Champ de Mars

Words now can transport you back to a time period that otherwise you'd only just be able to imagine.

And as for where I would take her, I think I would take her on a picnic in the Champs de Mars, just beneath the Eiffel Tower, so that she could see the sea of people from all walks of life, from all religions, people of all colors, people of all nationalities, living in freedom and light in a city that, when she last saw it, was really cloaked in darkness.

So I would want her to see that Paris survived, that Paris is still Paris, and that Paris is free.

It's wonderful.

The largest balloon ever sent aloft was the giant of Monsieur Nadar, a Frenchman, which had a capacity of two hundred and fifteen thousand cubic feet and required for a covering twenty-two thousand yards of silk.

It ascended from the Champ de Mars, Paris, in eighteen fifty-three with fifteen passengers, all of whom came back safely.

The longest flight made in a balloon was that by Count de La Vaul, one thousand one hundred and ninety-three miles in nineteen oh five.

A mammoth balloon was built in London by A.E. Gaudron.

The removal of Necker is the tocsin for a Saint Bartholomew of patriots.

This evening, all the Swiss and German battalions are coming from the Champ de Mars to slaughter us.

There remains but one resource.

Let us rush to arms." So saying, he placed in his hat a sprig of a tree, green being the emblem of hope.

The minority had indeed to fight the majority.

Dom ancillary visits were made during the night and so large a number of suspected persons arrested that their prisons were filled to overflowing.

A vast number of citizens were enrolled on the Champ de Mars and dispatched to the frontier on the first of September.

About two o'clock the next day, Sunday, the great bell, or tocsin, was sounded.

THE FIRST BALLOONS.

oh what a dainty pleasure tis to sail in the air who first navigated the air is a question which it is by no means easy to answer the desire to partake of this dainty pleasure seems to have taken a strong hold upon the human mind at a very remote period as shown by the story of daedalus the celebrated grecian sculptor and architect while imprisoned in crete he made wings for himself and his son icarus with which to fly across the sea he is said to have accomplished the flight in safety but icarus flew too near the sun the heat of which melted the wax with which his wings were fastened on and he fell headlong into the gean sea in subsequent ages the idea of flying was the basis of all attempts to make a passage through the air men thought that by elongating their arms with a broad mechanical covering they could convert them into wings and fly like birds but they forgot that birds possess air-cells which they can inflate that their bones are full of air instead of marrow and in their ignorance they launched themselves from towers and other high places and came crashing to the earth some paid the penalty of death for their wild and daring adventure others like the monk of malmesbury of whom milton tells lived to attribute their failure entirely to their having forgotten to put on a broad tail of feathers to the brothers stephen and joseph montgolfier belongs the honour of having solved the problem of aerial navigation they were paper makers by trade and in their experiments naturally fixed upon paper as the most suitable material for making balloons after many trials they at length succeeded in seventeen eighty three in raising a balloon thirty five feet in diameter to a height of fifteen hundred feet it was nearly spherical in shape and was made of linen cloth covered with paper the gas which caused the balloon to ascend was made by burning moist straw and wool on an iron brazier placed beneath the opening the news of this marvellous achievement spread quickly throughout france and so great was the excitement that a subscription was raised in paris to construct a montgolfier as the first balloon was called there lived at this time in the french capital a young scientist named professor charles and he determined to share the glory and wealth which seemed likely to fall to the share of the montgolfiers he accordingly constructed a spherical balloon of varnished silk which he inflated with hydrogen gas on the twenty seventh of august seventeen eighty three it ascended from the champ de mars in the presence of three hundred thousand spectators about an hour later it fell in a field at gonesse about fifteen miles off the consternation which its descent caused is thus described it is supposed by many to have come from another world many fly others more sensible think it is a monstrous bird after it has alighted there is still motion in it from the gas it still contains a small crowd gains courage from numbers and for an hour approaches by gradual steps hoping meanwhile the monster will take flight at length one bolder than the rest takes his gun stalks carefully to within shot fires witnesses the monster shrink gives a shout of triumph and the crowd rushes in with flails and pitchforks one tears what he thinks to be the skin and causes a poisonous stench again all retire shame no doubt now urges them on and they tie the cause of alarm to a horse's tail who gallops across the country tearing it to shreds absurd as it seems to us the government caused a proclamation to be sent throughout the country explaining to the inhabitants the nature of balloons and begging them not to be alarmed in the following month montgolfier exhibited his fire-balloon before the king at versailles the performance was but a qualified success the balloon descended only two miles away and was much slower in its motions than that of charles the ascent however had a certain scientific value the great discussion of the time was whether it would be possible to breathe at a certain distance from the earth montgolfier accordingly sent up a sheep a cock and a duck in a cage attached to his balloon they came down in safety and without having sustained any injury on the voyage these were the first aerial travellers the balloon or large ball was now an accomplished fact and serious discussion followed as to whether it could be adapted for service as an airship for bearing men aloft as passengers how this was done and the subsequent advances in the adventurous science of aerostation we propose to show in the following pages End of chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Stories of Balloon Adventure by Frank Mundell This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

