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GLANCES AT EUROPE:
IN A
Series of Letters
FROM
GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, ITALY, SWITZERLAND, &c.
DURING
THE SUMMER OF 1851.
INCLUDING NOTICES OF THE
GREAT EXHIBITION, OR WORLD'S FAIR.
BY HORACE GREELEY.
NEW YORK:
DEWITT & DAVENPORT, PUBLISHERS.
1851.
ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by
DEWITT & DAVENPORT,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for
the Southern District of New York.
_R. Craighead, Printer and Stereotyper,_
_112 Fulton Street._
NO APOLOGY.
If there be any reader impelled to dip into notes of foreign travel
mainly by a solicitude to perfect his knowledge of the manners and
habits of good society, to which end he is anxious to learn how my Lord
Shuffleton waltzes, what wine Baron Hob-and-nob patronizes, which tints
predominate in Lady Highflyer's dress, and what is the probable color of
the Duchess of Doublehose's garters, he will only waste his time by
looking through this volume. Even if the species of literature he
admires had not already been overdone, I have neither taste nor capacity
for increasing it. It was my fortune sometimes while in Europe to "sit
at good men's feasts," but I brought nothing away from them for the
public, not even the names of my entertainers and their notable guests.
If I had felt at liberty to sketch what struck me as the personal
characteristics of some gentlemen of note or rank whom I met, especially
in England, I do not doubt that the popular interest in those letters
would have been materially heightened. I did not, however, deem myself
authorized to do this. In a few instances, where individuals challenged
observation and criticism by consenting to address public gatherings, I
have spoken of the matter and manner of their speeches and indicated the
impressions they made on me. Beyond this I did not feel authorized to
go, even in the case of public men speaking to the public through
reports for the daily press; while those whom I only met privately or in
the discharge of kindred duties, as Jurors at the Exhibition, I have not
felt at liberty to bring before the public at all. Having thus explained
what will seem to many a lack of piquancy, in the following pages,
implying a privation of social opportunities, I drop the subject.
No one can realize more fully than the writer the utter absence of
literary merit in these Letters. He does not deprecate nor seek to
disarm criticism; he only asks that his sketches be taken for what they
profess and strive to be, and for nothing else. That they are
superficial, their title proclaims; that they were hurriedly written,
with no thought of style nor of enduring interest, all whom they are
likely to interest or to reach must already know. A journalist traveling
in foreign lands, especially those which have been once the homes of his
habitual readers or at least of their ancestors, cannot well refrain
from writing of what he sees and hears; his observations have a value in
the eyes of those readers which will be utterly unrecognized by the
colder public outside of the sympathizing circle. For the habitual
readers of The Tribune especially were these Letters written, and their
original purpose has already been accomplished. Here they would have
rested, but for the unsolicited offer of the publishers to reproduce
them in a book at their own cost and risk, and on terms ensuring a fair
share of any proceeds of their sale to the writer. Such offers from
publishers to authors who have no established reputation as book-makers
are rarely made and even more rarely refused. Therefore, Sir Critic!
whose dog-eared manuscript has circulated from one publisher's drawer to
another until its initial pages are scarcely readable, while the ample
residue retain all their pristine freshness of hue, you are welcome to
your revenge! Your novel may be tedious beyond endurance; your epic a
preposterous waste of once valuable foolscap; but your slashing review
is sure to be widely read and enjoyed.
My aim in writing these Letters was to give a clear and vivid
daguerreotype of the districts I traversed and the incidents which came
under my observation. To this end I endeavored to sec, so far as
practicable, through my own eyes rather than those of others. To this
end, I generally shunned guide-books, even those of the "indispensable"
Murray, and relied mainly for routes and distances on the shilling
hand-book of Bradshaw. That I have been misled into many inaccuracies
and some gross blunders as to noted edifices, works of art, &c., is
quite probable; but that I have truthfully though hastily indicated the
topography, rural aspects, agricultural adaptations and more obvious
social characteristics of the countries I traversed, I am nevertheless
confident. I made a point of penning my impressions of each day's
journey within the succeeding twenty-four hours if practicable, for I
found that even a day's postponement impaired the distinctness of my
recollections of the ever-varying panorama of hill and dale, moor and
mountain, with long, level or undulating stretches of intermingled
woods, grain, grass, &c., &c. I trust the picture I have attempted to
give of out-door life in Western Europe, the workers in its fields and
the clusters in its streets, will be recognized by competent judges as
substantially correct.
The opinions expressed with respect to national characteristics or
aptitude will of course appear crude and rash to those who regard them
as based exclusively on the few days' personal observation in which they
may seem to have originated. To those who regard them as grounded in
some knowledge of history and of the present political and social
condition of those nations, corrected and modified indeed by the
personal observation aforesaid, their crudity and audacity will be
somewhat less astounding. No one will doubt that other travelers in
Europe have been far better qualified to observe and to judge than I
was, yet I see and think, and am not forbidden to speak. We know already
how Europe appears in the eyes of the learned and wise; but if some
Nepaulese Embassador or vagrant Camanche were to publish his "first
impressions" of Great Britain or Italy, should we utterly refuse to open
it because Baird or Thackeray could give us more accurate information on
that identical theme? Would not the Camanche's criticisms possess some
value _as_ his, quite apart from their intrinsic worth or worthlessness?
