Queen drove from Buckingham Palace. The line of
visitors' carriages, of all descriptions, reached westwards
from the entrance-gates of the park through Kensington
towards Hammersmith, and eastwards to Long-acre; it
thronged also the collateral streets; if it had been
extended in single file it would have reached nearly
twenty miles. Upon the whole, the day was beautiful:
one passing shower, which fell shortly before the Queen
made her appearance, served but to lay the dust, and to
give greater freshness to the air. The Queen left
Buckingham Palace a little before twelve. Nine carriages
and pairs, conveyed her Majesty, Prince Albert, and two
elder children, several royal guests, and those who
attended, up Constitution Hill, and along Rotten Row,
to the northern entrance of the Crystal Palace. The
way was kept by a small party of life guards, and a large
body of police. As the cortège drove up to the Palace,
the reception of her majesty was enthusiastic, and she
entered the building amid a burst of genuine good
feeling from the people assembled. The Queen seemed
full of emotion at the greatness of the occasion and at
the welcome, but she was as soon lost within the walls of
the palace, from whence, after the lapse of a few
minutes, loud cheers burst forth; and when the strains
of "God Save the Queen" were heard, many of the
people took up the anthem, amidst the roar of the
cannon, and the busy hum of the crowds that thronged
the wide arena. The arrangements for the opening of
the building, and the reception of her Majesty and the
public had been carried on through the whole of the
preceding night, and were completed by eight o'clock in
the morning. At nine the doors were opened to the
holders of season tickets. The crowd kept flowing in
for more than an hour, in such dense columns that
temporary barriers, placed by the executive committee
to protect the space round the throne, were in part
swept away, and the entire space of the nave seemed to
be permanently in possession of the spectators.
Gentlemen might be seen distracted about places for their
wives and daughters; who added to their excitement by
asking explanations of police-passes which could not be
explained, and by urgent entreaties to take up positions
which were clearly not tenable. About ten o'clock, the
police succeeded in establishing order. Spectators
gradually took up their places, and every proper and
reasonable facility was afforded for the royal progress
round the nave of the building. At about half-past ten,
the appearance of notabilites in the crowd began to
excite attention. The Duke of Wellington, as usual,
arrived early. He was looking extremely well, and was
conversing gaily with a numerous circle of ladies grouped
around him. As soon as he was noticed, the customary
tribute of applause was rendered; and then immediately
a further and more hearty demonstration was made, as
it was remembered that on that very day—the first of
May—the old warrior had completed his eighty-second
year. In a short time he descended to the area below;
and was seen chatting with the Marquis of Anglesea
and with Mr. Paxton. Mr. Cobden was introduced to
him by Mr. Fox Maule. While field-marshal the
commander-in-chief and the president of the peace congress
were conversing, a buttoned Chinese mandarin, arrayed
in the quaint and magnificent costume of his country,
approached, caught the duke's eye, made him a profound
salaam, and held out his hand for an English salute.
The duke gave his hand—apparently uncertain to
whom. The unknown celestial then repeated his
obeisance to the marquis of Anglesea, and received a
courteous acknowledgment. It proved that he was the
mandarin Hesing, of the royal Chinese junk, now-
anchored in the Thames, for the inspection of the
English. Hesing attracted the attention of the Queen,
and at her request was subsequently placed in a
distinguished position in the royal procession. It had been
originally contemplated that the centre of the nave
should remain entirely unoccupied, but this arrangement
was found impracticable; and thus her Majesty and the
state procession were left to make their progress between
living walls of loyal subjects and admiring foreigners,
extending in long lines from one end of the building to
the other. It was near twelve when the faint huzza's of
crowds outside announced that the Queen had arrived; the
royal salute from across the Serpentine was scarcely heard
within the building, but in its stead a loud flourish of
trumpets told that her Majesty had entered the building.
She was conducted at once to the robing-room, and
thence, after a short pause, attended by her court,
proceeded between flower-stands and tropical plants,
past the Colebrook-dale gates, and the fountains and
statuary with which that part of the edifice is adorned,
to the throne in the centre. On her appearance the
vast assemblage rose to welcome her, a burst of
enthusiastic cheering broke forth from every side—ladies
waved their handkerchiefs, gentleman their hats, and
the whole scene presented was one of unusal splendour.
The sun, too, emerged from the clouds that for some
time previously had dimmed his lustre, and a flood of
light pouring in through the glittering dome of the
transept illuminated the imposing scene. When her
Majesty ascended the throne, attended by the royal
family and the distinguished visitors of her court, the
organ pealed forth the notes of the national anthem, and
the immense choir collected for the occasion accompanied
the strain. His Royal Highness Prince Albert, when
the music had ceased, joined the royal commissioners,
who drew near to the throne and read to her Majesty
the Report of the proceedings of the commission.
After giving an account of the origin of the Exhibition,
and the efforts made to accomplish its objects, the Report
proceeded to say: "We have now the gratification of
stating that our anticipations of support in this case
have in all respects been fully realised. Your Majesty's
most gracious donation to the funds of the Exhibition
was the signal for voluntary contributions from all, even
the humblest classes of your subjects, and the funds
which have thus been placed at your disposal amount at
present to about £65,000. Local committees, from which
we have uniformly received the most zealous co-
operation, were formed in all parts of the united kingdom,
in many of your Majesty's colonies, and in the territories
of the hon. East India Company. The most energetic
support has also been received from the governments of
nearly all the countries in the world, in most of
which commissions have been appointed for the special
purpose of promoting the objects of an exhibition justly
characterised in your Majesty's royal warrant, as an
Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations.
We have also to acknowledge the great readiness with
which persons of all classes have come forward as
exhibitors. And here again it becomes our duty to
return our humble thanks to your Majesty for the most
gracious manner in which your Majesty has condescended
to associate yourself with your subjects by yourself
contributing some most valuable and interesting articles to
the Exhibition. The number of exhibitors whose
productions it has been found possible to accommodate is
about 15,000, of whom nearly one-half are British. The
remainder represent the productions of more than forty
foreign countries, comprising almost the whole of the
civilised nations of the globe. In arranging the space
to be allotted to each, we have taken into consideration
both the nature of its productions and the facilities of
access to this country afforded by its geographical
position. Your Majesty will find the productions of
your Majesty's dominions arranged in the western
portion of the building, and those of foreign countries
in the eastern. The Exhibition is divided into the four
great classes of—1. Raw Materials; 2. Machinery;
3. Manufactures; and 4. Sculpture and the Fine Arts.
A further division has been made according to the
geographical position of the countries represented; those
which lie within the warmer latitudes being placed near
the centre of the building, and the colder countries at
the extremities. Your Majesty having been graciously
pleased to grant a site in this your royal park for the
purposes of the Exhibition, the first column of the
structure now honoured by your Majesty's presence was
fixed on the 26th of September last. Within the short
period, therefore, of seven months, owing to the energy
of the contractors and the active industry of the workmen
employed by them, a building has been erected, entirely
novel in its construction, covering a space of more than
eighteen acres, measuring 1,851 feet in length, and 456
feet in extreme breadth, capable of containing 40,000
visitors, and affording a frontage for the exhibition of
goods to the extent of more than ten miles. For the