Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 25, November, 1859

V >> Various >> Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 25, November, 1859

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

His friends and admirers did not permit him to have the honor of giving
not only his services, but his actual expenses, to the Republic. The
State of New York presented him with a confiscated Royalist estate,
near New Rochelle, three hundred acres of good land, with the necessary
fences and buildings upon it. Pennsylvania voted him five hundred
pounds, currency. And the Virginians were talking about making a
similar donation, when an unlucky pamphlet from Paine appeared,
demolishing the claim of Virginia to the Western country. This
publication changed the views of the chivalry, and Paine lost his
grant. He owned, besides, a small place in Bordentown,--a gift, we
believe, of the State of New Jersey. The other nine States passed him
over. New England had expended enough, both of men and means, for the
cause,--and the South had fine feelings, but no money.

In the autumn of 1783, when Paine was residing at Bordentown, he
received a letter from Washington, who had fixed his quarters at Rocky
Hill, near Princeton, until he could resign his command to Congress. It
ran thus:--

* * * * *

"I have learned, since I have been at this place, that you are at
Bordentown,--whether for the sake of retirement or economy; be it for
either or both, or whatever it may, I shall be exceedingly happy to see
you here.

"Your presence may remind Congress of your past services to this
country; and if it is in my power to impress them, command my best
exertions with freedom, as they will be rendered cheerfully by one who
entertains a lively sense of the importance of your works, and who,
with much pleasure, subscribes himself

"G. WASHINGTON."

* * * * *

Such a letter of hearty approval and respect, from the greatest man of
the country, perhaps of the age, (we Americans, at least, all think
so,) rich, powerful, honored, is certainly a "handsome testimonial,"
worth writing or fighting for. It was not an empty offer of service.
Washington spoke to several members of Congress in Paine's behalf, and
told them that it would be pleasing to himself, as well as right and
proper, to make a suitable provision for Paine. In 1785, Congress at
last granted him three thousand dollars, much of which they fairly owed
him for his loss on the depreciated currency in which his salary as
Secretary had been paid. Paine accepted the General's invitation, and
spent some time in his family, at Mrs. Berrian's, Rocky Hill. One
evening of his visit was devoted to setting a neighboring creek on
fire. This successful experiment, as performed by the Father of his
Country, assisted by Thomas Paine, General Lincoln, and Colonel Cobb,
is described in a tract on the Yellow Fever, written by Paine a few
years before his death, at the request of Thomas Jefferson.

Until the spring of 1787, Paine spent his time in Philadelphia or in
Bordentown, writing occasionally on subjects which interested him, and
indulging his taste for scientific speculations in the company of
Franklin and Rittenhouse. He was a member of the American Philosophical
Society, as well as an A. M. of the University of Philadelphia. His
reputation, his wonderful memory, the shrewd originality of his
remarks, made him a welcome guest in the best society. He was no talker
or _conversationist_, (an excellent word we should like to see
legitimated,) but a quiet, observing man, who spoke to the point,
inoffensive in manner, and not unprepossessing in appearance. As one of
the lions of the country, he was much looked at, especially by
foreigners. We find a sketch of an interview with him in the Travels of
the Chevalier de Chastellux. De Lafayette and himself requested
permission to call "on that author so celebrated in America and in
Europe by his excellent work entitled 'Common Sense.'" Colonel Laurens
introduced them. "His physiognomy," the Chevalier thinks, "did not
belie the spirit that reigns throughout his works. Our conversation was
agreeable and animated, and such as to form a connection between us;
for he has written to me since my departure, and seems desirous of
maintaining a constant correspondence."

In common with most of the clever men of his day, Paine, as we have
said, cultivated a taste for mechanics and natural science. There was
an awakening of the mind, in physics as well as in politics, at that
period; and it must be confessed that the natural philosophers have
succeeded better than the constitution-makers. Paine's mechanical hobby
was an iron bridge. A single arch, of four hundred feet span, and
twenty feet in height from the chord-line, was to be thrown over the
Schuylkill, near Philadelphia. The idea was suggested to him by a
spider's web, a section of which the bridge resembled; and the
principle he worked upon was, that the small segment of a large circle
was preferable to the great segment of a small circle. Paine made a
complete model of his bridge, in wrought iron and wood, at Bordentown;
but, finding that the insufficiency of capital and of skill in the
working of iron in America would prevent him from carrying out his
plan, he sailed for France to lay his model before the Academie des
Sciences. Franklin, who always liked him, gave him letters to the
celebrated Malesherbes, Le Roy, the Abbe Morellet, the Duke de la
Rochefoucauld, introducing him "as an ingenious, honest man, author of
'Common Sense,' a famous piece, published here with great effect on the
minds of people at the beginning of the Revolution." He had also a
satisfactory credential from Congress, in the shape of the following
resolution, adopted by that body in August, 1785:--

