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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



Skpt- 



coincide with that which the author of the M^raoire had indicated for the 

 two end batteries. 



It is here seen how, in leaving exposed to the artion of the waves surh 

 materials as they can put in movement, these dispose themselves in the 

 manner best adapted to their stability and preservation in a vertical posi- 

 tion ; but as nothing opposes itself to the movement which would be given 

 to these materials in the direction of the length of the digue, the definitive 

 effect of which movement would be the obstruction of Ihe passes, it is 

 indispensable, in order to prevent this effect, to face the whole exterior of 

 the work with blocks of stone, sufficiently large to resist these oblique 

 impulsions. 



After having indicated the proceedings in detail, as well as the several 

 modifications which it was judged expedient to adopt in the execution and 

 dimensions in the central portion of the digue, M. Cachin gives an account 

 of the effects which were produced on this, as it were, isolated mound by 

 Ihe gales of the 18th February IS07, of the 29th May of the same year, 

 but, above all which, of that of the 12th February 1808, from the north- 

 west. 



A combination of extraordinary circumstances produced such a heavy 

 sea that it submerged the floor of the battery, upset the parapet, and de- 

 stroyed the wooden buildings which had been constructed on the terreplein 

 of the work for the accommodation of the garrison. 



The last-mentioned storm, the most violent on record, stowed Ihe large 

 blocks of stone with which the digue had been faced in fresh slopes, and 

 with such regularity that they appeared to have been cemented by the 

 hand of man ; the successive examinations which have since been made 

 have proved that, by the effect of this extraordinary overthrow, the male- 

 rials have acquired a most perfect stability. 



These examinations have also taught, that this equilibrium once estab- 

 lished, the transverse section of the digue, on the sea side, assumes four 

 essentially different slopes from the summit to the bottom of Ihe sea. 



Thus, the upper part, which is only reached by the tops of the waves, 

 presents a slope of which the vertical height is to the base as 100 to 185. 



The portion immediately below this, comprised between the high and 

 low water (equinoctial) marks, is exposed to Ihe most violent action of Ihe 

 sea during the whole flood and ebb ; its slope is likewise the mostinclined, 

 the height being to Ihe base as 100 to 540. 



Below the low spring tides the surface is only exposed to the agitation 

 of Ihe waves during the first moments of Ihe flood tide and the latter part 

 of the ebb. The height of its slope to its base is as 100 to 302. 



Lastly, Ihe lowest part of the digue, which remains always submerged, 

 not being exposed to the action of Ihe waves, preserves a slope of which 

 Ihe height is to its base as 100 to 125. 



After having pointed out the dimensions, and having described the 

 means of construction of the Jetty at Plymouth, M. Cachin establishes a 

 comparison between the real quantity and extent of the works respectively 

 requisite to complete the Digue of Cherbourg and the Jetty or Breakwater 

 of Plymouth ; and also between the probable expense of each. The 

 result of this is very simple, and easy to comprehend. 



The length of Cherbourg Digue is 3,708 metres, and the area of its 

 transverse section is 1,350 metres square. The expense of one metre of 

 this profile, upon an experience of 16 years, is 8,717 francs. The length 

 of Plymouth Breakwater is 1,364 metres; its profile, 993 square feet ; 

 and the expense of construction, 16,491 francs the metre. 



After the experience of these two works, incomparably the greatest of 

 their sort which the mind of man has ever contemplated to undertake, 

 Rl. Cachin concludes with the observation, that, if man be strong enough 

 to heap together rocks in Ihe midst of the ocean, the action of the sea 

 alone can dispose them in the manner most likely to ensure their proper 

 stability. 



Your Committee, partaking in this opinion, consider that this able engi- 

 neer, m making known Ihe result of his observations on the diflicuties 

 which he has encountered in the execution of his important labours, the 

 means he has put in operation to surmount them, and, above all, his 

 observations upon Ihe configuration which bodies of water, violently 

 agitated, tend to give to obstacles opposed to them, has rendered eminent 

 service to those who may be hereafter called to the direction of similar 

 operations. 



We have the honour, in consequence, to propose the insertion of 

 M. Cachin's W^moire in the collection of the foreign men of science. 



DECORATION OK THE PALACE AT WESTMINSTER. 



RiPoKT of the Committie appointed to select suhjects in Painting and 

 Sculpture, with a riew to the future Decoration of the Palace at West, 

 minster. 



Your Committee have first to observe that the general plan on which 

 subjects were proposed to be selected has been defined by the Commission- 

 ers iu their sixih report to her Majesty, in the following words :— "In ac- 

 cordance with the principles which have already guided us in deciding on 

 the plan of Decoration in the House of Lords, viz., with reference to 

 fresco-paintings, stained windows, and statues, proposeil for that locality ; 

 and also in Ihe selection of slalues proposed for St. Sleplien's Poicli, St. 

