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[[page contains three columns of clippings]] [[Left column]] [[first of three clippings]] [[italics]] Extract of a Letter from Mr. Blanchard, dated Basle, in Switzerland, April 25. [[italics]] [[in handwriting]] [[1790?]] "Retired in a castle near the gates of Basle, I have been many months making two wings, composed of whalebone, and covered in taffety, which are exactly like those of birds; and not-withstanding they cover a space of 90 feet, their lightness, joined with the force I have borrowed from the powers of mechanism, enables me to use them so easily, that I can mount with the least motion. On Monday the 5th of May, I will make a public attempt in this city, at the Margrave of Baden's, and mount myself from the Court of the Palace. I shall as my first trail take my parachute with me, which a small balloon, about 15 feet in diameter, will raise, and keep ready to spread when wanted. I may, perhaps, have a second of the same size for other experiments. Many motives have engaged me to perfect and execute this piece of mechanism: 1st, To find some method of direction, by a considerable diminution of the volume of the balloon; 2dly, To reduce of course the expences of and experiment to a mere nothing; 3dly, To avoid all the dangers which my ascension among a number of the inaccessible mountains will expose me to, if carried by a balloon only, and driven by a bad wind, I should reach the summit of those mountains, which no mortal ever arrived at; whereas I now no longer fear those desolate places, but shall be very glad to see them, as I can easily leave them by flying. After this essay nothing will be difficult to me, and I dare promise the success of my wings beforehand, from the observations I have made in the different experiments. I have tried for these 14 or 15 years with machines far from the perfection of my present piece of mechanism. I flatter myself I shall yet have the satisfaction of returning to Paris on a fixed day, flying in the air." [[end clipping]] [[second of three clippings]] BLANCHARD'S ASCENSION. Blanchard made his thirtieth experiment on the 5th [[month?]] at Basil. He ascended, in the presence of the Margrave of Baden, without the usual boat, his wings or parachute, owing to an opening of about six inches toward the equatorial part of the balloon, which prevented its being completely filled. All his efforts to raise the boat or basket being fruitless, he tied four of the ropes at the bottom of the aerostat, and in that manner mounted the airy regions, inspiring a general consternation and terror all round. A mournful silence, expressive of the their inward anxiety, seized all the numerous spectators, and it was only the colours, waved in the air by Blanchard, that tranquilized their minds. His elevation was soon at such a height that he hardly distinguished the mountains he was soaring above, but as he was not sufficiently cloathed, he could not long resist the severity of the cold. The heavens were calm, and not the least cloud obstructed the majestic expansive view. On the endless circle of mountains the eye enjoyed one of the most glorious spectacles of the atmosphere. It was with regret that he was forced to quit that enchanting scene, after an excursion of about half an hour. He examined the balloon, and perceived the fracture, that had prevented its being completely filled, and rendered abortive his efforts to carry the boat, &c., then pulled the valves firing, and immediately felt he was descending. The objects began to be more visible, and for fear of falling on the tops of some homes, or the neighboring forests, he pulled the string a second time. By this second pull the valve unluckily gave way; the inflammable air began to fly, and he was hurried down about two hundred fathoms with a violent rapidity. His feet received the first impression, and by good luck received no other injury but a sprain in one of his ancles. It was certainly a miraculous escape, for the balloon afterwards was found hardly able to support itself. The Senate of Basil have placed the colours in the archives of the town in remembrance of so daring an ascent, and so dangerous a descent. [[handwritten]] 26 May, [[1790?]] [[handwritten]] [[end of clipping]] [[third clipping]] [[clipping was partially torn at time of inclusion and therefore not able to be completely transcribed accurately]] BLANCHARD And His BALLOON. [[handwritten]] [[1790?]] [[handwritten]] [[italics]] Brunswick, Aug. 12. [[italics]] Mr. Blanchard having some time since advertised his intention of ascending in a balloon on the 10th instant, their royal Highnesses our Princes and Princesses, with many others, and a numerous party of nobility, surrounded by a multitude, met for the purpose of seeing what was deemed next to impossible here. At one o'clock he began, on the firing of a [[?]] to inflate his balloons, to one of which was attached a gondola, painted red, and decorated with white silk fringe. At five o'clock, all being ready, he mounted, [[?]] the surprise of every spectator, and the weather being remarkable fine, added to the [[--liancy?]] of the scenes. The wind being trifling. The balloon went only as far as the village of [[?]] about three English miles distance, where it ascended at half past seven, amongst a number [[?]] company assembled, who received him [[--eat?]] applause; but