The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 28, 1863.

the pirates who went to sea with a Decalogue in
which the eighth commandment had been marked
out, the National Government thinks to get on
without observing the sixth. The experiment,
however, has been tried before, and it has never yet
been found to answer.

The second man hanged was a clerk in the Post-
office, and had been found guilty of having trans-
mitted correspondence for the National Government
—which nearly every man who has ever got a friend
to take charge of a letter from Warsaw to Cracow,
or from Cracow to Warsaw, has done. The offence
of the Post-office clerk executed last Monday was
of course greatly aggravated by the fact that he was
in the Government service, but at the same time his
execution is a fresh proof that if the Russian Go-
vernment cannot catch the men who have been
found guilty of heinous crimes, it is determined, in
lieu of them, to put to death such comparatively
innocent ones already in its hands as it may think
fit to make an example of.
The Russian Government in its notices of punish-
ments to be inflicted does not go lower than capital
ones. It must draw the line somewhere, and in
announcing the coming execution of the said Post-
office clerk publishes the following description of
his crime :—•

" Stanislas Swiezynski, clerk in the Post-office, has been
found guilty of high treason by court-martial, and by his
own confession, of having been connected with the revolu-
tionary organisation known as the National Government,
and of having accepted an appointment as agent to the said
organisation ; and of having made use of his position in the
Post-office to forward parcels and messages to the insur-
gents, and even warlike implements ; and for his activity in
furthering the views and objects of the insurrection."

Two nights before the execution of Swiezynsk
and the "national gendarme" a man, named Dom-
browski, was stabbed in the street, and followed and
arrested instead of his would-be murderer. Dom-
browski still lives, and the assassin has escaped
altogether.
The day after the execution, towards dusk, a
policeman was stabbed by another " national gen-
darme," and a soldier who ran to his assistance was
badly cut in the neck. This " national gendarme"
also got away. I have heard it said that for every
Polish life taken at the citadel or elsewhere, a This..
sian life is to be exacted. But this may be only a
foolish rumour, on a par with M. Bullier's story of
Generals Berg and Korff having fought a duel, and
of General Berg having adopted infamous means
for getting possession of the Hotel de l'Europe—
which, by the way, though it is in actual possession
of the military, has hitherto not been confiscated.
In any case, hanging► and shooting on the part of
the Russians and stabbing on the part of the Poles
continue as before.

it. The first question, 'nowever, is the Ministry, which
nobody confides in or will treat with. M. von Bismark is
looked upon, not without cause, as the arch-enemy of the
Constitution, as the incarnate principle of an insolent and
unreasoning despotism. It may be that one who has al-
ready shown himself so eocile to the Royal will is prepared
to set his sails to a fresh breeze at his master's bidding.
Also it is possible that, were the arruy question got over,
fresh advisers might be band willing to second the Crown
in the grateful task of retracing certain ill-advised steps,
and in pursuing the path of Constitutional progress. Un-
fortunately, things have come to pass here, that the people
have lost all confidence if, their rulers. They demand deeds
instead of fair words, or conditional pledges. It is to be
feared that it would be fruitless to urge a compromise on
such a Chamber as that vhich in two or three weeks will
assemble at Berlin. And whatever is to be done in that
way should be done before the Diet meets ; because, when
once the Ministers and Deputies are in presence of each
other, there is no saying low soon a fierce action may com-
mence and the quarrel be:..ome more envenomed than ever.
The advanced Liberals task of assuming the offensive at the
very beginning of the session, of declaring the ordinances
against the press illegal, laid entailing prosecution for high
treason (violation of th) constitution), on all who shall
assist in carrying them out; a declaration in accordance
with the opinion obtained from the legal faculty of the Uni-
versity of Heidelburg. With respect to those ordinances,
we hear that the Government proposes introducing them
first into the Upper Chamber, there to have them detained
until such time as the Lower House shall have been dis-
solved. In this manner :he Government will not have to
incur the scandal of re-enacting the ordinances after the
rejection by the Deputes, the which would be a more
flagrant violation of the Constitution than their original
enactment.

