THE EXHIBITION OF 1851. [From the Times, Dec. 7.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 501, 22 May 1850, Page 3

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851. [From the Times, Dec. 7.]

Preparations are in active progress for the exhibition, in the metropolis of the three kingdoms, of the manufactures and natural productions of the world. Emissaries have been despatched round the country to ascertain the feeling of the leading manufacturers of England, and it has been found universally favourable to the proposed display. In some quarters even great regret was expressed that England had not taken the field before, and invited a comparison with the industrial efforts of other nations, as she has long defied them in the markets of the world. We can scarcely participate in such a regret. Hitherto such an exhibition 'as the one in preparation would have been a mere anomaly, — a kind of mocking commentary upon the spirit of those prohibitory laws which in the most important branches of manufacture saddled tha productions of foreigners with such restrictive duties as would have rendered their sale throughout the British dominions, upon any considerable scale, all but impossible. The most cursory consideration must satisfy any one that an invitation to the world to forward the products of human ingenuity — no matter what the colour of the producer's skin or the manner of his speech — must be the corollary and notthe antecedent to the admission of the principle of free trade as the rule in commercial transactions. Of what avail would it have been to admire the excellence of those textile fabrics that English ladies might not wear ; the brilliancy of the dyes with which their dresses might not be stained; the fragile splendour of the Bohemian glass which might not find a place in their drawing rooms ; or the ingenious devices and fanciful designs of the carpet looms of France, on which they might not hope to tread ? The anomaly involved in such a course was too gross and palpable. Men do not ordinarily chant a Te Deum in the course of a dubious campaign ; nor was the fatted calf slain until the Prodigal son had actually returned within his father's walls. But Time has inaugurated another state of things — Time, the main element in the' completion of all great designs. If England now invites foreigners to lay the best their skill can accomplish by the side of the products of her own people, it is not in any fit of momentary enthusiasm, nor to gratify a whiff of transient vanity. In the operations of commerce the most inveterate maligner of Englishmen must admit that they have long defied competition — they now invite it. Therein lies the difference between the spit it of our past and present economic policy. It is the substitution of the silken glove for the mailed hand. This is the natural consequence, the necessary development of the principle of unfettered exchange. In days long since gone by, our rude ancestors hunted and followed the chase through tangled forests now the seats of industrious cities. They had no need of commerce. Another and a steel-clad race succeeded, who conquered and held the land by force of arms. They hated and despised commerce. Out of commerce sprang a principle which must eventually undermine their dominion, and set up another standard than that of individual valour. Another period followed, in which the advantages of buying and

selling were at first divined, and then recognized. Men weje eager to monopolize the golden harvest. Governments and dynasties admitted the excellence of pursuits which mast eventually endanger their existen.ce, for they placed unlimited resources within their reach to satisfy persons or gratify their pride. This was the era of monopolies. No keel but that of a Spanish ship might plough the waves in such a sea — no hunter but a subject of the French king might chase wild animals amidst the snows of Acadia ; — no merchant, save he were of British race, might deal in the products of the fertile plains of Hindustan. Why heap up examples which are patent in every page of history ? All commercial transactions, from the most important branches of national traffic to the pettiest huckstering in detail, were the subjects of restrictions and monopolies. The practised ingenuity of modern financial ministers worked out and illustrated the blunders or selfishness of their predecessors. Restrictive duties, graduated duties, ad valorem duties, prohibitions, sliding scales, and all other weapons in the armoury of mistaken financiers, were sharpened and brightened up to their highest point of mischievous efficiency. Upon this system the world acted until a few months back, when the English people came forward and said, *_* This can be no more !" The expression has often been droppod in the midst of the enthusiasm of convivial meeting by public speakers ; or by writers in moments of quickened fancy, that " London is the capital of the world." By the multitude of its inhabitants, by the command it offers of all the conveniences and luxuries of life, by the importance of its commercial transactions — even upon tbe-old system — the term was scarcely an exaggeration. But now it is more fairly entitled to be so styled without infringement upon sobriety of thought or speech. London has become specifically the mart of the world, and it is as natural that a foreign manufacturer should forward his goods for exhibition here, as to the capital of his own peculiar country. The inspirations of self interest dictate such a course, and no doubt they will be po'ential in the end over the minds of all. All that is required is, that the fact should be rightly appreciated, and it is because the proposed exhibition will act in this direction that we look forward to it with satisfaction. The display, to be worthy of the cause must neither be shackled with invidious restrictions — now useless for all practical purposes — nor must the regulations of its details be entrusted to unsuitable hands. The good sense of the English manufacturers has already so freely accepted the necessities of their new situation that any further comment upon the confidence with which they look forward to the presence and competition of their foreign rivals would be merely superfluous. On all sides we hear but the one cry, "Let all nations be invited to meet us fairly in the field ; and if their ingenuity is greater than ours, the triumph and the profit be theirs !" We knew this before, and therefore the announcement of the reception given to the emissaries of the Prince Consort contained nothing to invite further remark. It would, however, be well that the direction of the matter should be intrusted to men of weight and importance — to men of known standing and character in the world. The mayors of the various chief toy ns, for example, offer a ready and efficient machinery for working out the great plan, without laying its Royal originator open to the suggestion of countenancing the paltry jobbery which ever clings round a noble scheme, as worthless weeds cling to the keel, and clog the progress of the most gallant ship. We would have this great exhibition as pure in its details as it is grand in its design. It is an event in the history of the world, and should be associated as little as possible with anything but what is disinterested, and far above suspicion.