaborate scaffolding of which the dome then consisted, and workmen swarming in all the galleries of the vast building, carrying on their work by artificial light. The contract was kept, and the building handed over on the 12th February. Applications for space from exhibitors were then invited, and the fitting up of the courts and galleries proceeded with; but with such numerous and varied interests and claims to adjust. the commissioners could not ensure the same rapid progress as that made in the erection of the building; and a large part of the edifice was still in

A.B. 1862.]

THE EXHIBITION OF 1862.

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confusion, heaped up with packing-cases and litter, when to Mr. Crace, and was upon the whole successful. The the Exhibition was opened on the 1st May.

The principal features of the building, when completed, are described in the following terms by a writer in the "Annual Register." They consisted "of two vast domes of glass, 250 feet high and 160 feet in diameter-larger (that is, broader across, but, of course, nothing like so high) than the dome of St. Peter's-connected by a nave 800 feet long, 100 feet high, and 85 feet wide; with & closed roof, and lighted by a range of windows after the manner of the clerestory of a Gothic cathedral. The domes opened laterally into spacious transepts; and the nave into a wide central avenue and interminable side aisles and galleries, which, being roofed with glass, much resembled the crystal inclosure of the Exhibition of 1851. These domes, naves, transepts, and corridors formed the main building, and covered sixteen acres of ground; but in addition were two annexes, of unpretending ugliness, which covered or inclosed seven and a half acres; the whole area occupied by the building was twenty-four and a half acres." Of the two annexes, the eastern was devoted to agricultural implements of all kinds; the western to the display of machinery, both at rest and in motion. The courts and compartments in which the majority of the articles displayed were contained were on the ground floor; among the galleries above, those which constituted one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest, attraction of the Exhibition were the long picture galleries, admirably lighted, containing an immense collection of the chief productions of modern English art, in painting and sculpture; and also a similar collection, though, of course, much less complete, of the modern painting and sculpture of foreign nations.

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pillars in the nave appeared alternately a dark olive and a red chocolate, with gilded capitals and a line of gold round the base. The columns in the courts were coloured a green bronze, with dark red capitals and bases, and a similar dark line ran along the girders. The roof was decorated with gilt ornaments, and these, in connection with the scarlet and gold capitals of the pillars, though delicate, and perhaps too minute, were still, on a bright sunny day, on the whole agreeable to the eye. The walls of the picture galleries were painted a sage green-a colour well adapted for throwing the pictures into relief, but giving a somewhat gloomy aspect to the rooms. Connoisseurs were disposed to charge the style of decoration, generally, with a lack of boldness and inventiveness; however, as we have said, the effect was at least pleasing.

"

