The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-06 00:00:00

ASCENT OF NADAR'S BALLOON,

A letter dated Paris, Sunday night, says :—Science
has run a match to-day against sport, and the
former, " steered" by M. Nadar, has won easily.
The event came off on the Champ de Mars, from which
densely-crowded plain Le Go ant ascended at five

o'clock. Before speaking of the balloon I must say
a few words of M. Nadar, whose photographic esta-
blishment ail your readers who visit Paris, and
especially those who go to the Grand Hotel, will
certainly know. M. Nadar has got that which Lord
Melbourne used to say " would make any one a bore
if it did not ruin him outright"—an idea. He be-
lieves that, in a time not far distant, men will mount

the air on "screws" attached to small umbrellas

and sail away through the sky, rather shaming the
birds. All that is wanting is a beginning ; to get
that beginning money is required; to get that money
M. Nadar has built the largest balloon on record ;

intends to exhibit it throughout the world, and,
with the proceeds of the exhibition, the modern
Icarus means to build the screw balloon, which is_to
carry out his idea. Do you smile ? So men smiled
at gas, at railways, at electric telegraphs. The bal-
loon—that is the inflated globe—seems to me to be
much like other balloons, only larger. There are
in it, for instance, 20,000 yards of silk, which cost
£6,500 ; but the car is curious and ingenious. It
is of wicker work—a square-shaped basket, about
20 feet high, and 15 feet long, by 12 wide. It con-
tains two storeys ; a rez dechause'e—stop! can there
be such a thing in the air ?—let us say a ground 1
floor and a terrace. The ground floor is divided
into a " captain's cabin," a washing room, four
cabins, with separate berths, a printing office, and a
photographic studio, with dark chamber. "They are
not large," remark sceptical readers ; but there is
space for what is required—space to sleep, space to
photograph. The cabins are fitted with air beds,
suspended on cords ; nothing lighter, nothing more
comfortable. The " terrace" has glasses of great
power. The outside of this quaint aerial craft
is decked like Robinson Crusoe's hut—which,
indeed, it resembles in many things—with
guns, wheels to carry off the car when it lands, axes
to cut ita way through the forest in which it may
fall, and tubes, which equally act as " buffers" while
landing or as life-buoys if the course of the balloon
should change elements. To-day, before starting,
the outside was also embellished with legs of mut-

ton, chickens, vegetables, and bouquets. Now I
must trouble you with a few statistics—only a few i
—for I dislike them as much as your readers. The i
balloon when inflated was exactly fourteen yards
lower than the Tower of Notre Dame. There are
two balloons, one within the other. The gas in-
flated amounts to 6,098 cubic metres, and it is cal-
culated to support a weight of from three to three
tons and a half. The walk from the Place de la
Concorde, by the Avenue de la Motte Picquet, to
the Champ de Mars, was a curious scene. I can
only compare it to the walk from Doncaster to the
Town Moor on a very great Leger day. The Gant
was towering in the centre of an enclosure within
two other enclosures on the great review ground in
face of the cavalry barracks. To enter the outer
circle you paid one franc, to the second two francs,
and then came the innermost ring—the temple of
science—to which money would not admit, nor
police, if they could possibly help it; and here let
me pause for a minute, and abuse the French police.
Insolent to foreigners, they are tyrannical to their
own countrymen ; are never in the way when they
are wanted, always in the way when they are not ;
a disgrace to a free country, and a laughing-stock
for one who has ever been brought in contact with
the police of any other civilised capital.
" Can I pass ?" asked a French gentleman, very
civilly—nay, meekly—of a hero in a cooked hat, a
sword, and his moustache i l'Empereur. dd Are
you comfortable there ?" thundered out the official.
di Pas mal," replied the gentleman. " Then stay
there, and be contented," shrieked the police gen-
tleman. di If the public are unreasonable, we shall
interfere." "They are beasts, the police," later
observeda' ‘
n elderly' lady, who had asked her way
out of the ground, and I beg to endorse her
Of course the ground was kept
opinion.
by ; first infantry, but later a troop of
dragoons
a picket of Spahis took possession
of
de Mars, and held it against all
corners.
At four
o'clock the balloon was fully in-
Hated.soldiers al enclosure;
presented a curious sight ;
earth by a company
within, the Vas- globe held
or rather "castle"—
crowded The ground" presented
the "car"---or car
of people without the centr
thowdands
Of engineers; .
Paris standing round, held to
"good society," admiring with that lazy rap-
ture, '' which cannot be
with curiousvisito.erst;:he beau monde of
peculiar to
amused, and scorns to be a
them the science and literature
tThuercAoznaamnditeaof the metropolis;
Efemwbassy, aswarmof Spahis, some
astonished—mixed with
Turks. When the engineers
moved the vast inflated monster towards the car,
excitement NM intense. Winn they let it slowly