Early Ascents it is remarkable that the man who was gifted with the ingenuity to make the first balloon had not the daring to trust his life to his own invention and the honour of being the first in the long list of adventurers in the air fell to a stranger the man whose name was thus destined to be famous was pilatera de rosier a professor in the french museum he made the acquaintance of montgolfier and suggested to him what was at that time a most daring project to attach himself underneath one of the fire-balloons seeing in this a means to gain the popularity which charles had deprived him of montgolfier gladly consented and preparations were set on foot for the sensational performance for this experiment montgolfier constructed a special balloon forty-six feet in circumference and sixty-six feet high it was richly decorated with drawings of eagles and wreaths from it was suspended a circular gallery by a multitude of cords in the middle of the lower opening of the balloon a kind of grate was suspended in this were placed straw and rags moistened with spirits of wine the details of the first attempt though insignificant in comparison with what has since been accomplished are not without interest the montgolfiere we are told ascended as high as the ropes purposely placed to detain it would allow which was about eighty-four feet from the ground he remained at this altitude for four minutes and twenty-five seconds by throwing straw and cloth into the grate and setting them on fire before the eyes of the dismayed spectators when the intrepid adventurer returned from the sky the experiment was pronounced to have been a great success pilatre was by no means satisfied with his experience and boldly announced his intention of making a proper aerial voyage in a free balloon accordingly on the twenty first of november seventeen eighty three an ascent was made from the bois de boulogne was on this occasion accompanied by the marquis d'alonne who afterwards wrote an account of the first journey attempted by man through an element which previous to montgolfier's discovery seemed but little fitted to support him the balloon rose majestically to the height of about three hundred feet over paris but it would speedily have descended had not the fire been constantly fed with straw as they were sailing over the city the aeronauts were startled by a loud report and on looking up to see what had caused the noise they were horrified to find that the balloon was on fire i saw says the marquis that the part turned towards the south was full of holes some of which were of a considerable size at the same time i took my sponge and quietly extinguished the little fire that was burning some of the holes within my reach but at the same moment i noticed that the bottom of the cloth was coming away from the circle which surrounded it in spite of the insecure state of their machine the two daring travellers kept on their way till they reached the outskirts of the city when they descended in safety they had been among the clouds for twenty-five minutes thus ended the first trip in a free balloon but the year seventeen eighty three so fertile in the history of ballooning did not pass away without witnessing a more wonderful performance pilatre's ascent had restored the montgolfiers to the height of popularity and professor charles and his balloon were momentarily forgotten he therefore made up his mind to outshine his rivals and set to work to prepare a sensation for the people of paris he constructed a balloon of alternate strips of red and yellow silk coated with indiarubber varnish the car was of basket work covered with cloth painted in blue and gold trimmed with tassels of gold and cords of silk and was suspended from a net which covered the upper part of the balloon a valve was fitted at the top and worked by a cord from below to allow the gas to escape when it became necessary to descend and ballast was carried in the form of sand-bags a barometer fastened to the car completed the outfit of this the first complete aerial machine so detailed were the arrangements in the charlier as the hydrogen balloon was called that for a hundred years no essential change or improvement took place on professor charles's invention on the first of december charles made an ascent from the gardens of the tuileries accompanied by a friend named robert the balloon rose very gently in a horizontal direction and quickly reached an elevation of eighteen hundred feet then the wind carried them towards nell

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It was then that the crowd attacked and repeatedly stabbed him until he died.

Whilst some blamed the governor and the small garrison for the fall of the Bastille, others suggested that the blame lay with the 5,000 royal troops stationed on the Champ de Mars, who failed to respond to the attack.

The shocking news that the working people of Paris had stormed a fortress of the king sent shockwaves around Europe and today, the 14th of July, is celebrated in France as Bastille Day, the day on which the revolution took a more radical turn.

Robespierre's reaction to these events was a mixture of shock and joy.

This allowed Robespierre to expand his influence over the Jacobin clubs as, with the departure of the moderate deputies, the movement became far more radical and aligned with Robespierre's political views.

When the assembly agreed that King Louis XVI should retain his throne, if he agreed to the new constitution, uproar ensued.

The Jacobins led the protest against this proposal on the 17th of July at the Champ de Mars, where a crowd had gathered to sign a petition drawn up by Jacques-Pierre Brissot calling for the deposing of the king.

The gathered mob became violent and then, Under the orders of the Marquis de Lafayette, the National Guard attempted to disperse the crowd by firing warning shots.

Long after you return home, hearing the language again can bring Paris back to life in your memory.

From Rue Claire, walk toward the Champ de Mars.

The Eiffel Tower may be one of the most photographed structures in the world, but seeing it together in the quiet of morning feels different.

There is no need to climb immediately or search for the perfect camera angle.