Might they not afford some insight into Indian modes of thought, if none
into European modes of life?
I deeply regret that the general impression made on me by the Italians
was such that my estimate of their character and capabilities gave
offence to their brethren now settled in this country. Their feeling is
a natural, creditable one; I will not reply to their strictures, yet I
must let what I wrote in Italy of the Italians stand unmodified. I shall
be most happy indeed to confess my mistake whenever it shall have been
proved such, but I cannot as yet perceive it. And to those who, not
unreasonably, dilate on the rashness of such judgment on the part of one
who was only some few weeks in Italy, and did not even understand its
people's language, I beg leave to commend a perusal of "Casa Guidi
Windows," by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I had not seen it when I wrote,
and the coincidence of its estimate of the Italians with mine is of
course utterly unpremeditated. Mrs. Browning speaks Italian and knows
the Italians; she lived among them throughout the late eventful years;
she sympathizes with their sufferings and prays for their deliverance,
but without shutting her eyes to the faults and grave defects of
character which impede that deliverance if they do not render it
doubtful. To those who will read her brief but noble poem, I need say no
more; on those who refuse to read it, words from me would be wasted.
Believing that among the most imminent perils of the Republican cause in
Europe is the danger of a premature, sanguinary, fruitless insurrection
in Italy, I have done what I could to prevent any such catastrophe. When
Liberty shall have been re-vindicated in France and shall thereupon have
triumphed in Germany, the reign of despotism will speedily terminate in
Italy; until that time, I do not see how it can wisely be even resisted.
A word of explanation as to the "World's Fair" must close this too long
introduction. The letters in this volume which refer to the great
Exhibition of Industry were mainly written when the persistent and
unsparing disparagement of the British Press had created a general
impression that the American Exposition was a mortifying failure, and
when even some of the Americans in Europe, taking their cue from that
Press, were declaring themselves "ashamed of their country" because of
such failure. Of course, these letters were written to correct the then
prevalent errors. More recently, the tide has completely turned, until
the danger now imminent is that of extravagant if not groundless
exultation, so that this Fair would be treated somewhat differently if I
were now to write about it. The truth lies midway between the extremes
already indicated. Our share in the Exhibition was creditable to us as a
nation not yet a century old, situated three to five thousand miles from
London; it embraced many articles of great practical value though
uncouth in form and utterly unattractive to the mere sight-seer; other
nations will profit by it and we shall lose no credit; but it fell far
short of what it might have been, and did not fairly exhibit the
progress and present condition of the Useful Arts in this country. We
can and must do better next time, and that without calling on the
Federal Treasury to pay a dollar of the expense.
Friends in Europe! I may never again meet the greater number of you on
earth; allow me thus informally to tender you my hearty thanks for many
well remembered acts of unsought kindness and unexpected hospitality.
That your future years may be many and prosperous, and your embarkation
on the Great Voyage which succeeds the journey of life may be serene and
hopeful, is the fervent prayer of
Yours, sincerely,
H. G.
_New-York, October 1st, 1851._
CONTENTS.
_Page_
I. Crossing the Atlantic, 9
II. Opening of the Fair, 19
III. The Great Exhibition, 29
IV. England--Hampton Court, 38
V. The Future of Labor--Day-Break, 47
VI. British Progress, 53
VII. London--New-York, 62
VIII. The Exhibition, 69
IX. Sights in London, 77
X. Political Economy, as Studied at the World's
Exhibition, 87
XI. Royal Sunshine, 96
XII. The Flax-Cotton Revolution, 107
XIII. Leaving the Exhibition, 113
XIV. London to Paris, 120
XV. The Future of France, 127
XVI. Paris, Social and Moral, 134
XVII. Paris, Political and Social, 141
XVIII. The Palaces of France, 149
XIX. France, Central and Eastern, 157
XX. Lyons to Turin, 164
XXI. Sardinia--Italy--Freedom, 174
XXII. Pisa--The Leaning Tower (Letter Missing), 184
XXIII. First Day in the Papal States, 186
XXIV. The Eternal City, 191
XXV. St. Peter's, 201
XXVI. The Romans of To-day, 208
XXVII. Central Italy--Florence, 214
XXVIII. Eastern Italy--The Po, 222
XXIX. Venice, 231
XXX. Lombardy, 238
XXXI. Switzerland, 248
XXXII. Lucerne to Basle, 256
XXXIII. Germany, 261
XXXIV. Belgium, 268
XXXV. Paris to London, 273
XXXVI. Universal Peace Congress, 279
XXXVII. America at the World's Fair, 286
XXXVIII. England, Central and Northern, 293
XXXIX. Scotland, 303
XL. Ireland--Ulster, 308
XLI. West of Ireland--Atlantic Mails, 312
XLII. Ireland--South, 320
XLIII. Prospects of Ireland, 328
XLIV. The English, 340
GLANCES AT EUROPE.