"_Resolved_, That the early, unsolicited, and continued labours of Mr.
Thomas Paine, in explaining and enforcing the principles of the late
Revolution, by ingenious and timely publications upon the nature of
Liberty and Civil Government, have been well received by the citizens
of these States, and merit the approbation of Congress."

TRIAL TRIP OF THE "FLYING CLOUD."

"Through in four days to San Francisco," repeated I. "Marvellous age!"

I hastily computed the distance by an air-line, and placed the speed of
the craft at some thirty miles an hour. That seemed reasonable enough.
Indeed, the whole statement cohered marvellously well; all the parts
harmonized with each other and looked plausible, even reasonable, as I
have said, except the grand fact itself, which was too momentous for
belief. But why should it not be true? What new achievement of the
human mind ought to startle one in this nineteenth century, after
having witnessed the wonders of steam and electro-magnetism? I
determined to sift the matter, but immediately remembered that all the
knowledge I had of it had been imparted to me in the strictest
confidence. The ingenious inventors, as was clearly their right, had
reserved it to themselves to choose the time and way of making their
invention public, when it was to break on the world, some fine morning,
like the discovery of a second moon performing its orbit round the
earth. I sunk into a brown study.

In the evening, Mr. Bonflon called again, as he had promised. He
brought with him a large roll of plans and drawings, for the purpose of
illustrating more clearly the principles and method of construction and
operation of his aerial ship.

They were projected on a large scale, and the workmanship was superb.
Months of hard labor by a finished draughtsman must have been devoted
to their execution. "And what an additional outlay of time and brains,"
thought I, "must have been required, to devise the scheme and construct
the machine itself, so as to elevate the ingenious ideal into an
absolute working reality!" These drawings, Mr. Bonflon informed me,
were duplicates of others which had been privately deposited in the
Patent-Office at Washington.

The one which chiefly attracted my attention was that which represented
the monster steamer complete, with all its appendages and complement of
passengers, in its majestic flight through the air. Below it were the
drifting clouds. Its course lay quite above the storms and hurricanes
and conflicting wind-currents which vex the lower strata of the
atmosphere, where it comes in contact with the earth's uneven surface,
and is kept in motion by the contractions and expansions of alternate
cold and heat, and is broken and set whirling by the forests and gorges
and mountain-tops among which it is compelled to force its way. Above
all this, Mr. Bonflon assured me, as aeronauts report, there is ever a
smooth, quiet atmospheric sea.

"But how is life to be sustained for any considerable time in that
rarefied medium?" inquired I, "when it is asserted that even in
ascending high mountains, the texture of the soft parts of the human
body becomes so loose and flabby from diminished atmospheric pressure
as to cause one, so to speak, to sweat blood,--which oozes perceptibly
from the mouth and nose and eyes, and even from under the
finger-nails?"

Mr. Bonflon pointed to a long, narrow line which floated rearward at an
angle of about forty-five degrees from the point of its attachment to
his ship.

"That," said he, "is an India-rubber tube several thousand feet long,
extending down into the respirable atmosphere, and keeping the cabins
always supplied with fresh and wholesome air."

"But would the heavier nether air flow in that direction?" I asked.

"With a little help from the engine," he replied, "a constant current,
whenever needed, is kept up; and the process of breathing is rendered
as easy and agreeable in the cabins of the 'Flying Cloud' as in one's
own parlors at home. On the upper deck, which is not inclosed, you see,
it is different. In the first trial-trip to California, Mr. M----
insisted on remaining above on this deck for six consecutive hours, and
the result was an attack of hemorrhage from the lungs. On his going
below, however, it almost instantly ceased."

