30 NOVEMBER 1901, Page 3

M. Santos-Dumont, the intrepid circumnavigator of the Eiffel Tower, was

entertained at the inaugural banquet of the Aero Club of the IJnited Kingdom on Monday night. The difficulties which M. Santos-Dumont had successfully sur- mounted were well brought out by Colonel Templer, the Director of Military Ballooning, who said that when the feat was accomplished the weather was such that at Aldershot M. . Santos-Dumont was believed to be attempting the Impossible. X. Santos-Dumont in a genial speech promised to conduct some trials in a steerable airship above London neat summer after his voyage to Corsica. He concluded by clanking to the "great British nation, which, after gaining

the empire of the seas, already aspires, thanks to your initiative, to the empire of the air." M. Santos-Dumont's confidence is most engaging. But we venture to give in another column our reasons for hoping that the French Government will neglect no precaution that may secure him from the results of any accident in mid-air on his voyage to Corsica.