The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-28 00:00:00

THE WALHALLA.

The Walhalla stands on a hill called the Brauberg,
which rises about 250 feet above the level of the
Danube, at a place called Donaustauf, not far from
Ratisbon. The edifice reposes on cyclopean substruc-
tures of a truly colossal magnitude, and six sets of
marble steps lead from the temple to the five succes-
sive terraces over which it rises. From these terraces
the view is inconceivably sublime. From the north-
west a road winds through a grove of oaks up to- the
building ; to the west lie the ruins of the ancient
Castle of Stauf, upwards of 800 years *old; and to
the north the woody hills which stretch away to the
Bohemian forests.

Of many of the illustrious individuals whose names
figure among the worthies of Germany, no well au-
thenticated likenesses have been tranzmitted to us. In
such cases as it has been impossible to place busts of
them in the temple, their names in letters of gilt
bronze have been inscribed on large tablets of white
marble. Of these tablets there are 64, of the busts
about 100, but space is left for the future introduction
of many more. Among the names an Englishman
will be surprised to find many which he has been ac-
customed to rank among the distinguished ornaments
of his own national history, such as Alfred the Great,
the Venerable Bede, &c. King Louis, however, con-
siders the Saxons in England as a part of the great
German family, and, on the same principle, Clovis and
Charlemagne are likewise admitted among the asso-
ciates of the Walhalla. In fact, Germany, according
to the King's plan, is made to extend as far as the
German language is spoken, or was spoken, at any
particular time.

The inauguration of the Walhalla will, no doubt,
be celebrated in Germany as a national festivity,
and strangers will flock to Ratisbon from all parts of
Europe to participate in the spectacle. To English
tourists the opening of the Saxon-Bavarian railroad,
which has just taken place, will offer great facility of
access, as from Hamburgh the steam-boats up the
Elbe to Madgeburg, and thence along the railroad to
Leipzic and Altenburg, will bring the traveller to
within a short distance of the scene of the solemnity.

CARTE'S AND IVIANBY'S LIFE-
PRESERVING APPARATUS.

This exhibition, so long and eagerly looked for,
lay the inhabitants of the inland towns along the
coast, commenced on Monday last, at Redcar, and
was contipued during the greater part of the after-
noon. Gradually all the di&rent life-boats, with their
crowds of hardy mariners, advanced lightly along the
waters, and, with their scarlet colours and fluttering
flags, presented a cheering and animated appearance.
In a short while, numbers of the huge leviathans of
modern art, y'clept steam-boats, came towering along
the ocean, loaded with numerous swarms of the
" honest men and bonnie lasses " of Stockton, Mid-
dlesborough, Hartlepool, and the surrounding towns
along the coast. They were soon emptied of their
multitudes, and when these, with the enormous
crowds from Guisborough, Stokesley, Skelton, Up-
leatham, Normanby, Eston, Kirkleatharn, and the
whole of the low side of Cleveland, Were assembled,
there could not be fewer than from three to four
thousand met to do honour to this interesting exhi-
bition, and to record their approbation of efforts thus '
devoted to the cause of humanity.
Without further preface, we shall now advance to
the actual and practical part of the business, and
supply the public with a correct report of the ex-
periments.

RESULT OF EXPERIMENTS.
No. 1. By the Coast Guard of Hartlepool : Dis-
tance, 250 yards (Manby's Apparatus.)—Line fell
0---feet short of intended vessel, and within 4 feet 7f
inches of the centre line.
No. 2. By the Coast Guard of Hartlepool (Carte's
Rocket) : Distance 250 yards.—Line fell 38 feet
short, and 68 feet wide.
No. 3. By the Coast Guard of Hartlepool (Manby's
Apparatus): Distance, 250 yards.—Line fell across
the intended vessel, 25 feet from the centre line, and
ranged 32 feet 8 inches beyond.
No. 4. By the Coast Guard of Hartlepool (Carte's
Rocket) ; distance, 250 yards. Line fell 103 feet
short of the mark, and 50 feet wide of the centre line.
No. 5. By the Coast Guard of Hartlepool (Manby's
Apparatus) : distance, 250 yards.—Line fell across
the intended vessel 4 feet 6 inches from the centre line,
and ranged 128 feet beyond.
No. 6. By A. G. Carte, Esq., for the Seaton Life-
boat Crew : distance, 200 yards (Carte's Rocket).—
Line fell across the intended vessel 31 feet from the
centre line, and ranged 244 feet beyond.
No. 7. By A. G. Carte, Esq., for the Seaton Life-
boat crew : distance, 200 yards (Carte's Rocket).--
Line fell across the intended vessel, 31 feet from the
centre line, and ranged 321 feet beyond.
N.. 8. By A. G. Carte, Esq., for the Seaton Life-
boat Crew (Carte's Rocket.)—Fired for a Life-boat
at sea, lying lengthways. The line fell across the
boat. This last was a splendid experiment, and eli-
cited much cheering.
P.S.—I should not omit to add, that the first two
rockets appeared to fail, from want of sufficient prac-
tice among the parties employed, as the experiments
were perfectly successful under the superintendance
of Mr . Carte, himself.

