The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-23 00:00:00

A VOYAGE THROUGH THE AIR.

A French paper describes a recent balloon voyage from
Paris in the " Gironde." At eight o'clock, says the
narrator, the balloon was inflated, and Eugene Godard,
the manager, directed his sailors and douaniers to carry
out the last manoeuvres. We said good-bye to our
friends, and Godard cried, "The passengers in the car."
We climbed into the large wicker basket with two sailors,
and at 8.20 the sacks of dispatches having been attached
to the sides of the car, Godard gave the signal, and we
rose slowly,-amid cries of " Vive la France !" In a quarter
of an hour we were 800 metres above the Orleans station
from which welad started. At this height there was not
the least breath of wind, and we could see our friends
grouped below. We proceeded leisurely over the quays
of the Seine and admired the fine panorama beneath. We
could distinguish every street, every monument; but
over our heads spread an immense curtain of grey cloud.
Our prevailing idea was "we are not advancing." " And
suppose we were to descend ?" ventured one,
"to morrow the wind will perhaps have changed
and the voyage • will be more rapid," " Gentle-
men," said one of the sailors, "we have plenty of
ballast, a good balloon ; if the wind does not come we
will go higher to seek it. We have time enough before
evening, and, if need be, We *can pass the night." We
went past Anteuil, Grenelle, where we crossed the ram-
part, th 3 bridge of Sevres whose first arch is cut, and
Menden. Here are the Prussians I One ball, two, three
whistle past. It is a fusillade. Fire away my friends,
your balls will go back to yourselves. We open out the
-official journals of the morning, and send down, to them
the fine speech of Jules Favre as a reply to their shots.
Past Versailles we throw out more ballast and rise. What
a fog ! We are iu the clouds. The thermometer goes down
below zero and fitops at three degrees. It is 35 minutes
past nine. Ten minutes later a pale speck is visible—it is
the sun. We emerge from the clouds at a height of 1,200
metres. What a magnificent sight ! A resplendant sun,
a clear sky, and beneath us a sea of clouds white as snow,
reflecting the rays of the sun to the east, and on the
west the deep blue of the sea • passing gradually
into the azure of the sky. See see ! cried one, and there
was the shadow of the balloon on these clouds, surrounded
by an aureole, an immense rainbow. We remained long
in admiration of this shadow which followed us over the
silver sea. The temperature was 10 degrees at 10 o'clock.
At a height of 2,100 metres the gas escaped from the
mouth of the appendage over our heads. We reach 2,500
metres, and the noise of the Prussian guns and clarions is
superseded by the chimes of Versailles, which we hear
strike half-past ten. A dog meanwhile is heard barking
incessantly, and the sound of heavy waggon wheels
reaches us distinctly. At eleven o'clock we de-
scend to 1,800 metres, and we maintain that
height. It is now mid-day, and time for our
repast, which we begin under an African sun, sending
down the bones'of our chicken and an empty bottle to
Alessiera les Prussians, telling them we had had an excel-
lent dinner. We make some progress, and re-ascend to
2,100 metres, but we still hear the barking dog
and the wheels, so we cannot be far from
Versailles. We get up again, and the sun burns
our heads. The gas escapes, we go down to 1,800 metres.
Below us the clouds clear up a little, and we move rapidly
towards the north-west. We are going to Havre, and if
the Prussians have cut the railways we shall finish our
voyage by sea. What is that forest below us ?
It looks like St. Germain, happily we are far from
it. Hark ! there is a drum. Is it Prussian? No ; the
clarion is sounding a French charge. There is a labourer
and sheep ; this is not a conquered district. We decide
to,g9 down as low as 200 metres, being less apprehensive
Of finding Prussians. "We throw out • ballast ;
the gas condenses ; we descend rapidly, and
soon hail a passing peasant, and learn we are
at Gandreville in the department of Eure, and
no Prussians are there. We resolve on descending, and•
we come down with a shock, the peasants runnning to
catch the rope, but they are at first afraid
of the immense affair. We all get out safely, the
balloon is secured, and we leave by a special train
from Conches, taking with us our balloon folded, the
guide rope, and all the appliances. Our balloon was
2,058 metres round, and was a perfect sphere. It weighed
121 kilos, the four passengers .261 kilos, the ballast 630
kilos (21 sacks), the despatches and provisions 121 kilos,
altogether 1,436'' kilos. On our arrival about half the
ballast remained, and nine tenths of the gas, which was
lighting gas.

The severe measures adopted by the commander of the
Loire army to enforce discipline are imitated by the
French commanders all over France. Ten years' hard
labour for disobedience and resistance of the guard;
thirty one days' imprisonment for grumbling over a
French defeat that had never taken place ; six months'
imprisonment for stealing from an inhabitant ; and five

years' imprisonment, with military degradation and per-
petual surveillance, for attempting to murder a comrade,
are among the sentences pronounced in the Council of
War.

