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struction of glass houses , Mr . Paxton gave the following description of the Industrial-hall now being erected in Hyde-park : — " One great feature in the present building is , that not a vestige of either stone , brick , or mortar is necessary to be used , but the whole is composed of dry material , ready at once for the introduction of articles for the Exhibition . By no other combination of materials but iron , a wood , and glass could this important point be effected ; and , when we consider the limited period allowed for the erection of so stupendous a structure , the attainment of this all-important point has secured ¦ what may almost be deemed the most important
consideration . The absence of mortar , plaster , or any moist material in the construction , together with the provision made for the vapours which will necessarily arise , and are condensed against the glass , enables the exhibitor at once to place his manufactures in their respective situations without the probability of articles , even of polished ware , being tarnished by their exposure . The height of the centre aisle is 64 feet , the side aisles 44 feet , and the outside aisles , or first story , 24 feet . The transept is 108 feet in height , and has been covered with a semicircular roof , like that of the great conservatory at Chats worth , an order to preserve the large elm trees opposite to Prince ' s-gate . The whole number of cast-iron columns
is 3300 , varying from 14 feet 6 inches to 20 feet in length . There are 2224 cast and wrought iron girders , with 1128 intermediate bearers , for supporting the floors of the galleries over the large openings of the aisles . The girders are of wrought iron , and those for the galleries are of cast iron . The fronts of the galleries are also supported by cast-iron girders . The dimensions of the building are , 1851 feet in length , and 456 feet in breadth in the widest part . It covers , altogether , more than 18 acres , and the whole is supported on cast-iron pillars , united by bolts and nuts fixed to flanges turned perfectly true , and Testing on concrete foundations . The total cubic contents of the building are 33 , 000 , 000 feet . The six
longitudinal galleries , 24 feet in width , running the whole length of the building , and the four transverse ones , of the same dimensions , afford 25 per cent , additional exhibiting surface to that provided on the ground floor . This extra space is suited for the display of light manufactured goods , and will also give a complete view of the whole of the articles exhibited , together with an extensive view of the interior of the building . In order to give the roof a light and graceful appearance , it is built on the ridge and furrow principle , and glazed with British sheet glass . All the roof and upright sashes being made by machinery , are put together and glazed ¦ with great rapidity , for , being fitted and finished before
they are brought to the place , little more is required on the spot than to place the finished materials in the positions intended for them . The length of sash-bar requisite is 205 miles . The quantity of glass required is about 900 , 000 feet , weighing upwards of 400 tons . I have tried many experiments in order to find out the most suitable floors for the pathways of horticultural structures . Stone is objectionable on many accounts , but chiefly on account of the moisture and damp which it retains , which renders it uncomfortable , especially to those wearing thin shoes . The difficulty of getting rid of the waste from the watering of plants is also an objection ; but , perhaps , the greatest is the amount of dust
from sweeping , which always proves detrimental to plants . I likewise found that close boarding for pathways was open to many of the same objections as stone ; for , although damp or moisture was in part got rid of , still there were no means of immediately getting rid of dust . These various objections led ine to the adoption of trellised wooden pathways , with spaces between each board , through which , on sweeping , the dust at once disappears , and falls into the vacuity below . Whilst the accomplishment of this point was most important in plant-houses , I consider it doubly so with respect to the industrial building , where there will be such an accumulation of various articles of delicate texture and workmanship .
