Medals obtained by competition. honorary distinctions; it being understood that such discretion is to be exercised under the superintendence and control of the Commission. Articles marked "Not for Competition" cannot be admitted. The Commissioners decided to select bronze for the material in which the medals should be executed, considering that metal to be the better calculated than any other, for the development of superior skill and ingenuity in the medallic art, and at the same time the most likely to constitute a lasting memorial of the Exhibition. There are three bronze medals, of different sizes and designs, which were obtained by public competition. Three prizes of 1007. each, were awarded for the three designs of the reverses, which appeared the most meritorious, to the following artists: M. HIPPOLYTE BONNARDEL, Paris. Mr. LEONARD C. WYON, London. Three prizes of 501. each were also given for the three best designs not accepted, as follows: One hundred and twenty-nine models were received, and were exhibited in the rooms of the Society of Arts. The obverses of the medals are heads of HER MAJESTY the QUEEN, and HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE ALBERT, executed by W. WYON, R. A., the medallist of the Mint, after the type of the Syracusan medals. The Committee appointed (consisting of the Hon. W. E. GLADSTONE, the Lord LYTTELTON, the Hon. T. B. MACAULAY, and the Rev. H. G. LIDDELL, Head The inscriptions. Master of Westminster School) to suggest inscriptions for the Prize Medals, recommended, for the medal to be executed after design No. 1, the following line, very slightly altered, from MANILIUS (Astronomicon, v. 737) : the juries. "Est etiam in magno quædam respublica mundo." For the medal from design No. 2, the following line from the first book of the Metamorphoses of OVID (v. 25):— "Dissociata locis concordi pace ligavit." For the medal from design No. 3, the following line from CLAUDIAN (Eidyll., vii. 20): "Artificis tacitæ quod meruere manus." Constitution of Under the general conditions by which the juries were constituted, it was provided that there should be one jury to each of the 30 classes into which the Exhibition had been divided. The number of jurors in each jury was determined by the amount of articles exhibited in each class, and the greater or less diversity of the subjects included in it, but no abstract idea of the relative importance of the classes was involved in the numbers attached to them. The list of the 30 classes has already been given (see p. 23), with the number of jurors appointed to each class. In addition to the juries there described, it was found necessary to appoint three sub-juries; one subordinate to Class V., for carriages, and two subordinate to Class X., viz., for musical and for surgical instruments. The increased number of jurors for these three sub-juries was 22, of whom half were foreigners. To facilitate the working, especially with reference to the foreign jurors, the 30 classes were collected into six groups : Classes 1, 2, 3, 4, forming the group of Raw Materials. Classes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, forming the group of Machinery. Classes 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, forming the group of Textile Fabrics. Classes 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, forming the group of Metallic, Vitreous, and Classes 26, 27, 28, 29, forming the group of Miscellaneous Manufactures. A classified list of subjects under the province of each jury was prepared, and formed the limitation to each class, being the same as that upon which the arrangement of articles in the building had been made. The constitution of the juries was thus regulated:-The jury in general consisted of an equal number of British subjects and of Foreigners. If Foreign Commissions did not send a sufficient number of Foreigners to represent one-half of the jurors in each class, the deficient numbers might be completed by the appointment of British subjects, or be made up by the persons named by the Foreign Commissioners in London. Country as well as metropolitan districts were represented on the jury. Each jury was presided over by a chairman nominated by the Commissioners, and he was aided by a deputy chairman elected by the jury. Juries were able to appoint one of their own body as a reporter. The chairmen of the thirty juries were associated as a body, and called the "Council of Chairmen." In the absence of a chairman, the deputy-chairman took his seat at the Council. The Council of Chairmen was constituted, as far as practicable, of British subjects and Foreigners in equal numbers. The first and chief duties of the Council of Chairmen were to frame the rules for the guidance of the juries. The Council had to determine the conditions under which the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class medals respectively were to be awarded, and to define the general principles to which it would be advisable to conform in the awards in the several departments of the Exhibition. It was the wish of the Commission that medals should be awarded to articles possessing decided superiority of whatever nature that superiority might be, and not with reference to a merely individual competition. The Juries were reminded that "the three classes of medals are intended to distinguish the respective characters of subjects, and not as first, second, and third in degree for the same class of subjects." It was the function of the Council of Chairmen to see that the awards of the individual juries were in accordance with the rules before they were considered final. The propriety of pecuniary grants to individual exhibitors as considered by the Commissioners only on the recommendation of the several juries, sanctioned by the Council of Chairmen. English jurors, The mode of appointing the English jurors was as follows:-Those towns which Appointment of exhibited to a considerable extent in any of the classes were invited to send a list of names of persons who would efficiently represent the knowledge of those classes as jurors. It was necessary to state according to the classified jury list, the subdivisions of the class with which the person recommended was specially acquainted; and all nominations were made in classes, and not in the aggregate. [OFFICIAL ILLUStrated CatalogUE.] D and Foreign jurors. As it was necessary to reduce the lists to the standard number for each jury, the Commission