The Sun.
London, England, 1823-09-08 00:00:00

BALLOONS.

ASCENT OF MR. SADLER AT LEEDS.
On Thursday morning Mr. SADLER gave notice that he
would :mend at five in the afternoon, and the process of infla-
tion was soon afterwards commenced. The arrangements fur
maintaining order both inside and outside the Cloth-hall gates
were good, and all went on well, but for our own part we should
have wished to have seen less of military array. The wind,
however, was still too high for the easy inflation of the balloon,
which was blown about so as materially to retard the entrance
of the At fire o'clock the balloon was not half tilled, and
soon atter, by the pressure of several persons against a rope at-
tached to the valve, the spring or the valve 'was unfortunately
strained, and the gas began visibly to escape in the form of
vapour. Mr.. Sadier, who had during the whole afternoon
been busily and anxiously engaged, now perceived that it would
be impossible, from the state of the wind, to take up the canopy,
the flags, or any of the trappings of the car.
At half-past six, the balloon being little more than half
filled, he resolved immediately to ascend. The car was attached
to the net-work of the balloon, ballast was taken in, and the
whole machine was removed into the middle of the yard.—
Even yet the gentleman who was to accompany him entertained
hopes that it would be Bible for him to ascend, and he took
his seat, opposite Mr. ‘4 rin the balloon,
.in high spirits.—
But when the cords were their
extended coery greatest length,
and the balloon waved high above their heads,. (the top being
not less than eihty feet above the car,) it wait found not to
have sufficient buoyancy to carry both gentlemen, together
with such a quantity of ballast asprudence required to betaken.
The savant, therefore, of necessity quitted the balloon, and,
we are able to say, bore his disappointment, which was no small
one, like a philosopher. Mr. Sadler now endeavoured to pro-
portion his ballast to circumstances, while the higher part of
the balloon, which, from its upward pressure, had drawn the
net-work into a regular and beautiful shape, was blown by tire
wind in circles over the head of the aeronaut, oscillating and
waving like the mast of a ship in a storm.
At length, the word was given to the men who were holding
the car, to " let go;" which they did; but the quantity, of bal-
last was so great that the machine did not ascend, but drew the
car along just above the surface of the ground. It was soon
seized by a number of persons in the yard (amongst the first by
Mr. Green), and brought back to its former position, when a
considerable quantity of ballast being heaved out, it was again
loosed, and at twenty minutes to seven o'clock sprung into the
air, amidst the acclamations of the surrounding multitude. Mr.
Sadler waved his bat in answer to the shouts of the spectators,
and was still waving it, when the acclamations were suddenly
suspended,, es it was seen that the wind was carrying the
aeronaut with a swing, against the sloping roof of the Cloth-
hall. He instantly resigned his bat, and when the car, in its
oblique ascent, grazed with a concussion against the roof, threw
his weight on one aide so as to right it, two bags of ballast at
the same time flying out from the shock. All this was the work
of a moment, anti no sooner had the car cleared every obstruc-
tion, than the intrepid Aeronaut 'matched up his hat, and wav-
ed it in token that be was uninjured, while the crowds below,
relieved from their painful anxiety, gladly answered his saluta-
tion. The voyager then stood up on the sides of the car, and
drank the health of his friends on the earth.
The balloon immediately assumed an upright position, and
aticendeo rapidly, but still more rapidly sailed over the town,
hi the direction of due cast. To those within the Cloth-ball-
yard it was soon lost, from the intervention of the buildings ;
but we were fortunate enough to gain a position where we saw
it holding on its steady majestic but rapid flight, on the wings
of the wind, till it because a mere speck, and was lost in time
distance. All the time it was passing over the town, Mr. Sadler
continued to wave his hat, but in little more than 12 minutes
he had vanished. The evening was beautifully clear, and the
aeronaut would feel no inconvenience whatever from the gale,
the balloon being carried with exactly the same velocity as the
wind, and thus sailing, as it had been well expressed, " in the
bosom of the air."