I.
CROSSING THE ATLANTIC.
LIVERPOOL (Eng.), April 28th, 1851.
The leaden skies, the chilly rain, the general out-door aspect and
prospect of discomfort prevailing in New York when our good steamship
BALTIC cast loose from her dock at noon on the 16th inst., were not
particularly calculated to inspire and exhilarate the goodly number who
were then bidding adieu, for months at least, to home, country, and
friends. The most sanguine of the inexperienced, however, appealed for
solace to the wind, which they, so long as the City completely sheltered
us on the east, insisted was blowing from "a point _West_ of
North"--whence they very logically deduced that the north-east storm,
now some thirty-six to forty-eight hours old, had spent its force, and
would soon give place to a serene and lucid atmosphere. I believe the
Barometer at no time countenanced this augury, which a brief experience
sufficed most signally to confute. Before we had passed Coney Island, it
was abundantly certain that our freshening breeze hailed directly from
Labrador and the icebergs beyond, and had no idea of changing its
quarters. By the time we were fairly outside of Sandy Hook, we were
struggling with as uncomfortable and damaging a cross-sea as had ever
enlarged _my_ slender nautical experience; and in the course of the next
hour the high resolves, the valorous defiances, of the scores who had
embarked in the settled determination that they _would not_ be sea-sick,
had been exchanged for pallid faces and heaving bosoms. Of our two
hundred passengers, possibly one-half were able to face the dinner-table
at 4 P. M.; less than one-fourth mustered to supper at 7; while a stern
but scanty remnant--perhaps twenty in all--answered the summons to
breakfast next morning.
I was not in any one of these categories. So long as I was able, I
walked the deck, and sought to occupy my eyes, my limbs, my brain, with
something else than the sea and its perturbations. The attempt, however,
proved a signal failure. By the time we were five miles off the Hook, I
was a decided case; another hour laid me prostrate, though I refused to
leave the deck; at six o'clock a friend, finding me recumbent and
hopeless in the smokers' room, persuaded and helped me to go below.
There I unbooted and swayed into my berth, which endured me, perforce,
for the next twenty-four hours. I then summoned strength to crawl on
deck, because, while I remained below, my sufferings were barely less
than while walking above, and my recovery hopeless.
I shall not harrow up the souls nor the stomachs of landsmen, as yet
reveling in blissful ignorance of its tortures, with any description of
sea-sickness. They will know all in ample season; or if not, so much the
better. But naked honesty requires a correction of the prevalent error
that this malady is necessarily transient and easily overcome. Thousands
who imagine they have been sea-sick on some River or Lake steamboat, or
even during a brief sleigh-ride, are annually putting to sea with as
little necessity or urgency as suffices to send them on a jaunt to
Niagara or the White Mountains. They suppose they may very probably be
"qualmish" for a few hours, but that (they fancy) will but highten the
general enjoyment of the voyage. Now it is quite true that any green
sea-goer _may_ be sick for a few hours only; he may even not be sick at
all. But the _probability_ is very far from this, especially when the
voyage is undertaken in any other than one of the four sunniest,
blandest months in the year. Of every hundred who cross the Atlantic for
the first time, I am confident that two-thirds endure more than they had
done in all the five years preceding--more than they would do during two
months' hard labor as convicts in a State Prison. Of _our_ two hundred,
I think fifty did not see a healthy or really happy hour during the
passage; while as many more were sufferers for at least half the time.
The other hundred were mainly Ocean's old acquaintances, and on that
account treated more kindly; but many of these had some trying hours.
Utter indifference to life and all its belongings is one of the
characteristics of a genuine case of sea-sickness No. 1. I enjoyed some
opportunities of observing this during our voyage. For instance: One
evening I was standing by a sick gentleman who had dragged himself or
been carried on deck and laid down on a water-proof mattress which
raised him two or three inches from the floor. Suddenly a great wave
broke square over the bow of the ship and rushed aft in a river through
either gangway--the two streams reuniting beyond the purser's and
doctor's offices, just where the sick man lay. Any live man would have
jumped to his feet as suddenly as if a rattlesnake were whizzing in his
blanket; but the sufferer never moved, and the languid coolness of eye
wherewith he regarded the rushing flood which made an island of him was
most expressive. Happily, the wave had nearly spent its force and was
now so rapidly diffused that his refuge was not quite overflowed.
