In spite of the sad fate of Mr. Walter Powell,
the late Mem- ber for Malmesbury, Colonel Brine and Mr. Joseph Simmons attempted last Saturday to cross the Channel in a balloon, starting from Canterbury at 11.20, and passing over Shake- speare's Cliff at about ten minutes before one. The balloon succeeded in getting about half-way across the Channel, but then, about half-past two, the aeronauts finding that they were floating up into the North Sea, and not going for the French or Belgian coast,—the wind having turned to the south-west,--signalled the Calais and Dover packet, the ` Foam,' to help them, and descended into the sea, where they were sitting in the car up to their waists in water, when the people in the steamer got hold of them. Mr. Simmons seems pleased with himself for " having shown by his attempt that he did not fear to under- take the voyage ;" but what was there to be gained by the voyage ? Every one knows by this time that if the wind had stayed in the right quarter, and barring accidents, the voyage might have been safely made ; and further, that there is no sort of security for the wind's staying in the right quarter, or for the immunity from accidents ; nor does there seem anything to have been gained by the voyage, if it had been safely made. We cannot understand, therefore, why any one should be pleased with himself for risking it.
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