Part 2

In mine of yesterday, I promis'd to give you an Account of Mess^rs. Charles & Robert's Experiment, which was to have been made at this Day, and at which I intended to be present. Being a little indispos'd, & the Air cool, and the Ground damp, I declin'd going into the Garden of the Tuilleries where the Balloon was plac'd, not knowing how long I might be oblig'd to wait there before it was ready to depart; and chose to stay in my Carriage near the Statue of Louis XV. from whence I could well see it rise, & have an extensive View of the Region of Air thro' which, as the Wind sat, it was likely to pass. The Morning was foggy, but about one aClock, the Air became tolerably clear, to the great Satisfaction of the Spectators, who were infinite, Notice having been given of the intended Experiment several Days before in the Papers, so that all Paris was out, either about the Tuilleries, on the Quays & Bridges, in the Fields, the Streets, at the Windows, or on the Tops of Houses, besides the Inhabitants of all the Towns & Villages of the Environs. Never before was a philosophical Experiment so magnificently attended. Some Guns were fired to give Notice, that the Departure of the great Balloon was near, and a small one was discharg'd which went to an amazing Height, there being but little Wind to make it deviate from its perpendicular Course, and at length the Sight of it was lost. Means were used, I am told, to prevent the great Balloon's rising so high as might indanger its Bursting. Several Bags of Sand were taken on board before the Cord that held it down was cut, and the whole Weight being then too much to be lifted, such a Quantity was discharg'd as to permit its Rising slowly. Thus it would sooner arrive at that Region where it would be in Equilibrio with the surrounding Air, and by discharging more Sand afterwards, it might go higher if desired. Between One & Two aClock, all Eyes were gratified with seeing it rise majestically from among the Trees, and ascend gradually above the Buildings, a most beautiful Spectacle! When it was about 200 feet high, the brave Adventurers held out and wav'd a little white Pennant, on both Sides their Car, to salute the Spectators, who return'd loud Claps of Applause. The Wind was very little, so that the Object, tho' moving to the Northward, continued long in View; and it was a great while before the admiring People began to disperse. The Persons embark'd were Mr. Charles, Professor of Experimental Philosophy, & a zealous Promoter of that Science; and one of the Messieurs Robert, the very ingenious Constructors of the Machine. When it arrived at its height, which I suppose might be 3 or 400 Toises, it appeared to have only horizontal Motion. I had a Pocket Glass, with which I follow'd it, till I lost Sight, first of the Men, then of the Car, and when I last saw the Balloon, it appear'd no bigger than a Walnut. I write this at 7 in the Evening. What became of them is not yet known here. I hope they descended by Day-light, so as to see & avoid falling among Trees or on Houses, and that the Experiment was completed without any mischievous Accident which the Novelty of it & the want of Experience might well occasion. I am the more anxious for the Event, because I am not well inform'd of the Means provided for letting themselves gently down, and the Loss of these very ingenious Men would not only be a Discouragement to the Progress of the Art, but be a sensible Loss to Science and Society.

I shall inclose one of the Tickets of Admission, on which the Globe was represented, as originally intended, but is altered by the Pen to show its real State when it went off. When the Tickets were engraved, the Car was to have been hung to the Neck of the Globe, as represented by a little Drawing I have made in the Corner A. I suppose it may have been an Apprehension of Danger in straining too much the Balloon or tearing the Silk, that induc'd the Constructors to throw a Net over it, fix'd to a Hoop which went round its Middle, and to hang the Car to that Hoop, as you see in Fig. B.

Tuesday Morning, Dec. 2. I am reliev'd from my Anxiety, by hearing that the Adventurers descended well near l'Isle Adam, before Sunset. This Place is near 7 Leagues from Paris. Had the Wind blown fresh, they might have gone much farther.

If I receive any farther Particulars of Importance I shall communicate them hereafter.

