1867.] International Exhibitions. 489 



In the fifth year of the French Kepublic (1797) the Marquis 

 d'Aveze was requested by the Minister of the Interior to undertake 

 the office of Commissioner to the Manufactures of the Gobelins 

 (tapestries), of Sevres (china), and of the Savonnerie (carpets). 

 On visiting those establishments the marquis found the workshops 

 deserted ; for the artisans had been in a starving condition for two 

 years, while the warehouses were full of the results of then labours. 

 It then occurred to him that if these and other objects of industry 

 could be collected together into one large Exhibition, a stimulus 

 might be given to the native industry, and thus relief be afforded 

 to the suffering workmen. This plan was approved by the Minister 

 of the Interior, and the chateau of St. Cloud was appropriated to 

 the purpose. Before the day fixed for public admission a number 

 of distinguished persons in Paris and many foreigners visited the 

 Exhibition, and made purchases sufficient to afford some temporary 

 relief to the necessities of the workmen. On the morning of the 

 day fixed for the opening, however, the walls of the city were pla- 

 carded with the decree of the Directory for the expulsion of the 

 nobility ; the chateau of St. Cloud was given into the custody of a 

 company of dragoons, the Marquis d'Aveze was in the proscribed 

 list, and thus ended the scheme which had begun with so much 

 promise. Early in the following year, however, on his return from 

 proscription to Paris, the marquis resumed his labours. The place 

 selected for the Exposition was the Maison d'Orsay, Eue de 

 Yarennes, No. 667 ; and it proved so attractive and successful 

 that the Government determined to adopt the idea and to carry it 

 out on a grand scale. An admirable opportunity was afforded on 

 the return of Napoleon from the successful termination of the 

 Italian wars ; and on the same spot in the Champ de Mars on 

 which the army had celebrated the inauguration of Italian spoils, 

 and only six weeks after that fete, the nation erected the " Temple 

 of Industry," around which were arranged sixty porticoes filled 

 with objects of use or beauty. The Exhibition remained open 

 only during the last three complementary days of the sixth year of 

 the Kepublic: but it excited the greatest enthusiasm throughout 

 the country. The merits of the several Exhibitors, who numbered 

 110 in all, were entrusted to the decision of a jury composed of 

 nine men, distinguished in science and in art ; and this plan was 

 found to work so well that it was continued in subsequent Expo- 

 sitions, the only change being an increase in the number of the 

 jurors. 



The success of this Exposition was so complete that the Executive 

 determined in future to have an Exposition every year, which should 

 include also the provinces. Accordingly they addressed letters to 

 the prefets of departments, requesting them to form committees 

 whose office it should be to determine what local products were 



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