Amongst the numerous armies which the French have
formed is one of the East, which numbers 40,000 men, and
is stationed near Chagny.
Some of the delay in the present operations north of
the Loire may be attributed to the state of the roads.
They are dreadfully deep in mud. The weather for some
time past has been soft, muggy, and rainy.
Gelyral Werder's troops have occupied Monbeliard,
and his Üblans h6.ve gone as far as to Boncourt, in the
Bernese Jura, where the outposts of the Swiss army
stopped them. Their commander had the frontier pointed
out accurately in order to respect it.
Count de Palikao, the last Imperialist Prime Minister,
is at Ostend. Many fugitives are at the same place. The
French ladies, to get rid of the ennui of exile, have hired a
hall, which is used as a conversation saloon, and in which
they meet daily, rigidly excluding gentlemen.
An official bill is posted warning all inhabitants of the
Indro and Loire that the promulgation of any news
whatever, whether true or false, and whether by means of
the press or otherwise, which may possibly thwart mili-
tary operations, comes within the jurisdiction of a court-
martial.

The Siecle mentions the condemnation and execution of
-a
miller named Pouilly for supplying the enemy with in-
telligence. Ile had found an easy way of informing the
Prussians of the presence of the French. When the
French were in force the sails of his mill were set in
motion ; when they were but few the sails were motion-
less.
The Bretons and Vend4ans are considered the best
French soldiers. "In addition to a splendid physique
and an undaunted courage, they are fired with religious
enthusiasm ; and, as General Trochu remarks in his
valuable military work, there are no soldiers to compare
with those who have deep religious convictions."
The Paris Electeur Libre of the Bth advises the Army of
the Loire not to accept battle, but to unite with Bour-
baki's army in the north, establish itself at Lille and
Arras, victual itself from the coast, and then relieve Paris.
The Parisians it recommends to raise parallels and attack
the German lines.

Marshal Lel?ceuf has arrived at Bonn, where he is per-
mitted to take up his abode. Marshal Canrobert and the
officers of his staff have passed through Frankfort on
their way to Stuttgardt. Several superior officers are
staying at Frankfort, among whom is Colonel the Duke
of Elchingen, who is married to the daughter of a rich
Hamburg merchant.
A letter from a young Breton Freeshooter, only 18
years old, appears in a French paper. The affair at
Orleans was, he says, the fourth time he had been under
fire. "In a week we shall be under the walls of Paris•
My health is very good, and I am getting quite stout
upon the pleasure of killing Prussians. Let us hope that
we shall all continue in good health, and that the Francs-
Tireurs de Cathelineau will be the first to enter the towns
invaded by the enemy, and that they will have the glory
of seeing their prisoners defile before them. This morning
everybody threw flowers to us. My musket is garlanded
with laurels."

The King of Prussia has received an address from
Algiers, signed "the people of Algiers as petitioners," but
from whom it emanated does not appear. It recites that
their country was once Mahommedan, and that as a pun-
ishment for their sins Alla,h,placal them under the rule of
the French, who have acted hostilely to their belief, their
possessions, and their children, and have sacrificed many
of their lives by placing them in the front rank in their
battles. The Emperor Napoleon comes in for severe
treatment, and the address concludes with a prayer that
the Germans may speedily vanquish the arrogant French
people.
Somehow, says the Times' Tours correspondent, the
whole complexion of affairs seems to me more encouraging
for the French. The Prussians do not go ahead any-
where. It is undeniable that great forces are growing up
in France, and every week that passes renders them more
formidable. The west will not be overrun without severe
fighting. I have no details as to the forces there, but they
are considerable, and the population of those departments
are good fighting men. As to starving Paris, Count Bis-
mark is said to have admitted to M. Thiers that he
believed it was provisioned till the 15th of January, and,
whether or no he really made that admission, there is a
general conviction that it has food for that time.
The artistic gold pen, in imitation of a quill, which was
recently mentioned as having been made by Herr Bis-
singher, jeweller,. of Pforzheim, with a view to Count
Bismarck signing the treaty of peace with it,
has been presented to the Count, who, in
acknowledging it, wrote :—" Your beautiful and
very artistic present has been delivered to me by
Herr Jolly. I feel some difficulty in knowing how to
express my thanks for it. At a time when the sword of
the German nation has performed such illustrious feats,
you render the pen almost too much honour in making it
so costly. I can only hope that the use to which you
have destined the pen in the service of our country may
conduct to its permanent welfare in a fortunate peace,
and I can promise you that, with God's help, it shall in
my hand subscribe nothing unworthy of German feeling
and of the German sword."

