THE WORLD'S CONGRESS OF INDUSTRY.
Prince Albert the Inaugurator of International Exhibitions--Proposes,
Unsuccessfully, his Scheme to the Government--To the Society of Arts,
Successfully--First Steps towards Realisation--Objections to be
Met--Perseverance of the Prince--The Royal Commission--The Prince's
Speech at York--The Opening Ceremony--The Royal Procession.
As early as 1848 Prince Albert submitted to the Government a proposal to
establish an exhibition of works of industry in this country; but the
members of the Government could not be induced to afford to it any of that
encouragement which it was sought to obtain. Despairing of acquiring
assistance in this quarter, but hopeful, courageous, and unbaffled, the
Prince, who was President of the Society of Arts, in the following year
betook himself to that more likely and congenial quarter. Not content,
however, with following in the wake of previous Expositions which had been
held in Paris and elsewhere, he suggested the happy idea of so extending
its range as to include within it the works of industry and the art
treasures of all lands. He convened on his own responsibility a meeting at
Buckingham Palace, on the 30th of June, 1849, where he proposed that the
Exhibition should be divided into four sections: the first being raw
materials and produce illustrative of the natural productions in which
human industry is employed; the second, machinery for agricultural,
manufacturing, engineering, and other purposes, and mechanical inventions
illustrative of the agents which human ingenuity brings to bear upon the
products of nature; the third, manufactures illustrative of the results
produced by the operation of human industry upon natural produce; the
fourth, sculpture, models, and the plastic arts generally, illustrative of
the skill displayed in such applications of human industry.
When this proposal of a display so novel was first made, there existed no
public enthusiasm to welcome the daring scheme, and all were in utter
ignorance of those mechanical means of accomplishing it which to the
present generation are so simple and obvious. It was met by countless
cavils and objections without end. But the Prince had insight enough to
discriminate between the real body of public opinion, lethargic and slow
to move, yet ductile and malleable, and the artificial clamour of the
marplots. Fortunately for the success of the great enterprise, the Prince
possessed within himself the happiest combination of the highest station
with those indomitable qualities of hopeful perseverance which were
necessary to overcome the innumerable impediments which threatened more
than once to mar the success of the great work. He succeeded in getting
associated with him an active body of Commissioners, who, encouraged by
the untiring industry which their illustrious President displayed,
persevered in their work; and one by one the practical difficulties
disappeared before the clear and vigorous intellect which the Prince
brought to bear upon their discussions.
[Sidenote: THE GREAT EXHIBITION.]
But he remained, indeed, the _facile princeps_ in maturing, as he had been
in designing, the scheme. This is no mere language of eulogy, for the
records of the Commissioners of the Exhibition have placed in print
undoubted proofs that equally the completion with the progress, and the
progress quite as much as the origin, of the Exhibition of 1851, were
mainly due to the large conception and wise foresight of the Prince
Consort. The public at the time knew but little, and many of its
constituent atoms know but little to this day, of the amount of anxious
thought and labour which he devoted to the success of the great
undertaking that made the year 1851 memorable as a new starting-point in
the industrial and social history of the world. One important point, apart
altogether from his personal merits, must never be lost sight of. His own
high name and his close relation to the Sovereign, added a lustre to the
Royal Commission which would otherwise have been totally lacking, and gave
ground for that confidence to foreign powers which they displayed so
signally and with so little stint.
[Sidenote: PRINCE ALBERT AT YORK.]
At a banquet held at York about six months before the Exhibition opened,
the Prince in a long address, in which he replied to the toast of his
health, indicated, though most modestly and unconsciously, at once the
arduous nature of his preliminary labours and the zeal with which he
pursued them. In the name of the Commissioners, who had been invited to
the banquet _en masse_, he thanked his hosts for the proof thereby made
plain of their earnest and combined zeal in the cause of the approaching
Exhibition. He rejoiced that it was not a mere impulse of momentary
enthusiasm which they evinced, but a spirit of steady perseverance and
sustained effort, and he assured his auditors that the spirit of active
preparation and hopeful faith was abroad in the country. Of this, he said,
he was confident, on the ground of information which reached him from all
quarters. And he added, and the event proved him to be right, his own
personal conviction that the works in preparation would be such as to
dispel any apprehension about the position which British industry would
maintain. Of his brother Commissioners he spoke with loyal and chivalrous
fervour. He thanked, in their name, the public for their uninterrupted
confidence in those who were responsible for the management of the scheme;
and stated that there had been no difference of opinion between the
central and the local committees, which had not, upon personal
consultation and open discussion vanished, and given way to agreement and
identity of purpose. So much for hope: the test of fruition had yet to
come.
At length the great event to which the whole civilised world had been
looking forward for eighteen months with mingled interest and
curiosity--the opening of the great congress of industry and art--was
accomplished with a pomp and solemnity of ceremonial suitable to the
dignity of the occasion, and the important social interests which it
involved. Spite of all predictions to the contrary--spite of the
faint-hearted forebodings which the wild confusion of the interior of the
building in the last days of April excused, if it did not justify--the
building was ready and furnished with the world's wares at the appointed
time. At two o'clock on the last day of April the building was cleared by
police and guardsmen of all exhibitors and their assistants, and the
preparations for the opening day, already partially made, were pursued
with the utmost zeal and vigour.
Never dawned a brighter morning than that of the May Day which succeeded.
The sky was clear and blue, the air as cool, crisp, and genial as a poet
or artist could wish, and the sun came forth in undimmed splendour.
London, reinforced by a multitude of visitors, was early astir and afoot.
