The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-12 00:00:00

offered to the ambition of a cautious yet adventurous
aspirant. Europe seems to be trembling to its very
centre with the rumours of war; the balance of
power is rudely shaken; and fresh political com-
binations, both for disturbance and stability, are
threatened or promised. If earthquakes are the I
precursors and omens of coming troubles, the poli-
tical future is likely enoagh to fulfil the threaten-
ing presage. The old women of another generation
may perhaps recall, with a shudder of cowering
piety, that the great German war or the great Polish
war was heralded by the famous English earth-
quake of October, 1863. For, in its way, this earth-
quake was, for England, a remarkable one. Al-
though it occurred at an hour very unfavourable to
accurate observation, sufficient facts for the infor-
mation of the future historian seem to have been
ascertained. It remains to be seen whether the
shock was the dying wave of a more formidable
volcanic concussion at one of the great centres of
activity in the far South West ; but, making allow-
ance for the lack of precision in unscientific
observers, there must have been a very considerable
disturbance to shake so many people in their beds
in the dead of the night. We can scarcely recall an
accredited instance of so large and sensible a ter-
restriel disturbance in our own island.
EXAMINER.—Undeniably the performances of the
Galway packets have falsified our dismal anticipa•
tions, and exceeded all expectations. Not a vessel
has been lost, nor in any great distress either in
leaving or making a port in the most dangerous part
of the exposed west coast of Ireland. The packets,
indeed, have not kept time, but as they have arrived
at all, it is as ungracious to notice the unpunctuality
as to look a gift horse in the mouth. One most
extraordinary circumstance is that people have been
found to take their passages in them, and a fact
hardly less surprising, and contrary to reasonable
expectation too, is that mails are conveyed by them
to the number nearly of a score. The Adriatic
brought twenty first-class passengers, and mails as
many minus one. Now when it is considered that
the Scotia which preceded her, had brought no
more than 100 mail bags and 121 passengers, first
and second class, it must be confessed that the
Adriatic has done wonders, circumstances con-
sidered. And this is not all. The Scotia made the
passage in eight days and a half, and the Adriatic
only wanted half a week of equalling the
Scotia in speed. Take three days and a half
from the Adriatic, or add them to the Scotia,
and you have a tie between the two vessels. It
is enough to say that in twelve days the Adriatic
plodded across the Atlantic on the shortest line be-
tween land and land. Her news was a little stale
to be sure, but better late than never ; and what
fills us with admiration is the fact that the ships on
this line come safe to port, and the time they take
about it seems to us a very secondary consideration.
The Adriatic was detained 40 hours by an accident
to her machinery, and all that can be said of that is
it is well it was no worse, the packets on this line
being peculiarly subject to derangements, ae ap-
pears by their time accounts. The correspondent
of the Vines calls the company unfortunate. We
think it fortunate to a most extraordinary degree in
having lost nothing but time, and perhaps money.
Such luck was not to be expected by any acquainted
with the character of the coast and weather of the
west of Ireland, and the most dangerous inlet in
that wild storm-beaten region. How long the
pitchers will go safely to the well is a question upon
which it is not pleasant to speculate, but so long as
they do come to hand unbroken we must be too
grateful for that fact to notice little deficiencies in,
time. We have heard it suggested by an Irish gen-
tleman that the Galway packets, late for the late,
should carry the postscripts to the mail letters. It
is the same gentleman who asked why the electric
telegraph did not carry small parcels.
LONDON REVIEW.—M. Tournachon Nader, le
beau Nader as his friends love to call him, the
spirituel caricaturist, the frank and jovial laughter-
loving compagnon, the skilful photographer, whose
monster autograph in gold on the wall of his atelier
in the Rue St. Lazare strikes the astonished vision
of English visitors arriving by the Rouen railway,
and whose tall, well-knit frame, blonde chevelure,
sparkling grey eyes, and Cromwellian wart upon
the left cheek, point him out to the saunterer on the
Boulevards, has gone up into the clouds with thir-
teen companions, and, what is more important to
the lovers of innocent fun et l'esprit Francais le plus
malin has—like Astrea after her exile to heaven—
redescended to earth. For the last few months all
Paris quidnuncs were agog, and their curiosity
whetted to a cutting edge over Nadar's giant bal-
loon. How big was it? Would it go up? Would
it come down ? Would the adventurous aeronauts
be killed? and would Nader exhibit the nouveau
spectacle d'un ballon crevd and share the fate of
Icarus, furnishing a fresh illustration how quickly
sometimes soaring ambition falls prone to earth ?
