now scarcely half tilled continent will, ere
long, ameliorate the condition of the poor, who
are with us always

WAR BALLOONS.

THE first actual application of a balloon to any
military purpose, occurred at Valenciennes, in
1793, and resulted in failure. The garrison,
sorely pressed by the English and allied armies,
despatched a small parachute (to which was
attached a letter addressed to the National Assembly),
with a fair breeze blowing towards Paris.
About evening the wind changed round, and
the balloon fell in the camp of the allies.

About this time a scientific commission had
been deputed by the Committee of Public Safety
to inquire into various improvements in warlike
materiel. Among its members was Guyton-
Morveau, who had already made several successful
balloon ascents in various parts of France.
By him the question of aerostation was brought
before the commission, and admitted for
consideration: with the proviso, that sulphur should
not be employed in the manufacture of the
hydrogen gas to be used for inflation. The
war had put an end to the importation of
sulphur from Sicily, and the powder-mills might
feel the effects of a shortened supply. Lavoisier
had already shown that hydrogen might be
produced by directing a jet of steam upon a surface
of red-hot iron, but it remained to be proved
whether enough gas could be thus obtained.

A young captain of engineers named Coutelle,
then in his twenty-third year, together with
Citizens Charles and Conté, were ordered to
report upon this matter. Their experiments
were conducted in the old Salle des Maréchaux
of the Tuileries. By passing several jets of
steam through a series of cast-iron pipes filled
with iron filings, they succeeded in producing,
in a moderate space of time, from five hundred
to six hundred cubic feet of hydrogen. Thus
the first difficulty was removed.

It was next considered advisable to take the
opinion of Jourdan, who had lately succeeded
Houchard in the command of the armies of the
North, on the military bearings of the question.
Coutelle was deputed to lay the matter before
him. It affords a curious picture of the state
of affairs in the rural districts of France at this
time, to find that Coutelle, an officer on duty
charged with an important mission, was within
an ace of being shot on his road by order of a
certain Representative Duquesnoy, who could
not be made to understand his explanations:
—"Young man," said the Gallic Justice
Shallow, ''who ever heard of balloons in
war? You appear to me a suspect, and to
set all doubts at rest, I will have you shot!"
How the matter was compromised, we are
not told; but Coutelle succeeded in reaching
the frontier, and in submitting his project to
Jourdan: who heartily approved of it, but
recommended that the experiments should be
continued in Paris, as the state of the frontier
forbade their being carried out in a satisfactory
manner, in the neighbourhood of the army.
Coutelle accordingly returned to Paris, and set about
establishing workshops and other requisites at
the chateau of Meudon. A large brick furnace
was erected for the manufacture of gas; and
a balloon twenty-seven feet (old French
measure), or nine mètres, in diameter, with a car
capable of holding two persons, was constructed.
The weight of the balloon and car (without the
aeronauts) was about two and a half hundredweight.
Its ascensional power when filled
with hydrogen was about five hundredweight,
and its cost somewhere about two
thousand five hundred francs. The balloon
was to be held by two guy-ropes, each two
hundred and seventy toises, or four hundred and
fifty yards, in length, attached to its equator.
A system of signals was established by means
of small pendants and burgees, coloured red,
white, and yellow, by which orders for hauling
the balloon in any particular direction, or for
lowering it, or allowing it to rise, could be
conveyed from the balloon to the ground. In
like manner orders could be transmitted from
the ground to the balloon. The practice of
sending down reports by means of a guy-rope
having proved inconvenient, small bags of sand
were provided, in which slips of paper,
containing the reports, were to be tied up. Small
coloured pendants were attached to each bag,
to enable the eye to follow it readily in its fall.

These arrangements having been completed,
the balloon was tried in the presence of Monge,
Foucroy, and Guyton-Morveau. Several ascents
were made by Coutelle to a height of five
hundred and forty feet: the balloon being held by
five men at each guy, without the slightest
mishap.

So satisfactory were these results
considered, that a "décret" of April 2nd, 1794,
sanctioned the immediate formation of a
company of "aérostiers" to be attached to the
art (?), and to consist of Coutelle, as captain-
commandant, one lieutenant, one sergeant-
major, one sergeant, two corporals, and twenty
privates. Their weapons were to be sabres
and pistols, their uniform was to be dark blue,
with the black velvet facings which for more
than sixty years had been (like the garter-blue
velvet of our own Royal Engineers) a
distinguishing badge of the French "corps de génie."

Shortly after its formation, the company was
ordered to join the army of the Sambre and
Meuse; Conté, who had been associated with
Coutelle in the above-related experiment,
taking charge of the establishment (now the
"Institut Aéronautique") at Meudon.

The aérostiers arrived in camp at Maubeuge
on the 3rd of May, the balloon equipage,
which followed by easy stages under a small
escort, arrived some days later. The ballooners
appear to have been at first regarded with
some jealousy and a good deal of contempt, by
the rest of the army. Coutelle earnestly
besought the general that his men might be
allowed to take part in a projected sortie on the
left bank of the Sambre. Permission was
accorded, and two of the corps, an officer and a