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panion, rivalled these feats for awhile in Italy, but the man of science ultimately was precipitated headlong to the ground, and his aristocratic confrere was plunged into the waters of the Adriatic, to be rescued with difficulty by fishermen's boats several hours after the disaster. Not many years succeeding these events, hydrogen gas was substituted for heated air as ascending power. This made the process of air traveling a safer one, but no great strides towards perfecting the science results from the change, and no balloon voyage could be got to exceed three hundred miles in distance, until Clayton ascended twenty-six years ago, and made then but three hundred and fifty: Our voyagers, the reader now understands from the information before him, have grandly eclipsed every feat known to the history of aerial navigation. A little time hence and the broad bosom of the Ocean will be bared to the eyes of these intrepid men in a flight from America to the Continent of Europe. No one, with the experience of the last twenty-four hours before him, will say it is impracticable. There remains but one other incident associated with this enterprise to notice, and that is paltry and immaterial. The News of Saturday, under the head of "special dispatch," &c., contained a pretend report of the completion of the trip. It is needless to say the whole story, though studiously worded to deceive the public, was a fabrication. Those who understand that paper, knew as much from its heading of "special dispatch," because it was never known to pay for an exclusive message, or publish any but those that could be "cribbed" form morning papers. The Daily Morning Call. DAILY CIRCULATION..........6,350 THURSDAY MORNING, APRIL 5. FRANCISCO, THURSDAY Aerial Navigation EDITORS MORNING CALL:--Prof. John Wise of Lancaster, Pa., extensively known for his many successful and daring aeronautic voyages and discoveries, has recently written a letter to Mr. A. Mecartney, in which he proposes that in the event sufficient funds could be raised to defray the expense of constructing a baloon [[balloon]] of the required size, he would undertake to cross the continent with it. It is not proposed to guide the balloon, but merely to keep it at a certain heighth in the current of wind constantly prevailing from west to east. This wind, it is said, will move a balloon at from sixty to eighty miles per hour. This would convey mailable matter considerably in advance of the Overland Stages, the Pony Express, or even the Iron Horse himself. It would, as proposed by Prof. Wise, be the pilot of the great Pacific Railroad. In case of an invasion it could be advantageously used for carrying dispatches. We are as yet unacquainted with the many conveniences and advantages that may result from the undertaking. There is not the least doubt but that it is destined, ere long, to add another trophy to the modern march of mind. It may yet be the means of developing some new features af [[of]] the earth; it may illustrate more fully the cause of the winds; it may give to man the means of using with practicability the very motion of this terrestrial sphere. That the earth moves is a fact established long since and beyond a doubt. Now there is nothing more certain than that it must create a vacuum in the atmosphere: that vacuum causes the current of air that Prof. Wise designs turning to useful account. That these perpetual currents exist and are obedient to the great and unchangeable laws of God and nature there can be no doubt. There is not a man possessed of the least spark of patriotic feeling that would not feel a satisfaction in knowing that California had the honor of making the experiment. Prof. Wise has the most unlimited confidence in its success; he engages to give his time and labor and undertake the trip at once, if the expense can be guaranteed. The whole expense will probably not exceed $10,000. This looks like a small amount. We spend more than ten times that sum in a month in discussing "bleeding Kansas" and other political issues, and do this without contributing to any one, save the intriguing politician. I hope the people of California will respond at once to the proposition. AN OBSERVATIONIST. PROF. WISE AND THE JAPANESE: A Washington correspondent says that the indefatigable Jno. Wise of Lancaster has addressed an eloquent letter to Capt. Dupont, proposing to make a grand ascension from Washington, for the edification of the Japanese on their arrival at that point. He asks no compensation beyond the payment of the expense in furnishing the gas. We hope Mr. Wise's suggestion may be acted upon, as he would no doubt gratify as well as amaze the