Well, last Sunday the questions were satisfactorily
and triumphantly solved. There was afoul tizonstre
in the Champ de Mars. All Paris had turned out
to witness the courageous enterprise of the Beau
Nader. The ground was kept by detachments of
cavalry and infantry. The charming Princess de la
Tour d'Auvergne, who was driving in the Champs
Elykees, inquired the cause of the crowd, and on
being informed of it, drove to the field of Mars, and
entreated le beau Nader to be permitted to accom-
pany him and his friends in the aerial trip. Nader
—le beau, le galant homme—vanquished par les
beaux yeux de la princesse, gave way. He who had
steadily refused to allow his wife to share his perils
melted into softness. Frailty, thy name is Nadar?
The aerial tourists consisted, besides Nadar and the
the princess, of MM. de St. Martin, the Prince de
Sayn Wittgenstein, Eugene Delessert, Thirion,
Robert Mitchell, Adrien Tournachon (Nadar's
brother), M. Saint Felix, Piallat, Louis Godard,
Jules Godard, and a navigator—fifteen hands in all.
At five o'clock the words " Let go" were pro-
nounced, and the Ballon de Geant arose majesti-
cally in the air, amid feverish excitement and
frantic exclamation. When at a considerable alti-
tude, Nadar climbed outside and waved his hat to
bid farewell. "Brave cceur," asked thousands of
lips, "serait it sondernier aditua la terre?' And there
was a tightening over the chestta gasping of ter breath,
a deep-drawn sigh, and a half expressed wish that he
had not gone up. As we have been looking curi-
ously at the balloon while the preparations for the
ascent were going on, let us see what its designer
and constructor says of it iu his programme. The
Geant is the largest known in the aerostatic annals.
According to the Manuel de l'Aiirostatier of M.
Depuis Delcourt, the monster balloon of Green's,
which in 1837 travelled from London to Weiburg,
contained no more than 2,500 cubic metres of gas.
The cubical capacity of the Flessiles, which was a
fire balloon or Mongolfier, and made its ascent at
Lyons in 1784, cubed 6,098 metres; whereas the
Geant is composed of two balloons superposed for
the purpose of obtaining greater solidity (we pre-
sume, rigidity). The silk is of white taffetas, first
quality and identical in texture. Each of the
balloons has 118 gores, 45 metres long, which give
a circumference of 90 metres. They are wholly
sewn by hand, double stitched. A third and
smaller balloon is arranged below the first double
balloon ; it is called a compensator, and its office,
having a cubical capacity of 100 metres, is to receive
any excess of gas that may exist. The Geant can
and ought to carry 9 tons. The total height of the
whole reaches to—if it does not exceed—an altitude
of 60 metres, 14 more than the height of the towers
of Notre Dame. In its construction, 20,000 metres
of silk were employed. The car consists of tv,o
stages or floors, and is 2.50 metres high by 4 metres
wide. It is built of beech and wicker-work, sup-
ported by twenty cables crossing each other on the
sides and cables, and attached to the circle from
which it depends. It rests also on two axles and
four wheels, which are capable of being adjusted
after a descent. It is furnished, moreover, with
buffers inside, and others of air, caoutchouc bags in
a girdle on the outside, to lessen shocks. The
ground-floor contains central passages en croix, and
six divisions. At one end is the captain's cabin,
with a bed 75 centimetres wide, and underneath is a
compartment for luggage. At the other end is the
passengers' cabin, containing three beds superposed,
each 60 centimetres wide-10 less than the cap-
tain's bed ; but then Nader aimait a prendre son
aise au lit. Four divisions are appropriated to
washing and toilette, to store for provisions, to
photography and printing.

/---
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