Of course, those who have voyaged and not suffered will pronounce my
general picture grossly exaggerated; wherein they will be faithful to
their own experience, as I am to mine. I write for the benefit of the
uninitiated, to warn them, not against braving the ocean when they must
or ought, but against resorting to it for pastime. Voyaging cannot be
enjoyment to most of them; it must be suffering. The sonorous rhymesters
in praise of "A Life on the Ocean Wave," "The Sea! the Sea! the Open
Sea!" &c. were probably never out of sight of land in a gale in their
lives. If they were ever "half seas over," the liquid which buoyed them
up was not brine, but wine, which is quite another affair. And, as they
are continually luring people out of soundings who might far better have
remained on terra firma, I lift up my voice in warning against them. "A
home on the raging deep," is _not_ a scene of enjoyment, even to the
sailor, who suffers only from hardship and exposure; no other laborer's
wages are so dearly earned as his, and his season of enjoyment is not
the voyage but the stay in port. He is compelled to work hardest just
when other out-door laborers deem working at all out of the question. To
him Night and Day are alike in their duties as in their exemptions;
while the more furious and blinding the tempest, the greater must be his
exertions, perils and privations. In fair weather his hours of rest are
equal to his hours of labor; in bad weather he may have _no_ hours of
rest whatever. Should he find such, he flings himself into his bunk for
a few hours in his wet clothes, and turns out smoking like a coal-pit at
the next summons to duty, to be drenched afresh in the cold affusions of
sea and sky--and so on. An old sea-captain assured me that his crew were
sometimes in wet clothing throughout an Atlantic voyage.
Our weather was certainly bad, though not the worst. We started on our
course, after leaving Sandy-Hook, in the teeth of a North-Easter, and it
clung to us like a brother. It varied to East North-East, East
South-East, South East, and occasionally condescended to blow a little
from nearly North or nearly South, but we had not six hours of Westerly
or semi-Westerly wind throughout the passage. There may have been two
days in all, though I think not, in which some of the principal sails
could be made to draw; but they were necessarily set so sharply at
angles with the ship as to do little good. Usually, one or two trysails
were all the canvass displayed, and they rather served to steady the
ship than to aid her progress; while for days together, stripped to her
naked spars, she was compelled to push her bowsprit into the wind's very
eye by the force of her engines alone. And that wind, though no
hurricane, had a will of its own; while the waves, rolled perpetually
against her bow by so long a succession of easterly winds, were a
decided impediment to our progress. I doubt whether there is another
steamship which could have made the passage safely and without extra
effort in less time than the Baltic did.
Our weather was not all bad, though we had no thoroughly fair day--no
day entirely free from rain--none in which the decks were dry
throughout. In fact, the spray often kept them thoroughly drenched,
especially aft, when there was no rain at all. During four or five of
the twelve days we had some hour or more of semi-sunshine either at
morning, midday or toward night. The only gales of much account were
those of our first night off Long Island and our last before seeing land
(Saturday), when on coming into soundings off the coast of Ireland, we
had a very decided blow and (the ship having become very light by the
consumption of most of her coal) the worst kind of a sea. It gave me my
sickest hour, though not my worst day.
Our dreariest days were Wednesday and Thursday, 23d and 24th, when we
were a little more than half way across. With the wind precisely ahead
and very strong, the skies black and lowering, a pretty constant rain,
and a driving, blinding spray which drenched every thing above the
decks, themselves ankle-deep in water, I cannot well imagine how two
hundred fellow-passengers, driven down and kept down in the cabins and
state-rooms of a steamship, could well be treated to a more dismal
prospect. I thought the philosophy even of the card-players (who were by
far the most industrious and least miserable class among us) was tried
by it.
Spacious as the Baltic is, two hundred passengers with fifty or sixty
attendants, confined for days together to her cabins, fill her quite
full enough. For those who are thoroughly well, there are society,
reading, eating, play and other pastimes; but for the sick and helpless,
who can neither read nor play, whom even conversation fatigues, and to
whom the under-deck smell, especially in connection with food, is
intensely revolting, I can imagine no heavier hours short of absolute
torture. Having endured these, I had nothing beyond them to dread, and
it was rather a satisfaction, on reaching the Irish coast, to be greeted
with a succession of hail-squalls--to work up the Channel against a wet
North-Easter, and be landed in Liverpool (after a tedious detention for
lack of water on the bar at the mouth of the Mersey) under sullen skies
and in a dripping rain. I wanted to see the thing out, and would have
taken amiss any deceitful smiles of Fortune after I had learned to
dispense with her favors.
There yet remains the grateful duty of speaking of the mitigations of
our trials. And in the first place, the Baltic herself is unquestionably
one of the safest and most commodious sea-boats in the world. She is
probably not the fastest, especially with a strong head wind and sea,
because of her great bulk and the area of resistance she presents both
above and below the water-line; but for strength and excellence of
construction, steadiness of movement, and perfection of accommodations,
she can have no superior. Her wheels never missed a revolution from the
time she discharged her New-York pilot till the time she stopped them to
take on board his Liverpool counterpart, off Holyhead: and her sailing
qualities, tested under the most unfavorable auspices, are also
admirable. She needs but good weather to make the run in ten days from
dock to dock; she would have done it this time had the winds been the
reverse of what they were or as the Asia had them before her. The luck
cannot always be against her.
