15. But even could the objections to any of these sites be removed, or
could another and an unobjectionable site be pointed out, the
Commissioners feel hound to state, from their experience of the time,
thought, and labour necessarily consumed in the investigation,
arrangement, and preparation of the great mass of detail requisite to
enable them to carry out this extensive work, that they are fully
convinced of the impossibility of now adapting their plans to any other
site, with any reasonable prospect of being able to complete the work
within the time to which they stand pledged in the face of the world; and
they could only regard a change of site, particularly if it should
involve a change of plan, as tantamount to the postponement of the
Exhibition till another year. And the Commissioners cannot shut their
eyes to the fact, that a postponement of the Exhibition would, under the
circumstances, certainly lead to its entire abandonment.
16. In order to give the Lords of the Treasury some idea of the
consequences of an abandonment of this scheme, the Commissioners would in
the first place direct their attention to the large amount of money
already subscribed towards its completion (which is at present nearly
64,000_l_.), to the number of local committees (now about 240) which have
been called into existence throughout the country, to the funds now being
raised by subscriptions out of their wages among the working-classes in
all parts of the country towards enabling them to visit an Exhibition to
which they are anxiously looking forward, and the abandonment of which
would be a great disappointment to numbers, and still more to the
extensive preparations which are now making for the supply of articles
for exhibition. It is within the knowledge of the Commissioners that
several individuals in this country have incurred several thousand
pounds' expense in such preparations, besides the anxiety which they have
occasioned.
17. But the evils which would result from postponement, so far as this
country is concerned, are as nothing when compared with those which would
arise in the case of foreign nations and the colonies. The plan of the
Exhibition has been widely circulated for several months, and the
following States have already signified, through their respective
Governments, that they have appointed Committees or Commissioners,
consisting of the most distinguished individuals in those countries, to
co-operate with the Royal Commissioners in this country:--
Russia,
Sweden,
Norway,
Denmark,
Prussia,
Saxony,
Austria,
Bavaria,
Hanover,
Oldenburg,
Mecklenburg,
Hanse Towns,
France,
Holland,
Belgium,
Spain,
The United States,
Turkey,
Sardinia,
Venezuela,
Switzerland,
Nassau,
Anhalt, Dessau, &c.
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