The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-12 00:00:00

The strain at the centre due to the weight of the

chains
Do, duo to the weight of the roadway
Do, for a load of 701 b, per square foot over the
platform

Total strain.

With this weight theironwork of the bridge is in no place
strained more than 41 tons per square inch, which is less
than one-fourth of its strength. Taking the tensile strength
of the chains at 22 tons per inch, the chains would require
a strain of 10,000 tons to break them. If the strain produced
by the weight of the chain is deducted, viz,, 1,277 tons,
there remains a surplus strength of 9,723 tons. And as a
weight of GOO tons upon the platform produces a strain of
817 tons on the chains, it follows that the bridge possesses
a surplus strength measured by weight placed upon the
platform of about 6000 tons. When we say that all the iron
work, wrought or cast, has been supplied by Messrs Coch-
rane, we merely state that all the metal work is the best and
most perfect that can be obtained.
Two processions attended the opening ceremonial on this
occasion. The civic procession through the city was com-
posed of all the trades and benefit societies bearing the
banners and models illustrative of various callings. This
procession, which came early, was immense in numbers,
and took nearly three hours to wind through Bristol to the
edge of the Clifton ravine, whence they wound down by
the " zigzag" to the banks of the Avon. The second was
the bridge procession, which came only to do the formal
work of opening, and its numbers therefore were restricted
to a comparatively small body. The bridge procession, how-
ever, did not come upon the ground till all the spectators
and visitors were assembled—that is to say, till the ap-
proaches to the bridge were filled, till the heights of Leigh
Wood were crowded, and the ledge of steep gray cliffs lined
with dense masses of visitors thronging on every point
whence a glimpse of the proceedings could be gained. Pre-
cisely at 12 the bridge procession came upon the ground in
the following order :
Contractors—Messrs Cochrane and Grove,

Superintendent of Worke—Mr T, Airey, and the Bridge

Workmen.
The Naval Reserve.
The North Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry.
The Royal Glocestershire Hussars.

The Bristol Volunteer Artillery, with six Field Guns and

Band.

A Detachment of Bristol Volunteer Rifles and Band.
Colonel Brunkcr and Staff Officers.

Officers of At my, Navy, Militia, and Volunteers in Uniform

Field Officers of Volunteer Corps.
Consuls of various nations.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Glocester and Bristol
Bishop's Chaplain. Bishop's Secretary.
The Very Rev. the Dean of Bristol.
The Residentiary Canons.
The Incumbentof Clifton.
The Incumbent of Christ Church.

The High Sheriffs of the Counties of Glocestsr and &morsel

The Eight Hon. the Earl of Dude
(Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Glocester and of the

City and County of Bristol).
The Right Hon. the Earl of Cork
(Lord Lieutenant for the County of Somerset).

The Members in Parliament for the City and County of
Bristol.

Tho Members in Parliament for the Counties of Gloucester

and Somerset.
Noblemen and other invited guests.

Chairman of the Bridge Company--Mr Mark Huish.
Directors :
Mr Isaac Allan Cooke Mr John William Miles

Mr James Ford Captain Wm. Smith Nicholson
Mr Arthur John Knapp.

Engineers—Mr John Hawkshaw, DirV. H. Bsrlow.
Solicitors—Mr Charles E. `yard, Mr Charles lieorge H. S,

Patrick.
Secretary—Captain Claxton, R N.
Accoantants—Mr John Curtis, Mr W. W. Wbbb.
Auditors—Mr James Bush, ➢lr J. T. Pike.
The Shareholders in the Company,
The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Bristol,
attended by
The Officials of the Corporation in State.
The Recorder. The High Sheriff.
The Magistrates.
The Aldermen and Town Councillors,

Tha Master, Wardens, and Commonalty of the Socioty

Merchant Venturers.

The Governor, Deputy Governor, Assistants, and Guardians

of the Poor.

The D.P.G. Master aLi P. G. Wardens of Freemasons.
Presidents and Office Bearers of Foresters, Druids
Shepherds, Friendly Societies, and Trades.