It has been stated in certain journals that Denmark had
returned an irritating or defiant answer to the summons
from the Frankfort Diet, but that is not the case ; for, up
to three days ago, no ans,ver had been sent, or even drawn
up, and there is no probaiility of its being, in tone or form,
of the tendency above re!erred to.

The Kreuz Zeitung, of the 24th announces contemplated
changes of garrisons " inthe interest of military discipline."
You are aware that it is the custom in Prussia to quarter
troops in the provinces in which they are raised. In this
arrangement there are certain obvious advantages. The ill
fed and worst paid Prussian recruit finds himself among
his own people, and his lot is doubtless thereby somewhat
improved. But there are also disadvantages, at least at a
time like the presen, when it is urgent to preserve him from
political contamination. Such changes of garrison being
unheard of in Prussia, their announcement attracted much
notice, coining, as it did, from a paper which supports the
Government, and is supposed often to act as its organ. It
soon appeared that the Journal of the Cross had broken
bounds and imprudently let the cat out of the bag, for, in
its following number, it declared the news to have been
based on a misunderstanding, and that the army, com-
pletely uninfected in all its parts by the subversive ideas of
the present day, had not given the smallest occasion for a
measure of this kind that had been announced. Nobody
supposes the Kreuz Zietung to have blundered so much as
to say that ho has. Fortunately,.its position secures it
against the warning which an opposition paper that had
made such a statement would hardly have escaped.

THE GIANT BALLOON.