Praise of commanders and officers of steamships has become so common
that it has lost all emphasis, all force. I presume this is for the most
part deserved; for it is not likely that the great responsibility of
sailing these ships would be entrusted to any other than the very
fittest hands; and this is a matter wherein mistakes may by care be
avoided. The qualities of a seaman, a commander, do not lie dormant; the
ocean tries and proves its men; while in this service the whole
traveling public are the observers and judges. But such a voyage as we
have just made tries the temper as well as the capacity, it calls into
exercise every faculty, and lays bare defects if such there be. To sweep
gaily on before a fresh, fair breeze, is comparatively easy, but few
landsmen can realize the patient assiduity and nautical skill required
to extract propelling power from winds determined to be dead ahead. How
nicely the sails must be set at the sharpest angle with the course of
the vessel, and sometimes that course itself varied a point or two to
make them draw at all; how often they must be shifted, or reefed, or
furled; how much labor and skill must be put in requisition to secure a
very slight addition to the speed of the ship--all this I am not seaman
enough to describe, though I can admire. And during the entire voyage,
with its many vicissitudes, I did not hear one harsh or profane word
from an officer, one sulky or uncivil response from a subordinate. And
the perfection of Capt. Comstock's commandership in my eyes was that,
though always on the alert and giving direction to every movement, he
did not need to command half so much nor to make himself anything like
so conspicuous as an ordinary man would. I willingly believe that some
share of the merit of this is due to the admirable qualities of his
assistants, especially Lieuts. Duncan and Hunter, of the U. S. Navy.
In the way of food and attendance, nothing desirable was wanting but
Health and Appetite. Four meals per day were regularly provided--at 8,
12, 4 and 7 o'clock respectively--which would favorably compare with
those proffered at any but the very best Hotels; and some of the
dinners--that of the last Sunday especially--would have done credit to
the Astor or Irving. Of course I state this with the reservation that
the best water and the best milk that can be had at sea are to me
unpalatable, and that, even when I can eat under a deck, it is a penance
to do so. But these drawbacks are Ocean's fault, or mine; not the
Baltic's. Many of the passengers ate their four meals regularly, after
the first day out, with abundant relish; and one young New-Yorker added
a _fifth_, by taking a supper at ten each night with a capital appetite,
after doing full justice to the four regular meals. If he could only
patent his digestion and warrant it, he might turn his back on
merchandise evermore.
The attendance on the sick was the best feature of all. Aside from the
constant and kind assiduities of Dr. Crary, the ship's physician, the
patience and watchfulness with which the sick were nursed and tended,
their wants sought out, their wishes anticipated, were remarkable. Many
had three meals per day served to them separately in their berths or on
deck, and even at unseasonable hours, and often had special delicacies
provided for them, without a demur or sulky look. As there was no extra
charge for this, it certainly surpassed any preconception on my part of
steamship amenity. I trust the ever-moving attendants received something
more than their wages for their arduous labors: they certainly deserved
it.
The notable incidents of our passage were very few. An iceberg was seen
to the northward one morning about sunrise, by those who were on deck at
that hour; but it kept at a respectful distance, and we thought the
example worthy of our imitation. I understand that the rising sun's rays
on its surface produced a fine effect. A single school of whales
exhibited their flukes for our edification--so I heard. Several vessels
were seen the first morning out, while we were in the Gulf Stream: one
or two from day to day, and of course a number as we neared the entrance
of the Channel on this side; but there were days wherein we saw no sail
but our own; and I think we traversed nearly a thousand miles at one
time on this great highway of nations, without seeing one. Such facts
give some idea of the ocean's immensity, but I think few can realize,
save by experiment, the weary length of way from New-York to Liverpool,
nor the quantity of blue water which separates the two points. Friends
who went to California by Cape-Horn and were sea-sick, I proffer you my
heart felt sympathies!--It was some consolation to me, even when most
ill and impatient, to reflect that the gales, so adverse to us, were
most propitious to the many emigrant-freighted packets which at this
season are conveying thousands to our country's shores, and whose clouds
of canvas occasionally loomed upon us in the distance. What were our
"light afflictions" compared with those of the multitudes crowded into
_their_ stifling steerages, so devoid of conveniences and comforts!
Speed on, O favored coursers of the deep, bearing swiftly those
suffering exiles to the land of Hope and Freedom!
We had a law trial by way of variety last Saturday--Capt. Comstock
having been duly indicted and arraigned for _Humbug_, in permitting us
to be so long beset by all manner of easterly winds with never a puff
from the westward. Hon. Ashbel Smith, from Texas, officiated as Chief
Justice; a Jury of six ladies and six gentlemen were empaneled; James T.
Brady conducted the prosecution with much wit and spirit; while AEolus,
Neptune, Capt. Cuttle, Jack Bunsby, &c. testified for the prosecution,
and Fairweather, Westwind, Brother Jonathan and Mr. Steady gave evidence
for the defence. The fun was rather heavy, but the audience was very
good natured, and whatever the witnesses lacked in wit, they made up
in extravagance of costume, so that two hours were whiled away quite
endurably. The Jury not only acquitted the Captain without leaving their
seats, but subjected the prosecutors to heavy damages (in wine) as
malicious defamers. The verdict was received with unanimous and hearty
approval.
