It
was a very curious and picturesque sight."
CHAPTER X: _The Great Exhibition_
The idea of a "great exhibition of the Works and Industries of all
Nations" was Prince Albert's. The scheme when first proposed in 1849
was coldly received in this country. It was intended, to use the
Prince's own words, "To give us a true test and a living picture of
the point of development at which the whole of mankind has arrived
in this great task, and a new starting-point from which all nations
will be able to direct their further exertions."
_The Times_ led the attack against the proposed site in Hyde Park,
and the public was uneasy at the thought of large numbers of
foreigners congregating in London, and at the expected importation
of foreign goods.
As showing the absurd things which 'John Bull' could say at this time
in his jealousy and dislike of foreigners the Prince wrote: "The
strangers, they give out, are certain to commence a thorough
revolution here, to murder Victoria and myself, and to proclaim the
Red Republic in England; the Plague is certain to ensue from the
confluence of such vast multitudes, and to swallow up those whom
the increased price of everything has not already swept away. For
all this I am to be responsible, and against all this I have to make
efficient provision."
_Punch_ pictured the young Prince begging, cap in hand, for
subscriptions:
Pity the sorrows of a poor, young Prince
Whose costly schemes have borne him to your door;
Who's in a fix, the matter not to mince,
Oh! help him out, and Commerce swell your store!
Such constant worry and anxiety affected the Prince's health, but
the support of Sir Robert Peel and of many great firms gradually wore
down the opposition.
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