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

injury. We must confess we entertain fears of the baliotil:
haring gone oat to sea. in which cue there Is no holm of
satiny it except It should have reached the coast of Holland;—,
(Leeds Mercury.)

MR. GRAHAM'S ACCOUNT
•
OP UT! ASCENSION 111 A BALLOON, ON FRIDAY LAST, ram

BIRWICK STRERT, 50110.

In consequence of the eatraordittary precautions which
I bad taken to insure a stipply of gas, and aided by the
prompt attention of the Ges Company, who exerted them- '
selves on this occasion in so praiseworthy a manner, the
balloon began to fill rapidly, and by three o'clock it was
sufficiently inflated to carry .up three persons, on Friday,
from the timber yard of hlr.,Snewin, is Berwick .street,
Soho. The cause of my not ascending at that period arose
from an anxious wish to have the company of my friend,
Mr. Sadler, jun. who, through a casualonistake, supposed•
it would not ascend till Monday. As delays, however, in
these cases are dangerous, I resolved to ascend in company
with a friend, of.the name of Harris, being unwilling to
keep the spectators any longer in suspense, and having
previously ascertained that the whole of the appara-
tite -was in a stive of safety, we began to cleave the
liquid field of ether precisely at a quarter. before, four
o'clock, the machine es.entling rapidly and majestic-
' ally in an eastern direction, amidst the cheers of
'thousands, who lined the tops of the houses to a great
distance, in many cases as far as the eye could reach.
should here, however, mention, that. I had provided a cord
of 360 yards in letngth, in order, if possible. to keep my-
self for a time stationary, that those who bad previeesly
ridiculed the idea of my ascent might bale ample ocular
demonstration'of its actually tal. log places This line was
fastened to a large,piece of timber, and I am informed.shat
such was the inscriptive power of the machine, that it actual.
ly swung this piece of thither roupd, and fortunately
slipped its hold without doing any injury. After thin
continued to ascend, and in a few moments lost sight of:
the assembled multitude. St. Paul's appearing only. us a
diminutive building, and the shipping in the river like
children's toys. the view was, notwithstanding. incon-
ceivably grand, and would amply repay any ono for the risk
in attempting to ascend. Our course hey over Waterloo and
London Bridge, Greenwich, and Blackheath. We had now
mounted to a great heiglit,and which we found bytheitarome-
ter to be nearly a mile; and passing through Below!. we felt it
rather cold & damp. The cloud apparently separated, did not
stem inclined to reunite; while through the aperture we
clearly saw the earth, free from any misty appearance, which
some have described as being the case. • •We then changed
our course to the Southward, for the space of fiveminutes,
and then returned to the saute direction as the first.—
Through the powerful rays of the son, the .gas expanded,
and we plainly heard it rushing through the safety pipe,
with aloud hissing noise; and as it escaped it became as
visible as the smoke from a chimney stemming a yellowish
brown appearance. I then judged it advisable to pull the
valve-line, and notwithstataling the valve thus became open;
we still discovered en were ascending, by throwing out
small bits of paper. In about half a minute's lime, it was
plain that the balloon lead began to descend.in consequence of
which we closed the valve.At this time we wereat our grea'est
height, which we calculated by our barometer to be two
miles and a quarter. My friend, Mr. Harris, observed he
felt himself very warm, et irbahly through from. attraction
of the solar rays by the machine. And, as fur my otvn part,
I must say, that. although at this great height, I felt no
extra arose of folJ, but we both felt extreme thirst. At
this time also the clouds surrounded us like so many silver.
ed mountains, an-I above our heads the atmosphere was
serene beyond all idea. We also discovered that the bal-
loon, car, and ourselves, were each reflected in the most
beautifulmanner; with all the different colones on the surL
face of one of the clouds—but much diminished in size.—
The grandeur and loveliness of this sp-oracle it is impossi-
ble to describe; we were, imiee.l, with astonishment
while beholding it, and left the sight thereof with murk re-
gret, reflecting. as much as our situation would permit us,
upon the nowt. 611 works of the Creator, and the
idea, of the immense space which on all sides surround-
ed us.
The valve beinx elesett, 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 appear-
ance like a beautiful carpet. bordered in its various shapes,
with licit green velvet. Still keeping our easterly direction
we soon discovered the English Channel, with South End
hearing to the north-oast. The more, Sheerness, and the
Diver Medway, to the east. Observing the Medway and
Rochester Bridges, and Cole IVood beneath us, adjoining
the immense Park of Earl Darnley. While over Woolwich
Warren a cannon was tired, thellash and smoke we saw. Still
descending, we threw out three bags of ballast, which caused
us to skim over the wood, within a hundred yards of the ex-
tremity. We now threw out the grappling iron, the car
touching the tops of the trees, and the balloon then as-,
tended, hut probably through the grappling iron taking
hold, caused us again to descend. Thus we were drawn
between tau trees, as to our greatest surprise the grappling
iron took no bold until iv.. had ;mural between them, the
nettinZ of the balloon carrying away part of the upper
branches. Such was the velocity with which the machine
moved, that the grappling iron seemed to pass through the
hedge without. any resistance. We nos descended in a
turnip field, shimmering along the surface, the car toncb-
ing the ground. an I thus we proceeded over three or four
acres of ground, until, by holding down the valve line,
the gas had escaped sufficiently for us to get out, which
we did without the least personal injury, being kindly as-
sisted by Mr. Thomas Clayton. gamekeeper to the Earl of
Darnley,and we were immediately surrounded by e numbe-
of his friends, who rendered their assistance in the most
prompt manner, by carrying the machine to the Coach and
Hor-es, Stroud Hill, near Rocbester.bridge ; which was
about a mile and three quarters from the place of our
descent; from whence we proceeded to town. "there we
strived safely, in a post chaise, with the maeltine, the
tune night—after being in the air nearly fifty-five minutes.
In answer to the numerous inquiries of my friends and
the public, I beg leave respectfully to state, that it is my
intention to ascend in a few days from Beth, by, a particular
re-st q estof the principal inhabitants, and shortly after within
the limits of the metropolis.

Sato rday's Gazette announces the appointment of Henry
James Lord Montague, to be lieutenant and Sheriff Prin-
cipal of the Shire of Selkirk. in the room of Francis Lord
Napier, deceased ; and ofMajor-General Sir. Howard Doug-
las, Bart., to be Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of
New Brunswick.

MARRIAOII IN HIGH Ltrc—On Saturday last, the 6th,
at St. George's Church, Hanover Square, the Hoe. Thomas.
Hundas. eldest son of iord Dundee, to Sophia Jane, deux-
ter of the late, and sister to the present, Sir Hedworth
, Williamson, Hart.
ItaIIARICABLa PaltaeLlA.—Two exceeding beautiful Paths-
lia• were observed iu this neighbourhood yesterday morning,
about a quarter before six o'clock, when the altitude of the
Sun, then net ly East, was about ten degrees. There appeared
in an expansive cirro stratus, ou each side of the orb of day,
a reflected image of that luminary, about lb degrees distant
from it. The one on the left hand, towards the North. seemed
two degrees lower then the real sun, and was far less vivid
than the one on the right, about two degrees higher than the
tree sun. It is remarkable that to both ofthem there appended
'Come, or a resemblance to the taila which accompany comets;
that o i the right had ltetl diverging•upward sad townward ;
but not opposite to the sun. The former disappeared is about
Th ,16 minutes; e other continued for a much loner period to
gratify admiring spectators by Ms imposingly pleasing bril-
ismfrom sit derived a M strong tinge of the ena prismatic
oloirs.—(llOsion Gar.)