But I must stop and begin again. Suffice it, that, though we ought to
have landed here inside of twelve days from New York, the difference in
time (Liverpool using that of Greenwich for Railroad convenience) being
all but five hours--yet the long prevalence of Easterly winds had so
lowered the waters of the Mersey by driving those of the Channel
westerly into the Atlantic, that the pilot declined the responsibility
of taking our ship over the Bar till high water, which was nearly seven
o'clock. We then ran up opposite the City, but there was no dock-room
for the Baltic, and passengers and light baggage were ferried ashore in
a "steam-tug" which we in New York should deem unworthy to convey market
garbage. At last, after infinite delay and vexation, caused in good part
by the necessity of a custom-house scrutiny even of carpet-bags, because
men _will_ smuggle cigars ashore here, even in their pockets, we were
landed about 9 o'clock, and to-morrow I set my watch by an English sun.
There is promise of brighter skies. I shall hasten up to London to
witness the opening of the World's Fair; and so, "My Native Land, Good
Night!"
II.
OPENING OF THE FAIR.
LONDON, Thursday, May 1, 1851.
Our Human Life is either comic or tragic, according to the point of view
from which we regard it. The observer will be impelled to laugh or to
weep over it, as he shall fix his attention on men's follies or their
sufferings. So of the Great Exhibition, and more especially its Royal
Inauguration, which I have just returned from witnessing. There can be
no serious doubt that the Fair has good points; I think it is a good
thing for London first, for England next, and will ultimately benefit
mankind. And yet, it would not be difficult so to depict it (and truly),
that its contrivers and managers would never think of deeming the
picture complimentary.
But let us have the better side first by all means. The show is
certainly a great one, greater in extent, in variety, and in the
excellence of a large share of its contents, than the world has hitherto
seen. The Crystal Palace, which covers and protects all, is better than
any one thing it contains, it is really a fairy wonder, and is a work of
inestimable value as a suggestion for future architecture. It is not
merely better adapted to its purpose than any other edifice ever yet
built could be, but it combines remarkable cheapness with vast and
varied utility. Depend on it, stone and timber will have to stand back
for iron and glass hereafter, to an extent not yet conceivable. The
triumph of Paxton is perfect, and heralds a revolution.
The day has been very favorable--fair, bland and dry. It is now 4 P. M.
and there has been no rain since daylight, but a mere sprinkle at noon
unregarded by us insiders--the longest exemption from "falling weather"
I have known since I left New York, and I believe the daily showers or
squalls in this city reach still further back. True, even this day would
be deemed a dull one in New York, but there was a very fair imitation of
sunshine this morning, and we enjoy rather more than American moonlight
still, though the sky is partially clouded. [How can they have had the
conscience to tax _such_ light as they get up in this country?] Of
course the turn out has been immense; I estimate the number inside of
the building at thirty thousand, and I presume ten times as many went
out of their way to gaze at the Procession, though that was not much. Our
New York Fire Department could beat it; so could our Odd-Fellows.--Then
the most perfect order was preserved throughout; everything was done in
season and without botching; no accident occurred to mar the festivity,
and the general feeling was one of hearty satisfaction. If it were a new
thing to see a Queen, Court and aristocracy engaged in doing marked honor
to Industry, they certainly performed gracefully the parts allotted them,
and with none of the awkwardness or blundering which novel situations are
expected to excuse. But was the play well cast?
The Sovereign in a monarchy is of course always in order: to be honored
for doing his whole duty; to be honored more signally if he does more
than his duty. Prince Albert's sphere as the Sovereign's consort is very
limited, and he shows rare sense and prudence in never evincing a desire
to overstep it. I think few men live who could hold his neutral and
hampered position and retain so entirely the sincere respect and esteem
of the British Nation. His labors in promoting this Exhibition began
early and have been arduous, persistent and effective. Any Inauguration
of the Fair in which he did not prominently figure would have done him
injustice. The Queen appears to be personally popular in a more direct
and positive sense. I cannot remember that any one act of her public
life has ever been condemned by the public sentiment of the Country.
Almost every body here appears to esteem it a condescension for her to
open the Exhibition as though it were a Parliament, and with far more of
personal exertion and heartiness on her part. And while I must regard
her vocation as one rather behind the intelligence of this age and
likely to go out of fashion at no distant day, yet I am sure that change
will not come through _her_ fault. I was glad to see her in the pageant
to-day, and hope she enjoyed it while ministering to the enjoyment of
others.
But let us reverse the glass for a moment. The ludicrous, the dissonant,
the incongruous, are not excluded from the Exhibition: they cannot be
excluded from any complete picture of its Opening. The Queen, we will
say, was here by Right Divine, by right of Womanhood, by Universal
Suffrage--any how you please. The ceremonial could not have spared her.