instead of getting [[?]] the car, by some manœuvre he raised himself again, and steered back to the place [[?]] set out from, where he was received with a thunder of applause, and carried to the Palace in one of the Duke of Brunswick's carriages. The crowd was so great it was difficult to discern whether they did not actually carry the horses, carriage and all, to the Palace, instead of taking them off as they do in England. The next day he went to the play-house, where a new play and entertainment were performed, the former named as an honour after him, and the latter called the Balloon. The Theatre was full of nobility; hardly any thing but stars to be seen; and previous to the play beginning, Blanchard sent up a finall balloon, with a dog in a basket, which had a fuze burning, calculated to rise such a height. This, after being nearly out of sight, let the animal fall, which came to the ground unhurt. The Princes and every body here look on Blanchard to be something more than human from his extraordinary feats. [[end clipping]] [[Middle column]] [[first of one clipping]] BLANCHARD'S Letter to the Editors of the Paris Journal, dated Brunswick, Aug. 13. [[handwritten]] [[1790?]] "Gentlemen, "According to my promise I send you an account of my experiment at Brunswick. I arrived in this town the 22d of last month, and found the carpenters and other workmen preparing for my 32d ascension. These preparations were very grand, and formed a kind of Amphitheatre, like that of Verona, which could hold many thousands. The reigning Duke sent me his state carriage to carry me to the appointed place: At four o'clock every part was full; the coup d'œil was superb; the illustrious persons who composed the brilliant assembly added lustre to the whole. The sky was serene, the air calm; nature, and man, in short, favoured my enterprize. Nothing was neglected on my part to answer the Prince's expectations, and in a very short time three balloons were filled. The Duke himself would send one into the air, which took the direction westward. I adapted to the second an immense parachute, which I fixed to the under part of my boat, and letting this aerostat be about ninety feet above the third, I fastened my winds to the machines that were prepared for them, and disposed myself to mount. The barometer, at my departure, was at 28 inches, 1 line. The removed atmospherical air might weigh more than 327 pounds; there wanted just a pound for my being at a proper equilibrium with the surface of the earth. I charged the car with 89 pounds, I trod consequently on a ground of 90 pounds.--- At the first motion of my wings, this weight seemed to obstruct their action. I diminished it 20 pounds, and instantly rose, employing all my strength. It was exactly five o'clock, and in fifteen minutes I was planning over the town of Brunswick. Every stroke or beating of the wings so much agitated the car, that I was obliged to forbear the motion, for the purpose of consulting the barometer, which I found at 24 inches; this according to the rule of the barometer, gave 3640 feet elevation. During this observation, I descended 92 feet; my extended wings, horizontally fixes, produced the effect of a parachute. The air was calm, and the part of the atmosphere I was in very pure; I re-assumed my work, and abandoning 20 pounds of ballast, I remained half an hour in the same elevation over the town, and describing different angles. I had the project of descending in the same place I had set out from, and from which I was not very far; but the fruit of all my attempts was to tack and wind about; giving sometimes to my wings an inclining position, I attempted to return against the current of the air, which though feeble, I could never conquer, and all I could do was to keep in the same place. In executing these manoeuvres, I had 50 pounds of ballast to bear; my strength was exhausting, and I was going to descend in the town, when I got rid of 20 pounds more of my ballast. This facilitated very much my work; I had only 30 pounds now to support; I manoeuvred pretty easily, but yet count not mount higher; I had been working 32 minutes, and my wings seemed not to act with the same celerity: I threw away twenty pounds more of my weight: It was not difficult then to rise, and leaving the town, I got four thousand eighty-five feet high. The thermometer, which was at 20 degrees at my departure was at 9; the cold, though sharp, was bearable; I got rid of the rest of my ballast, and by a light shake of the winds, at 35 minutes after five, I reached the height of 5869 feet. I took immediately the direction of S. S. W. 70 degrees westward of the compass: I got to this elevation by the assistance of my wings, and could not keep in it but by shaking them; the moment I gave over this manoeuvre I descended immediately. The barometer was at 21 inches 6 lines, and the thermometer 5 degrees above 0. I had worked very hard at the chemical process for filling the balloon. I was much agitated, and very warm on account of the aerial manoeuvres; the cold seized me, I saw my breath smoking as in the severest winter. All my experiments on the wings being over, I did not think proper to hazard my health: I extended therefore my wings to their greatest volume, and began to descend. I soon got over a wood, where a dead calm detained me for five minutes; a smart shake of my wings made me fly over a