representatives of this remarkable people by his daring feats in the upper regions. This proposition is another evidence that our fellow citizen is emphatically a live man, always on hand for some novel and practical object. Give him a fair field, and he will not only astonish the Japanese, but cross the ocean in a balloon to boot. Mr. John Wise, the aeronaut speaks very favorably of his new invention, the small model of which has only thus far been made. It is of more importance he says to the condition of navigating the air than any other accession it has lately received. It claims to give the balloon a rudder and keel, so to speak, when sailing over or near the sea, and is designed to combine the art of kedging, steering, and anchoring the balloon when within cable's length of the water. This invention is by Mr. Gage. As it takes only very little money to test its value, and the inventor claims the most stupendous results in store in crossing seas, it should receive a practical trial. ELDERMANIC CONTESTED SEAT.--This matter was finally brought to an end yesterday by the non-appearance of Mr. Mitchell, the contestant, and his counsel. Ballooning at Palace Garden. ATTEMPTED ASCENT OF MR. AUGUSTUS M. CONNER IN THE VENUS--THE BALLOON STRIKES THE WALLS AND WINDOWS OF THE CONCERT SALOON--PROBABLE FATAL INJURIES--THE ÆRONAUT, ETC. About one hundred people were assembled in Palace Garden yesterday afternoon, to witness the second balloon ascension of Mr. Agustus M. Conner, a pupil of the celebrated Prof. Wise. Four o'clock was the hour announced in the advertisement for the starting of the æronaut on this perilous voyage, but, on the arrival of our reporter at the Garden, (about ten minutes after four o'clock,) the process of inflation was only just begun. The balloon used on this occasion was the Venus, an entirely new arrangement, built especially for Mr. Conner by his tutor, at a cost of about three hundred dollars. In size and general construction it resembles the Ganymede, in which Mr. Conner made his first ascension very successfully, two weeks ago, from the same place, landing, it will be remembered, some two miles to the westward of Westfield, New Jersey. The day was anything but favorable for a voyage in the boundless regions of air, and most people supposed that the æronaut would be deterred from making his trip by the [[?]] and uncomfortable state of the weather [[?]] [[white column obscuring text]] [[?]] by the grappling irons or shattered panes of glass. Up to a late hour last evening he remained wholly unconscious, and it was feared that the injuries might prove fatal. It is supposed that he struck his breast and head against the wall, and great danger is apprehended from concussion of the brain. Mr. Conner had, it is said, been sick for a week previous to his ascent, and his nervous system was in consequence completely unstrung. The result of yesterday's ascent, should he survive, will probably be a lesson to him in future, and cure him effectually of his ballooning propensities. It was his intention to take his wife along with him yesterday, but the size of the balloon not having been sufficient for the accommodation of two persons, fortunately prevented the consummation of his rash purpose. The entire management of the ascession [[ascension]] seemed to be characterizd [[characterized]] by a great want of prudence and foresight. Shortly after the commencement of the inflating process a rent was discovered in the balloon, which had to be sewed on the spot, and the inflation was then conducted in a loose and reckless manner. It was also rumored that he had taken too much ballast up, which would cause the irregular motion of the balloon, which had only a capacity of 11,000 cubic feet of gas. Mr. C. is a cousin of the Supervisor. POSTSCRIPT. DEATH OF MR CONNER. Augustus M. Conner, who fell from the baloon [[balloon]] yesterday afternoon, at Palace Garden, died at 11 o'clock last night. Note from Prof. John Wise. To the Editor of the New-York Times: The following paragraph, clipped from your paper, was handed me by a friend, a few days ago: "Prof. WISE, of aëronautic celebrity, is selling apples and candy in Memphis, if the papers in that city can be credited." It has run the rounds of the country press for some weeks past, and I had intended to bear it with meekness and humility, and should have done so had it not at last found its way into the widely circulated and influential papers of New-York, of which yours is a prominent one. I find no fault with the lowliness of the business that is attempted to be thrust upon me, for I believe with the philosopher who said, "Honor and shame from no condition rise, Act well your part, for there the honor lies." But