A General Plan for a Mail Communication by Steam, Between Great Britain and the Eastern and Western | Page 3

take place in the quarters alluded to, namely, success where failure
was anticipated.
In a vast undertaking like the plan proposed, the interests of the
Government and the general interests of the public must be specially
kept in view and particularly attended to. By attending closely to these
interests, the Government will find that it best and most effectually
consults the interests of individuals, places and communities. No partial
or local interest or opposition (such may (p. xii) in this, as in most other
concerns, appear) ought to be listened to. Any such opposition can only
proceed from prejudice, or ignorance, or self-interest; and a little
experience will satisfy the public, and convince even such opposition,
that the fact is so; and, moreover, that in the arrangements proposed, no

interest in any quarter has been neglected.
I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant,
JAMES M'QUEEN.
London, 14th Feb. 1838.

A GENERAL PLAN FOR CONVEYANCE OF MAILS BY STEAM,
&c. &c. (p. 001)

INTRODUCTION.
The conveyance of mails and despatches from one place to another is
of the utmost possible importance to individuals, and to a country. The
rapidity and regularity with which such communications can be made,
gives to every nation an influence, a command, and advantages such as
scarcely any thing else can give, and frequently extends even beyond
the sphere of that influence and that command which the direct
application of mere physical power can obtain to any government or
people.
Much as Great Britain has already done, in this respect, to connect and
to communicate with her very extensive, valuable, and important
foreign dependencies, still much more remains to be done, to give her
those advantages, and that influence, and that command which she
might have, which she ought to have, which all her great interests
require she should have; and which the power of steam, together with
the late great improvements in machinery, can and ought, in a special
manner, to secure unto her, her commerce, her power, and her people.
In no quarters of the world could the application of the power and the
improvements alluded to prove so advantageous to the commercial
(p. 002) and the political interests of Great Britain as in the East Indies,
in the West Indies, and in those places connected with these quarters;

and also in all those countries and places which afford the safest and
the speediest means of connecting the chain closely which tends to
enable her to communicate more frequently, more rapidly, and more
regularly with these places; and, at the same time, all these quarters,
and her own possessions, with the parent State.
The object being a national one, it ought to be carried into effect by the
nation, without reference to the mere question of pounds shillings and
pence; that is, whether it is to become a directly remunerating concern
or not. While the important subject ought to be taken up in this manner
by the Government of Great Britain, it may be observed that the plan
requisite, carried into effect in the most extensive manner, will
certainly remunerate fully the Government or the individuals who may
undertake the work, either on the general or on the more limited scale;
but the higher, the more the scale is extended.
In fact, unless the plan is carried into effect on an extensive scale, it
will not prove a concern so remunerating as it would otherwise be,
because it is only by connecting different places in the line, or within
the sphere of communication, that a greater number, or rather a
sufficient number, of letters and passengers can be obtained; and unless
the communications are sufficiently frequent and regular, both letters
and travellers will continue to find private traders and ships in general
the quickest mode of proceeding on and getting to the end of their
journey, or the place of their destination.
The position of the United States, in the western world, and the very
extensive trade which these States carry on with every part of that
quarter of the world, and indeed with every quarter of the world, gives
the merchants of these States, constituted as the packet arrangements
and communications of Great Britain with foreign parts now are, an
opportunity of receiving earlier intelligence regarding the state of many
important foreign markets than British merchants in general enjoy,
except such as are immediately connected with establishments in the
United States, and by which means both obtain decided advantages
over the rest of the commercial community. (p. 003) This ought not to
be the case in a great commercial country like Great Britain. It is a fact

quite notorious, that from almost every quarter of the western world the
earliest intelligence is almost uniformly received through the United
States. The