OPENING OF THE GREAT FOUNTAINS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 416, 29 October 1856, Page 3

OPENING OF THE GREAT FOUNTAINS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

(Prom the " Daily News," Juno 19.)

The Crystal Palace is at last complete. As long as the great fountains were doomed to inaction, the building and grounds Avere without their greatest ornament. Now the fountains are opened, the whole beauty of the most extraordinary gardens in the world is revealed. Nothing could have exceeded the success of the display of yesterday. There were few persons who did hot acknowledge that the boast, considered at one time presumptuous, that the fountains would surpass in beauty those at Versailles, was warranted by the event. As a display of water forced to take peculiar forms, it was far more wonderful than anything to be seen at Versailles, 9 r.-AfPywhere'' else. It is quite true that the fountains at the Crystal-Palace are. not like those of Versailles, bolstered up with bad sculpture and worse architecture; there is nothing like the Grand Basin de Neptune, surrounded with 22 leaden vases covered with miserable has reliefs ; there are no unnatural frogs spitting at a Latona, so ugly that the frogs seem almost warranted in their contempt; but there are grand masses of water shooting up into the air; there are clouds of spray falling gracefully to the ground, and making rainbows as they fall. The fountains, in fact, dilFer from all other fountains in this: —-they owe their beauty primarily to the water, and not to their architectural accompaniments.

. Although the time fixed for the opening of the fountains was between five and six, the company began to assemble at an early hour. Even at one o'clock the grounds contained as many persons as are to be seen on the ordinary days. After this time the number rapidly augmented, and up to five o'clock the arrivals by the train and road were continuous. It was the general impression that never, since the opening day, •had more excitement been displayed. The spectators appeared as anxious to witness the completion of the palace as those who, two yeai's tack, assembled to. see the inauguration of the undertaking. The two meetings, however, differed essentially. . In the'first the whole grandeur of the scene was confined to the interior of the palace itself. Yesterday the vast masses of visitors were spread over the whole grounds. Far and wide over the extensive gardens were .crowds of well-dressed persons. The gai-dens were filled with as much human as floral beauty. As the time for the opening of the fountains drew..near, the multitude gradually became consol«uated into dense masses in those places where it was supposed that the best view could be obtained of the fountains and the Queen. About five o'clock the fountains of the upper terrace, which had been in a state of semi-activity the whole day, began t&. play. Shortly afterwards her Majesty arrived, and made the circuit of the grounds in her carriage. She was accompanied by Prince Albert, the Prince of Prussia, and the llegent of Baden. Two other carriages followed, containing the royal children and members of the household. Sir Joseph Paxton rode at her Majesty's side, and gave her all the information necessary. The Queen appeared delighted at the tight, and expressed her satisfaction to her companions. When the royal party arrived opposite the central transept the carnages stopped for a short time, and the Queen was enabled to take in the whole view at once.

Such a.sight has seldom been witnessed by any monarch. A vast dense mass of subjects, happy, loyal,, aud enthusiastic, filling the air with cheers, were assembled in the most beautiful grounds in the woi'ld. In the background there was the palace itself. Prom the back to the foreground pillars of water were shooting lip, festoons of Avater were circling particular fountains, cascades of water were enveloping temples which appeared framed of gold and glass, torrents of water -rushed over stone steps. There was a wavering wind: it came in pulsations. For a moment the columns of water r,oso almost solidly-;-then, caught by the wind, $hey dissolved in. spray-.and the-palace behind

them was seen through a mist. The novelty yesterday was the exhibition of the lower fountains, the water temples, and the cascades. The two large basins in the lower"grounds were the most elaborate in their composition. They were triumphs of mechanical and artistic ingenuity. The peculiar beauty of the Crystal Palace waterworks consists ■, as we have before stated, in the volune and intricate arrangement of the water itself. The eye is not distracted by being called oft' to admire or condemn architectural arrangements. As the spectator views the fountains from the lower terrace, or from one of the slopes immediately below, he sees between himself and the palace such a volume of water as has never yet been forced by mechanism to assum"e artistic shapes. Some idea of the extent of the works niay be formed by considering that the number of jets playing at one time is 11,788, and that the quantity of water flung put is 120,000 gallons per minute. The supply of water for such an expenditure has only been obtained after great difficulty. There are two high tower tanks to supply the jets in the centres of the lower basins. Two other tanks supply the jets in the upper series of fountains. A large reservoir at the northern end of the building contains no less than six millions and a half of gallons. Two thirty-horse power engines are used for pumping water into the reservoir, and four forty-horse power engines are used for raising or returning waste water. The Artesian well which fnmishes the water is sunk to a depth of 575 feet.

