The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-15
WAR MISCELLANY.
BaIIcous In the First French RevoistIon.

IL the present French army takes the field
with the mitrailleuse, former army entered
into war with an engine which was then as new
and much more terrifying. The first proposal
for employing captive balloons in war was made
by the Committee of Public Safety. In 1898,
after some preliminary experiments 1T Meudon,
Ssmall corps of thirty aerostats skilled in
various crafts was formed on the model of an
engineer company and despatched TO Mauberge
then besieged by the Dutch and Austrian troops.
The balloon used was thirty feet in diameter
and rose 1900 feet with two observers and l30
pounds of ballast. 1t was managed by two ropes
attached 10 the net and was filed with hydro
gen, obtained with much difficulty and
expense from water The immediate moral
effect upon the enemy of the use OF this balloon
by the besieged was extraordinary. They ina
gined, which was far from being the case, that
their every movement was at once made patent
to the French. and it was this that in u great
measure determined the demoralized Austriaus
to abandon the siege. The balloon, passing
from defensive TO an offensive position, was
then transported while inflated to Charlero,
which the French were attacking. It's appa-
rition mt once deprived the besieged of all conf
dence in their strength, and fastened the sur
render of the town while still efficient Tor defeuse
The balloon was subsequently, at Fleurus, where
much is attributed to it; then AT Brussels, Liege
AiX.la- Chapelle on the Rhine, and on the
Danube. corps of aerostats also accompanied
the French army to Egypt but did nothing, as
the apparatus was damaged on the way. In
1900 both the corps were suppressed. The Rus
slams used ballOoning against the French in 1912,
but the results were not encouraging, At Sol
ferinO one of the brothers GODDARD assembled in a
Montgolher; but he was much too late, and the
ascent was all but useless. In the war, too, of
the Rebellion, balloons were used from time to
time, but they were attended with no advantage.
The ''BIOod Tax la France.
The "blood tax" which was so ardentiy in-
Weighed against in the elections just a year ago,
is already beginning TO press with doubled se-
verify on the French nation. The drawing of
the conscription, which in the ordinary course
of events would not have been due till January,
1871 is advanced by five months, and Is to take
place next week. The market price of food for
powder has also been doubled. The sum re-
auired for exemption from the conseriptiOn was
formerly $3.50, IL is now raised 10 $500. This
will prove beyond the means not merely of
peasants and proletaires, but of the great mass
of lower middle class alike in town aud country.
Irish sympathy with France.
The London Nelos says:-"Most Englishmen
profess themselves unable to understand the
recent outburst of Irish sympathy with the
cause of France in the present European quar-
rel. Measured simply by the standard of mate
rial eXpediency and rational policy, it is doubt
less unintelligibe. France and Ireland in the
present day have no aims or interests In COM
mon nor are they likely to have any. Appa-
rentiy, the only substantial bond between the
two nations is the possibility that the Imperial
Government may be involved in a war with
Ipgland and NAV trv "a strike u llOT - lhii
country through Ireland"