But in inaugurating the first grand cosmopolitan Olympiad of Industry,
ought not Industry to have had some representation, some vital
recognition, in her share of the pageant? If the Queen had come in state
to the Horse-Guards to review the _elite_ of her military forces, no one
would doubt that "the Duke" should figure in the foreground, with a
brilliant staff of Generals and Colonels surrounding him. So, if she
were proceeding to open Parliament her fitting attendants would be
Ministers and Councillors of State. But what have her "Gentleman Usher
of Sword and State," "Lords in Waiting," "Master of the Horse," "Earl
Marshal," "Groom of the Stole," "Master of the Buckhounds," and such
uncouth fossils, to do with a grand Exhibition of the fruits of
Industry? What, in their official capacity, have these and theirs ever
had to do with Industry unless to burden it, or with its Products but
to consume or destroy them? The "Mistress of the Robes" would be in
place if she ever fashioned any robes, even for the Queen; so would the
"Ladies of the Bedchamber" if they did anything with beds except to
sleep in them. As the fact is, their presence only served to strengthen
the presumption that not merely their offices but that of Royalty itself
is an anachronism, and all should have deceased with the era to which
they properly belonged. It was well indeed that Paxton should have a
proud place in the procession; but he held it in no representative
capacity; he was there not in behalf of Architecture but of the Crystal
Palace. To have rendered the pageant expressive, congruous, and really a
tribute to Industry, the posts of honor next the Queen's person should
have been confided on this occasion to the children of Watt, of
Arkwright and their compeers (Napoleon's _real_ conquerors;) while
instead of Grandees and Foreign Embassadors, the heirs of Fitch, of
Fulton, of Jacquard, of Whitney, of Daguerre, &c., with the discoverers,
inventors, architects and engineers to whom the world is primarily
indebted for Canals, Railroads, Steamships, Electric Telegraphs, &c.,
&c., should have been specially invited to swell the Royal cortege. To
pass over all these, and summon instead the descendants of some dozen
lucky Norman robbers, none of whom ever contemplated the personal doing
of any real work as even a remote possibility, and any of whom would
feel insulted by a report that his father or grandfather invented the
Steam Engine or Spinning Jenny, is not the fittest way to honor
Industry. The Queen's Horticulturists, Gardeners, Carpenters,
Upholsterers, Milliners, &c., would have been far more in place in the
procession than her "gold stick," "silver stick," and kindred
absurdities.
And yet, empty and blundering as the conception of this pageant may seem
and is, there is nevertheless marrow and hope in it. "The world _does_
move," O Galileo! carrying onward even those who forced you to deny the
truth you had demonstrated! We may well say that these gentlemen in
ribbons and stars cannot truly honor Labor while they would deem its
performance by their own sons a degradation; but the grandfathers of
these Dukes and Barons would have deemed themselves as much dishonored
by uniting in this Royal ovation to gingham weavers and boiler-makers as
these men would by being compelled to weave the cloth and forge the iron
themselves. Patience, impetuous souls! the better day dawns, though the
morning air is chilly. We shall be able to elect something else than
Generals to the Presidency before this century is out, and the Right of
every man to live by Labor--consequently, to a place where he _may_
live, on the sole condition that he is willing to labor--stands high on
the general orders, and must soon be up for National and universal
discussion. The Earls and Dukes of a not distant day will train their
sons in schools of Agriculture, Architecture, Chemistry, Mineralogy,
&c., inspiring each to win fame and rank for himself by signal and
brilliant usefulness, instead of resting upon and wearing out the fame
won by some ancestor on the battle-field of the old barbarian time. Even
To-Day's hollow pageant is an augury of this. It is Browning, I think,
who says,
"All men become good creatures, _but so slow_."
Let us, taking heart from the reflection that we live in the age of the
Locomotive and the Telegraph, cheerfully press onward!
We will consider the Fair opened.
I shall venture no especial criticisms as yet--first because the
Exhibition is not ready for it; next because I am in the same
predicament. A few general observations must close this letter.
Immense as the quantity of goods offered for exhibition is, it is not
equal to the enormous capacity of the building, to which Castle Garden
is but a dog-kennel. [I do hope we may have a Crystal Palace of like
proportions in New-York within two years; it would be of inestimable
worth as a study to our young architects, builders and artisans. If such
an edifice were constructed in some fit locality to be leased out in
portions, under proper regulations, for stores, I believe it would pay
handsomely. Each store might be separated from those next it by
partitions of iron and glass; the fronts might be made of movable plates
of glass or left entirely open; the entire building being opened at
eight in the morning, closed at eight at night, and carefully watched at
all times.] True, many things are yet to be received, and some already
in the building remain in the boxes; still, I think there will be some
nakedness, even a week hence. The opportunity for seeing every thing,
judging every thing, is all the better for this, and indeed is
unexampled.