I must now endeavor to give the reader some definite idea of this
extraordinary machine, as exhibited in the drawings. Its buoyant power
was, of course, on the principle of the balloon. But the gas-chamber,
or part to be inflated, instead of being globular in form, consisted of
two horizontal cones joined at the base; or more accurately still, it
resembled an immense barrel extended at both ends to a point, and
resting on its side. This shape was given it, according to Mr. Bonflon,
that it might offer the least possible resistance to the element in
which it was intended to move. In structure it was composed of a strong
flexible frame of whalebone and steel, covered with silk, strengthened
and rendered air-tight and water-proof by a coating of India-rubber.
Its size, of course, would depend on the proposed tonnage of a
particular ship. That of the working-model, as nearly as I remember,
was about six hundred feet long, by some seventy or eighty in breadth
in the middle, which was calculated to be amply sufficient to sustain
the immense car beneath, with its engine, and fuel for a week, and
three hundred passengers with their baggage; leaving still a
considerable margin for freight.

Mr. Bonflon here pointed out, with great minuteness, the simple, but
ingenious method devised for the inflation of this enormous machine,
and the regulation of the gas; which I pass over, from an inability to
render it intelligible by mere description.

The car or vessel suspended below, and to which the balloon part bore
the relation of masts and sails, was fashioned after the best model of
a clipper ship, but still farther elongated. Below deck, it was divided
into sitting and dining cabins, state-rooms, kitchen, engine-room, and
so forth; and above was a long, railed, promenade deck. The attachment
between the two parts was by means of a network of ropes, extending
from every quarter, and from the whole circumference of the ship,
connecting with staples in the framework of the balloon, and finally
embracing its entire body in its folds. Two enormous paddle-wheels,
made of oiled silk stretched on delicate frames, and driven by a
steam-engine of the lightest structure possible, furnished the
propelling power; while at the stern, like a vast fin, played the helm,
of a similar material and construction to the paddle-wheels.

All this was explained to me in much fuller detail than I can here
repeat, by Mr. Bonflon, who added, that the materials employed combined
lightness with strength to a much greater degree than had ever before
been achieved,--that the fuel used was of the fluid kind, a new
combination of concentrated combustibles invented by himself,--and that
the weight of the entire machine had been carefully calculated
beforehand, together with its buoyant power, and the results had
demonstrated the accuracy of the mathematics.

I turned on Mr. Bonflon and looked him squarely in the face. He was a
modest man and blushed slightly, but did not shrink. There could be no
dishonesty there. His countenance bore the unmistakable stamp of
integrity, as well as intelligence; and his whole appearance and
bearing were those of a true man.

Had he brought me the newspaper he promised, not yet eight days old,
from San Francisco?

No. He had been detained down-town all day in the whirl of our New York
Babel, and had not yet been home. He would hand it in to-morrow.

Mr. Bonflon had been introduced to me that morning by a friend on whose
acuteness and judgment I felt I had many good reasons to rely. Without
pretending any precise knowledge of the man, or, indeed, any knowledge
at all, beyond what had been gathered from the individual himself in a
very brief acquaintance of Mr. Bonflon's own seeking, he expressed a
warm interest in him personally, as also in the startling discovery he
professed to have made.

In that interview, Mr. Bonflon had informed us in brief, that, after
ten years of patient and toilsome experiment, of disappointment, of
perishing and reviving hope, he had at length achieved the grand object
of his life. He had solved the problem of the navigation of the air. He
had proved by actual results, that the great ocean of atmosphere above
us could be ploughed as successfully and safely as the waters beneath,
and with much greater facility and pleasure. He stated that the first
trial-trip, after the completion of the ship, had been made in the
night from an obscure point in the State of Maryland, and extended
north and northeast, along the Atlantic coast, to New York,--whose glow
of light from a great height, like a phosphorescent mist, was plainly
distinguishable,--and thence to the neighborhood of Boston, and back to
the place of starting; and that a second, with equally favorable
results, had been made from the same point by a more inland route,
northwest to Buffalo and the Canada line; and he named several
well-known persons who were on board at one or the other of these
times, and related some little anecdotes illustrative of their states
of mind and apprehensions while drifting above the earth on the
occasion of these novel voyages.