plain where hundreds of people on horseback tendered their arms to me: they took hold of my anchor, and by means of my extended wings, and the parachute which opened itself at a proper time, I touched the earth with the lightness of a bird; and yet I got down with a pretty considerable weight, having lost in my voyage 29 pounds of energy by dilatation. I weighed then 30 pounds. They seized the cord in order to tow me towards Brunswick, but I could not rise again but by the help of my wings: I was forced however to dismount them, for fear they should be entangled and broken among the trees and houses we were to pass by. This retarded very much my return, as I could not easily get over the drawbridges and other fortifications. By manoeuvring however with a little more spirit, I got over all these difficulties, and returned with the balloon exactly to the place of its departure. The Prince's carriage in waiting conveyed me to the Play-house. [[end clipping]] [[Right column]] [[first of five clippings]] On the 27th of September, at three o'clock, [[underlined in pen]] Blanchard ascended at Berlin [[/underline]], attached to his balloon, in the presence of his Majesty, the Royal Family, and many foreign Princes. A building was erected, which encompassed the balloon; but when it was ready to ascend, half of it was pulled down, to give spectators a better view. Blanchard saluted his Majesty, just as he quitted the earth, with a white flag, on which was displayed the Royal Black Eagle. He went over the river Spree, and had ordered a post coach and six at a certain distance, where it is supposed he alighted, as he meant to appear at the Theatre in the evening. The prices of admission were two dollars.--- The sum taken was very considerable. He very quickly disappeared. [[handwritten]] [[? 1790?]] We related the following circumstance, which happened in Bannat on the 14th ult. as it shows a noble fortitude, at the same time that is conveys a striking instance of national hatred engendered in the breasts of the Mahometans against the Christians. A Turkish man and boy were loading a waggon with hay, when they were surprised by a foraging party of Austrians: The boy, though only twelve years of age, defended himself by two pistols on the top of the waggon with great bravery. When his powder and ball were expended, he made a noble resistance with a scythe, and wounded two hussars very dangerously; but the horses in the waggon taking fright, it was overthrown, and the man and boy much bruised. Both of them had broken bones, which when examined by the surgeon, made the man cry with pain; but the boy bore all with the patience of an ancient Roman, and reproved his companion for betraying his uneasiness before the Christian dogs. [[end clipping]] [[second clipping of five]] BLANCHARD and his NEW BALLOON. BLANCHARD, to please the DIET at WARSAW, is going to make another Aerial Voyage, in a Balloon eight time larger than the one he ascended with before --- the gondola weighs 600 poinds, and is to contain a second person --- the first gondola weighed only fifteen. [[handwritten]] Ap 10 1790 [[end clipping]] [[third clipping of five]] BLANCHARD and his BALLOON. June 3 1790 On the 14th of May, Mr. Blanchard ascended in the Montgolfier belonging to Mr. Potocki, at Warsaw, accompanied by him and two other persons, from a private garden. This being only an attempt to try it, no person in Warsaw was apprized until they saw them at a considerable height in the air, after which they descended about a quarter of a mile from the City, in perfect safety; and Blanchard intended to go up publicly again in his own Balloon on the 16th if the weather permitted. [[end clipping]] [[fourth clipping of five]] AEROSTATION In a long letter, written from Prague, dated the 1st instant, M. Blanchard gives a circumstantial detail of his 37th aerial excursion, accompanied by the Comte Joachim Sternberg, Member of the Royal Academy of Prague. He filled his aerostat with 9000 cubic feet of gas; and on the 31st of October, at four in the afternoon, he ascended from Plain Baumgarten, in presence of a multitude of spectators. The Count was provided with several instruments for making observations; but the machine was scarcely at the height of 1000 feet before they were all broken, or thrown down from the gallery by the violent motion of an eddy of wind which tossed the machine in all directions. Mr. Blanchard declares, that though at that time the air was perfectly calm in the lower regions, he never experienced any thing equal to the storm to which he and his companion were exposed. Frequently the base of the aerostat was perpendicular to the horizon, and the people below could easily see, with their telescopes, the inside and the floor of the gallery, the sides and doors of which were torn to pieces. At the height of 1000 [[?]] the air was perfectly calm, and notwithstanding apparent dangers, the aeronauts descended afterwards in perfect safety. [[handwritten]]27 Sept. 1790 [[end clipping]] [[Fifth of five clippings]] [[handwritten]] [[?]] 1790 BALLOONS. --- As a proof that ascending in a Balloon has not property of making persons giddy, the celebrated aerostat BLANCHARD has been frequently heard to declare, "that he could not go up twenty rounds of a ladder without his head swimming." Of his powers of going into the air, no one can entertain a doubt. [[end clipping]]