charged itself with this duty. Those persons who had been recommended as jurors, but who from the small numbers of the jury were not placed on it, might, on the application of a jury, be called in on special occasions to give aid, under the title of associates, but without a vote. The nomination of the foreign jurors was conducted on a somewhat different principle. The Foreign Commissioners submitted, that a fuller representation of the foreigners of all nations in the body which it was proposed to constitute for the purpose of confirming the award of individual juries would be secured, by referring the awards for confirmation to a general meeting of the juries of allied subjects, according to the groupings already spoken of. And the Commissioners assented to this modification. The selection of jurors for each foreign country was of course left to that country; persons of skilled knowledge being chosen to represent those classes of objects in which the country was a considerable exhibitor. It was recommended that in cases where the Central Commission was too remote to obtain the nomination of the jurors in sufficient time, the Foreign Commissioners should put themselves into communication with the diplomatic representatives of their respective countries in London. The number of jurors allotted to each foreign country by the Commissioners, upon the suggestion of the Foreign Commissioners, was as follows:-Austria, 15; Zollverein, comprehending Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony, Wurtemburg, &c., 19; Belgium, 11; North Germany, comprehending Bremen, Hamburgh, and Hanover, 3; Denmark, 1; France, 32; Greece, 1; Holland, 2; Portugal, 2; Russia, 6; Italy, comprehending Sardinia and Tuscany, 6; Spain, 3; Sweden and Norway, 1; Switzerland, 4; Turkey, 3; United States, 21; Egypt, 2. If exhibitors accepted the office of jurors, they ceased to be competitors for prizes in the class to which they were appointed, and these could not be awarded either to them individually, or to the firms in which they might be partners. Juries were at liberty to take evidence when a majority of the jury deemed it advisable, and to name the persons to be consulted. Jurors of another class might also be called in aid by a jury, when a knowledge involved in that class was required. Juries were empowered to act in matters of detail by sub-committees, but no award could be made except by the majority of the jury. Before a jury could finally make its awards, it was necessary they should have been submitted to a meeting of the juries of allied subjects, as indicated in the groups. These meetings of allied juries had power to confirm the award of the juries, and to investigate any disputed decisions. Before, however, the awards were published, it was requisite they should have been submitted to a Council, consisting of the chairmen of the juries, in order to secure uniformity of action, and a compliance with the regulations originally laid down by that body. The awards of a jury, when reported by the Council of Chairmen as being made in conformity to the rules, were final. The juries were aided in the general transaction of the business by a person named by the Royal Commissioners, who himself, or by a deputy approved of by the Commission, was present at their deliberations, for the purpose of explaining the rules of the Commission. This nominee of the Commission, who was Dr. LYON PLAYFAIR, did not have a vote in any of the juries, or at all interfere in the adjudication of awards. The Exhibition is open to tell its own tale, and is now submitted to the judg- Conclusion. ment of the world. All that has been done has been the work of a short and anxious period of sixteen months. During that time, Her Majesty's Commissioners have assembled together upwards of forty times, to discuss and determine all principles. When the Commissioners were not sitting, every important detail of action was considered by His Royal Highness, the President, and by Lord GRANVILLE, as Chairman of the Finance Committee. From time to time, as their services have been required, the most distinguished persons in art and science have met in Committees, liberally to afford their assistance to the Commissioners. These gentlemen, to whom the Exhibition is thus indebted, are named elsewhere; and it may be permitted to append a list of the staff, materially strengthened by officers of the Royal Engineers, both of Her Majesty's and the Honourable East India Company's service, which has carried the work into execution, and also to acknowledge the effective aid of the Sappers and Miners who have been permitted by the Master General of the Ordnance to bring their military discipline and business knowledge to aid in the arrangements of the Exhibition. The work is done, and the collection made of the productions of 15,000 exhibitors, working with the ability God hath given them. To these we may say with St. Paul,-"In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves." And to spectators we may reiterate the hope expressed by the PRINCE, that "the first impression which the view of this vast collection will produce will be that of deep thankfulness to the Almighty for the blessings which he has bestowed upon us already here below; and the second, the conviction that they can be only realized in proportion to the help which we are prepared to render to each other-therefore, only by peace, love, and ready assistance, not only between individuals, but between the nations of the earth." Exhibition, Hyde Park, 30th April, 1851. HENRY COLE. DIRECTORY. HER MAJESTY'S COMMISSIONERS. President, HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT, K.G., F.R.S. His Grace the Duke of BUCCLEUCH, K.G., F.R.S. Rt. Hon. Lord OVERSTONE. Rt. Hon. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, M.P., F.R.S. Rt. Hon. HENRY LABOUCHERE, M.P. Sir CHARLES LOCK EASTLAKE, P.R.A., F.R.S. CHARLES BARRY, Esq., R.A., F.R.S. THOMAS BAZLEY, Esq. RICHARD COBDEN, Esq., M.P. W. CUBITT, Esq., F.R.S., P. of Inst. Civ. Eng. JOHN GOTT, Esq. Professor HOPKINS, President of the Geological PHILIP PUSEY, Esq., M.P., F.R.S. JOHN SHEPHERD, Esq., Chairman of the Hon. ROBERT STEPHENSON, Esq., M.P., F.R.S. COMMITTEE APPOINTED FOR ALL MATTERS RELATING TO THE BUILDING. His Grace the Duke of BUCCLEUCH, K.G., F.R.S. WILLIAM CUBITT, Esq., F.R.S., Pr. of I.C.E. ROBERT STEPHENSON, Esq., M.P., C. R. COCKERELL, Esq., R.A. F.R.S. THOMAS L. DONALDSON, Esq., M.I.B.A. |