SECOND REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS.

85

urged that if this juxta-position were effected, much of the pecuniary resources,now expended in rent, &c., would be used for the direct promotion of scientificresearch ; and, the Libraries being rendered available for mutual and even generalreference, the great inconvenience would be avoided of having to refer to specimensand books in the collections of Societies widely apart from each other, while theconcentration of the Societies would direct a greater amount of public attentionto their endeavours to promote science and art; and they, again, would be ableto exert a greater influence on intellectual progress than they can in their presentdissevered state. The Union of Societies was considered as one of locality merely,their juxta-position not being allowed to interfere with their independentexistence or self-government. The plan which it is our object in this Report tosuggest would at once supply the means of satisfying the desire for juxta-positionthus strongly and repeatedly expressed, by securing a locality sufficiently large,and adapted for the purpose.

It will be evident from what has been already stated as to the want of space Purchase of land

J 1 necessary for the

even for the proper development of existing institutions, that to carry out theobjects thus contemplated, the purchase of land as a preliminary step becomes P lttled -absolutely necessary; and this will be still more strongly shown by a referenceto the difficulties originally encountered by us with respect to the site of theExhibition Building. Not only was the appropriation of any portion of any ofthe Royal Parks to such a purpose strongly objected to, whether such appropria-tion were to be of a more or less permanent description, or of an absolutely tem-porary nature, but the whole scheme of the Exhibition was in very great dangerof being brought to an untimely end, after having been long and widely spreadover the world, owing to objections connected with the question of the site ; andthe more recent discussion that took place on the subject of the removal of theBuilding has again shown that the feeling which created those difficulties stillcontinues to exist. It has, therefore, been apparent to us, that the obstaclesstanding in the way of using any of the parks, or other public property, for thetemporary purposes of the Exhibition, would be obstacles of an insuperablecharacter, when it becomes a question of finding a convenient and unobjectionablesite for objects of a permanent nature.

Proceeding now to the question of locality, we would call attention to a Report ° f

from a Commission, appointed last year, to “ consider the question of a site for a Gallcl 'y-New National Gallery/’ which Report was laid before Parliament hr August, 1851.

The Commissioners (Lord Seymour, Lord Colborne, Sir Charles Eastlake , Mr.

Ewart, and Sir Richard Westmacott, ) there stated their opinion of the advantagesfor such a purpose of the neighbourhood of Hyde Park and Kensington, not onlyon account of the dry character of the soil, but also because “ those large openspaces afford a present security against the inconveniences to which the NationalGallery is exposed, and are the only grounds which remain safe for future yearsamidst the growth of the metropolis.”

They then reported, that, from information which they had received, they be-lieved that “ from 15 to 20 acres of land, with a frontage to the park, might yetbe obtained at a reasonable price, which would afford a space for the constructionof a Gallery on an eligible site; ” after which they proceeded to discuss the ques-

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