438 APPENDIX H. 



APPENDIX H — (page 15.) 



THE AMEEIOAIf MERIITOS AT THE INTERNATIOITAL 

 EXHIBITION OF 1863. 



It was noticed at page 75 that Mr. George Campbell, of West "West- 

 minster, Vermont, took American Merino sheep to exhibit at the 

 International Exhibition at Hamburg, in July, 1863. The result was 

 not ascertained in time to be alluded to in the body of this work. 



Mr. Campbell found 1,761 sheep competing in the same class with 

 his own. They were from the Austrian, Prussian and other States of 

 Germany, and from France. Among the French sheep competing were 

 about sixty belonging to the Emperor Napoleon. Mr. Campbell was 

 awarded the firat prize of fifty thalers for the best ram, the second prize 

 of twenty-five thalers for the "second best ram, and the first prize of fifty 

 thalers for the best ewes. 



The Committee of Award consisted of eighteen noblemen and 

 gentlemen. The examinations were made by sub-committees, whose 

 preliminary reports were subject to the revision of the general committee. 

 The American sheep had encountered a certain degree of prejudice 

 from their first arrival. The breeders of the old world, and particularly 

 of Germany, seemed to think it audacious that Americans, who had so 

 often imported sheep from Germany, should now enter the lists as 

 competitors against them. And when a rumor began to gain ground 

 that the sub - committee were disposed to award one and then two first 

 prizes to the American Merinos, it caused loud expressions of dissatis- 

 faction, which were promptly re-echoed in the German newspapers. 

 Notwithstanding, and in defiance of all of this, the general committee 

 with manly independence ratified the action of the sub-committee by a 

 unanimous vote. On the official promulgation of the decision, the 

 previous censures took the form of accusations. It was asserted that 

 the committee had been unduly influenced. Thereupon Col. Daniei 

 Needham, Corresponding Secretary of the Vermont State Agricultural 

 Society, yi}io was present at the Exhibition as the Commissioner of the 

 State of Vermont, after conferring with the U. S. Commissioner, Gov. 

 Wright, and Mr. Campbell, published a card in the German tongue, 

 proposing a sweepstakes open to all the previous competitors — the 

 award to be made by a new committee, to be selected by the German 

 association under whose auspices and direction the International 

 Exhibition took place. Col. Needham's proposal was that each com- 

 petitor pay an entrance fee of $10; and if there were less than ten entries 

 he offered himself to make up the prize to $100. This offer, (substantially 

 a challenge to a new trial,) was posted and circulated among all the 

 competitors. Mr. Campbell immediately entered his sheep, but Ids was 

 tlie only entry ! This rendered the triumph of the American Merinos 

 absolute and undeniable; and the press and public, with that hearty 

 honesty which always marks the German national character, did ample 

 justice to the Americans and to the American sheep. Mr. Campbell 

 sold his prize sheep, twelve in number, to a Prussian nobleman for $5,000. 