By a great effort, the executive staff of the Exhibition were enabled to present the building to the royal and other visitors on the day fixed for the opening ceremonial, May 1st, in a state of tolerable forwardness. Thirty thousand persons witnessed the spectacle. Beneath the western dome there was a raised dais, on which was erected a lofty throne, hung with crimson velvet and satin, and powdered with gilded roses and stars. On each side of a rich overhanging canopy were placed large marble busts of Her Majesty and the Prince Consort. From this platform, looking down the nave, the vista was charming, and would have been much more effective but for the interposition of two huge and hideous trophies," one of which was an exhibition of candles, the other "a curtained erection, which looked like an exaggerated four-post bedstead." Thus was the sordid side The same writer does but echo the general opinion of of commercialism allowed to obtrude itself at a time and all those who witnessed the Exhibition of 1851, and could place when no considerations except those of asthetic therefore compare the two buildings, when he makes the grandeur and beauty should have been entertained for a result of such a comparison unfavourable to the building moment. The procession of the Queen's Commissioners of 1862. 66 'Although none could deny," he says, that for opening the Exhibition was formed at Buckingham the building of 1862 was greatly superior in extent, lofti- Palace, and proceeded, fortunately under a bright and ness, and elegance, both of constructive detail and of sunny sky, to the entrance of the building in Cromwell decoration, to the Crystal Palace of 1851, yet the general Road. As was to be expected, neither the Queen nor any impression seemed to be that there was a magical charm of her children were present; but the royal family was about the latter which was wanting to its successor. The ably represented by the Duke of Cambridge, supported distinctive difference probably was that the crystalline by the Crown Prince of Prussia, the Archbishop of Canwalls and roof of the Palace of 1851 admitted such an terbury, and other august personages. The Lord Mayor universally-diffused light that the idea of "inclosure of London lent his gorgeous and historical presence to did not present itself; while in the building of 1862 the grace the ceremonial, coming "in great state, with a solid roof and rayless walls of the nave, lighted by Gothic suite of aldermen, common-councilmen, and city officers, windows in the clerestory, gave the unavoidable impres- in seventy carriages." When all were in their places, the sion that you were within a building. The two great Duke of Cambridge standing on the raised dais in front domes were certainly much inferior in effect to the glo- of the throne, Earl Granville, as the representative of rious transept of 1851; nor was there within the whole the Commissioners having charge of the Exhibition, structure any one spot which offered that unconfined stepped forward, and presented an address to the Duke, coup d'oeil that sensation of space to be felt but not as the Chief Commissioner for the opening. In this described-which could be obtained from several points address allusion was made to the loss which the Queen of vantage in its predecessor. The long avenue of the had recently sustained, in the following appropriate nave gave unquestionably a grand prospect; but it was so packed with 'trophies' and other large and unmanageable objects, that it suggested a confined and crowded feeling." The internal colour-decoration was committed

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terms:

"And, first of all, it is our melancholy duty to convey to Her Majesty the expression of our deep sympathy with her in the grievous affliction with which it has pleased

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the Almighty to visit Her Majesty and the whole people of this realm in the death of her Royal Consort. We cannot forget that this is the anniversary of the opening of the first great International Exhibition, eleven years ago, by Her Majesty, when His Royal Highness, the President of the Commissioners of that Exhibition, addressed Her Majesty in words that will not be forgotten: When we commenced our duties, and until a recent period, we ventured to look forward to the time when it might be our great privilege to address Her Majesty in person this day, and to show to Her Majesty within these walls the evidence which this Exhibition affords of the opinion originally entertained by His Royal Highness-evidence furnished alike by the increased extent of the Exhibition, by the eagerness with which all classes of the community have sought to take part in it, and by the large expenditure incurred by individual exhibitors for the better display of their produce and machinery. We can now only repeat the assurance of our sympathy with Her Majesty in that bereavement which deprives the inaugural ceremony of her royal presence."

After the Duke of Cambridge, in the name of the Commissioners for opening the Exhibition, had made a suitable reply, the procession was reformed, and passed down the nave to the eastern dome. It was here that the great mass of persons invited to be present at the opening were seated; for here the finest and most delightful part of the day's programme was to be performed. The renowned maestro, Meyerbeer, had composed an 'Ouver ture en forme de marche" expressly for the occasion; the Poet Laureate had written a beautiful ode, which Sterndale Bennett, the Cambridge Professor of Music, had wedded to appropriate strains; and a grand march by Auber (which proved to be a work of extraordinary spirit and verve) completed the programme of this grand

concert.

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When the music was over, the Bishop of London stepped forward and "delivered a fervent prayer suited to the occasion," which does not appear to have been any where reported. After that, the Hallelujah Chorus, from Handel's "Messiah," was performed with great power, and on its conclusion the National Anthem was again sung. Then the Duke of Cambridge rose, and in a loud voice proclaimed :-" By command of the Queen, I now declare the Exhibition open." This declaration was followed by a loud blast of the trumpets and great cheering from all present.