Legitimacy had just asserted itself by cutting off the hand, then the head of Plénier, of Carbonneau, and of Talleyrand.

The Prince de Talleyrand, Grand Chamberlain, and the Ob Louis, appointed Minister of Finance, laughed as they looked at each other, with the laugh of the two Augurs, both whom had celebrated on the 14th of July, 1790, the Mass of Federation in the Champs de Mars.

Talleyrand said it as Bishop.

Louis had served it in the capacity of Deacon.

In 1817, in the side alleys of this same Champs de Mars, two great cylinders of wood might have been seen lying in the rain, rotting amid the grass, painted blue, with traces of eagles and bees, from which the gilding was falling.

These were the columns which two years before had upheld the Emperor's platform in the Champs de Mars.

They were blackened here and there with the scorches of the bivouac of Austrians encamped near Gros Caillou.

Two or three of these columns had disappeared in these bivouac fires and had warmed the large hands of the Imperial troops.

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the business of the states-general did not pass off as gaily as the opening ceremony conflict between the orders followed immediately on points of procedure with the result that the third estate constituted itself the national assembly of france refusing to admit the other orders to its deliberations except on a basis of equality the king manifested his displeasure by closing the door of the hall of the states against them the assembly answered by the celebrated oath it took outside in the tennis court of versailles twentieth june by which it pledged itself not to separate until it had given france a constitution the assembly triumphed over the court two days after its oath inasmuch as it regained possession of its hall openly defied the king in person abolished the independence of the clergy and noblesse formally confirmed its decrees of the previous day which the king had quashed and proceeded with its deliberations thus the curtain rose on the first act of the revolutionary drama meanwhile the new popular ferment occasioned by the events at versailles had taken complete possession of the capital and was rapidly spreading into the provinces some weeks later early in july necker the minister of finance beloved by the middle class was dismissed from office necker it should be observed was one of the less bad of the scoundrels called finance ministers who have been malversating the national funds in succession for years past by comparison he appeared almost virtuous and the populace whose charity and admiration are always boundless toward official personages when not quite so bad as one would expect had converted him into an object of adoration a procession for the purpose of protesting against the minister's dismissal was dispersed by force of arms and two persons killed the city was soon in an uproar the palais royal the great place of public assembly and political discussion was packed with over ten thousand persons on the table which served for a tribune stood a young man of fine features and gentle mien who was haranguing the crowd it was camille desmoulins the popular journalist citizens said he there is not a moment to lose the removal of necker is the tocsin for a st bartholomew of patriots this evening all the swiss and german battalions are coming from the champ de mars to slaughter us there remains but one resource let us rush to arms so saying he placed in his hat a sprig of a tree green being the emblem of hope the example was followed till the chestnut trees of paris were denuded at the same time the tricolour flag was first adopted as the banner of the popular party the crowd proceeded through the streets bearing in triumph the busts of necker and philippe egalite the king's cousin but not his friend its numerical strength increasing with every yard traversed till its course was arrested on the pont royal by a detachment of the royal german cavalry the latter was driven back by showers of stones and the concourse swept onwards as far as the place louis quinze here a formidable street fight took place the people being opposed by a squadron of dragoons the regulars of the king after encountering a vigorous resistance at length routed the insurgent parisians but the victory was more fatal to the cause they represented than any defeat could have been the dispersed multitude carried the indignant cry to arms from end to end of paris the regiment of french guards quartered in paris mutinied and put to flight the mercenary foreign troops intended to overawe them the whole night long the tocsin rang out from the hotel de ville where a committee of prominent citizens was sitting to organize a search for arms the morning of the twelfth of july saw paris in full revolt the tocsins of all the churches were peeling drums were beating along all the main streets excited crowds collecting in every opening space an influx of the disinherited class trooped in at all the gates of paris gunsmiths shops were ransacked on all sides a mad search for weapons was the order of the day the committee at the hotel de ville in response to the importunate demands for arms could only reply that they had none the civic authorities next appealed to temporized and evasively promised assistance houses were sacked carriages seized in the confusion there were naturally not wanting ruffians who sought to make use of the state of things prevailing for purposes of mere plunder such excesses were peremptorily put down with the cry death to the thieves the equipages and other property of the aristocrats when seized by the people were always either destroyed or carried to a central station at the place In the afternoon, the provost of the merchants, a dignitary of the effete medieval hierarchy corresponding to the modern mayor, announced the speedy arrival of the muskets and ammunition so eagerly clamoured for on all sides.

A citizen militia was formed under the name of the Parisian Guard, numbering forty-eight thousand men.

Cockades of red, blue, and green were everywhere distributed, but the hours passed on, and no muskets arrived.

To the Evalides, the military hospital.

There, at least, arms must be forthcoming.

And, sure enough, the people were rewarded for their courage in braving the troops assembled in the Champ de Mars, and forcing their way into the great military depot.

Twenty-eight thousand muskets, besides cannon, sabres, and spears, were carried off in triumph.