The following letter (No. 2) written by M.
Eugene d'Arnoult to the Nation, contains the
fullest account that has yet appeared of the adven-
tures of the balloon in BOgium, Holland, and
Germany :
" We passed I know not how much time in contemplat-
ing the enchanting scene around us—but at length we all
felt the necessity of going downwards to see where we were.
Presently the balloon came so near to the earth that we
could readily distinguish the tall chimneys of a great many
flaming furnaces. 'lf we were to fall upon some of them,'
said Morgolfier, anxiously. These furnaces told us very
clearly that we were in Belgium, and, besides, the Flemish
songs that continually reached our ears left no doubt upon
the point. Godard, Nadar, all of us, called out frequently
to the people below, ' Where are we ?' but got no other
answer than shouts of laughter. There were two bells in
the car, and Yon and myself rang them as hard as we could,
while Nadar roared through his speaking trumpet. I had
an opportunity of observing that the purity of the air in no
degree attenuates the quantity of false notes lodged in the
throats of certain individuals. Our aerial. Charivari at
length provoked a corresponding one en earth,and we could
hear dogs barking, ducks quacking, men swearing, and
women screaming. All this had a droll effect; but time
went on, the wind blew hard, it was dark night, and our
balloon drove on with prodigious rapidity, and we were not
able to tell exactly where we were. I could not see my
compass, and we were not allowed to light a lucifer match
under any pretext whatsoever. From the direction in
which we had passed over Lille, we judged that we must
be going towards the sea—Louis Godard fancied that he
could see lighthouses. We descended again to within
150 yards of the earth. Beneath us we saw a flat marshy
country of sinister aspect, and indicating plainly the neigh-
bourhood of the coast. Every one listened with
all his ears, and many fancied they heard the murmurs of
the sea. The further we went on the more desert the
country became—there was no light whatever, and it be-
came more and more difficult to guess where we were going.
' I am entirely out of my reckoning,' exclaimed Louis
Godard,' and my opinion is that the only thing we have to
do is to descend at once.' What, here in the marshes ?'
remonstrated all of us ; ' and suppose we are driven into the
sea.' The balloon went driving on still. "We cannot de-
scend here,' said Jules Godard, we are over water.' Two
or three of us looked over the edge of the car, and affirmed
that we were not over water, but trees, It is water,' Jules
Godard persisted, Every one now looked out attentively.
and as the balloon descended a little, we saw plainly that
there was no water, but without being able to say positively
whether there were trees or not. At the moment when Jules
Godard thought he saw water, Nadar exclaimed, ' I see a
railway.' It turned out that what Nadar took for a railway
was a canal running towards the Scheldt, which we had
passed over a few minutes before. Hurrah for balloons !
They are things to travel in—rivers, mountains, custom-
houses—all are passed without let or hindrance. But every
medal has its reverse ; and if we were delighted at having
safely got over the Scheldt, we by no means relished the
prospect of going on to the Zuyder Zee. ' Shall we go
down ?' asked Louis Godard. There was a moment's pause.
We consulted together; suddenly I uttered a cry of joy;
the position of the needle of my compass indicated- that
the balloon had made a half turn to the right, and was
now going due east. The aspect of the stars confirmed
this assertion. Forward I' was now the cry, We threw
out a little ballast, mounted higher, and started with
new vigour with our backs turned to the deprecated Zuyder
Zee. It was now three in the morning, and none of us
had slept. Just as we began to try to sleep a little my
diabolic compass showed that the balloon was turning
back again. Where are you going to take us to ?' cried
out Yon to the immense mass of canvas which was oscil.
lating above our heads. Louis Godard again proposed to
descend; but we said 'No ; forward, forward I' Two hours
sped away without our being able to tell where we were.
At five o'clock day broke, and broad daylight came on with
marvellous rapidity. It is true that wo were at a height of
980 metres. Novel writers and others have so much abused
descriptions of sunrise on mountains and on the ocean that
I shall say little about this one, although it is not a com-
mon thing to see the horizon of fire below the clouds. The
finest Venetian paintings could only give an idea of the luxu-
riant tones of the heavens that we saw. Such dazzling
magnificence led me to wonder that there is no revival of
sun worship, since men must necessarily have some mate-
rial representation of the Divinity. It is true the sun is not
made in man's image! We nowhad beneath us an immense
plain, the same probably that we had passed over in the
night. There is nothing more pleasant at first sight, nor
more monotonous in the long run, than the sort of country
which forms at least one-third of Holland. There are
miniature woods the size of bouquets, fields admirably cul-
tivated and divided into little patches like gardens, rivers
with extraordinary windings, microscopic roads, coquettish-
looking villages, so white and so clean that I think the
Dutch housewives must scour the very roofs of their houses
every morning. In the midst of every village there is a
jewel of a church with a shining steeple. While riding
along at a height of 700 metres we had beneath us a picture
of Paul Potter's 50 leagues square. All at once the tableau
became animated. The people below had perceived the