In offering our remarks on theSe interesting expe-
riMents, we must state that• our first impressions were
decidedly in favour of Manby's apparatus for force,
certainty, and precision ; but when Mr. Carte arrived
(after having been detained on a sand-bank for an
hour, and nearly requiring the aid of his own rockets);
our opinion was materially modified, and we were
quite delighted with the remarkable exactness with
which, under his practised hand, and acute eye, the
fiery messengers of safety arrived at their destination.
The last shot in particular (No. 8, in Mr. Highton's
list) fired to a life-boat, crowded with sailors, and
lying direct north and south, was a chef d'oeuvre
of dexterity, and was hailed with tremendous cheer-
ing both at sea and on shore. In fact, this experi-
ment alone, as testing the security of the plan,
and its certainty of success, was quite -suf-
ficient to repay amply the visitors for expense,
distance, and time : and placed beyond question, the
vast advantage of such a process in' saving life. We
are sure, that had a statfon for these rockets being es-
tablished on Sunderland pier, several shipwrecks, that
we ourselves have witnessed, would have been divested
of the most serious of disasters—the lass of human
life. Those of our readers who witnessed the perilous
scene of the Syria will know what we mean. In fact,
Oh. a rocky beach, or in situations which can be readily
approached, and within a few hundred yards of the
shore, the establishment of these stations must prove
of immense service to humanity, and we are surprised
that the necessity of such stations has not been more
forcibly impressed upon the minds of Members of the
Admiralty and of Government.
(From the Sunderland Times.)

The Self;Acting Life-Buoys were not, we regret
to say, tried, and some disappointment was expressed
on this account. The process, however, is so simple,
that perhaps this was unnecessary, and we were as-
sured by Mr. Carte, that they had been adopted by
the Hon. Board of Ordnance, the ports of the United
Kingdom, by numerous steam-boats and sailing-ves-
sels, and that they had already been instrumental in
saving many human lives. The benefit of these, also,
is so plain and palpable, that no steam-boat or vessel
should be permitted by the Government, under a pe-
nalty, to sail without them.
a large body
After the experiments were concluded,

The 18th of October nextis t xed fir a solemnity,
the anticipation of which has fo • some time occupied
no, small portion of public attention in Germany. On
that day the Walhalla is to be solemnly consecrated,
and we may rest assured that the King of Bavaria will
spare nothing that can add to the splendour or hn-
pressiveness of the festivity.
It was in 1806, when Germany appeared to have
been reduced to the lowest degree of political humilia-
tion, that the present King, then Crown Prince
of Bavaria, first conceived the idea of the Walhalla.
He was at that time in Berlin, where he had lately
arrived from the army in Spain, and where he had
lan opportunity of consulting several of his distin-
guished countrymen, particularly Johannes Muller,
on the magnificent plan which he proposed to him-
self. The Prince's resolution was soon taken, and
before leaving Berlin he commissioned several of the
most eminent sculptors of that city to execute for
him some of the marble busts which it was his inten-
sion to place in the new Temple of Fame. From
that moment the realisation of his plan seems to have
been the dearest wish of his heart. In 1814 he in-
vited architects to send him in plans, but as none of
those submitted to him were approved of, he commis-
sioned Leo Von Klenze, in 1816, to prepare new
plans, several of which were successively rejected;
till, in 1821, the plan which has now been so happily
executed was at length adopted.
It was at first intended that the new temple should
be erected in the neighbourhood of Berchtesgaden,
but this design was afterwards abandoned, and seve-
ral sites were successively proposed and rejected. The
vicinity of Munich was at one time thought of, but
at last the suggestion of Klenze was adopted, and it
was resolved, in 1822, to erect the Walhalla on the
spot where it now stands, by the side of the Danube,
the boundary of the Roman empire in Germany, and
near Ratisbon, the capital of the Agilolfingians, the
first Dukes of Bavaria. The building was to be
erected in the Doric style, on a gentle elevation, and
was to be sufficiently spacious to receive within its
walls the busts or the names of all the eminent men•
and women of Germany. In the same year (1821)
in which the plan was determined on, the preliminary
labours may be said to have commenced in the marble
quarries of Untersberg, near Salzburg. It was not,
however, till nine years afterwards, namely, on the
18th of October, 1830, that the first stone of the noble
edifice was laid in the King's presence, on which oc-
casion Edward Von Schenk, at that time Minister for
the Interior, delivered a speech which excited con-
siderable attention. An account of the solemnity was
Published in 1831, under the title of " Ratisbona and
Walhalla."