The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-29 00:00:00

of the Highland lochs. Accordingly, the Empress,
the Duke of Atholl, Marquis la Grange, and suite,
took their departure from the Palace at 445 p.m.,
arriving in Glasgow at 6 15. Her Majesty was
received with cheers by a large crowd which had
assembled in front of the Queen's Hotel, in expecta-
tion of her return. Accompanied by the Duke of
Atholl and suite, her Majesty left the Dundas-
street station at 7 o'clock p.m. for Balloch, en route
for Loch Lomond head, Loch Katrine, Stirling,
and the south. A good many people had gathered
at the station to see her depart, and as the train
moved off they gave her a right hearty cheer. To-
day the Empress will visit the romantic scenery of
Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine, and it is expected
that she will reach Stirling in time for the 7 30
p.m. train for the south. She carries with her the
good wishes of all whom she has just received.

EXTRA O 1 DEVA7?-17 EN Gr. IN:E JIBING
FEAT.

Few who have passed through the tubular bridge
across the Menai Straits will have failed to notice
a well-proportioned column of gray marble, of the
fluted Doric order, which almost overhangs the
railway at the entrance of the tube on the Anglesey
side of the Straits.

This column was erected in 1816 by public sub-
scription to commemorate the military achieve-
merits of the gallant soldier who commanded the
cavalry and who was second in command of the
British army at the battle of Waterloo:

The column itself, on account of its correct pro-
portions as well as its admirable site, perched as it
is ou an elevated plateau of rock, visible for many
many miles in every direction, has justly been
considered one of the sights of the far-famed
Straits of Menai ; it only wanted a statue of the
Hero to complete it.

The inhabitants of Anglesey and its neighbour-
hood determined, when their favourite and honoured
Arglwydd. or Lord of Mona was taken from them,
to supply this want, and accordingly all, from the
owners of broad acres to the labourers of the soil,
threw in their mite, and speedily raised a sum of
money which enabled them to give a commission to
the eminent sculptor Matthew Noble, and it must
be admitted that they have been justified in their
selection, for the statue, which is of bronze, 12ft.
4in. high, in the full costume of the Hussar of the
beginning of the century, is not only a striking like-
ness, both in face, figure, and mein, of the noble
Marquis, but is likewise, as a work of art, one of
the happiest efforts of that master.

The rock on which the column stands presents
but an insufficient space for scaffolding, and great
difficulties arose in consequence, which have been
overcome by a bold and simple engineering ma-
noeuvre, for which the author deserves the highest
credit, and the public will be the more interested
in the originator of 'this novel method of avoiding
the expense and inconvenience of the use of scaffold-
ing from the circumstance of his untimely end,
brought about by the anxiety attendant on the
critical operation he undertook, and of which he
lived not to see the success.

Mr. J. Haslam, a youth of about 23 years of age,
a native of Anglesey, conceived the design which
we will now describd, and which was most success-
fully executed on Saturday last.
Two balks of timber, 70 feet long, were placed
vertically at the foot of the column, and formed a
sort of double mast, on which were placed what
sailors term cap and crosstrees, to admit of a top-
mast which was hoisted up and secured between the
two lower masts, the whole attaining a height of
120 feet, giving a clear 20 feet above the column
itself, On the capital of the column a shorter mast
was erected, and between these two masts a large
pair of traverse beams was laid across, on which a
small travelling truck was placed ; the whole were
firmly bolted together and secured with several
pairs of shrouds. The structure looked of so slender
a nature that when the great mass, weighing 2fr
tons, which was about to be lifted in mid-air to an
elevation of 120 feet, was seen, every one felt con-
siderable misgivings. The hoisting apparatus con-
sisted of a large hawser carefully attached to the
statue, and leading through rollers on the travelling
truck along the traverse beams, and down on the
opposite side of the column, and attached to a
heavy three-fold taekle, forming the principal
purchase. Besides this, two other tackles, likewise
attached to the traveller on the summit, and thence
to the statue, were used as supports to the main
hoisting apparatus.

The statue commenced to move exactly at eleven
o'clock, and rose majestically in the course of half
an hour to the height of about 70 feet, when the
main tackle suddenly twisted itself up so completely
as to appear like a single rope. This was an
awkward moment, and appeared to threaten a
failure, but the sailors speedily climbed up the
tackle and applied a lever to the upper block, and
so untwisted the tackle, and the hoisting was
resumed. The half hour occupied in this matter
was one of no ordinary anxiety, for the statue began
to vibrate rather unpleasantly. At one o'clock it
reached the summit, and there remained only the
operation of sliding it along the beams until it stood
over its final resting-place. For this purpose it
was necessary to rack the tackles, in order to
liberate the statue from them during its lateral
movement. The operation of racking caused a
delay of about half an hour, when the ponderous
weight was slid by means of the main purchase,
checked by two tackles at the opposite end of the
truck, until it was poised over the column; the
preventer tackles were then unracked, anal it was
lowered into its place at half•past one, amid the
cheers of the bystanders.

It is impossible to close this account of so novel
and bold an experiment without paying a tribute
of respect to the memory of the engineer, and
expressing our regret that so promising a youth
should have been snatched away from a career in
which he gave promise of distinguishing himself.