Uses of Industrial Exhibitions. 157 
proud, of her industrial power, it has been recognised that, 
to preserve or to regain her pre-eminence in many branches 
of trade, she must have artizans and employers of much 
higher and more cultivated intelligence than she now has, 
and that her educational means must be adapted in extent 
and character to the industrial wants of the present time. 
The real position of the industrial class in the State has also 
forced itself on the public mind in a very definite and posi- 
tive manner ; and the fact has become received that, by pro- 
moting and conducting great industrial undertakings, which 
diffuse comfort and contentment among the people—by fos- 
tering, in precept and example, the spirit of self-relying in- 
dependence, of mutual charity and good will—one may render 
practical service to the State, and merit and obtain the 
highest and most public appreciation. 
Thus the Great Exhibitions, by shewing to the public, in 
a palpable and unmistakable form, the grandeur and the 
complexity of industry, and by illustrating the amount of 
talent and knowledge necessary for its successful exercise, 
has paved the way for the organization of the means neces- 
_ sary for maintaining Great Britain in her proper place at 
the head of the World of Industry, and for even extending 
and perfecting in every direction the industrial forces which 
we now possess; and, as is usual, where a practical neces- 
sity is once felt, England is about meeting those exigencies 
in @ great and proper manner; and there is very little doubt 
but that the steady and persevering energy which has enabled 
Great Britain to take the lead of Europe in so many practical 
matters, will enable her to become as successful in industrial 
education, now that she understands that she requires it as 
an instrument of practical success. 
_ Bui all that has been said as to the necessity for education 
as an element of industrial success, and of the usefulness of 
exhibitions as a means of such education, applies even much 
more strongly to the circumstances of this country than of 
Great Britain. For in Great Britain, owing to the structure 
of its rocks, the coal and other materials for industry are 
diffused on so large a scale, and with such means for work- 
ing, as to give it a natural supremacy in the most important 
