sYiiiA ; ITS IMPORTANCE: TO GREAT BRITAIN. 301 



communication, are of the highest importance. From the short dis- 

 tances between Bombay and any of the points in the Gulf, a steam- 

 boat of small power and at little expense would be necessary; while 

 the Company, having already agents at the different points on the 

 proposed line of rout, no expense for new establishments need be in- 

 curred. Both the Tigris aud the Euphrates, by the surveys of recent 

 travellers, are found to be navigable all the year round for vessels of 

 a small draught of water ; while, as to fuel, wood, charcoal, bitumen, 

 naptha, are to be found along the whole line. From the sea-coast to 

 Damascus, dispatches could arrive in twenty-four hours ; the distance 

 again from that city to Bagdad by dromedaries might be accom- 

 plished in six days ; and thence to Bussorah, at the head of the Per- 

 sian Gulf by the Tigris the banks of which river being less infested 

 by the predatory Arab tribes, renders it in the present state of the 

 country a safer rout than the Euphrates in eight days. But in ratio 

 as the Pacha of Egypt consolidates his authority in Syria, will the 

 predatory habits of the Bedouins be repressed, and the line of the 

 Euphrates, from Bir to Bussorah, will be opened for the transit of 

 passengers and goods. The voyage from England to Bombay may 

 then be accomplished as follows : 



From England to Malta, in , 16 days 



Malta to Scanderoon 4 



Scanderoon to Bir 2 



Bir to Bussorah 12 



Bussorah to Bombay 8 



42 



So that dispatches from India might arrive in Leadenhall-street with 

 ease in seven or eight weeks. And besides all the advantages we 

 have enumerated, and the establishment of a regular communication, 

 embracing their interests and enlarging their political information of 

 those parts, the whole expense would scarcely exceed that which is at 

 present annually incurred for the desultory transmission of dis- 

 patches overland, between the Indian and the Home Government, 

 or to and fro from the Company's agents, along the proposed line of 

 route. Now that the charter of the East India Company is renewed,, 

 and its political power confirmed, it is to be hoped that it will turn 

 its serious attention to this subject, and to the earliest method of car- 

 rying it into execution. 



The arguments we have adduced in the course of this paper, we 

 flatter ourselves, are of a nature to carry to the minds of our readers 

 the importance of Syria to this country, not only as a military point 

 d'appui, in the event of a rupture with Russia a contingency which, 

 however long it may be averted by the wiles of diplomacy, must one 

 day occur but also as opening a wide field to our commercial enter- 

 prise and manufacturing industry. The establishment of British 

 houses of commerce in the large cities and commercial districts will 

 considerably extend our trade with Asiatic Turkey and its depen- 



M.M. No. 105. 2 R 