balloon. We heard cries expressive of astonishment,
fright, and even of anger, but the feeling of fright seemed
to predominate. We distinctly saw women in their
chemises look hurriedly out of windows and then rush
back again. We saw chubby boys locking at us, and
blubbering as if they were mad. Some men, more de-
termined than the rest, fired off guns at us. I saw seve
ral mammas pointing us out to stubborn babies, with
an attitude which seemed to say that our balloon was Old
Bogy. Old women raised their hands against us, and at
their signal many ran away, making the sign of the cross.
It is evident that in some of these villages we were taken
to be the devil in person. On this point it is apropos to
cite a letter communicated to me which has been addressed
to the Courrier de Ranovre. I translate it textually :
" This morning at about six o'clock we saw passing over
our heads, at a prodigious sleight, an immense round form,
to which was suspended something which looked like a
square house of a red colour. Some people pretend to have
seen animated beings in this strange machine, and to have
heard issuing from it superhuman cries. What think you,
Mr. Editor ? The whole country is in a state of alarm, and
it will be long before our people recover their equanimity,'
"At 7 a.m. we crossed over a lake near Yesel ; the wind
then again pushed us in a new direction, nearly at right
angles with that which we were taking before. In less
than a quarter of an hour the balloon got into Westphalia,
near Renheirn ; then we crossed the great river Ems, the
towns of Rheine and Ibbenhurrhen, and returned to Han-
over a little above Osnabruck ; we traversed, without deign-
ing to take notice of them, a little chain of mountains, and
by way no doubt of relaxation after so long a journey went
all round a lake, which is called in German Dumrnersse.
We then got into a great plain, through which rune a road.
At this time the balloon became almost motionless. The
reason of this was that the heat of the sun had caused the
gas to expand. Louis Godard was very uneasy about this
dilation. After two or three oscillations our aerial courser
decided upon going off rapidly in an eastern direction, with
about two degrees variation towards the north. This course
would have taken us to Hamburg and the Baltic, but we
were all so completely absorbed by the splendour of the
tableau before us that we took little notice of the change.
Our hippogriff passed over Wagenfald-Steyerberg, where
there is a river which flows into the Weser. We came
within sight of the great river and Nienburg, a considerable
town on one of its banks. We saw a steamboat going down
the river from the town ; the view here was charming. A
rustling of the silk of our balloon made us look upwards,
the monster, under the influence of the sun, now very hot,
was palpably swelling. As it would have been supremely
ridiculous, after having made such a first-rate journey, to
have treated the inhabitants of Nienburg with the spectacle
of seeing us blown up—to say nothing of the consequences
of such a catastrophe to our own limbs—we resolved to
come down. The remaining bags of ballast were got in
order, the ropes and anchors prepared, and Godard opened
the safety valve. The monster is disgorging l' exclaimed
Thirion. And the balloon did vomit forth its gas with a
tremendous noise, which may be compared to the snor-
ing of some gigantic animal. While our companion made
this observation, we were descending at the rate of
two metres to the second. 'To the ropes I to the ropes !
hold on well 1' cried the brothers Godard, who seemed quite
in their element; 'take care of the shock.' Every one
climbed up to the ropes which attach the car to the circular
handles underneath the balloon. Madame Nadar, whose
sang froid was truly magnificent, grasped two large ropes
with her delicate hands. Nadar did the like, but at the
same time put his arms round his wife so as to protect her
body. I was on one side towards the middle of the sort of
hurdle which serves as a balcony. I was on my knees and
clinging to two ropes. Montgolfier, Thirion, and St. Felix
were near me. The balloon descended so rapidly that it gave
us the vertigo. The air, which we had left so calm above,
became a violent wind as we neared the earth. 'We are
going to throw down the anchors,' said Godard, hold
tight.' Ali I the car struck the earth with tremendous vio-
lence. I cannot imagine how it was that my arms were not
broken. After the first terrible shock the balloon went up
again, but the safety valve was opened—it again fell—and
we suffered a second shock, if not more violent at least more
painful to us than the first. Up we went again—the balloon
dragged its anchors. Several times we thought we should be
thrown out. The anchors are broken,' exclaimed Godard.
The balloon beat the ground with its head like a kite when
it falls down. It was horrible. On we went towards Nicn-
burg, at the rate of ten leagues an hour.* Three large
trees were cut through by the car as clean as if by a wood-
man's hatchet. One small anchor remained to us. Wo
threw it down, and it carried away the roof of a house.
If the balloon had dragged us through the town we should
inevitably have been cut to pieces. But fortunately it rose a
little, and then bumped against the ground with as much
violence as before. Every one of these shtocks wrenched
a rope of the
our limbs I To complete our misfortunee het hsye .
valve -
safety-valve got loose from us, and the m
tying itselfshut It
ting up we lost all hope of the ballooo
Inneetreps from the earth,
went on by bounds of 25, 30, and

* A letter of AI. Louis Godard says, in two places, that
the balloon, when descending, was driven by the wind at
the rate of GO leagues an hour ; but this is proliably a mis-
print,