The logic of narration would seem now to require from us, that after having described the origin of the Exhibition, shown how the building was erected, described its principal features, and recounted the ceremony of its opening, we should proceed to give an account of what was in it. But just here is our difficulty; it is so hard to say what was not in it. It was like an enormous bazaar, containing everything which the fancy and invention, not of our country only, but of all countries, had at any time taxed themselves to produce for the use and the enjoyment of men. Take one single department of the Exhibition, the western annexe, for machinery at rest

and in motion; when we have said that you might see there (and also hear, for the din was terrific) locomotives of many descriptions, Nasmyth hammers, marine engines, planing machines, weaving and spinning machines, brick-making machines, hydraulic cranes, and centrifugal pumps, we have, after all, indicated but a small part of the bewildering variety of machines that the annexe contained. The same may be said of all the other departments in that portion of the Exhibition which represented the industrial arts. A few particulars respecting the number of exhibitors will enable the reader to judge in some degree what this multiplicity must have been: we quote them from an article written at the time :

"The three great foreign states, or collections of states, now exhibiting are, of course, France, the Zollverein (or German Free-trade Union, which includes Prussia), and Austria. The French courts will probably be filled by between 3,000 and 4,000 exhibitors, and the Austrian display will probably be furnished by an equal number of firms and individuals. The Zollverein display is furnished by about 2,500 exhibitors, of whom Prussia can claim about 1,400. Russia shows through about 400 exhibitors, Holland through about 350, Spain through about 1,150, Portugal through 1,000, Norway through about 200, Sweden through 500, and Belgium through about 900. Here, without reckoning Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece, Egypt, and a few small states, we have at least 13,000 foreign exhibitors in the foreign part of the Exhibition; and, when the list is made complete, they will reach three times the number of British exhibitors. The only part of the above list in which no very remarkable increase can be noted is the Zollverein, as the exhibitors from these states in 1851 numbered 2,300. The other states, without an exception, show a wonderful increase of exhibitors; and largely as France was represented at the first Exhibition, her exhibitors now will be nearly doubled. The enormous increase of foreign exhibitors shows a spirit of competition, a self-reliance, and a faith in Industrial Exhibitions, which speak well for foreign industry."

According to the ground-plan of the Exhibition building, there was an enormous area, in the angle between the southern transept and the nave, reserved for the French department; and a curious circumstance occurred in connection with this, which, when one thinks of the later relations between France and Prussia, is not without interest. The French asked and obtained permission to inclose their court, and they accordingly erected high wooden partitions all round it, greatly to the disgust of Prussia, exhibiting in a more limited space west of the south transept, because the chief supply of light on which her exhibitors had reckoned was thus cut off, or at any rate greatly obscured, and they had little left to depend upon but the light from the clerestory windows far above. The French were appealed to to reduce the height of their partitions; but the representatives of "la grande nation" would not recede an inch: they agreed with their Emperor that "when France is satisfied, the world is at rest," at any rate, ought to be; and as the partitions perfectly answered the purpose of

A.D. 1863.]

MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.

the French exhibitors, why should they put themselves out of the way for the sake of the semi-barbarous peoples beyond the Rhine? Since then the French have received a lesson severe enough to cure them for many a day of this national tendency to arrogance.

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A few words now as to the magnificent collection of pictures. England had an advantage here over foreign countries; for, whereas it was allowable to exhibit any English picture painted within the century previous to the opening of the Exhibition-and, in fact, the best part of the collection did date from the last century,—the foreign collection included, with but trifling exceptions, none but works by living artists. Six thousand works of art, exclusive of sculpture, were displayed in these galleries. Such a gathering of the masterpieces of our Reynolds, Gainsborough, Wilson, and Hogarth-was never seen before. Who that had the good fortune to be present there could ever forget how the inimitable 'Blue Boy" of Gainsborough seemed to light up one end of the gallery-how the lovely Duchess of Devonshire smiled and coquetted from the canvas of Reynolds-how satire, humour, and earnest purpose seemed to contend for the mastery in those wonderful serial pictures of Hogarth? The Pre-Raphaelite school, and all the more eminent living or recently deceased artists, with the exception of J. M. W. Turner, were well represented.

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Oddly enough, the first case that was received and opened for the Exhibition of 1862 came from Africa, a continent not accustomed to take the lead in the industrial race, or in the march of humanity. This was from the free negro settlement of Liberia, and consisted of specimens of palm and other oils, native woods, &c.

The productions of the British colonies occupied a considerable area near the eastern dome, and were exceedingly interesting, especially those from Australia and New Zealand, in the curiosities from which there was a large native element which gave a piquant and peculiar character to the display.