The procession, the chief members of which were greeted
with loud cheers, completed the opening ceremony by cross-
ing the bridge from the Clifton to the Leigh Wood side,
amid a grand salute from the Volunteer Artillery, From
the Somerset side, the return was made in the same order
to the Clifton or Gloucester end, when a halt was called in
front of the grand stand erected for visitors, and Captain

Huish, the chairman of the company, read the following
address

"In the year 1753 Mr Alderman Vick, of Bristol, be-
queathed (in trust) to the Merchant Venturers the sum of
£l,OOO to accumulate at interest, for the purpose of building
a bridge across the Avon at Clifton. After the lapse of more
than 100 years we are met this day to inaugurate the com-
pletion of the object of this patriotic citizen. Under the
careful management of the society the fund amounted, in
1830, to a sum of £B,OOO. In deference to the popular de-
mend for the commencement, the society of merchants pro-
ceeded to consider the best means for the accomplishment
of the work, and an Act of Parliament for the purpose re.
ceived the Royal Assent May 20, 1830. The bridge fund
was vested in the Merchant Venturers of Bristol, who
unanimously adopted the design of Mr Isambard Kingdom
Brunel. A commencement was made in 1831, and on Aug.
27, 1836, the foundation stone of the Leigh Wood abutment
was laid with public honours, amid the acclamation of a vast
multitude,by the Most Noble the Marquis of Northampton.
It is unnecessary to detail at length the difficulties with
which the managers of the undertaking had to contend. For
years they struggled with the means at their command to
complete the work. After ineffectual attempts to rouse pub-
lic feeling to increased exertion, they succumbed to the diffi-
culties of the task, and the time limited by the Act for the
completion of the bridge having expired in 1853, the under-
taking was practically abandoned, after an expenditure of
£45,000. In this state of ruin it seemed destined to remain ;
but in 1860 a concurrence of favourable circumstances in-
duced the directors of the present company to believe that
the time had arrived for making a final effort, Sup-
ported by the old trustees, encouraged by a revival of feel-
ing, stimulated by a desire to remove a reproach and honour
the memory of Brunel, impressed also with the national
character of the work, they obtained a fresh Act of Parlia-
ment, and aided by a new body of proprietors, they have
been enabled in less than four years to finish this grand
work of art—a work highly creditable to their distinguished
engineers, and calculated to be of the greatest local utility.
In thus drawing their labours to a close, and on the occa-
sion of dedicating the bridge to the service of the public,
the directors congratulate themselves on the presence of her
Majesty's representatives for the counties of Gloucester
and Somerset. They confidently believe that the result of
their exertions will be conducive to the public weal, and
that the structure which they now deliver over to your
Lordships officially to open (a structure as grand in its pro-
portions and beautiful in its details as it is unrivalled in its
position) will form a bond of social union between the
counties as enduring as the chains which now for all time
indissolubly link them together."
At the conclusion of this address, which was loudly
cheered, the Bishop of Glocester offered up a prayer for the
success and utility of the undertaking, after which, in a few
brief words, the Earl of Ducie, for the county of Glocestor
and city and county of Bristol, and the Earl of Cork, for
the county of Somerset, each formally declared the bridge
opened to the public for traffic, amid continued cheers,
which were repeated again and again till almost every fore-
most person connected with the enterprise had received his
" three times three." In the course of the afternoon a late
itjeuner or early dinner was given at the Victoria Rooms,
to which all the chief visitors and the leading gentry of
Bristol and its neighbourhood were invited. During the
night the bridge was illuminated with the electric light and
with Bengal fires, neither of which, however, could show
its exquisite outline with half the effect which is derived
from the light of day. To see Clifton-bridge to perfection
it must bo seen. not only with all the details of the viaduct
itself, but with all the beauty of its wonderfully bold and
grand surroundings. These can only be seen in bright day-
light, as they were seen by tens of thousands yesterday—
as we trust they may be seen with equal admiration by
generations yet to come.