XVI

EXHIBITION OE 1851.

appointed by the Society of Arts for the purpose of carrying on the Exhibition,would have acted under the direction of the Royal Commissioners; but the respon-sibility of entering into the pecuniary liabilities attending the undertaking, and ofproviding the funds necessary for its completion, would not have rested upon theCommissioners, but upon the Society of Arts .

At the first meeting, however, of the Royal Commission an important resolutionwas taken, which ultimately had the effect of rendering necessary a complete changein their position.

The Society of Arts , not having at their own disposal any funds which they couldapply to the purposes of the Exhibition, had found it necessary, at the very outsetof' their proceedings, to make arrangements for procuring money on the security ofthe profits which they anticipated might arise from the undertaking; and havingmet with a linn (Messrs. James and George Munday) willing to advance the sumslikely to be recpiired, had entered into an agreement by which that firm boundthemselves to advance whatever amount might be necessary, in consideration ofreceiving a proportion of the profits of the Exhibition, which proportion was in thelirst instance fixed, but afterwards, at the request of the Society of Arts , was leftto be decided at the close of the Exhibition by arbitrators chosen on cither side.

Into this agreement a clause had been introduced, giving the Society of Arts thepower to cancel it, if requested to do so by the Lords of Her Majesty’s Treasury within a specilied period, provision being at the same time made for the repaymentto the Messrs. Munday of any sums that might have been advanced by them, togetherwith a fair compensation for the outlay and risk which they might have incurred.

At the lirst meeting of the Royal Commission the subject of the contract withMessrs. Munday was taken into consideration; and it appeared to the Commis-sioners that it was desirable that steps should be taken for cancelling it,- and throw-ing the whole burden of the Exhibition upon voluntary contributions. In arrivingat this conclusion the Commissioners did not intend to reflect any discredit uponthe contract. On the contrary, they were fully convinced that it had been enteredinto with the best intentions possible by tlie Society of Arts , and with a most liberaspirit by the Messrs. Munday, and that its conditions were strictly reasonable, and,indeed, favourable to the public. They judged, however, that the maintenance olany contract, giving to a great national undertaking the appearance of a privatespeculation, would not be consonant with public feeling, and would endanger thesuccess of the Exhibition both at Iwmc and abroad. Upon these grounds theyaddressed a request to the Lords of the Treasury that their Lordships wouldexercise the power reserved to them in the contract between the Society of Arts andthe Messrs. Munday, of requesting the firmer body to give immediate notice to theMessrs. Munday of their intention to determine the contract, in order to makethis request valid, it was necessary that the Lords of the Treasury should intimatetheir willingness to take upon themselves the responsibility of repaying to theMessrs. Munday the sums already advanced by them, together with such amountof compensation as arbitrators might award to them; but as it had been understood