Mr. Sadler arrived in Leali early on Friday morning, in a
chaise-and-four.

- -
ASCENT Or Mt OEEEN AT LEEDS.
This genttecnan, who has the luatiour"ef having first ascended
with the cheap gas made from coal, and thus reduced the heavy
expence of an aerial voyage, ascended on Friday afternoon, at
20 minutes to four o'clock, from the yard of the White Cloth-
hall, with a magnificent balloon, thirty-seven feet in height.—
From the calmness of the day, he was enabled to fill the ma.
chine with ease, and theprocess of inflation was completed within
one hour and five minutes. Mr. Green had given notice of his
intention to ascend at three o'clock; but the company continuing
to flow in till half-past, it was that time when he set off' the last
pilot balloon, and gave the signal of ascent. Being favoured
with a calm and almost cloudless day, and having in conse.
(pence completely filled his balloon, the ascent was much more
Imposing than that of Mr. Sadler. It wee indeed, as magni-
ficent as any thing of this nature can be, wain,
Mr. Green's
car had few ornaments. The balloon soared, in a nearly per-
pendicular direction, steadily and majestically, towards the
heavens ; the aeronaut, in the meanwhile, kith perfect self-pos-
session and cheerfulness, standing erect on the sides of his car,
and waving his hand above his head, in answer to the loud
acclaims of the admiring multitude. The crowds who had as-
sembled both far and near were immense—on buildings, church
steeplesL hill sides, and open spaces of ground to a great dis-
tance. The whole country seemed to have poured out its dense
population to witness this magnificent spectacle. After standing
two or three minutes Mr. Green sat down, and waved his flag
out of the balloon for a considerable time. With the asseist-
ance of a telescope, we afterwards saw him let out a rope from
the car, which continued to hang suspended, for the purpose, we
believe, of preventing the rotatory motion which the balloon
has a tendency to assume. In a few minutes we perceived him
shoot a bag of balast out of the car, and for twenty minutes
afterwards we were able to discern the columns of sand which
he discharged at intervals. lie evidently rose a considerable
height, and, from the extraordinary clearness of the day, the
balloon was distinctly seen with the naked eye for upwards of
25 minutes after the assent: we kept the machine in sight
nearly ten minutes longer, and saw it shining brilliantly in the
sun a little before a cloud interposed and hid it from our sight.
it Wan then in the direction of Pontefract, hut rather more to
' the south-west, and certainly at a much greater distance than
that place. .
21fercery Office, Saturday morning, half-past 3 o'clock.
We stop the press to state' that Mr. Green has had the mis-
fortune to lose his balloon. After a tine voyage he descended
in the neighbourhood of Exey, nine miles northward of Gains-
borough, twelve from Doncaster, and about forty from Leeds.
litre lie found the lower current of the atmosphere blowing
a hurricane. On descending to the earth, lie threw out the
grappling iron in it fallow field, where, after dragging for
some distance, the car struck violently against a rail, and
stunned M r.Oreen with the shock ; thegrippling-iron then caught
firmly hold of the same rail, and from the velocity with which
the balloon was flyii!, snapped the cable, and threw the
aeronaut from a sma height to the ground, lie was com-
pletely stunned by the fall, and severely bruised. The balloon,
ligned of all its weight anti ballast, though containing only a
small quantity of gas, Instantly sprung aloft, and in twenty
minutes vanished from the sight. From the vast elevation
which it seemed to attain after the accident, and the great velo-
city with which it flew, all hope of securing by following it
was lost.
Mr. Orem, therefore, though suffering considerable pain,
immediately set out, and arrived here at a quarter to two o'clock
this morning. .He states that his voyage teas extremely de-
lightful, and the elevation he attained upwards of two miles :
the thermometer then stood at 21, being tour degrees below the
freezing point, and the barometer at ill inches and a half.
111 r. Green offers a reward of 101. to any one who shall restore
his balloon, without its having sustained any material injury.
We must confess we entertain fears of the balloon having gone
out to sea, in which case there is no hope of saving it except it
should have reached the coast of Holland.--{ Leeds