I am not in the business, and thus I do not wish to have the smallness thrust upon me, because it injures me in my profession, wherein I am endeavoring, with faith and energy, to "act well my part," and to realize that ultimatum of success in balooning [[ballooning]], viz.: voyages across continents, across oceans and around the world, with system, precision, and commercial economy. The atmospheric ocean, with its systematic currents and counter-currents, its revolutions around the globe we inhabit, its immense lifting and carrying power, all bespeak this coming estate of human progress. Please, for the sake of common justice, to place me fairly, by your widely circulated TIMES, into the right saddle,—that of the air steed, not on the apple-cart [[ ? see notes ]],—and I will be much obliged to you, as the " aëronautic celebrity" of Lancaster, Pa. JOHN WISE. CAN'T WE HAVE A UNION MEETING? From the failures of two attempts to hold a Union meeting in this city one might almost be led to think that the grace of God had departed from this place. It would seem that selfish bitterness, and cabalistic combinations, had bloteed from men's hearts the patriotism that belongs to the common country, and that they could not rise above these moral and political pestilences. That we have fallen far below [[ obscured ]]nest and pure love of country that once did [[ obscured ]] men's minds in great matters pertaining to [[ obscured ]] commonwealth [[ best guess ]] is not to be denied, but that the [[ obscured ]] love of country and the country's good has [[ obscured ]] hearts of the masses is not to be admitted. [[ obscured ]] the people of the South are being tossed to [[ obscured ]] by the bitter invectives and maddened [[ obscured ]] [of the Southern orators, whose warm [[ obscured ]] blood, as naturally near the boiling point, [[ obscured ]] of the North are grasped in the cold [[ word starts with puri ]] [[ obscured ]] clutches of professional agitators, and know [[ obscured ]] to help themselves. A reign of terror on [[ obscured ]] side—a reign of political sophistry on the [[ obscured ]] [[ obscured ]] the northern orators accuse the south of [[ obscured ]] [[ olely ]] moved by the love of office [[best guess ]] and political [[ obscured ]], the southern statesmen fling back the [[ prof ]] [[ obscured ]] laces of honor and profit with haughty dis- [[ obscured ]] There is more than superficial malevolence in [[ obscured ]] eat national commotion. The union [[italics]] is [[/italics]] in [[ obscured ]], and he that great the question with indif [[ obscured ]] pretexts and talks lightly of the consequences [[ obscured ]] rdly understand the true nature of the case, [[ obscured ]] rly value the estate that was bequeathed him blood-written charter of human rights, which the original thirteen States together in that [[ obscured ]] us and munificent bond. Can we not-shall [[ obscured ]], in a common love of country, in a duty we posterity-to God and humanity, raise our unselfishly for the perpetuation of that glori-[[ obscured ]] on, in a spirit of bearance and forbearance. we not lived prosperously, happily, progress- [[ obscured ]] gloriously, for eighty years, by [[italics]] compromise [[/italics]] [[ obscured ]] tual forbearance? Has our wonderful growth [[ obscured ]] [[italics]] much [[/italics]] prosperity impoverished our hearts, expense of our inflated vanity? Have the [[ obscured ]] lizing schemes of political conjurors and [[ obscured ]] ebank legislators crushed the last increments [[ obscured ]] ue from our hearts? Shall it be written by [[ obscured ]] ty that we, citizens of the staid, good old Lancas- [[ obscured ]] d not energy enough left in our hearts to rise petty bickering and party littleness to raise [[ obscured ]] ces in favor of a restoration of please and love and loyalty, and the preservation of the Union, by generous compromise and dignified [[ obscured ]] ance? Let us try, Let us call on the honest [[ obscured ]] nry of Lancaster. The men who wield the and hammer-the men who furrow the [[ obscured ]] and delve the earth-the men who move the [[ obscured ]] and tread the loom-the men who make our and sew our garments-the men who build our and make our harness-then men whose labor [[ obscured ]] s the rich and fine garments, and spreads the of the epicure-they are the people, the Vox [[ obscured ]] and woe to him who deceives them and rouses wrath. A MECHANIC.
Transcription Notes:
iaflation [[inflation]] - can't tell if typo or the a is actually an n
"a rent was discovered in the balloon" - what's a rent?
rent, noun, an opening made by or as if by rending
apple-cart - can't tell if hyphenated because of line break, or because applecart isn't a word