THE EXPOSITION
OF
1851.
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LONDON:
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.
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THE EXPOSITION
OF
1851;
OR,
VIEWS OF THE INDUSTRY,
THE SCIENCE, AND THE GOVERNMENT,
OF ENGLAND.
BY
CHARLES BABBAGE, ESQ.
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF MORAL SCIENCES OF THE INSTITUTE
OF FRANCE.
SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1851.
PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
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England has invited the civilized world to meet in its great commercial
centre; asking it, in friendly rivalry, to display for the common
advantage of all, those objects which each country derives from the
gifts of nature, and on which it confers additional utility by processes
of industrial art.
This invitation, universally accepted, will bring from every quarter a
multitude of people greater than has yet assembled in any western city:
these welcome visitors will enjoy more time and opportunity for
observation than has ever been afforded on any previous occasion. The
statesman and the philosopher, the manufacturer and the merchant, and
all enlightened observers of human nature, may avail themselves of the
opportunity afforded by their visit to this Diorama of the Peaceful
Arts, for taking a more correct view of the industry, the science, the
institutions, and the government of this country. One object of these
pages is, to suggest to such inquirers the agency of those deeper-seated
and less obvious causes which can be detected only by lengthened
observation, and to supply them with a key to explain many of the
otherwise incomprehensible characteristics of England.
Who, for instance, could have conceived that England, after making
unexampled efforts for the adoption of “_Free Trade_,” should be the
first nation to prohibit[1] its very basis, “_competition_,” at the
world’s great bazaar?
This country is fortunate in having on the Western Continent, a great
nation derived from the same common stock, speaking the same language,
sharing the same feelings, but fortunately not partaking the same
_prejudices_. Proud of the only ancestry which is not contemptible, it
glories in the genius and the virtues of our common forefathers, and in
its young ambition now strives in science and in literature, to prove
itself _their_ worthy descendants—_our own_ generous rivals.
Separated from us by an intervening ocean, the judgment of America is
not obscured by the repulsion or the fascination of personal manners,—by
the tales of jealous rivals or enthusiastic friends. It can thus, as it
were, anticipate for us the decision of posterity upon the reputation of
those English writers who have never visited her shores. Many foreigners
speaking other tongues, whose researches in industrial, economical, and
physical science, have conferred honour on their own country, now visit
ours. These and their congenial spirits throughout the world, sit in
judgment on the _prejudices_ of England, and will, if I mistake not,
find ample reason to agree with the Danish statesman in the
opinion,—that great nations are often governed by very small people.
England has invited the judgment of the world upon its _Arts_ and its
_Industry_;—science appeals to the same tribunal against its
_ingratitude_ and its _injustice_.
Several friends whose esteem I prize, have urged me to avoid everything
personal,—some even to suppress this volume. I value their friendship,
whilst I reject their counsel. In illustrating the position of science
in this country, it would have been affectation not to have mentioned
the Calculating Engines. Who else _could_ have fully known,—who else
_would_ have fully told their history?
It has been suggested to me that, to select _individual_ examples for
illustration, is personality. To have made general charges without them,
would have been termed _vague_, and would certainly have been _useless_.
It still however appears to me that a _single_ illustration in each
case, would cause the least pain, and might yet be sufficient for the
purpose. If it is thought otherwise the remedy is easy.
The facts stated in the following pages are not drawn from any violation
of the confidences of private society: those whose names are mentioned,
are paid by the nation, and therefore responsible to their employers.
Against them I have no personal feeling; their official acts are
necessarily mentioned as parts of the system to which they belong.
The remark most frequently made has been, “that the publication of this
volume will do me injury.” This opinion is indeed a severer censure on
the conduct of the government than any I have myself pronounced. I do
not agree in it, for I know of no injury within the power of those who
have never given me a single occasion for gratitude.
Bad men always hate those they have injured;—Good or great men, when
they have discovered that they have been unjust, always more than repair
the injury they have committed.
Those who, from an acquaintance with the case, can truly interpret this
volume, will _know_ that I have abstained; they will _see_ that I
possess the power, though not the disposition, to avenge injury. But the
same spirit which has carried me through difficulties few have
encountered, at the expense of sacrifices which I hope fewer may ever be
called upon to make, forbids me tamely to submit to injustice.
The reader of these pages will observe that I have exposed with an
unsparing pen the dishonesty of party. The modes employed by it to
“discredit” and intimidate an honest man are various.