The Exhibition was closed on the 1st of November, having been open for the period of six months. Yet vast as were the multitudes that daily thronged it, the concourse of visitors did not quite come up to the number in 1851. The total number was found to have been 6,117,450, about 50,000 under the gross number of visitors to the Exhibition of 1851.

CHAPTER IV.

The year 1863-Summary-Meeting of Parliament-Marriage of the
Prince of Wales: Public Rejoicings: Fatal Accidents in London :
Votes by Parliament-Mr. Gladstone's Financial Statement: His
Proposal for the Taxation of Charities: Objected to and aban-
donel-Mr. Dillwyn's Motion on the Irish Church: Speech of
Mr. Bernal Osborne: Reply of Sir Hugh Cairns-Close of the
Session-Polish Insurrection of 1863: Its Origin and Progress :

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Suppression of the Insurrection-Rupture of Diplomatic Relations with Brazil: How occasioned-Corn Ships from AmericaThe Relief Fund-Dr. Pusey Indicts Mr. Jowett for HeresySeizure of the Alexandra-The Prince of Wales at the Guildhall At the Oxford Commemoration-Inauguration of Two Albert Memorials-Deaths of Eminent Men in 1863: Sir James Outram; Sketch of his Career: Lord Clyde; His Achievements and Character: Lord Lyndhurst: Sir George Lewis: Archbishop Whately; His Remarkable Character and Powers; Sketch of his Career-Affairs in Japan: Murder of Mr. Richardson: Compensation Refused by the Prince of Satsuma: Kajosima, his Capital, Bombarded and Burnt.

THE year 1863, on which this history now enters, was one which, so far as England was concerned, was unmarked by political agitation and unclouded by the anxieties of war. There was much distress in Lancashire, owing to the entire or partial stoppage of innumerable looms, till now dependent on American cotton. The world was hunted through by the agents of the great cotton industry, in order to find out new sources of supply, or, by introducing or fostering cotton culture in various suitable localities, to secure at least an increased supply in the future. In India, every road leading down the Western Ghauts was traversed by an unwonted string of country carts, conveying the precious commodity to some port of shipment; still, notwithstanding all that could be done, the supply of cotton remained exceedingly limited, and much of what came was of a very inferior quality. A general subscription, set on foot towards the end of 1862, produced in the first month of 1863 the sum of £750,000 for the relief of the distress. It was observed that the general trade and industry of the country continued to prosper, notwithstanding the collapse of this one branch of it. Especially in every branch of the hardware trade, particularly in the sale of arms and munitions of war, immense quantities of which were made in this country to the order of both belligerents, an activity was apparent exceeding all former experience. The basis upon which, under the regime of Free Trade, the industry of this country reposed, was proved by this experience to be far broader and more solid than the most destructive and blasting storm, so long as it affected only one portion of the field, could seriously impair.

Parliament met as usual in the first week of February, and was opened by commission. The first clause of the royal speech informed both Houses of the fact which by this time every one was aware of, that, since they last met, Her Majesty had "declared her consent to a marriage between His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness the Princess Alexandra, daughter of Prince Christian of Denmark." The marriage was celebrated in the following month, and the rejoicings with whish it was accompanied were so genuine and so universal, that it seems worth while to dwell at somewhat greater length than would otherwise be necessary on the circumstances of the auspicious event.

The preliminaries were settled in the course of the visit paid by the Queen to the continent in the autumn of

Attitude of Prussia: Diplomatic Intervention by Earl Russell: 1862, and in consequence the Princess became a guest at

Attitude of France: Russia offers an Amnesty: Earl Russell's
Six Points: Russia declines to entertain them: France proposes
to England and Austria a Definite Engagement for Common
Action: Proposal declined: Reflections: Mouraviff takes the

Osborne in November. Her father, Prince Christian of the house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was at that time heir-presumptive to the crown of DenCommand against the Insurgents: Affair of the Zamoyski Palace: mark, to which he succeeded in 1865. Everything having

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