The Sun.
London, England, 1838-09-07 00:00:00

LORD JOHN E,LE,4 AND THE

- 4
IRISH 10.-i

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by
The subjoined correspondence has been forwarde:.! td "
our Dublin Correspondent. The coil and difrnified re'LAc
unteyed in Lord John liugseli's letter is capital :
" Constrtfative Society House. 19, Dawson-street,
Augu't. 1 ti 3 8.

"My LORD—I hive the lionovr of this day forwarding to
you, as Secretary of State for the flome Dopartment, the ac.
companying address from the Irish Metropolitan Conservative
to her Majesty the Queen, the signatures to which
amount to p#ayiog that her Majesty will be pleased to
rccal the Marquis from the Government of Ire-
land. I have to request that your im-rdif)ip will present same,
at your earliest convenience, to her Majesty,
I have the honour to be your Lordship's malt obedient,
humble servont,

" ISAAC BUTT, Honorary Secretary.
" The Right Hon. Lord John Russell, &c., Sic."
" Whitehall, Sept. 1, 1838.
" cm directed by Lord John Russell to inform you,
that tic has not failed to lay before the Queen the address of
the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Sf:ciety, praying her
Maje!oy to b^ pleased to recal the Marquis of Normanby from
the Government. of Ireland, which accompanied your letter
of the •.;Bth instant. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" Isaac Butt, Esq. " S. M. PHILLIPS."

THE EXPERIMENTAL ASCENT OF
THE NASSAU BALLOON ON TUESDAY.

MR. GREEN'S NARRATIVE.

It will be rementi;eciWOur readers that what is terme:l
" double ascent" of balloons took place on Tuesday last from
Vauxhall gardens, when considerable astonishment was created
amongst those who viewed the progress of the aerostatic ma-
chines at the different courses the two floating bodies struck
into shortly after they had left the spot whence they had
started. Even to the spectator that fact bore ample proof of
the existence of varied currents of air, although the substance
operated upon at first appeared to be moving at nearly equal
elevations. The results to which the voyage as affecting the
Nassau balloon has led, and the different effects to which it
was subject during the journey, we have been kindly fa.
voured with by Mr. Green, to whom the science of aeroata-
tion is more deeply indebted than to any individual who has
before made that peculiar branch of discovery a study. It
will, by a careful perusal of the account, be seen that effects
hitherto unobserved were produced, and with minute accu-
racy marked by the ±hree travellers, but by neither of them
with more avidity or with more anxiety thaNby Mr. Rush,
from whose memoranda a great ruportion of the particulars
have been furnished. Independent of 0:f details contained in
Mr. Green's version, that gentleman and Spencer have
informed us that, after they had " o'crtopped" their innonent,
the appearance it presented was that of a large body. si.!Tl-
mingalong the surface of the earth, although a portion of that
time it was as far therefrom as 4,000 feet. Since their arrival
in town, the same parties have been told that the Nassau bal-
loon was visible to the eye of the gazer for an hour after it had
quitted the gardens. It is clear, then, such being the case,
the balloon must have been seen in London when it had
reached a distance of 30 miles from the metropolis.
Mr. Green's narrative is as follows :

" My ascent on Tuesday last from Vauxhall-gardens in the
great Nassau balloon was in company with Mr. Edward
Spencer and Mr. Rush, of Elscuham-hall, Essex, who had
intimated to me his desire to make an ascent of considerable
elevation, with a view of ascertaining the greatest al4tude that
could with safety be attained with three persons in -the car ;
and further, to ascertain the changes of temperature that would
take place at different elevations, as well as the variations of the
currents of air, and finally, to establish the important fact as to
whether the same difficulties existed with regard to respiration
in a very rarified atmosphere by persons ascending with a bal-
loon to any great altitude, as have been felt and described by
persons who have ascended lofty mountains.
" Ever since I constructed the Nassau balloon I have had a
strong desire to set these questions at rest, and I therefore feel
great pleasure in being able to communicate to the public
(through the medium of your Journal) the result of our expe-
riments, extracted from our minutes out of Mr. Rush's note-
book, and which were made by him at short intervals during

the progress of our ascent and descent.
" We left the earth at twenty-five minutes before seven
p. m. , with two barometers standing each at 30 inches. One
of these instruments, as well as a thermometer, was furnished
by Mr. Rush, constructed on the most accurate principles, and
made expressly for the purpose by Mr. Jones, optician, of
Charing-cross. The thermometer stood at 66 degrees of
Fahrenheit. During our ascent the barometer and thermo-
meter, at our different elevations, varied thus :

