The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING', OCTOBER 24, 1861.

just cleverly contrived to shelve the cause of Par-
liamentary Reform altogether ! This—is what the
country has gained from another of these very ques-
tionable Coalitions! This—has been the result of
our dropping the substance of Reform actually in
one month in the summer of 1859, to snap greedily
at the apparently more tempting morsel shadowed
forth to view in the pellucid current of Lord JOHN
RUSSELL'S " dodging" Resolutions ! As the Com-
mons crossed the plank of that ever-memorable divi-
sion of June the 10th, 1859—there were the two
fables of the Dog in the Manger and the Dog and the
Shadow realised together. The great champion of
Reform among the Liberals (then in Opposition)
could not bear the notion of any one bestowing
the boon of Parliamentary Reform upon the
country but himself! Well, the " Dog in the
Manger" has kept the sweet-smelling bundle of
hay to himself, has prevented. the ox from enjoy-
ing it, has prevented JoHN BULL, that is, from
enjoying his feast of Reform in 1859: and here
is the winter of 1861-62 coming fast upon us—
and how much has the country gained by that
decision of the 10th of June, two years and a-
half ago ? All that it has gained is the satis-
faction (such as it is) of seeing that Lord JoHN
—in reward for his brilliant services—has gained
his Earldom !

Every honourable foreign resident in England
will be pleased that a scoundrel who so disgraced
his foreign country as COLLUCCI should meet the re-
ward of his deeds. His conduct was villany by the
laws of every land, and no ignorance of English
habits and customs, or of English law, could be pre-
tended. Literary men, artists, gentlemen all over
the world, will rejoice that a man who made con-
siderable artistic knowledge not only the means of
access to a lady of property, and of ultimately gain-
ing her attachment—all which might be fair enough
—but who afterwards, when he found that the at-
tachment to him was net strong enough for her to
be willing to marry him, basely turned round and
endeavoured to extort money from her—gentlemen
of all classes and everywhere will rejoice that an
English judge and jury awarded him his just deserts.
It is the interest of the whole world that such
rogues as these should be punished. What is law
worth if it will not protect our females, not only
against the attacks of cabmen, but also against the
stratagems of a YELVERTON, and the coarse threats
of a CoLLuccl.

It is, of course, nothing new that a man of culti-
vated taste should gain the attachment of a female
of whom he is little worthy, and on whose affec-
tions cool by-standers may think he has little claim ;
but, happily, the cases are few in which such a
man could so coolly make it manifest that the
money not the lady was all he cared about. Mar-
riage had been talked of between COLLUCCI and
Miss JOHNSTONE, before he went abroad, having
first swindled her out of £250 for his journey.
But when, on his return, he was informed
that after a serious illness the lady had,
in the exercise of a more sober judgment,
declined to think further of marriage, this appears
to have caused him no particular sorrow; he ob-
viously wished to continue their acquaintance
merely for the sake of money, for this was the point
and object of all his remarks. He seemed " very
unhappy" at the announcement that she declined
to marry him, but not one word of disappointed
affection appears to have escaped him ; the whole
might be summed up in his own words, " Money,
money, money, I must have."
At various times this fellow had cajoled or
frightened Miss JOHNSTONE out of £2,000, value
received being only one picture, a Spagnoletti,
valued at £3OO. Yet he had the audacity not
only to demand £2,000 for returning her
letters to him, but to do it both by violent menaces
and worse insinuations, and, after all, to cheat her
of the letters themselves when Miss JOHNSTONE had
actually inconvenienced herself to get the money
for him, hoping to be quit of him for ever. A
baser combination of rogueries and cunning—first
seeking a lady's hand for money only, then
abusing her confidence, then making it the means
of pecuniary extortion, and that by the most infamous
as well as violent threats, and lastly, when he suc-
ceeded in procuring from her what amounted in all
to £4,000, cheating her' out of the very letters for
whose return she had paid so outrageously—a baser
series of villanies will not easily be found. The
issue for the jury was of the simplest kind—was
Miss FREDERICA JOHNSTONE a perjured woman or
VINCENT COLLUCCI a liar. No one can hesitate a
moment on that question, much less can any one
doubt that three years' penal servitude is a light
punishment for the offence.

AMERICAN WAR BALLOONS'.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,--By the latest intelligence from New York,
we find that the application of balloons for military
purposes has been attended by an rerial reconnais-
sance of considerable importance to the Government.
Possibly this circumstance may induce our own
authorities to attach some importance to suggestions
of this kind, although I believe aeronautic proposi-
tions have not been regarded with anything like
serious or scientific consideration.

But it is almost invariably the fate of novel appli-
ances to be rejected at the outset. However, if
those who agitate for the advancement of science
display more perseverance than those who labour to
retard modern improvements, success is sure to
follow.

Just 12 years since I called attention to this sub-
ject, and demonstrated—first at Brussels, then
throughout Germany, and lastly in England—that
balloons, besides being sent up for amusement, were
susceptible of other important uses, even in their
present form.
The Italian war and the present unhappy conflict
in America furnish proof that they have been
brought into requisition with advantage, and as
the unceasing advocate of " balloons for warfare,"
as detailed by me in a pamphlet with that heading
during the Russian war, I sincerely trust that this
bold and triumphant mancenvre will not be wholly
lost sight of, for the time may not be far distant
when foreigners will be our recognised instructors,
not because the sons of Britain lack inventive genius,
but because the fruits of thei; studies are too often
rejected here, and only find a market abroad. lam
of opinion that the engineering department of our
army and Volunteers should be supplied with mili-
tary balloons, for observation, for destructive pur-
poses, and for day and night signalling.
No one can say I make these suggestions for the
first time, as it is well known I have endeavoured
to call attention to them for years.
Why not have a balloon at Aldershot, and try
the experiment whether aerostatic signals may not
in some measure be made the medium of more rapid
communication than hallooing, bugling, and retail-
ing orders ? Why not again test the capabilities of
professed aeronautic spies, and see what account
they can give of 10,000 troops supposed to be in
ambush ? At least it would afford a diversion to a
sham fight, and as many a true word is spoken in
jest, so many a good hint may come out of playing
at soldiers and sending up experimental balloons.
Even the throwing up of a straw is found to be
significant to the weather wise, and I sincerely trust
that the flight of La Mountain in the New World
may cause us to see which way the wind blows in
the old.—I remain,
Tottenham, Oct. 22,
sir, obediently yours,
HENRY COXWELL.

Lord and Lady Willoughby de Eresby enter-
tained a select party at dinner last evening, at their resi-
dence on the Terrace, Piccadilly,