MISCELLANEOUS. 237 



from eS.TSe.OOOZ, in 1851, to 122,155,000/. in 1857. Add to the above the fact, 

 that within ten years the resources of our Colonies have been largely developed, 

 and the conamercial world has acquired three additional emporia : two on the shores 

 of the Pacific, and one on the great American Lakes, viz., San Francisco, Mel- 

 bourne, and Chicago, none of which are even named in the edition of Mr. M'Cul- 

 lough's Dictionary of Geography, published in 1 849 ; also that China and Japan 

 have now been opened to trade with England; and we cannot but come to the 

 conclusion that ten years is a period fully sufficient to justify the Society of Arts 

 in proposing to hold an Exhibition in 1861. 



It must never be forgotten in the present age, that the great secret of success 

 in commerce is rapidity of action and correspondence. This is greatly aided by a 

 penny post and the electric telegraph, and the merchant or manufacturer who fails 

 to made free use of either or both of these means, inevitably falls into the rear of 

 his competitors. What the telegraph and post are to the merchant and ma- 

 nufacturer. Exhibitions must be to the general public — they are the telegraphs by 

 which the public may be made rapidly acquainted with the new products of our 

 Colonies and the application of those products to our wants. 



In 1624 the celebrated Act for the abolition of monopolies was passed, and 

 England's trade has been left free to develop itself in the majority of cases ever 

 since. The extended publication to the world of our capability and power as 

 producers must ever tend to the increase of trade. It is not sufficient to produce, 

 or possess the power of producing, we must make our products known to the 

 greatest possible extent. The recognition of this principle led to the establishment 

 of Exhibitions in France at a time when its factories were full of their finest pro- 

 ductions, but no demand existed for them ; the demand was created by means of 

 Exhibitions. England did not put forth its full power in 1851 ; Exhibitions were 

 then a new and unexplored field to our manufacturers. Many were in ignorance 

 of their nature, or prejudiced against them, and therefore withheld their contri- 

 butions ; where prejudice then existed it has since been removed. New firms, and 

 those manufacturers who had scarcely begun life ten years ago, will, by means of 

 an Exhibition in 1861, be enabled to put forth their energy and display their skill 

 as manufacturers, and thus attain to that position which competition in private 

 tends much to retard. The eleven Exhibitions of France prove that, however 

 adverse the times, or unsettled commerce may be, the number of producers haa 

 ever been on the increase, and they are ever ready to contribute their productions, 

 at such displays. The seaboard of England and its insular position do not affijrd 

 our merchants and manufacturers the same advantages over the other producing- 

 countries of Europe which England had previous to the construction of railways 

 and telegraphs ; the latter enabling prices to be learned and purchases effected at 

 great distances, whilst by the former the goods are conveyed from the seat of 

 production in the interior of a country to the coast without delay, and at a little 

 cost. England having attained to pre-eminence as a manufacturing country, such 

 pre-eminence can only be maintained by a full and constant development and 

 such development will take place only in proportion to the demand for improved 

 machinery or manufactures. It is a fallacy to suppose that Exhibitions will de- 

 prive our manufacturers of the advantages they possess, by laying open theii" 

 VOL. IV. S 