BAROMETER.
30 inches.
23

THERMOMETER.
66 degrees.
66
53 ---
46
42
39 --
35
25

Greatest al- }
14.70
tude

25 -

" On our first rising from the Gardens we took a north-
westerly direction, and continued that course until we arrived
overVauxhall-bridge, when we were at an elevation of 2,500 ft.
The line then changed to the north, and shortly after to north-
east. All the time we were passing over the metropolis we
discharged ballast, and rose in proportion. We then pursued
our journey, passing over Dalston, Lea-bridge, and Epping,
in which direction we continued with but little variation, leav-
ing Dnnmow, in Essex, on our left. At this period we had
attained our greatest altitude—namely, 19,335 fect, or 3i
miles and 855 feet. It was now that for the first time our
view of the earth was intercepted by a stratum of cloud which
was appare❑tly somewhere about 6,000 feet below us. In
consequence of the vast quantity of ballast that we continued
to discharge after having cleared the metropolis our ascent
became very rapid, and from the great expansion of the inflat-
ing power, the gas rushed out from the lower valve in consi-
derable torrents. The velocity of our upward progress caused
the balloon and car to rotate in a spiral motion on its axis with
astonishing rapidity. ( A similar operation takes place, al-
though not to so great an extent, on all occasions of a rapid
ascent or descent.) During our ascension we, at different
periods, threw overboard about 1,2001 b. of ballast, reserving
only 10016. by which to regulate our descent.
" Prior to commencing our descnt, Mr. Rush, our wine-
glasses being purposely charged, proposed the health of our
most Gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria. The toast was
drunk with great fervour and sincerity, and we followed it by
raising three cheers and one cheer more' in honour of the
deed. \Ve lost no time in drinking the health of Her Royal
Highness the Duchess of Kent, who gave birth to our Gracious
Queen.' Mr. Rush then once more rose, and proposed the
health of 'the greatest Commander on earth, his Grace the
Duke of Wellington.' This toast, like it predecessors, was
responded to with alacrity, and was accompanied with the
usual honours. Having re-deposited our bottle and glasses,
we discovered that the balloon was descending. Our course
then veerel to the north over Thaxtcd. \Ve were now un-
der the influence of the same current as that which governed
our progress immediately on quitting terra firma, and the
balloon was propelled over Debden, where we effected our
descent, at five minutes after sight o'clock, hating accom-
plished the voyage in one hour and thirty minutes. We
reached the earth in a field near Rowney-wood, in the parish
of Debden, a distance of forty-seven miles from Vauxhall-
gardens, three miles south of SAffron Walden, and only five
miles from the residence of our fellow voyager, Mr. Rush, to
whose house we at once proceeded, and after having partaken
of his hospitality, passed the night.
" It will be perceived by the table I have given above that
at our greatest altitude the mercury in the barometer had
fallen to 14 inches 70, giving an elevation of 19,335 feet.
Since my arrival in Lo❑don the matter has undergone a calcu-
lation by Mr. Jones the optician, from which the following roe-
sults have been arrived at

Barometer at starting► 3O. Thermometer 66.
Ditto at greatest elevation 14. 70 Ditto .. ... 25.
" Approximate feet 18,826
" Allowance for temperature 1509

" Total elevation.
or three miles and three.quarters miaus 465 feet.
" During our descent, when at 1,200 feet from the earth,
we encountered a heavy fall of snow, which lasted for half an
hour, accompanied with a sudden and very great reduction of
temperature, the thermometer droppi▪
ng to 22 degrees, or 10
degrees below freezing point. The mercury in the barometer
at this moment had risen to 19 in. By a comparison of this
state of the two glasses with that whi▪
ch they presented as we
went up, it will be seen that at the same elevation, whilst the
barometer was at 19, and thermometer at 46, the former re-
tained its position, but the latter hail fallen to 22, tbereby
showing a reduction of temperature in the course of one hour,
at the same elevation, of 24 degrees. I mention this circum-
stance for the purpose of directing the attention of the scien-
tific world to those local and sudden changes of temperature
which in the course of my numerous ascents I have often ex-
perienced. ,
" I have further to observe, that although the air near the
earth was in a tranquil state, the current by which the balloon
was principally operated upon (namely, south by west) must
have been moving at the rate of at least 60 miles an hour ;
for, notwithstanding the rapidity of our ascent and descent,
which necessarily formed a powerful resistance to this hori-
zontal current, we travelled at an average speed of 30 miles
per hour.

" When at an elevation of 15 000 feet, we discerned in the
south-east an extremely vivid flash of lightning.
" With ref:'rence to the fact of there being a supposed natu-
ral difficulty of respiration at greet altitudes above the earth's
surface, as mentioned in the works of Humboldt and other
celebrated travellers, by whom it has been painfully expe-
rienced in their ascents of high mountains, I am inclined,
from the circumstance of an opposite result having been pro-
duced upon ourselves on this occasion, to imagine that the
fatigue and depression of the muscular piwers produced by
the acccomplishment of their journey, must alone have led to
such an end. Mr. Rush, Mr. Spencer, and myself, at no mo-
ment, even when at our greatest elevation, laboured under the
slightest inconvenience in respect to a difficulty of respiration.
We breathed with the utmost ease, and as freely as when
walking on the earth's surface."

The Marquis of Clanricarde. accompanied by Lord
Dunkellin, has left Leamington Spa, for the family estates in
Ireland. The Marchioness of Clanricarde returned to town
on Wednesday, from Leamington Spa. The Noble Marquis
and Marchioness embark at Sheerness the first week in next
month on board her Majesty's ship Pique, for Cronstadt.