The Turcos behave tolerably well at Ulm, notwith-
standing all the bad stories told of them. The ,Suabian
Mercury says they are active at washing, and have a pecu-
liar manner of ironing the clothes with the smooth back
(cold) of a brush. In their cooking, which they do for
themselves, they are also very cleanly, and they are quite
resigned to their fate, partly through stolidity. They are
thankful, too, for everything, though unaccustomed to
many things. A wounded African in the hospital recently
had, for the first time in his life, some good Suabian soup.
He eat it patiently out of the plate, but remarked on
finishing it that that coffee was not good and he did not
wish for any more of it.
POLITICAL FORESIGHT AT FAULT.—The Ameri-
cans are generally very keen sighted in regard to Euro-
pean politics, and it is therefore somewhat curious to see
how completely at fault the New York Herald has proved
.respecting the attitude and designs of Russia. In its
issue of November 12, the Herald publishes a long letter
from a correspondent at St. Petersburg, and in its
editorial comments upon it, remarks—" The po !icy of
Russia to-day is peace. She is struggling to extend her
railroad system • to develop her vast internal re-
sources to ameliorate the conditibn of her 70,000,000
subjects. The Czar, according to these accounts
has exerted himself to localise the war by every
possible means, he has been the suggester of the armistice,
and has taken the preliminary measures for assembling a
European Congress." The New York Herald correspon-
dent maintains that on the Czar's discovering the exis-
tence of a secret treaty between France and Austria, by
which the latter was to invade Silesia on the first victory
gaited by France on the right bank of the Rhine, he put
aside all diplomatic forms, and notified to France
and Austria that if the latter sent one regiment
to the frontier Russia would send two, and that if Austria
joined France, Russia would join Prussia. The corres-
pondent remarks that just before the outbreak of the
present war the Emperor Alexander spent five weeks at
Ems with his uncle the King of Prussia, and left for St.
Petersburg at the beginning of July, firmly convinced that
Prussia did not wish for war, and would avoid it as long
as possible. Peace, says the same correspondent, is for
Russia an absolute necessity, and no one realises the fact
more than the Emperor himself.
THE EFFECT OF TILE FIRST FRENCH VICTORY.
—The special correspondent of the Telegraph, writing,
from Tours under date November 20, says : —The enthu-
siasm excited a week ago by the battle of Orleans has not
yet cooled down in Tours. Jf, as all Frenchmen fully
believe, the first victory France has gained during the
campaign will prove the commencement of a new era in
her struggle with Prussia, then the fight which General
Aurelles de Pala,dine won is an affair to cause rejoicing.
But if, on the contrary, we are doomed to see the
Army of the Loire driven back from its present
entrenched position during the next few days, it
would have been better for this unhappy land that she
had not gained the day, So far, however, as it is possible
to see at present, the victory of last week is likely to do
great good in the French army, and it has certainly
changed the morale of both men and officers very much
for the better. They are different beings even to look at
from what they were a fortnight ago. They have lost
the cowed appearance they then had. They walk about
with a firmer step •and a brighter eye, They do their
duty better, and more smartly, and evidently think
that the day has oome when they will be able to beat back
the invader, and reassert their old standing amongst the
warriors of Europe. In fact, the victory at Orleans has,
in one sense, done more harm than good ; for it has made
peace, or even an armistice, more difficult than ever, if
not utterly impossible. You will hardly believe
me when. I tell you that not an hour before I com-
menced this letter I heard at the Cafe de la Ville
sonic French officers discussing the political future
of France ; and, although none of the party were very
young. men, their unanimous opinion was that the
Prussians were as good as driven out of France—that
peace would be signed at Berlin after Trochu and Aurelles
de Paladine had entered that capital in triumph—and
that Monsieur Gambetta would certainly be turned out
of office if he did not insist upon France having the left
bank of the Rhine.

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THE EASTERN QUESTION.

RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA.

The Times' correspondent says : If Prussia is not bound
to support Russia, it is very improbable that she Will like
to go against her. William is as true a friend to
Alexander as Alexander, is to William ; and
there is the broad fact that Russia, after seeing
which way the game went, did free Prussia from
any apprehensions she might have entertained as to the
possibility of having to fight in two directions at once•
Nor ought one other point to be left unconsidered. It i 4
only a fortnight since that Austria promised her pro-
tection to Bavaria if the latter refrained from entering
the German Confederacy. Bavaria turned restive after
this, and, if her own people had not coerced her Govern-
ment, might have caused the completion of unity to be
deferred indefinitely. If she is now on the
eve of giving in, this is not Austria's
merit. But Austria would be Russia's enem9
in a war about the East. It is known that
Russia would willingly go to a Congress to settle tho
matter if a Congress could be convened to-day ; this being
unlikely, the thing will probably have to stand over till
after the war.