He said, further, that the President and heads of departments at
Washington were fully cognizant of the matter; and that a third grand
trial-trip, in the interest of government, had been secretly made, with
important dispatches to California, relating to the security of our
rights in the Pacific. Four days had been consumed in the passage out,
including a stoppage of a couple of hours on a fine plateau, near the
head waters of the Missouri, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains; and
the same in the return. They had landed in the night in a deep valley a
few miles out of San Francisco, and remained two days in that city;
which gave a period of ten days to the entire voyage, out and back.
Forty selected individuals, all bound to secresy, had participated in
the risks and excitements of the extraordinary occasion. Mr. Bonflon
was not of the number. An heroic daughter of his was. His partner,
Mons. De Aery, a French gentleman of great mechanical skill, had
managed the affair; and the craft, in the same hands, was now absent on
her second expedition across the American continent.

Such was the sum of Mr. Bonflon's revelations of the morning. What a
discovery! How the announcement would astonish the world! How the
practical fact would overturn the world, upset commerce, and transform
the habits and relations of mankind! America, the pioneer in many
valuable discoveries and reforms, was still ahead,--still destined to
lead the van in the development of the powers and resources of Nature,
and the onward march of nations.

Hurriedly recalling all these points to mind, I requested to know of
Mr. Bonflon how it had been possible, with so many confidants and the
prying propensities of the press, whose agents, like an invisible
police, are everywhere, to keep the matter from becoming public,--at
least, to cover the affair so completely that no hint of the existence
of his machine should have been given in any quarter, or of the vast
changes which its introduction as a power in the world could not fail
to effect.

To this he replied, that the press had behaved very handsomely; that
the principal papers of the country had _attaches_ aboard on the first
trip to the Pacific; but that all parties--the government, the editors,
together with De Aery and himself--were agreed that the matter should
be kept strictly private, until its practicality and value should be
established beyond the possibility of question.

I now remembered, that, several years ago, a good deal of noise had
been made about a flying-machine which had been constructed in some of
the suburbs of the city,--and that a day had been advertised when it
was to make an ascent, but, it failed. I mentioned the circumstance to
Mr. Bonflon.

"Yes," he replied. "It was at Hoboken. De Aery and myself spent years
in the construction of that machine, and a large amount of money. On
the day when the trial of its powers was to have taken place, the
weather proved unfavorable, and we met with unexpected delays. The
spectators, who had congregated by thousands, became impatient; and the
mob, breaking in upon us, destroyed in an hour property which had cost
us five thousand dollars and the labor of years."

I felt obliged to sympathize with Mr. Bonflon. He had met with the
usual fortune of public benefactors, and particularly of inventors. His
success, however, should it prove real, in the unexampled brilliancy of
its results, would more than compensate him for all his disappointments
and losses. He would rank as the greatest of discoverers,--as the
master mind of this master century.

Leading him off from this one topic into general conversation, I held
him thus engaged for an hour. I was charmed with his comprehensive
intelligence, and with the scope and liberality of his views. In
everything relating to mechanics, his opinions were marked with
originality. This had evidently been his favorite field, where his
quick perceptions and powers of concentration and analysis had elevated
him to an eminence where he stood almost alone. I had never met his
equal. In plausible suggestions relative to the possibilities of the
future, he took me quite above my level, and left me floating in a maze
of glittering bewilderment. But I could discover no breaks, no
confusion in his mind, on the themes he presented. His premises were
apparently well considered, and his conclusions the fair and natural
sequences flowing from them.

On the following day, Mr. Bonflon called on me again. In the interval,
my friend and myself had held extended consultations. My friend, while
externally calm as the surface of a summer sea, as was his wont, it was
plain for me to see, was internally deeply stirred and excited by the
extraordinary nature of Mr. Bonflon's revelations. Acknowledging a
mutual and increasing interest in the intelligent inventor, we
nevertheless parted in a wilderness of doubt. There was a mystery in
the matter,--a surprise for the world or a surprise for
ourselves,--which time, it would seem, with its busy thumb and finger,
must be left to unravel at its leisure.

Mr. Bonflon had not brought the California paper with him. The two or
three copies only which had come into his possession had been handed
around among his confidential friends, and he had not been able to lay
his hand on one. He informed me that the "Flying Cloud" was expected to
return in three days, and, after remaining two days on the Atlantic
side of the continent, would then start on her third experimental trip
to the Pacific. At that time he expected to make one of the party
himself, and he invited me to accompany him.