The display from different countries is very unequal, even in proportion:
Old England is of course here in her might; France has a vast collection,
especially of articles appealing to taste or fancy; but Germany and the
rest of the Continent have less than I expected to see; and the show from
the United States disappoints many by its alleged meagerness. I do not
view it in the same light, nor regret, with a New-York merchant whom I
met in the Fair to-day, that Congress did not appropriate $100,000 to
secure a full and commanding exhibition of American products at this
Fair. I do not see how any tangible and adequate benefit to the Nation
would have resulted from such a dubious disposition of National funds.
In the first place, our great Agricultural staples--at least, all such
as find markets abroad--are already accessible and well known here.
Bales of Cotton, casks of Hams or other Meats, barrels of Flour or
Resin, hogsheads of Tobacco, &c., might have been heaped up here as high
as St. Paul's steeple--to what end? Europeans already know that we
produce these staples in abundance and perfection, and when they want them
they buy of us. I doubt whether cumbering the Fair with them would have
either promoted the National interest or exalted the National reputation.
It would have served rather to deepen the impression, already too general
both at home and abroad, that we are a rude, clumsy people, inhabiting a
broad, fertile domain, affording great incitements to the most slovenly
description of Agriculture, and that it is our policy to stick to that,
and let alone the nicer processes of Art, which require dexterity and
delicacy of workmanship. We must outgrow this error.
Our Manufacturers are in many departments grossly deficient, in others
inferior to the best rival productions of Europe. In Silks and Linens,
we have nothing now to show; I trust the case will be bravely altered
within a few years. In broad cloths, we are behind and going behind, but
in Satinets, Flannels, (woolen) Shawls, De Laines, Ginghams, Drills and
most plain Cottons, we are producing as effectively as our rivals, and
in many departments gaining upon them. But few of these are goods which
make much show in a Fair; three cases of Parisian gewgaws will outshine
in an exhibition a million dollars' worth of admirable and cheap
Muslins, Drills, Flannels, &c. And beside, our Manufacturers, who find
themselves met at every turn, and often supplanted at their own doors by
showy fabrics from abroad, are shy of calling attention in Europe to the
few articles which, by the help of valuable American inventions, they
are able to make and sell at a profit. I know this consideration has
kept some goods and more machinery at home which would otherwise have
been here. The manufacturers are here or are coming, to see what
knowledge or skill they can pick up, but they are not so ready to tell
all they know. They think the odds in favor of those who work against
them backed by the cheap Labor and abundant Capital of Europe, are
quite sufficient already.
Still, there are some Yankee Notions that I wish had been sent over. I
think our Cut Nails, our Pins, our Wood Screws, &c. should have been
represented. India Rubber is abundant here, but I have seen no Gutta
Percha, and our New-York Company (Hudson Manufacturing) might have put a
new wrinkle on John Bull's forehead by sending over an assorted case of
their fabrics. The Brass and kindred fabrics of Waterbury (Conn.) ought
not to have come up missing, and a set of samples of the "Flint Enameled
Ware" of Vermont, I should have been proud of for Vermont's sake. A
light Jersey wagon, a Yankee ox-cart, and two or three sets of American
Farming Implements, would have been exactly in play here. Our Scythes,
Cradles, Hoes, Rakes, Axes, Sowing, Reaping, Threshing and Winnowing
machines, &c., &c., are a long distance ahead of the British--so the
best judges say; and where their machines are good they cost too much
ever to come into general use. There is a pretty good set of Yankee
Ploughs here, and they are likely to do good. I believe Connecticut
Clocks and Maine (North Wayne) Axes are also well represented. But
either Rochester, Syracuse, or Albany could have beaten the whole show
in Farming Tools generally.
Yet there are many good things in the American department. In
Daguerreotypes, it seems to be conceded that we beat the world, when
excellence and cheapness are both considered--at all events, England is
no where in comparison--and our Daguerreotypists make a great show
here.--New Jersey Zinc, Lake Superior Copper, Adirondack Iron and Steel,
are well represented either by ores or fabrics, and I believe California
Gold is to be.--But I am speaking on the strength of a very hasty
examination. I shall continue in attendance from day to day and hope to
glean from the show some ideas that may be found or made useful.
P. S.--The Official Catalogue of the Fair is just issued. It has been
got up in great haste, and must necessarily be imperfect, but it extends
to 320 double-column octavo pages on brevier type (not counting
advertisements) and is sold for a shilling--(24 cents). Some conception
of the extent of the Fair may be obtained from the following hasty
summary of a portion of the contents, showing the number of Exhibitors
in certain departments, as classified in the Official Catalogue, viz:
GREAT BRITAIN.
Coal, Slate, Grindstone, Limestone, Granite, &c.
(outside the building), 44
Mining and Mineral Products (inside), 366
Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products, 103
Substances used as Food, 133
Vegetable and Animal Substances
used in Manufactures, 94
Machines for Direct Use, including
Carriages, Railway and Marine Mechanism, 339
Manufacturing Machines and Tools, 225
Civil Engineering and Building Contrivances, 177
Naval Architecture, Guns, Weapons, &c. 260
Agricultural and Horticultural Machines
and Implements, 287
Philosophical, Musical, Horological and
Surgical Instruments, 535
----
Total, so far, 2563