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172
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
8
Let
the
reader
recall
the
marks
of
enthusiasm
which
the
discovery
of
the
islands
on
the
east
coast
of
America
excited
in
Andalusia,
in
Catalonia,
in
Aragon
and
Castile--let
him
read
the
narrative
of
the
honours
paid
by
town
and
village,
not
only
to
the
hero
of
the
enterprise,
but
even
to
his
commonest
sailors,
and
then
let
him
search
the
records
of
the
epoch
for
the
degree
of
sensation
produced
by
the
discovery
of
aeronautics
in
France,
which
stands
in
the
same
relationship
to
this
event
as
that
in
which
Spain
stands
to
the
other.
The
processions
of
Seville
and
Barcelona
are
the
exact
prototypes
of
the
fetes
of
Lyons
and
Paris.
In
France,
in
1783,
as
in
Spain
two
centuries
previously,
the
popular
imagination
was
so
greatly
excited
by
the
deeds
performed,
that
it
began
to
believe
in
possibilities
of
the
most
unlikely
description.
In
Spain,
the
conquestadores
and
their
followers
believed
that
in
a
few
days
after
they
had
landed
on
American
soil,
they
would
have
gathered
as
much
gold
and
precious
stones,
as
were
then
possessed
by
the
richest
European
Sovereigns.
In
France,
each
one
following
his
own
notions,
made
out
for
himself
special
benefits
to
flow
from
the
discovery
of
balloons.
Every
discovery
then
appeared
to
be
only
the
precursor
of
other
and
greater
discoveries,
and
nothing
after
that
time
seemed
to
be
impossible
to
him
who
attempted
the
conquest
of
the
atmosphere.
This
idea
clothed
itself
in
every
form.
The
young
embraced
it
with
enthusiasm,
the
old
made
it
the
subject
of
endless
regrets.
When
one
of
the
first
aeronautic
ascents
was
made,
the
old
Marechal
Villeroi,
an
octogenarian
and
an
invalid,
was
conducted
to
one
of
the
windows
of
the
Tuileries,
almost
by
force,
for
he
did
not
believe
in
balloons.
The
balloon,
meanwhile,
detached
itself
from
its
moorings;
the
physician
Charles,
seated
in
the
car,
gaily
saluted
the
public,
and
was
then
majestically
launched
into
space
in
his
air-boat;
and
at
once
the
old
Marechal,
beholding
this,
passed
suddenly
from
unbelief
to
perfect
faith
in
aerostatics
and
in
the
capacity
of
the
human
mind,
fell
on
his
knees,
and,
with
his
eyes
bathed
in
tears,
moaned
out
pitifully
the
words,
“Yes,
it
is
fixed!
It
is
certain!
They
will
find
out
the
secret
of
avoiding
death;
but
it
will
be
after
I
am
gone!”
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