The exposition of 1851

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.

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.

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.