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Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
73
While
caricature
was
thus
turning
its
irony
upon
the
efforts
of
believers
in
the
new
idea,
serious
pamphlets
were
being
written
and
published
with
the
same
object.
One
of
these
declares
that
the
discovery
is
IMMORAL,
I.
Because
since
God
has
not
given
wings
to
man,
it
is
impious
to
try
to
improve
his
works,
and
to
encroach
upon
his
rights
as
a
Creator;
2.
Because
honour
and
virtue
would
be
in
continual
danger,
if
balloons
were
permitted
to
descend,
at
all
hours
of
the
night,
into
gardens
and
close
to
windows;
3.
Because,
if
the
highway
of
the
air
were
to
remain
open
to
all
and
sundry,
the
frontiers
of
nations
would
vanish,
and
property
national
and
personal
would
be
invaded,
&c.
We
do
not
wish
to
gather
together
here
the
stones
which
critics
threw
against
the
new
discovery,
unaware
all
the
time
that
these
stones
were
falling
upon
their
own
heads.
It
is
only
fair
to
state
that
after
the
first
ascents
the
public
were
often
duped
by
pretending
aeronauts,
whose
single
aim
was
to
sell
their
tickets,
and
who
disappeared
when
the
time
came
for
ascending.
The
result
of
these
frauds
was
that
sometimes
honest
men
were
made
to
suffer
as
rogues.
Even
in
our
own
day,
when
an
ascent,
seriously
intended,
fails
to
succeed,
owing
to
some
unforeseen
circumstances,
the
public
frequently
manifests
a
decided
ill-will
to
the
aeronaut,
who
is
perfectly
honest,
and
only
unfortunate.
The
famous
ascent
of
the
Abbes
Miolan
and
Janninet,
at
the
Luxembourg,
may
be
cited
as
among
the
failures
which
suffered
most
from
the
satire
of
the
time.
Their
immense
balloon,
constructed
at
great
expense
at
the
observatory,
was
expected
to
rise
beyond
the
clouds,
and
a
multitude,
each
of
whom
had
paid
dearly
for
his
ticket,
had
assembled
at
the
Luxembourg.
The
morning
had
been
occupied
in
removing
the
balloon
from
the
observatory
to
the
place
of
ascent,
and
at
midday
the
inflation
of
it
began.
The
rays
of
a
burning
July
sun--and
one
knows
what
that
is
in
the
Luxembourg
in
Paris--streamed
down
on
the
heads
of
the
thousands
of
spectators.
From
six
in
the
morning
till
four
in
the
evening
they
had
waited
to
see
the
unheard-of
wonder;
the
ascent,
however,
was
to
be
so
imposing,
that
nothing
could
be
lost
by
waiting
for
it.
But
at
five
in
the
afternoon
the
heavy
machine
was
still
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