These figures may serve to show the magnitude .of the fountains, but no words can. do justice to their beauty. It has been objected indeed, that they lack the accompaniment of most fountains, a solid background. Most fountains play either in front of trees or of buildings. There are no trees behind the palace fountainSj and the building is transparent. We do not think the objection on this score is well founded. On the contrary, the transparency of the fountains and the light brilliancy of the palace are in keeping. Beautiful as the building is, it looks still more beautiiW when seen through a thin sheet of spray, brillian* os powdered diamonds, scattered through the air by a gust of wind. The fountains need no setting to increase their natural beauties.

Undetected Crime.—lt is a curious and startling speculation what the proportion of undetected and unsuspected crime may he to the crime which is known and published, and what the number of criminals moving freely in society maybe, compared to the number brought to justice. This is a subject which has never yet engaged statistical inquiry, though very worthy of consideration. Undetected criminals are of two classes-r-the perpetrators of crimes whicq; have, never been suspected or discovered, and the perpetrators of crimes which have come to light, while the perpetrators themselves have remained hidden. It is from the first of these classes that society has most to dread. How many persons may at this moment be occube occupying a respectable position, and perhaps wearing a sanctified appearance, who bear about with them a brain capable of plotting intricate ciime, and a heart capable of the most fiendish cruelty. How many John Dean Pauls may there be in the mercantile world, some at this moment.struggling with embarrassment, some just emerging from difficulty, but ready for desperate exjjedients should temptation present itself. The murder by Tawell was discovered by accident. How sleekly would he have walked the earth in drab and. broadbrim had it been decided that his victim died in a fit! Was that murder his first ? Who can tell ? The probabilities, perhaps, are, on the whole, against a first case of poisoning ever being suspected. Taking that dark and deliberate species of murder which compels into its service the secret agencies of nature, and the latest discoveries of science, what a painful train of thought is raised by the occurrences of the last, few months! Deaths have occurred independent of those connected with the name of Palmer, leaving no substantial doxibt on the mind that poison and not disease was the primary agent of destruction, without detection of the poisoner. It is a shocking reflection that in all societies—at dinners and balls, at concerts and theatres, at church or at chapel, in town or in the country, wherever and in whatever society we may v bo—it is possible a murderer may bo present. Not only does not one halt' the world know how the other half lives, it knows not how the other half dies. If from murders we pass

to fires, we arrive at a species of offence, perhaps, the most difficult of all to bring home "to a man. Arson is a crime by which money may so readily be made, and which so few persons are usually interested m investigating, that it is probably the one which, of all others, is most frequently committed without detection. Insurance companies are loth to prosecute, for it gets them a bad name ; and private individuals are afraid to "utter suspicion co difficult to verify, and so likely to entail heavy penalties. It is probable that a much larger proportion of fires are intentional than we are in the habit of supposing. How seldom do we hear of a fire being satisfactorily accounted for! "The origin of the fire still remains a mystery," are words with which all readers of newspaper paragraphs must be familiar. The two passions of revenge and covetousness might very frequently be called in to fill up the hiatus in question. With commercial crimes we have lately been surfeited. How flourishing was the Tipperary Bank, with its profits and dividends, till the suicide Sadleir was found on Hampstead Heath ! The readiness with which forged bills have been discounted is an appalling fact. It is even asserted that forged bills, if presented by men of any station, find readier acceptance with a certain class of bill discounters than genuine ones, for the simple reason that they are more certain to be met. If this practice is proved to prevail to even a limited, extent, what a vista of crime it open.s to us! Who knows how many forged warrants may at this moment bepassing between Bankside and Lombard Street—how many bankers may at this moment be negociating securities which do not belong to them —how many adventurers may be raising large sums of money on the counterfeited names of friends and patrons? The amount of undetected eriine which goes on festering and generating by its own corruption we cannot pretend to estimate, nor hope to guard against. As good and evil in this world go hand in hand, as the wheat and tares spring up together, so we feel we must attribute this canker of crime in -great measure to the increase of education and the spread of science, enabling the arts of the criminal to keep pace with increased facilities of detection, and supplying at the same time additional motives for the perpetration of offences. Increased vigilant in the officers of the law, froni the highest to the lowest^—increased vigilance in all public men and public bodies, insurance companies, and trading firms—above all, we shoidd add, in all members of the medical profession, is all that we can at present point to as -likel}1- to impose restraint on that wide range of moral lawlessness Avhich must be classed under the head of Undetected Crime.— Press.