over a beautiful and fertile land;-and I trust Britain will reap the reward of a bright career of philanthropy, by being made, through the medium of commerce, the instrument under the guidance of Providence of rescuing millions of our fellow creatures from a long night of ignorance, bondage, and crime.

BOOK IV.

CHAPTER I.

STEAM NAVIGATION THROUGH THE ATLANTIC AND INDIAN OCEANS-PROPOSED PLAN OF POST OFFICE STEAM PACKETS VIA MADEIRA, ST. HELENA, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, ISLE OF FRANCE, CEYLON, &c.-ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE RED SEA AND CAPE OF GOOD HOPE ROUTE BALANCED-COMPUTATION OF THE EXPENSE OF TWELVE STEAM PACKETS, &c.

THE facilitating and accelerating of the communication between Europe and Asia will be equivalent to the annihilation of space, or the application of a lever which would have the power of bringing into closer approximation two distant continents. The public mind in both hemispheres is now being directed to so highly important an object, and private munificence and liberality appealed to for the accomplishing a national good: this is obviously improper, for the governments both in India and in England have made the post-office department a monopoly in the hands of the executive authorities; with those should the opening of the post-office system originate, and by those only indeed can it be efficiently executed. That the governments of India and of England may not only without pecuniary loss, but with considerable profit, open a steam-packet post-office communication with India, is demonstrated by the following table :

Monthly Post-office steam-packets between England and India,

Receipts for

* We ought to have possession of the Cape Verd Islands, as links in our

†The number of letters here given are taken from the returns in the Parliamentary papers on

that proposed by

STEAM NAVIGATION TO INDIA.

341

via the Cape of Good Hope, &c., and

computation of annual

Postage, &c.

Total Post-office receipts, independent of Passengers, on a moderate computation

5000

8000

20000

£45000

£211045

Indian route; they are now merely haunts for pirates and slave ships.

East India Affairs, appendix to "Finance and Commercial," page 999. The scale of postage is the Anglo-Indians.

I have taken the lowest calculation for letters, newspapers, parcels, passengers, &c. passing between both countries, without allowing for the impulse which rapidity of communication gives to commerce and social intercourse, or to the recent changes in the respective relations of the Eastern and Western hemisphere.

My reasons for advocating the Cape of Good Hope route in preference to that vid the Red Sea, or the Euphrates, are-1st. That we would bring into closer and speedier communication the whole of our Asiatic and African colonies, whereas by the Red Sea route, even if certain difficulties (to be hereafter noticed) could be overcome, only a part of our eastern possessions would be benefitted ::

2nd. That therefore the prospect of remuneration for the large expenditure requisite is more secure by the Cape than by the Red Sea or Euphrates route.

3rd. That the commercial, political, and social advantages to England and her colonies would be infinitely superior.

4th. That whereas we are mistress of the ocean, and have our route by the Cape open so long as the British trident rules, but we are not masters of Egypt, Syria, or Persia, on the contrary we are not only at the mercy of Mehemet Ali's successors, but subject to the caprice of the French and Russian governments in their intrigues with the Porte or the Pacha. [This chapter stands as it was printed in the first and second editions of my large work (Vol. I. Asia)— and the want of practical success in Colonel Chesney's expedition is now fully demonstrated.]