With great Esteem, I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient & most humble servant, B. FRANKLIN

P. S. Tuesday Evening.

Since writing the above, I have receiv'd the printed Paper & the Manuscript, containing some Particulars of the Experiment, which I enclose.--I hear farther, that the Travellers had perfect Command of their Carriage, descending as they pleas'd by letting some of the inflammable Air escape, and rising again by discharging some Sand; that they descended over a Field so low as to talk with Labourers in passing and mounted again to pass a Hill. The little Balloon falling at Vincennes, shows that mounting higher it met with a Current of Air in a contrary Direction: An Observation that may be of use to future aerial Voyagers.

Sir JOSEPH BANKS, Bar^t.

(SOME PARTICULARS OF THE SECOND VOYAGE.)

Mr. Le Chevalier de Cubière qui a suivi la marche du Globe est arrivé chez M. Charles hier à 10 heures 1/4 du Soir et a dit, Que les Voyageurs étoient descendus lentement et volontairement à trois heures 3/4 dans les Marais de Nesle et d'Hebouville, une lieue et demie après l'Isle Adam. Ils y ont été accueillis par Mrs. le Duc de Chartre et Fitz James, qui après les avoir embrassés, ont signé le Procès verbal de lieu et d'heure. Beaucoup d'habitants de la campagne et le curé de Nesle et d'Hebouville se sont aussi trouvés à leur arrivée.

Les Voyageurs ont assuré n'avoir éprouvé que des Sensations agréables dans leur traversée. Mr. Robert étant sorti du Char, et aidé de quelques Paysans, se disposoit à remplacer sa Pesanteur avec de la Terre; mais M. Charles voulant profiter du peu de Jour qui lui restoit, pour faire encore quelques observations, impatienté de la Lenteur de cette operation, a repris son Vol à 4 heures et 1/4, avec un excédant de Légèreté d'environ 100 Livres par une Ascension droite et une rapidité telle qu'en peu de tems le Globe s'est trouvé hors de vue. La Chute du Jour l'a déterminé à redescendre une lieue et 1/2 plus loin, aux environs de Fouroy.

La Machine n'a éprouvé aucun Accident. Elle perdoit légèrement par une petite ouverture qui existoit dejà quelques heures avant son Depart auprès de l'appendice, et dont le Morceau de Taffetas que l'on y avoit appliqué au moment de l'expérience, s'étoit detaché.

* * * * *

Le petit Ballon est tombé dans la Cour du Dongeon à Vincennes. Il a été ramassé par des Enfans et vendu 6_d._ au nommé Bertrand. Il avoit perdu son air inflammable par le Robinet qu'on avoit laissé ouvert exprès pour empêcher l'explosion à trop grande hauteur. On évalue qu'il a été 50 minutes en l'air. Le Taffetas étoit roussi aux deux Extremités.

NOTES CONCERNING THE LETTERS.

_Letter of August 30._ The hand-writing is in a more flowing style than the subsequent letters. Bigelow omits paragraph ten beginning "It is said." Both Bigelow and Smyth give another paragraph in the Postscript, beyond the signature "B. F." in my copy; also a note dated Sept. 2^d, which contains calculations in French relating to the balloon. Smyth says that these additions are not in the University of Pennsylvania draft but that they occur in this press-copy, which is obviously a mistake. In paragraph two of the Postscript "mov'd out," in Smyth, should read "being moved out," and in the last line but one "upon" should read "up in."

_Letter of October 8._ In the eighth line after the word "Balloon" Smyth inserts "lately." Part of the valedictory and the signature are omitted by Bigelow and Smyth, but the former gives an "Extract of the Proposals" for the balloon of which I have no copy.

