Italy, as a whole, was not represented. Sardinia, Tuscany, and the papal States, were congregated, as independent sovereignties, among the other nations of the world; but neither Naples of modern days, nor Italy of ancient glory, possessed a local habitation or a name in the Crystal Palace. It is significant of much to the reflecting mind, that from the papal States two sections only were represented, viz: raw materials and sculpture. Among the former were silicious quartz, asphalte, and alum; and among the latter, sculptures, cameos in onyx and shell, and beautiful mosaic work from the Vatican. Tuscany seemed to be awakening from her sleep, and, by the samples which she sent of the products of her mines and her soil, to give earnest of efforts towards better days. Though the industrial superiority which she held during the middle ages, when the most powerful nations of Europe were her tributaries, can never be regained, she may yet-from her timber, (the best in Europe,) her marbles, and her metallic ores-from which the boracic acid of commerce is almost exclusively obtained-again enjoy an enviable pre-eminence. Even in advance of her, in all that pertains to the true greatness of nations, was her sister State, Sardinia. Nearly one hundred exhibitors represented her industry. A liberalist in opinion and action, in the highest and best sense of the word, came to preside over her interests. Sixty operatives-intelligent young mechanics and artisans, supported by the government-studied those lessons of practical knowledge in the Exhibition which would be most serviceable to home industry. Her contributions afforded good evidence of improving labor. To say nothing of her pharmaceutical specimens, unsurpassed by any nation, or of her rich mineralogical show, there was nothing throughout the Exhibition to equal the filigree and chased silver work from Turin, or to surpass the products of the velvet looms of Genoa. Success to all activity which impels the industry of Italy towards better days! Among the fine arts, still clinging to their ancient home, and recalling, even in their degeneracy, the traces of a nobler inspiration and a happier era, was a piece full of meaning-a matron teaching her children to walk alone, emblematic of " Young Italy." Next in order of location came the collection of France, the most attractive and extensive of any in the foreign department, and in more points than one rivalling that of the United Kingdom. It would be vain to attempt, in this brief notice, to indicate even the principal features of this congress of French industry. Among the raw materials, silk, in every variety of process, claimed general admiration. Hemp, wool, and other textile materials were amply displayed. The delicate chemical preparations, the grosser products, the cements and paints, the metals and metallic manipulations, the prepared food and simple grains, made an interesting exhibition of themselves. The machinery department, from the huge water-wheel down to the kitchen bellows; the department of manufactures, from the gorgeous tapestry of the Gobelin's looms to the embroidered garter; the department of ceramic manufactures, from the service of Sevres china, too costly for money to purchase, down to the newest pattern of baking dishes; the department of fine arts, from the group of Cain and his Family, to the blurred and lifeless talbotype; and the rich department of jewelry, from the jewels of her majesty the Queen of Spain to the plain wedding ring of the peasant-each one, in its time and place, through all its most minute ramifications, skillfully arranged, and in every respect full of artistic feeling, was apparently complete. It is a peculiar characteristic of French industry, that all its products touch upon the wants, the comforts, and the luxuries of the million. They deal alike in the beauty of the cottage and the embellishment of the palace. Their bronzes, their lamps, and chandeliers, and candelabra, their furniture, their cambrics, shawls, and silks, even the most ordinary products of the shops, are with them works of art, rather than results of industry. While they do not neglect the demands of trade, it is the glory of France that her workmen aspire in everything to purity of design. The features of her character are imprinted upon all she produces; there being no more perfect picture of the great nation than is to be seen in her works of industry. Belgium showed machinery and iron work, agricultural implements, carpets, and wood carvings, proving her right to be considered a first rate manufacturing country. Perhaps there is not in the world, as the various results of their industry show, a more industrious, artistic, or pains taking people. The show of Austria, if the productions of her Italian possessions were to be accounted hers, was magnificent. Her furniture was unequalled for richness and splendor; her Bohemian glass sustained its world-wide reputation for beauty; her statuary exhibited a vigor and excellence unapproached; and her lithographers proved, by their contributions, that they led the world. The German collection, from the numerous States of the Zoll Verein, wanting in that variety and expansiveness which mark the industrial developments of the great western States of Europe, showed a force and enterprise of the manufacturing spirit which bid fair to supplant England and France in the markets of the world. In the element of cheapness in production, none can equal the Germans. The "Amazon" and "Libusa," and other marks of statuary, testified that in higher art there is possessed by her sculptors energy and earnestness of expression, both characteristic of her people and approaching the sublime. In hardware and cutlery, in textile fabrics of the cheaper kind, and in medium porcelain, the States of Germany are destined to be the workshop of the world. Of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland, it is unnecessary to say more than that each, in its industrial products, reflected its peculiar national characteristics. This, too, was equally true of Russia. From these, the grand, and striking, and regal, only came. The seal of the autocrat was stamped on everything. In all the beauty and magnificence, and costliness, and display of the Russian division, one saw nothing of the people. It was an exhibition of the enterprise of the executive of the power of the sovereign-of the resources of the exchequer. It is not intended to be said that no individual contributions were received from Russia. The costly vases made, malachite doors, and heavy silks, were many of them the production of manufactories built up by private enterprise; but in even these the hand of an absolute power was everywhere apparent, encouraging or restraining-tempting forward by the hope of reward, or holding back by the fear of punish ment. Perhaps the industrial products of no two countries which ever existed presented so many points of strong contrast as did those of Russia and the United States at the Exhibition. In the one case, everything which was shown was costly; in the other, cheap. The compartments of Russia, splendidly fitted up and appointed, were attractive from the princely magnificence of the articles displayed. The compartments of the United States, on the contrary, decorated with great plainness, drew admiration from those who visited them by the adaptability of everything they contained to the purposes for which they were intended. Thousands never ceased to gaze with wonder on jewels, embroidery, velvets, silks, and furs, contributed from the various imperial establishments of St. Petersburgh and Moscow. There were others, however-and they, too, were counted by thousands before the Exhibition closed-who found-in the water pails, made by machinery, and furnished at one-quarter the usual price; in the pegged boots and shoes, between the upper leather and soles of which not a waxed end was drawn; in the improved house. hold, barn, garden, and field implements; in the bell telegraphs, and spring chairs, and cooking ranges, and hot air furnaces, and camp bedsteads a degree of intelligent interest excited by the display in no other part of the building. The Russian exhibition was a proof of the wealth, power, enterprise, and intelligence of Nicholas; that of the United States an evidence of the ingenuity, industry, and capacity of a free and ed ucated people. The one was the ukase of an emperor to the notabilities of Europe; the other the epistle of a people to the workingmen of the world. The history of our portion of the exhibition-of the lack of all pecuniary aid from the government, of its early discouragements, vicissitudes, and trials, of its gradual emerging from darkness, of its stoutly fought battles, its victories and success, and of its hardly but fairly won honors at the close-is all too well known to the whole world to need recapitu lation here. It is sufficient to say that we were not misunderstood. We might have sent far more of our productions to England; but that would only have confirmed, not altered, the verdict which the world has given us. We alone, of all people, exhibited the products of unfettered, untaxed, unpatronized labor. We showed the results of pure democracy upon the industry of men. We demonstrated the progressiveness of the human mind when in the enjoyment of liberty. And we alone, from among the assemblage of two-score nations, bore away the palm for intelligent labor. |