I accepted the invitation, and received from him particular
instructions as to the nature of my outfit. It was in the midst of the
heats of summer. He advised, however, a full supply of thick clothing,
on account of the increased chill and coldness of the atmosphere at
high altitudes; and, indeed, recommended a mail of flannel next the
skin. Everything else--the supply of the larder, with an excellent
cook, beds, and so forth--would be found amply provided by De Aery and
himself for the comfort and accommodation of their guests. The station,
or point of departure, Mr. Bonflon informed me, was a retired spot but
a few miles out of the city of Baltimore; and he promised to be at hand
at the proper time to accompany me in person, and see me safely on
board the "Flying Cloud."

I saw nothing more of Mr. Bonflon for several days. Meanwhile I
arranged my affairs for a brief absence, and, as my family were all off
in the country, prepared a special letter for use, if needed, to be
dated and mailed at the last moment, notifying them of a probable gap
in my correspondence, on account of some pressing business which would
take me out of the city for a few days and keep me constantly employed.

In three or four days I received a note from Mr. Bonflon, advising me
to hold myself in readiness; and at the proper time, he presented
himself before me. But he came to apologize. The "Flying Cloud" had
returned. The second trip had been as successfully and safely performed
as the first. Nothing had occurred to mar the pleasure of the voyage;
but, unfortunately, before coming on to New York, De Aery had filled
out the complement of guests for the third grand expedition. Even he
(Mr. Bonflon) should remain behind; but he should see that seats were
reserved for us both, without fail, for the next succeeding trip. Mr.
Bonflon took his leave; and I found myself more deeply involved in
doubt and perplexity than ever. I could hardly say that I was
disappointed, or that I was not. I had thrown myself on a wave, with no
look-out or means of judging where I was to be cast, and had formed no
opinions. As yet, everything looked fair with Mr. Bonflon. His face was
as honest as the morning sun, and it was next to impossible to doubt
him. He might be the prey of some strange phantasm, some monomania; but
the evidences did not show it. The account he had given of himself was
manly and coherent; his claims as a discoverer had been modestly
presented, and were not wholly unsupported by circumstances, or
unreasonable in themselves. Indeed, they must be regarded as coming
within the range of probabilities fully as much as, to human seeming,
had once the established, but ceaseless, wonders of steam locomotion
and electric telegraphing.

Singularly enough,--and it illustrates the constantly shifting scenes
in the kaleidoscope of life,--within an hour, Mr. Bonflon returned with
a new message, and with the programme of the "Flying Cloud" changed, if
not reversed. He had seen De Aery again. One or two of the expected
passengers had telegraphed that untoward circumstances would compel
them to remain behind, and there would be room for us. But no time was
to be lost; the air-steamer would weigh anchor before daylight of the
following morning, and we must start for Baltimore by the next train.
De Aery and several others were already flying over the rail on their
way to Philadelphia.

I did not allow myself to hesitate. With an unusual degree of
excitement, made up of the mingled emotions of wonder, doubt, and, I
frankly confess, apprehension, I dated and superscribed the letter to
my absent family; and, taking my carpet-bag in my hand, packed to
plethora several days before in readiness for the occasion, set out on
the strange and questionable adventure.

The run to Baltimore was made without accident or delay. Mr. Bonflon
and myself conversed a good deal, and I found additional cause to
admire the discriminating character of his mind and the curious and
wonderful stores it contained. Some of the time we dozed, or sunk into
a mental confusion like that to which the body was subjected by the
motion of the cars, and called it sleep. My own most impressive
visions, however, were those of silent wakefulness, and were connected
with the morrow and the "Flying Cloud."

We stopped in the chief city of Maryland only long enough to obtain
some slight refreshments, such as could be furnished readily in the
middle of the night, and proceeded at once to the wharf or station of
our sky-sailer. Ah, how shall I describe my sensations on first
beholding this most wonderful achievement of the age, and thus
satisfying myself that it was an actual existence, and not the mere
chimera of a diseased brain? There she sat like a majestic swan,
floating, as it were, in the pure empyrean, and crowned with a diadem
of stars. The Moon, Arcturus, and the Pleiades might well all make
obeisance to her, and the Milky Way invite her to extend her flight and
plough its snowy fields. I was astonished at her size, the symmetry of
her parts, and the harmony of her proportions, as she lay there at a
great height, which I was quite unable to estimate, in bold relief
against the sky.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20