The spring of 1851 witnessed a ceremony as imposing, perhaps, as any in the world's history.
Beneath the roof of a palace, constructed with a rapidity only rivalled by the fairy structures of the Arabian Nights, and whose boldness of design, and exquisite delicacy of detail, formed at once the apology and the vindication of an age, supposed to be more devoted to the engrossing pursuits of commerce than to the cultivation of those arts which have shed so bright a lustre on other times, had been gathered the products of the Civilisation of the Universe. Every country in Europe, and, in a less degree, each quarter of the globe, found itself here represented, in its arts and sciences, its commerce and its industry. The softening of international prejudices, and the increased facilities of communication, which resulted from nearly forty years of uninterrupted European tranquillity, had prepared the way for the great congress of all nations within this temple of peaceful progress; where the fair-haired son of the farthest North might gaze in wondering admiration on the bright eyes and raven locks of the Andalusian girl, where nationalities the most opposed merged themselves in the common fraternity of mankind, and where prejudices the most inveterate were effaced, spite of themselves, in the presence of the genius loci.
The inauguration of this scene of more than fabled magnificence, and more than Oriental splendour, was the grateful task of that gracious Lady, whose pure domestic life, no less than her exalted public virtues, had rendered her name symbolic in the hearts of her subjects with the highest of bloodless triumphs, as it has since become of sterner and more terrible achievements.
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Deep as must have been her interest in the scene, it was yet heightened bj the reflection that at her side, and united to her by a tie almost unknown in former alliances of royalty, stood the originator of the scheme; he whose well-cultivated mind had conceived, and whose faith in his fellow-men had matured, spite of discouragement and opposition, a plan so gigantic that its failure would have been as little a disgrace, as its success proved beyond the most sanguine expectation.
Peace with folded wings brooded in the pure sunny atmosphere over her temple and her worshippers, — Peace, in her fairest and gayest form, and few could have been found amidst the motley throng who oifered at her shrine, who did not fondly deem that her reign, if not eternal, was far indeed from any abrupt termination. Men, as they looked in one another's eyes, and grasped each other's hands, felt an electric message of love, goodwill, and progress, thrill through their frames — the public prints were loud in their congratulations, and the peace party and their opponents believed themselves equally remote from the possibility of putting the new theories of world government to the rude and shattering test of practical experience.
If, indeed, some sacrificers to Nemesis believed that this unruffled calm must perforce portend a storm, far indeed were they from conjecturing in what quarter it was gathering, or where it would burst in fury. Some uneasy glances were still cast across the narrow strip of sea, — narrower now than ever, thanks to the wondrous development of steam, — on the opposite shore of which the jealous eye of fear would picture the gathering legions of the greatest military power of the West, the hereditary foe and rival of England's greatness, ready to swoop down at the bidding of one iron and irresponsible will on the " inviolate island," scattering death and destruction around, and leaving her gardens desolate; thus avenging a memory which has long since been efiaced by the fraternal mingling of the two nations' blood on many a weUfought field.
If Russia was remembered, it was in the mood of congratulation, not of fear; and her contributions to the World's Palace were hailed as the evidences of her progressing civilisation, and of her determination to vindicate for herself a foremost position in the amicable contests of the great family of nations.