Before sweeping the floors of the great building , the whole will be sprinkled with water from a moveable handengine , which will be immediately followed by a sweeping-machine , consisting of many brooms fixed to an apparatus on light wheels , and drawn by a shaft . By this means a large portion of ground will be passed over in a very short space of time . The boards for the floor will be nine inches broad , an inch-and-a-half thick , laid half an inch apart , on sleeper joists , nine inches deep and three inches thick , placed four feet apart . This method of flooring , then , possesses the following advantages : —It is very economical , dry , clean , pleasant to walk upon , admits of the dust falling through the sp \ aces ; wasntatne
canvass and the roof . In very hot weather water may be poured on , which will very much assist in cooling the temperature within . Provision will be made to use the Indian plan of ventilation , if the heat is so intense as to render it desirable to have the temperature cooler than out of doors . A house was fitted up last summer at Chatsworth , as an experimental place to try this mode of ventilating , when it was found to answer the purpose admirably . The temperature was reduced in one hour from 85 to 78 degrees , without any other means being used to encrease the draught through the building . This sort of covering offers the following advantages : —the brightness of the light will be tempered and subdued ;
the glass will be protected from the possibility of injury by hail ; the screen being placed on the outside will render the building much cooler than if it were placed inside , and through this provision the ventilation can be regulated at pleasure- From the side galleries , running the whole length of the building , there will be grand views of the goods and visitors below , whilst the transverse galleries in the middle and at the ends will afford ample means for general supervision , and will serve to communicate between the side galleries . Magnifying glasses , working on swivels , placed at short distances , will give additional facility for commanding a more perfect general view of the Exhibition . After the Exhibition is over , I would convert the building into a permanent winter garden , and would then make carriage drives
and equestrian promenades through it . Pedestrians would have about two miles of galleries and two miles of walks upon the ground floor , and sufficient room would then be left for plants . The whole intermediate spaces between the walks and drives would be planted with shrubs and climbers from temperate climates . In summer the upright glass might be removed , so as to give the appearance of a continuous park and garden . A structure where the industry of all nations is intended to be exhibited , should , it is presumed , present to parties from all nations a building for the exhibition of their arts and manufactures ; that , while it affords ample accommodation and convenience for the purposes intended , would , of itself , be the most singular and peculiar feature of the Exhibition . "
and , even when it requires to be thoroughly , water at once disappears betwixt the openings , and the boards become almost immediately fit for visitors . The galleries will be laid with close boarding . The ventilation of the building has been most carefully considered . A building where so many individuals will congregate must require a constant admission of pure air ; and a most copious supply is provided . Tour feet round the whole of the basement part of the building is made of louvre-boarding : and at the top of each tier a similar provision of three feet is made , with power to add an additional quantity if required ; in the centre aisle , also , the air . will be plentifully admitted . By simple
machinery the whole of this ventilation can be regulated with the greatest ease . The advantages of this kind of ventilation are several . Louvre boards are very simple in construction ; they can be opened and closed instantaneously with the greatest readiness ; they nicely distribute the air , and yet admit a large volume of it ; and , from the manner in which they are placed over each other they effectually prevent the entrance of wet in rainy weather . In order to subdue the intense light in so large a building covered with glass , all the south side of the upright parts , and the whole of the angled roof , will be covered outside with canvass or calico , so fixed as to allow a current of air to pass between the
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THE DEMOCRATIC CONFERENCE . The Committee appointed by the above body to draw up an address to the country , met at the Chartist-office , 14 , Southampton-street , Strand , on Wednesday evening , November 18—Mr . John Fussell in the chair . Mr . Thornton Hunt moved the following address , * which , having been seconded by Mr . Stallwood , was unanimously adopted : — To the Members of the National Charter Association , Social Reform League , Fraternal Democrats , National Reform League , the several United Trades' Bodies , and the Fubtic generally .
Friends , — "We hope that the terms of the proposed Union will receive your approbation , and that the union itself will have your cordial support . You will perceive that the declaration of the Conference rests on the universal principle , " that all mankind are brethren , and are born with an equality of right to enjoy the earth , with all native raw material on and beneath its surface—its seas , rivers , and the atmosphere around it . " The objects for which it is proposed that the National Charter and Social Reform Union should direct the movement of the people
are—the enactment of the People ' s Charter , whole and entire , the nationalization of land , a free and unrestricted press , a national system of secular education , and better employment of labour , with better distribution of the fruits of industr 3 . This enumeration will show that the interest of every society represented at the Conference has been duly taken care of , and that the endeavour has been to effect an union which will be active and powerful in bringing about a better condition of the people politically and materially .
The rules have been made as simple as possible . ^ All persons acquiescing in the objects of the National Charter and Social Reform Union are eligible to become members on the payment of threepence , for which they will obtain a card , setting forth the objects and rules . The members formed into localities will be empowered to " enact bye-laws for their own guidance , " and "impose payments for local purposes . " The general government of the " Union" will be vested in a Central Committee , composed of three members from each body , giving in its adhesion to the Union ( all to be unpaid excepting the secretary ) , who will direct its affairs until the assembling of the National Conferenceon or before the month of May of next year .
, We know that it may be objected " that the members of the Chartist body are much more numerous than those of any other associations , and should therefore return more members to the Council . " Truly ; but there can be no doubt that , without introducing so great an inequality of numbers , the Charter will receive ample support as the primary object of the Union . It is already a primary object with the Fraternal Democrats and National Reform League . A large body of united trades put forwaid universal suffrage as one of their leading principles : and at the Conference none gave a more prompt and hearty support to the People ' s Charter , " name and all , " than the representatives of the Socialists .