MR, GRAHAM'S ACCOUNT OF HIS ASCENT.
Aftgternmencing our ascent, we in a few momenta lost sight
of the assembled multitude, St. Paul's appearing only as a dimi-
nutive building.. and the shipping in the River like Children's
toys. Our cantle lay over Waterloo and London bridges, Green-
wich, and Blackheath. We had now mounted to a great height,
and which we found by the barotnrier to be nearly a mile ;
and riming through
a cloud we found it rather cold and damp.
The cloud apparently separated, and did not seem inclined to
re-unite: while throttgh the aperture we clearly saw the earth,
free from any misty appearance, which some bare described as
being the case. We then changed our course to the southward,
minutea, and then returned to the same di.
for the .space of five
section as the first. Through the powerful rays of the sun the
gas expanded, and we plainly heard it rushingthrough the safety

pipe, with a loud hissing noise; and as it escaped it became as
nytble as the smoke from a chitnnev, assuming a yellowish
brown appearance. I then judged it advisable to pull the valve.
line, and notwithstanding the valve thus became open we still
discovered we were ascending, by throwing out small bits of
paper. In about half-a-minute's time, it was plain that the
balloon had began to descend, in consequence of which we dos-
ed the valve. At this time we were at our greatest height,
which we calculated by our barometer to be two miles anti a
quarter. My friend, Mr. Harris, observed he felt himself very
warm, probably through some &tweed= of the solar rays by
the machine. And as for my own pert, Imy say, that although
at this great height I felt no extra sense of cold, ,but we both
felt extreme thirst. At this tune also the clouds surrounded us
like so many silvered mountains, and above our heads the at-
mosphere was serene beyond all idea. We also discovered that
the balloon, car, and ourselves, were each reflected in the most
beautiful manner, with al the different colours, on the surface
of the clouds, but much diminishedin size. The grandeur and
loveliness of this spectable it is impossible to describe.
The valve being closed, and the, solar rays powerful, we
discovered we were floating on an equilibrium,--the paper
which we threw out doing the same, only descending by its
own gravity, which was very slowly. Soon, however, we began
to descend, and discovered .the fields in appearance like a
beautiful carpet, bordered in its various shapes with rich green
velvet. Still keeping our easterly direction, we soon discovered
the English Channel, with SOuth End bearing to the north-
east; the Nore, Sheerneas, and the River Medway, to the
east ; observing the Medway and Rochester Bridges, and
Cole Wood beneath us, adjoining the immense Park of Earl
Darnley. While over Woolwich Warren a cannon was fired,
the flash and smoke we Saw. Still descending, we threw out
three bags of ballast., which caused us to skim over the wood,
with a hundred yards of the extremity. We now threw out
the grappling-iron,- and the car touching the top of the trees,
and the balloon then ascending, but probably through the
erappling-iron taking hold, caused us again to descend.—
Thus we were drawn between two trees, as to our great sur-
prise the grappling-iron took no hold until we had passed
between them, the netting of the balloon carrying away part of
the upper branches. Such was the velotity with which the ma.
chine moved that the grappling-iron seemed to pass through
the hedge without any resistance. We now descended in a
turnip field, skimming along the surface, the car touching the
ground, and thus we proceeded over three or four acres of
ground, until, by holding down the valve line, the gwi had
escaped sufficiently for us to get out, which we did without the
least personal injury, being kindly assisted by Mr. Thomas
Clayton, gamekeeper to the Earl of Darnley, and we were im-
mediately surrounded by a number of his friends, who rendered
their assistance in the most prompt manner, by carrying the
machine to the Coach and Horses, Stroud-hill; near Rochester-
bridge; which was about a mile and three.quarters from the
place of our descent; from whence we proceeded to town,
where we arrived safely, in a post-chaise, with the machine, the
same night, after being in the air nearly 65 minutes.