_Letter of November 21._ This should be dated Nov. 22, since the ascension of d'Arlandes and de Rozier which, according to the letter, took place the previous day is known to have been on the 21st. The orthography of the French words in Bigelow and Smyth does not always agree with the copy. In paragraph three, for "Post," in Smyth, read "Port;" in paragraph six for "Adventures," in Smyth, read "Adventurers;" in paragraph thirteen for "By the emulation," in Smyth, read "But the Emulation;" in paragraph fifteen for the phrase, in Smyth and Bigelow, beginning, "I wish I could see the same emulation," correct to end, "between the two Nations as I see between the two Parties here;" in paragraph sixteen, in both Bigelow and Smyth, for "Experiment," read "Experience;" and for the unintelligible phrase in both Bigelow and Smyth, "Beings of a frank and [sic] nature," read "Beings of a Rank and Nature." Minor discrepancies between this and the other press-copies and the letters as printed by Bigelow and Smyth also occur. The signature is in pencil in this copy. A "P. S. Nov. 25th" is not in the press-copy, contrary to Smyth's statement, but I have a press-copy of the French _Procès-Verbal_, therein referred to, in Franklin's handwriting with his name and eight others affixed as witnesses. Neither Bigelow nor Smyth print this document, which was first reproduced in the book mentioned by Franklin in the first paragraph of his letter, viz: "Description des Expériences de la Machine Aérostatique par M. Faujas de Saint-Fond, Paris, 1783." Since Franklin's copy of the _Procès-Verbal_ differs only in his spelling the word "_sang-froid_" instead of "_sens-froid_," I do not print it. However, other changes were introduced in the _Procès-Verbal_ when reprinted in the second volume of M. Faujas' work, published in 1784. The plate forming the frontispiece to this volume shows the balloon as seen from Mr. Franklin's terrace at Passy.

_Letter of November 30._ This has never been published so far as I know. "The Journal of the first Aerial Voyage," here mentioned, was written by the Marquis d'Arlandes to M. Faujas de Saint-Fond on Nov. 28th and first printed in the _Journal de Paris_ but was republished by Faujas de Saint-Fond in his second volume.

_Letter of December 1._ Smyth states that he reproduced this letter from my press-copy but he omits the capital letters and the contractions in spelling, as well as the references "A" and "B," which are given by Bigelow with the remark that the drawings were not found. "The Manuscript, containing some Particulars of the Experiment, which I enclose," mentioned in the Postscript, is a two-page account in French, in Franklin's handwriting, by an eye-witness of the voyage, M. le Chevalier de Cubière. As this interesting document has never been published, to my knowledge, I have given it here _literatim_ from my press-copy.

--Transcriber's note--

A caret (^) indicates the following character or characters were printed in superscript. Some superscripts were silently converted to regular characters (i.e. 27th instead of 27^th).

Except for the following corrections, the original text and punctuation remain unchanged:

p. 7, Added a missing comma after "Sir" at the beginning of the letter "A hot air balloon carrying animals", as there is one in every other letter; p. 7, added missing "t" to "than" in "more satisfactory than anything"; p. 9, "Procés verbal" corrected to "Procès verbal"; p. 11, added a missing comma after "Robert" in "Mess^rs. Robert, two Brothers,"; p. 11, "Aiant encor dans leur Galerie le deux tiers de leur Approvissonement." was corrected to "... les deux tiers de leur Approvisionement." "Aiant encor" might be "Ayant encore", as printed in the "Journal des sçavans" of January 1784, but was not corrected here; p. 14, "Carr" corrected to "Car" in "on both Sides their Car,"; p. 16, removed a space after "d'" in "Beaucoup d'habitants"; p. 16, "Bart." corrected to "Bar^t." in "Sir JOSEPH BANKS, Bar^t."; p. 17, "Sept. 2d" corrected to "Sept. 2^d", for 2nd.

The following possible mispellings have been retained:

p. 6, "M. Pilatre du Rozier" should be "M. Pilâtre de Rozier"; p. 10, "chearfully" is possibly an older spelling for "cheerfully"; p. 16, there are several missing accents that might have been in the original French document, in "desorientés", "operation", "dejà", "depart", "detaché" and "extremités". There are two occurences of "&c" for "&c."