At six the Park gates were opened, and through them at once commenced to
pour carriages from all parts of the metropolis and its neighbourhood,
filled with gaily attired courtiers, cits, and provincials. The line of
route was kept by mounted soldiers and police; but their task was rendered
almost perfunctory, so fully did all appear animated with the one desire
to signalise this truly popular ceremonial with generous and kindly
feeling, and a respect for the rights and duties of one another. The only
houses from which a sight could be got of the royal procession were those
at Grosvenor Gate and at Hyde Park Corner. These were crowded with
well-dressed persons, of whom ladies formed the majority, up to the very
roofs. The roofs of Apsley House and the park-keeper's lodge were
similarly tenanted. The windows of Buckingham Palace, which had recently
been new fronted, were filled with eager spectators, chiefly members of
the Household, their relatives and friends. The centre balcony was
occupied by the younger princes and princesses, attended by several
ladies.
Precisely at eleven the Life Guards commenced to widen the path for the
procession. At half-past eleven, the band of the regiment playing "God
save the Queen," the royal cortege set forth, amid the cheers of the vast
assembled multitude. The procession was of anything but an ostentatious
character. The eight carriages of which it was composed were drawn by but
two horses each. There were no Gentlemen-Ushers, Grooms, or Yeomen of the
Guard. Trumpeters there were, but their trumpets were silent. At a quarter
to twelve the procession reached the northern entrance of the Palace, and
the Queen alighted amid the strains of the National Anthem, a salvo of
artillery, and the lusty cheers of enormous multitudes on both sides of
the Serpentine.
[Sidenote: OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION.]
Meanwhile, from nine o'clock, the appointed hour of opening, the building
had been rapidly filling, all the visitors being remarkably well dressed,
and a large majority of them ladies. "The first _coup d'oeil_ of the
building, on entering the nave, was grand and gorgeous in the extreme; the
vast dimensions of the structure, the breadth of light, partially subdued
and agreeably mellowed in the nave by the calico coverings placed over the
roof, whilst the arched transept soared boldly into the clear arch of
heaven, courting, admitting, and distributing the full effulgence of the
noon-day sun; the bright and striking colours and forms of the several
articles in rich manufactured goods, works in sculpture, and other objects
displayed by the exhibitors, dissimilar and almost incongruous in their
variety, were blent into an harmonious picture of immense grandeur by the
attendant circumstances of space and light to which we have just alluded;
and the busy hum and eager and excited movements of the assembled
thousands infused the breath of life into a picture, which, at the period
of the crowning incident of the day, became truly sublime."
By eleven o'clock, after which hour none of the general public could be
admitted, the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, in their gay
uniforms, had taken up their places in the rear of the dais set for the
Queen. This dais was covered with a splendid carpet, which had been
specially worked for the occasion by 150 ladies, and on this was placed a
magnificent chair of state, covered with a cloth of crimson and gold. High
over head was suspended an octagon canopy, trimmed with blue satin, and
draperies of blue and white. The trumpeters and heralds were in readiness
to proclaim the arrival of the Queen, and Sir George Smart stood, baton in
hand, perched up in a small rostrum, "ready to beat time to 'God save the
Queen' for the five hundredth time in his life." The Commissioners of the
Exhibition and the foreign ambassadors stood in the entrance hall,
prepared to pay their respects to Her Majesty on her arrival. The Queen
entered, leaning on her husband's arm, and being also accompanied by the
Princess Royal and Prince of Wales. The Queen wore a dress of pink satin,
brocaded with gold; Prince Albert a Field-Marshal's uniform; the Prince of
Wales was in a Highland dress, while the Princess was clad in white satin,
with a wreath of flowers round her head. A tremendous burst of cheering,
renewed and prolonged from all parts of the building, greeted the
announcement of the arrival of the Queen.
[Sidenote: THE ADDRESS OF THE PRINCE.]
Her Majesty was conducted to her chair of state by the Commissioners,
Cabinet, and Foreign Ministers. As they stood around her chair, in their
bright Court dresses and brilliant uniforms, a choir of nearly a thousand
voices sang "God save the Queen." At the conclusion of its last strain,
Prince Albert descended from the dais, and taking his place with his
brother Commissioners, read a long address to Her Majesty, in which he
recited the history, plan, and intent of the magnificent and magnanimous
scheme which was so largely the product of his own heart and brain. These
and other less important particulars having been enumerated, the Prince
thus concluded:--
It affords us much gratification that, notwithstanding the magnitude
of this undertaking, and the great distances from which many of the
articles now exhibited have had to be collected, the day on which your
Majesty has graciously pleased to be present at the inauguration of
the Exhibition is the same day that was originally named for its
opening, thus affording a proof of what may, under God's blessing, be
accomplished by good-will and cordial co-operation amongst nations,
aided by the means which modern science has placed at our command.
Having thus briefly laid before your Majesty the results of our
labours, it now only remains for us to convey to your Majesty our
dutiful and loyal acknowledgments of the support and encouragement
which we have derived throughout this extensive and laborious task
from the gracious favour and countenance of your Majesty. It is our
heartfelt prayer that this undertaking, which has for its end the
promotion of all branches of human industry, and the strengthening of
the bonds of peace and friendship among all the nations of the earth,
may, by the blessing of Divine Providence, conduce to the welfare of
your Majesty's people, and be long remembered among the brightest
circumstances of your Majesty's peaceful and happy reign.
The Queen read a short reply, the tenor of which was warmly to re-echo the
hopes and sentiments contained in the address of the Prince. The
Archbishop of Canterbury then offered up a consecratory prayer, which was
followed by the performance of the "Hallelujah Chorus," under the
direction of Sir Henry Bishop. A very long procession, in which the Queen
went hand in hand with her son, and Prince Albert with his daughter, was
then marshalled, and having marched round the interior of the building, it
was declared formally opened.