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INTRODUCTIOX.

Meeting

ingham

be called the moving power of civilization, is being extended to all branches of science,industry, and art. Whilst formerly the greatest mental energies strove at universal know-ledge, and that knowledge was confined to the few, now they are directed to specialties, andin these again even to the minutest points; but the knowledge acquired becomes at oncethe property of the community at large. Whilst formerly discovery was wrapt in secresy,the publicity of the present day causes that no sooner is a discovery or invention made,than it is already improved upon and surpassed by competing efforts; the products of allquarters of the globe are placed at our disposal, and we have only to choose which is the bestand cheapest for our purposes, and the powers of production are intrusted to the stimulus ofcompetition and capital. So man is approaching a more complete fulfilment of that great andsacred mission which he has to perform in this world. His reason being created after theimage of God , he has to use it to discover the laws by which the Almighty governs hiscreation, and, by making these laws his standard of action, to conquer Nature to his use—himself a divine instrument. Science discovers these laws of power, motion, and trans-formation : industry applies them to the raw matter, which the earth yields us in abundance,but which becomes valuable only by knowledge: art teaches us the immutable laws ofbeauty and symmetry, and gives to our productions forms in accordance with them.Gentlemen, — The Exhibition of 1851 is to give us a true test and a living picture of thepoint of development at which the whole of mankind has arrived in this great task, and anew starting point from which all nations will be able to direct their further exertions. Iconfidently hope the first impression which the view of this vast collection will produceupon the spectator will be that of deep thankfulness to the Almighty for the blessingswhich He has bestowed upon us already here below; and the second, the conviction thatthey can only be realized in proportion to the help which we are prepared to render to eachother—therefore, only by peace, love, and ready assistance, not only between individuals,but between the nations of the earth.

On the 29th June, 1849, the general outlines of the Exhibition were discussedby His Eoyal Highness; and from that day to the present time, accurate accountsof all proceedings have been kept, and the greater part of them printed and: at Buck- published. The minutes of a meeting of several members of the Society of Arts ,Palace, at Buckingham Palace on the 30th June, set forth as follows:—

His Royal Highness communicated his views regarding the formation of a Great Collec-tion of Works of Industry and Art in London in 1851, for the purposes of exhibition, andof competition and encouragement.

His Royal Highness considered that such Collection and Exhibition should consist of thefollowing divisions : —

Raw Materials.

Machinery and Mechanical Inventions.

Manufactures.

Sculpture and Plastic Art generally.

It was a matter of consideration whether such divisions should be made subjects of simul-taneous exhibition, or be taken separately. It was ultimately settled that, on the firstoccasion at least, they should be simultaneous.

Various sites were suggested as most suitable for the building* which it was settledmust be, on the first occasion at least, a temporary one. The Government had offered thearea of Somerset House; or if that were unfit, a more suitable site on the property of theCrown. His Royal Highness pointed out the vacant ground in Hyde Park on the southside, parallel with, and between, the Kensington drive and the ride commonly called RottenRow, as affording advantages which few other places might be found to possess. Applica-tion for this site could be made to the Crown.

It was a question whether this Exhibition should be exclusively limited to British