16 Flying in 



the framers of the article; this is not 

 fair : let article 12 be primed throughout 

 in the same type, and then let any im- 

 purtial individual say wiielher, '' tousles 

 ivdividus," &e. " continueront <i jouir," 

 means without any exception — if no ex- 

 ception was Bifant, why plaee before 

 tliese words. '^ et en general !"■ — -To my 

 mind tiiis certainly was meant by all 

 the contractin;^ parties to exclude some 

 iudividuals. 



A Friend to Truth. 



JuneU, 1816. 



•^» If tills correspondent means to be 

 ironical, he conceals his irony with a grave 

 fiice— we have obliged him by republishing 

 the 12th article in uniform types — but we 

 are utterly at a loss to conceive how the 

 words, all the inhabitants of Paris, and, in 

 general, all the individuals who arc in that 

 city, can imply some exception. If our 

 correspondent meant to be ironical, he has 

 chosen a very grave subject for his joke. 

 Art. 11. 



Les proprietes publiques, h, I'excep- 

 tion de cellcs qui out rapport k la guerre, 

 soit qu'elles apparticiment au gouvcrne- 

 ment soit quelles dependent ile I'autorite 

 municipale,scront respectees.et les puis- 

 sances alliecs n'iutervicndront cu au- 

 cune manierc dans Icur administration 

 cu dans Icur gestion. 



Art. 12. 



Seront pareillemcnt respectecs les 

 personnes et les proprietes particuliercs ; 

 les habitans, ct en giMu'^al tons les in- 

 dividus qui se tiouvcnt dans la capitalc, 

 eontinuerout k jouir de leurs droits ct 

 liberfes sans pouvoir efrc inquietes ni 

 recherches cii ricu rclativenient anx 

 lonctions qu'ils occupcnt ou auraient 

 occupees, k Icur coiiduitc et k leurs opi- 

 iiions politiques. 



Art. 15. 



S'il survient des diflicultes sur I'exc- 

 cution dc quclqii'un des articles de la 

 prescntc convention, rinterpretation en 

 sera faitc en faveur dc rarmee Frau- 

 ^aisc ct de la \iilc do Paris. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



ALTHOUGH flying in the air by 

 means of an air-balloon, and de- 

 scendiug from thence by a parachute, 

 is reckoned a new invention in Europe, 

 yet I think to be able to make it appear 

 to yotir readers, almost to a certainty, 

 that this art was known more than one 

 hiuidred years ago, in the kingdom of 

 Siani, in the I'ast Indies. 



Some time ago, I acei<lentally saw a 

 fcook, whose title was, " An Account of 



the Air. [Aug. 1, 



a Voyage performed by two IMonks, in 

 the suite of a French Ambassador, to 

 the Kingdom of Siam ;" and, I believe, 

 it said in tbe year 1686. 



As this book belonged to a stranger, 

 I could only read a page or two, which 

 contained the following narrative, viz. 

 — " One day the j>eople at Siam enter- 

 tained the ambassador with the display 

 of an excellent fire-work, and, towards 

 the conclusion thereof, they informed 

 him, they would perform the best piece, 

 which was to blow up the engineer of the 

 fire-work, on a cask, high into the air. 

 As the ambassador thought that the en- 

 gineer would be killed, he requested 

 they would not perform this last master- 

 piece, and that he was already well en- 

 tertained with what he had seen ; but 

 they told him he need not to be under 

 any apprehension for the engineer's life, 

 as he would sulFer no injury; on this 

 their assiuance, the ambassador gave his 

 consent. 



Accordingly a cask was brought, on 

 the head of which the engineer sealed 

 himself, having in his hand a machine, 

 which proved afterwards to be a large 

 umbrella; some gunpowder was placed 

 under the cask, and, on a signal given, 

 it was set on fire, and the cask, with the 

 engineer thereon, rose high hito the air, 

 anil, when at the highest elevation, th« 

 engineer opened his umbrella, and de- 

 scended witliout any injury. 



Now, I believe, it must appear pretty 

 plainly that, in the inside of the said 

 cask, was an air-balloon, by which it 

 was raised so high ; and that the firing 

 of gun-powder was only an artful trick, 

 or perhaps a small quantity of gun-pow- 

 der was used : every one must own, thai 

 if a person is really blown with gun- 

 powder high in the air, he will be torn 

 to atoms and killed. 



I believe this embassy is the same as 

 related by IMonsieiir Voltaire, in the 

 French edition, vol. 20, hi octavo, viz. 

 — "In the year 1684, the King of 

 France, Louis XIV. received an am- 

 bassador from the King of Siam. It 

 seems that a Greek, the son of an ale- 

 house keeper at Cephalonia, whose 

 name was Phalk Constance, had travel- 

 led to Siam, and, by good fortune, was 

 made prime minister to the King of 

 Siam ; and that this man, to confirm 

 himself in his station, sent an ambassa- 

 dor, in the name of his master, to Louis 

 XIV, charged with great presents. Reli- 

 gion w as the pretext, and that the King 

 of Siam was charmed by the glorious 

 deeds 