If he agree with them in a principle, but differ in its application, he
is called “_crotchety_.” If he cannot be induced by sophistry to vote
with them against his sense of right, he is called “_impracticable_.”
If, when passed over in the appointment to some office for which he is
qualified by knowledge and entitled by position, he complain of the
neglect; notwithstanding he continues to vote with his party, he is
called a “_disappointed man_.” If, however, he has energy, and is backed
by great political or professional interest, he may then secure a
_present_ peerage for himself, his wife, or his relative, with a promise
of better treatment when anything desirable becomes vacant.
At last, having discovered that his party are sincere and united only in
their desire to retain office; if his arguments admit of no
refutation,—if his perception of right can be obscured by no
sophistry,—if he can himself be cajoled by no flattery, seduced by no
advantage, deterred by no intimidation, from expressing his real opinion
upon the merits of his party: then, although he may support them
whenever they are true to their principles, yet he is pronounced a
“_cantankerous fellow_.” Thus bad names are coined by worse[2] men to
destroy honest people; as the madness of innocent dogs arises from the
cry of insanity raised by their villanous pursuers.
The merit of the original conception of the present Exposition is
insignificant in comparison with that of the efforts by which it was
carried out, and with the importance of its practical results.
To have seen from afar its effects on the improvement, the wealth, and
the happiness of the people—to have seized the fit moment, when, by the
right use of the influence of an exalted station, it was _possible_ to
overcome the deeply-rooted prejudices of the upper classes—to remove the
still more formidable, because latent, impediments of party—generously
to have undertaken great responsibility, and with indefatigable labour
to have endeavoured to make the best out of the only materials at
hand,—these are endowments of no ordinary kind.
To move in any rank of society an exception to its general rules, is a
very difficult, and if accompanied by the consciousness of the
situation, a very painful position to a reflecting mind.
Whatever may be the cause, whether exalted rank, unbounded wealth,
surpassing beauty, or unrivalled wit,—the renown of daring deeds, the
magic of a world-wide fame; to all within those narrow limits the
dangers and the penalties are great. Each exists an isolated spirit;
each, unconsciously imprisoned within its crystal globe, perceives the
colours of all external objects modified by those tints imparted to them
by its own surrounding sphere. No change of view can teach it to rectify
this partial judgment; throughout its earthward course the same undying
rainbow attends to the last its parent drop.
Rarely indeed can some deep-searching mind, after long comparison,
perceive the real colours of those translucent shells which encompass
kindred spirits; and thus at length enable him to achromatise the medium
which surrounds his own. To one who has thus rectified the
“colour-blindness” of his intellectual vision, how deep the sympathy he
feels for those still involved in that hopeless obscurity from which he
has himself escaped. None can so justly appreciate that sense of
loneliness, that solitude of mind, which surrounds unquestioned eminence
on its lofty throne;—none, therefore, can make so large an allowance for
its errors;—none so skilfully assist in guiding its hazardous career.
The triumph of the industrial arts will advance the cause of
civilization more rapidly than its warmest advocates could have hoped,
and contribute to the permanent prosperity and strength of the country,
far more than the most splendid victories of successful war. The
influences thus engendered, the arts thus developed, will long continue
to shed their beneficent effects over countries more extensive than
those which the sceptre of England rules.
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P.S.—The greater part of this Work was in type some time previous to the
opening of the Exposition:—it would be of no interest to the public to
explain the cause of this delay.
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NOTE ADDED TO THE SECOND EDITION.
It has been suggested to me that, without some explanation, the Author
of this Volume might appear to have reserved his opinions on the subject
of the Exposition, until it was too late for the Commission to make use
of them. This was not the case.
Being fully aware of the importance of such exhibitions, and having
myself, many years before, endeavoured to connect them with the British
Association, I hailed the announcement of the plan as one calculated to
produce the most extensive good. At that period I was in Paris, and both
abroad and at home I have uniformly spoken of the Exposition with the
highest approbation.
On one or two points I differed entirely from the opinion of those to
whom its management was confided. The questions of the _site of the
building_, and of _affixing prices to articles exhibited_, were the most
important of them. I took the earliest opportunity of expressing
strongly my views on those subjects to several personal friends who were
members of that Commission, nor did I ever fail to communicate through
the fittest channel any circumstance I became acquainted with which
might advance its interests.
[1] See Chapter on Prices.
[2] “A bad old woman making a worse will.”—BYRON.
CONTENTS.
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PAGE
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION 1