 Stephen's Hall, and the royal approaches : we conceive it to be the duty 



of this Commission, for the better guidance of present an future artists, 

 and in order to maintain a character of harmony and unity worthy of such 

 a building, to determine a complete scheme for the future decoration of the 

 I'alace. We are of opinion, that in determining such a scheme, the espe- 

 cial destination of each portion of the building should be attended to ; that 

 in the selection of subjects, Ihe chief object to be regarded should be the 

 expression of some specific idea ; and the second, its illustration, by meaos 

 of some well known historic or poetic incident adapted for representation 

 in painting." 



The duty which has devolved on your Committee being thus defined, 

 their labours have been directed to the selection of subjects in accordance 

 with the principle above explained. They have, for the present, given 

 their attention to subjects for painting ; a considerable number of names of 

 distinguished persons to whom statues might with propriety be erected, 

 having been before proposed, and of these, some have been selected by 

 former Committees for particular localities. 



St. Stephen's Porcu, 

 Containing two compartments, one measuring 20 feet high (to the point of 

 the Gothic arch) by 10 ft. 8 in. wide ; the other measuring 18 ft. 3 in. high, 

 to the point of ihe arch, by 1 1 ft. 4 in. wide. 



In this Porch will be four pedeslals, on two of which it has been re- 

 commended to place the statues of Marlborough and Nelson ; and your 

 Committee were of opinion that the subjects of Peace aud \V ar would 

 be appropriate in the two compartments intended for painting, 



St. Stephen's Hall, 

 Containing on the side walls, eight compartments, each measuring 14 ft. 

 5 in. wide, by 9 ft. 8 in. high ; and two end compartments, one measuring 

 20 ft 9 in. high, to Ihe point of the arch, by 11 ft. 6 iu. wide ; the other 

 measuring 17 ft. 6 in. high, to the point of the arch, by 1 1 ft. 3 in. wide. 



An opinion has before been expressed, by the Commission generally, 

 that as St. Stephen's Hall stands on Ihe spot where the House of Commons 

 was, during many centuries, in the habit of assembling, it should be 

 adorned with statues of men who rose to eminence by the eloquence and 

 abilities which they displayed in that House. Twelve personages selected 

 on this principle, were accordingly named in the fourth report of the Com- 

 mission to her Majesty. 



Your Committee conceived that the walls might properly be decorated 

 with paintings, illustrating some of Ihe greatest epochs in our constitu- 

 tional, social, and ecclesiastical history, from the time when the Anglo- 

 Saxon nation embraced Christianity to the accession of the House of 

 Stuart ; and that the following suhjects would be well adapted for this 

 purpose : — 



I. In the State — (For the Side Compartments). 



A Sitting of the Wittena-gemot. An early Trial by Jury. 



The Feudal System. The Ho- The Signing of Magna Charta. 

 mage of the Barons to William the 

 Conqueror. 



The origin of the House of Com- The Abolition of Villeinage.* A 

 mons. The first Writ brought down Lord, on his death bed, attended by 

 to the City of London. the Clergy, manumitting his Vil- 



leins. 



The termination of the Baronial The Privileges of the Commons 

 wars. Stanley and Oxford crowning asserted by Sir Thomas More against 

 Henry VII. over the dead body of Cardinal Wolsey. 

 Richard IU. 



II. In the Church — (For the End Compartments). 

 West Eod. East End. 



The Conversion of the Anglo- The Reformation. Queen Eliza- 

 Saxons to Christianity. The Preach- beth receiving the Bible in Cheap- 

 ing of St. Augustine. side. 



The Central Hall, 

 Containing four compartments, each measuring 17 ft. 7 in. high, to the 

 point of the Gothic arch, by 12 fl. 7 iu. wide; and thiee small panels 

 underneath three of the large compartments, each measuring 5 ft. 5 in. 

 high, to Ihe point of the arch, by about 4 ft. 6 in. wide. 



Your Corainillee, bearing iu mind that this Hall is Ihe central point of 

 Ihe whole building, were of opinion that the nationality of the component 

 parts of the United Kingdom should be the idea here illustrated, and would 

 be appropriately expressed by representations of the four patron saints, 

 St. George, St. .4ndrew, St. Patrick, aud St. David, in Ihe four compart- 

 ments intended for painting; and that in the three small spaces underneath 

 three of the compartments the heraldic emblazonings of Ihe Orders of 

 the Garter, of the Thistle, aud of St. Patrick, might be introduced. 



COHRIDORS FROM THE CENTRAL HaLL, 



Consisting of the Peers' Corridor, the Commons' Corridor, and the Central 

 or Public Corridor. 



Your Commiltee were of opinion that the corridors which join the two 

 Houses might properly be decorated with paintings illustraiive of that 

 great contest which commenced with the meeting of the Long Parliament 



* "Tbe holy fattiers, monks, and friars, in tbeir confession, and specially in their ex- 

 treme and deadly sicknesses, burdened the consciences of them whom they bad under 

 ttieir hands ; so that lempora'. men, by little and little, by reason of that terror In their 

 conscience, were glad to minumlt all tbeir villeins.*'— bir Thomas Smith's ' Common- 

 weultb,' book III, c. 10. 



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