The Sun. — 1863-08-31 (London, England)

LONDON REVIEW.—When a man has lost his life by his foolhardiness, it seems cruel to arraign him for an offence which has cost him and his family so dear. And, perhaps, if there were nothing more concerned in the fatality than his own imprudence, it would be as well to let the matter pass without: comment. But it rarely happens that we may not learn something from what we call fatal accidents, which may prevent their recurrence. Bather more than twenty years ago Miss Moir threw herself off the Monument, and the authorities were content to regret her folly and hope that no one would imitate her example. Not long afterwards, some one did imitate her example, and then the authorities thought that it might be as well to put a stop to this mode of suicide, by erecting a railing which would render it impossible. No one has thrown himself off the Monument since. We hope, too, that, for a time at least, we have seen the last of these constructive suicides against which the Queen has protested in language which, we trust, will live in the memory of her subjects. But there is always some gap to stop. On Monday last a man met his death by a balloon accident, under circumstances which, from the beginning, promised danger, and which only by something short of a marvel could end happily, There was a " grand fete" given in the park of Mr. North, at Basford, near Nolthighatu, for the benefit of the General Hospital ; and part of the day's pleasure was to see Mr. Coxwell ascend in his balloon. The bal. loon was small and new ; and when "the accorn.. plished aeronaut" had inflated and tried it, he found that it would not carry his weight. Thrice he got into the car, but the balloon, even without ofout the ballast,gas would not lift him. The specific gravity was three times greater than it should have been ; and as the ascent could not be made without Six bags of ballast, one of the bystanders recommended that the balloon should be packed up and the ascent relinquished. Mr. Coxwell, however, was in a difficulty, There was the balloon ; and there was the mob expecting; to see it fp up. The performance was part ci the consideration for which they paid their maney ; and if they were disappointed Mr. Croswell feared that they might tear his air-ship  to pieces, and perhaps offer Violence to himself. In this difficulty, a man named Chambers, lighter than Mr. Coxwell, stepped forward and offered, and ho had had some experience in such matters, to go up if the balloon would raise him. Coxwell consented ; and, with two bags of sand, the volunteer started, and the crowd were satisfied. But the difficulty, removed from Mr. Coxwell's shoulders, now took up its position on those of Chambers in a greatly aggravated form. The lifting power of the balloon had not been sufficient to raise Mr. Coxwell without any ballast. He weighed list., Chambers Nveighed, 9st ; but he took up two bags of ballast with him. Their weight is not mentioned ; but, supposing them together to have weighed 201bs. the lifting power of the balloon when Chambers made his ascent would have bean so small, that the addition of 8 pounds' weight must have brought it to the ground. So that, if by an escape of gas, or an addition to the weight of the balloon by its being wetted in passing through a cloud, the sustaining power was overbalanced by the load the balloon had to carry, the chances were a thousand to one that the resalt would be fatal. Now, both these conditions took place, and they were aggravated by the fact that Chambers, immediately after he began to ascend, threw out a portion of his ballast, Shortly after it rose the balloon entered a heavy cloud, and, breaking from that into the clear sunshine; the gas expanded and escaped through the neck, which is always left open, of course, at the bottom. This might have been prevented by Chambers opening the upper valve, at the top of the balloon, in time. He failed to do this till too late. The gas rushing from the lower valve appears to have stifled him, and he was found, on the fall of the balloon, lying dead at the bottom of the car, with the valvecord round his wrist; so that the upper valve must have been kept completely open, utterly reversing the slight balance between the weight the balloon had to carry and its power to carry it. This easily accounts for its collapse ; and on a review of the evidence given at the coroner's inquest, it is but just to Mr. Coxwell to say that the circumstances which at starting rendered the ascent so perilous do not seem to have constituted the proximate cause of the fatality. But we cannot acquit him of blame in handing over his balloon to an amateur, of whose ability as an aeronaut he had no personal knowledge. Of course, from the moment the balloon left the earth the error was irreparable ; but the proof that it was an error became at once apparent. His ballast is the aeronaut's only hope, when the weight and the lifting power are so nearly balanced as they were in this case. Chambers at once showed his ignorance by throwing it out. From that moment he was doomed should the balloon become wet by passing through a cloud, and its weight increased beyond the power of the gas to sustain it. Even if he had not been suffocated—and this is only .Mr. Coxwell's surmise, though a probable one, as the man was found with his handkerchief stuffed into his mouth—there is every reason to believe that his fate would have been the same. The manipulation of the balloon in the untoward circumstances under which it started required a skill and delicacy not to be expected from any but the most experienced aeronaut. No doubt Mr. Coxwell felt the pressure of the consequences to be expected from a disappointed crowd. He had had his balloons torn in pieces before by an enlightened British public which had come to see them go up, and would take no excuse, not even the probability of the owner breaking his neck to please them. It is due to him also to say that he cautioned Chambers not to go either high or far. But it would have been better, wiser, and far more satisfactory if he had let the mob wreak their vengeance on the balloon rather than permit an ascent which this very caution shows he considered unusually perilous.