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 Geant 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 locg, by 12 wide. It con-
tains two storeys ; a rez dechausee—stop! can there
be such a thing in the air ?—let us say a ground
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 shamber. " 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 its 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
—for I dislike theta as much as your readers. The
balloon when inflated was exactly fourteen yards
lower than the Tower M 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 Motto 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 G6ant
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
me pause for a minuteo
police, if they could -1)
,ssaindlyabhueslepthiet ;Farnendehh ere
police.let
would not admit, net.
P
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 coantry, and a laughing-stock
e
for one who has ever been brought in contact with
the police of any other civilised capital.
map
" Can I pass ?" asked a
gentleman,ecro ea ult :e. a
"Arevate:ya
civilly—nay, meekly—of a hero • n
sword, and his moustache
you comfortable there ?" thundered out
pictholeoeffigcial. '
" Pas mal," replied the gentleman,
slrrieke," Then
stay
later
there, and be contented," shrieked the
tieman, "If the public aro unreasonable, we shalleael-i
interfere." "They are beasts, the police,"
observed an elderly lady, who had asked her way
out of the ground, and I beg to endorse her
opinion. Of course the ground was kept
by soldiers; first infantry, bat later a troop of
dragoons and a picket of Spahis took possession
of the Champ de Mars, and held it against all
corners. At four o'clock the balloon was fully in.
Hired. The ground presented a curious sight :
lc without the central enclosure ;
thousandswithin
the o
vast °globe held to earth by a company
of engineers; the "car"--or rather "castle"--
crowded with curious visitors;
Paris standing round, admiring the beau m
with
rap-
ture
amused,th e
teansdciesnewhich cannot be
Peculiar to " good society,'
e
science
scorns
dt to
literature h
the Annanft Embassy, 110 metropolis;
the
moved theastonished—mired
of t
Turcos, and a few Turks. When the engineers
of Spahis, some
e a swarm
vast inflatedexcitement' let it slowly
Ynta intense. When they
monster towards the car,

r"Notnn
running
gas
height,mou n t a nTdheaut t‘ticLheedG
eiatn tot
stohaer
ecda r,
up ita lwasitt
ea,tanitds
enough" was the verdict;
with a box in his hand, was seen "scouring the
blundered down among
but the
soonpeop a le.
man,u
plain." They were waiting for a forgotten parcel.
What ? Well ; perhaps a pate. " Now it mounts !
Tiens! c'est joli !" But down it comes again, and
the crowd begins to doubt. At five o'clock, as the
military bands are playing " Malbrook s'en va," M.
Nadar and his eleven friends rise and float away
from Paris on a strong south-westerly breeze, which
seemed to get more westerly es they rose. They
expect to be in the upper air in a few hours, and to
stay there four days ! They have circulars printed
in German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and
Dutch, which they mean to scatter to the winds,
and which they hope will be sent to the telegraph
offices, and keep their route before the public. I
must not omit to tell you that an English advertis-
ing tradesman has been in treaty with M. Nadar
for a contract for the scattering to the winds some
millions of handbills. M. Nadar was interrupted
when telling me the story, so I am unable to say if
they came to terms.

I must add, in conclusion, that this event has
created the most extraordinary sensation. There
could not have been less than half a million of spec-
tators. The streets were more densely crowded
than on the night of the Fete Napoleon, and b 1•
Nadar and his balloon were "household words"
throughout Paris. The day was cloudy, with a
good deal of wind and a cold air, which I should
think has found out our balloonatices before tills
time.

Galighani's Messenger says :—" At the moment
of going to press a communication has reached us,
signed by the captain, M. Nadar, and all those who
had taken places in the balloon, stating that on
alighting yesterday evening at 9 o'clock, at Barey.
near Meaux (Seine-et-Marne), three severe shocks
were experienced which had the effect of com-
pletely capsizing the balloon and inflicting on its
occupants several rather severe contusions."