the Charter , circumstances have materiall y altered ; several obstacles to the power and well-being of the People have , in part or wholly , lost their force . Although the organization of the People abroad has proved too imperfect finally to establish their power , it has made itself felt , and the time has passed when the People is forgotten in the councils of state . Nor is it remembered only by the bounty of Princes and Ministers : the People is remembered because it has been felt to be a power in the state ; and as such it is respected . At the same time , the conduct of the People generally has disarmed the fears of those who dreaded popular power , and in this country the opponents of universal suffrage have enormously dwindled in numbers and confidence . »
Concurrently with these great changes of opinion amongst influential classes heretofore opposed to us , opinion has been unsettled on other questions of the greatest moment . More than one class is moving towards a radical change of taxation . The tenure of land , even the right of individual property in it , is questioned ; the conflicts of protection and free trade have left both parties without the supreme good they expected , and they are obliged to dig deeper into the land itself for the root of the evils that distract the country . A new school of political ccconomy is displacing the cold-blooded Malthusian school which has administered the poor-law for sixteen years .
We feel , therefore , that the time has come when the People may reach forth its hand to take possession of power . The first object of the National Charter and Social Reform Union will be to complete the political right of the People , by moving for the enactment of the People ' s Charter ; and an advance might now be made with a great encrease of support , a great diminution ^ of resistance ; even our most inveterate enemies abating their confidence in themselves . At the same time the opportunity might be seized of giving such a shake to the load of taxation which oppresses the People , that it shall soon be lightened , and not slowly be made to fall into a juster settlement . And the state can be made to recognize the right of every man to labour , or to subsistence from the state , while bad laws fetter his labour and withhold him from the land to which he is born .
The People might obtain for itself , even anticipating the tardy law making of Parliament , instant accession of power , sudden growth of influence over the councils of the state , and rapid improvement in material wellbeing . The things wanted for this glorious movement are knowledge and union among the People of the opportunity which lies before it ; union of all who are earnest in the service of the People . It is within the power of those who act for the People to form the nucleus of such a united national party as shall conduct the world at last to freedom . Walter . Cooper , George J . Holyoake , Thornton Hunt , George W . M . Reynolds , John Shaw , Edmund Stallwood , Isaac Wilson , John Fussell , Chairman , John Aunott , Secretary . 14 , Southampton-street , Strand , Nov . 13 , 1850 . P . S . We have appointed John Arnott , Secretary of the National Charter Association , of 14 , Southamptonstreet , Strand , London , our Returning-officer , to whom all decisions—affirmative or negative—relative to the proposed " National Charter and Social Reform Union , ' must be sent on or before Wednesday , the 27 tli day of November next ensuing .
We now refer the whole matter to you . "We would advise that the several associations should immediately nail tht-ir own members together , to take the proposed Union into consideration . Where no societies at present exist , public meetings may be called fur the same purpose . Since former combined movements in furtherance of
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THE NATIONAL REFORM ASSOCIATION . A public meeting convened by the King's-cross branch of tie National Parliamentary and Reform Association , was held at the Prince Albert Tavern oh Tuesday evening , for the purpose of hearing an address by Mr . Leblond , one of the members of the executive committee , on the advantages of union amongst all classes of reformers . Mr . Hinton , who was called to the chair , » aid he had heard it stated , and he believed there was truth in the report , that the present movement was not to have the support of the millocracy . He was not surprised at it , for he conclass
fessed ho never expected any aid from that . But he had no fear of the result on that account . The battle was one of right against might , and he was sure that in the end the right would triumph . Mr . Le Blond said it was quite true that the millowners wero not disposed to favour the movement . The reason was , that the millowncrs were represented in the House of Commons—their own interests were taken care of , and they had no interest in obtaining the franchise for their workmen , or , rather , they supposed they had an interest in keeping it from them . They were afraid , perhaps , that tho taxation of the country , if the people were fairly and adequately represented , would fall on the shoulders of those who had the best right to bear it . If the
industrious and labouring classes were honestly represented , it could not be supposed for a moment that the same rato of taxation should be levied on the sloo loaves of India , which were imported for the poor man , and the fine and dear teas of China , which wore used by the rich . ( IJaar , hoar . ) Ho then entered upon an examination of the principles and objects of the association » s they were hud down in the laws of membership . The first demand of the association , that every householder who was ruted or liable to be rated to the relief of the poor , should be entitled to vote for members of Parliament , was so just and selfevident , that it was dillicult to conceive how nnv person could dispute it , if history had not assured them that those who had enjoyed a monopoly of power themselves "were deaf to rcuson and justico
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Nov . 16 , 1850 . ] ® Ue VLeaUer . 797
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? 1 'hi . s requires explanation . Mr . Hunt , on a bed of sickness , woe unable , in peruoH , to move tho address , but > vas allowed to do ho by k-ttcr .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 16, 1850, page 797, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1859/page/5/
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