The Argosy — page 398: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

380 The Furst Industrial Exhebiteon. times of the Revolution, complete a work to which nothing equal has been attempted in England.” * Although suggested and planned during the Convention, the first Industrial Exhibition was not opened till 1798, that is to say, in the Year Six of the Republic, the third of the Directory, and during Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt. Bald as are the accounts given in contemporary records, we may, nevertheless, compute the importance of the scheme and the success with which it was attended. What a contrast is presented by the description of that first modest show and the splendid industrial pageants attracting hundreds of thousands from the four quarters of the globe since. Little, perhaps, did the projectors of the earliest gathering together of competitors in the arts, manufactures and sciences forecast the gigantic proportions these assemblages were destined to take. Yet as surely as the oak tree is the product of the acorn, so surely must the forthcoming celebration, crowned by the Eiffel Tower, be regarded as the outcome of the little Industrial Exhibition opened on the same ground nearly a hundred years ago. The site selected then, as now, was the Champs de Mars. The building erected for the purpose was an amphitheatre, at the back of which was a square enclosure adorned with porticos, and here the more precious objects were placed. No charge was made to exhibitors for a space, and they were bound to send their own inventions or manufactures only. The number of exhibitors did not exceed a hundred and ten, a paucity to be set down to other causes than indifference or want of enterprise. The opening day was fixed for September 18, but circulars of invention seem not to have been sent out till the preceding month. The slowness of postal communication, and the difficulty of trans- port must be taken into account. Moreover, the departmental system had only existed for a few years, and the times were troubled. All kinds of hindrances and obstacles stood in the way of inventors. The opening was made an occasion of féte and holiday, and was attended with as much state as possible. The prominent figure in the ceremony is Francois de Neufchateau, the originator of the scheme : in fact, the real inventor of industrial exhibitions. In an eloquent oration he now set forth the advantages of com- petitive industry, and made a touching allusion to the modesty of this experiment. “I look around in vain,” he said, “for exhibits from many departments, the inhabitants of which hardly perhaps were apprised in time to send in contributions. But if an idea so truly patriotic excites regret among those unable this time to come forward as competitors, the purpose of the Government will be fulfilled, and the Year Seven of the Republic, and the second Industrial Exhibition, * Written 1848. @ COMM NOOKS (GO)