Page:Travels in the Air, Glaisher, 2nd ed.djvu/14

vi regret the imperfection of the instrument, and the absence of combined efforts to improve it, but, it must be admitted, they afford no direct stimulus to quicken the apathy of the world at large.

When I say that Paris, under pressure of the siege, had recourse to the invention of her country, that for four months the balloon afforded the sole means of departure from the capital, and materially assisted in prolonging the resistance of the nation; and that, under the direction of the Post Office, it became the means of transmitting letters and despatches, and by it were conveyed from the city the pigeons by which alone it was possible for the provinces to communicate with the capital, I merely repeat what everybody knows; but the comprehensive scheme, organized by the Government, for the construction and management of balloons, and the regularity with which they were despatched, are not so well known. Further on will be found a list of the times of departure and places of descent of these air-ships, sent out in time of war to navigate an unknown ocean, to contend with darkness by night, and the enemy's fire by day.

Whatever may be the future of aërial navigation, the history of these first regularly sustained and hazardous ventures will never be without interest. Intimately connected with the siege, their record will ever remain to testify to the suffering and endurance of Paris.

For the following details, relating to the management and working of the Postal Service, and the manufacture of the balloons, I am indebted to the kindness of my colleagues, as well as to M. Jules Godard and M. de Simonin, the author of La Vie souterraine, Les Pierres, &c., who had himself ascended several times, and whose published account of aërostation during the siege, which recently appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes, attracted general attention. Apart from the interest which must attach to all particulars illustrative of the state of Paris during the siege, these details have a special interest in their present place, as they carry on the course of enterprise pursued under happier auspices by MM. Flammarion, De Fonvielle, and Tissandier; the names of the last two gentlemen will appear once more in connection with new efforts.