694 
STEAM NAVIGATION— NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
is already established all the way every 
month from Falmouth to Beirout ; and the 
line of dromedaries now about to be put in 
operation between the latter place and 
Mohammerah, will soon decide the question 
better than mere speculation ; but, to try 
it fairly, there should be a steamer plying 
between Bombay and Mohammerah ; for 
which one vessel would suffice to go ; and 
come alternate months. Supposing, there- 
fore, that the Hugh Lindsay were to be 
allotted to this service partially (if not ex- 
clusively) — there is nothing more to he done 
as far as letters are concerned ; and a mode- 
rate postage would most likely pay every 
expense. 
But with reference to public feeling, and 
convenience.', it is to be hoped that some- 
thing more satisfactory will be attempted 
when the new steamers reach India. — Three 
steamers with the assistance of a sailing 
vessel occasionally, and having two small 
steamers on the Euphrates at the annual 
cost of £ 500 each, would, considering the 
shorter voyage to Mohammerah, enable the 
Government to open the Red Sea as well, 
by alternate monthly voyages during the 
next 18 ; or, other times as might be suffi- 
cient to demonstrate to the world, all the 
advantages and disadvantages of each : be- 
fore we establish one of them permanently, 
or both at different seas ons, should this be 
more suitable. 
It appears to me that there are several 
good reasons for opening both routes at the 
same time. 
1st. The three steamers cou Id not keep 
up a monthly communication to Suez ; but, 
by going the shorter voyage alternately to 
the Gulph, they might keep up the 12 
voyages for a time, say 9 voyages in each 
direction. 
2d. We are not quite sure that either 
of the routes would be practicable at all 
seasons, and a continued experiment can 
alone decide this point, and at the same time 
the relative speed, expense, &c. 
3d. Plague is said to exist in Egypt and 
Syria almost always at different times, there- 
fore the one might be open whilst the other 
is shut, either from this cause, or war, dis- 
turbances, &c. 
4th The .commercial and piratical rela- 
tions of the Persian Gulf, and our interests 
in Persia itself, require, at least, occasional 
and regular communications, which would 
be secured by the double line of the Red 
Sea and Euphrates ; and if neither of them 
should fully answer our expectations, there 
will be the resource of experimenting on 
two others ; the one being along the river 
Tigris to Trebezonde, and from thence by 
Sea to Constantinople, Malta, and Eng- 
land ; whilst the other would be through 
Persia to Trebezonde, and thence by the 
Danube and the Rhine to England, which 
may be said to be almost open already. 
The grand object is to have some regular 
communication or other, but in the present 
progressive state of steam, we ought to be- 
gin with the shortest and cheapest lines 
possible, looking forward to more daring at- 
tempts some 10 or 20 years hence, whence the 
monsoons may not only be overcome, but 
paying voyages made from Madras and Cal- 
cutta to Suez, as well as round the Cape : 
These objects cannot however be obtained 
until vessels are constructed to carry fuel 
at a cheaper rate, and for double the time 
that has been accomplished as yet ; conse- 
quently, we ought to be content for the pre- 
sent, with what may be actually practica- 
ble from Bombay either to Suez, or the 
Persian Gulf ; as experience may decide 
for, or against the latter. 
But lest “ I should be further tedious to 
you’ ’ I shall merely add that if the Euphra- 
tes where only to contribute its mite to the 
good cause, by being used at such times as^ 
the Red Sea may not be available from any 
cause whatever, it would still deserve some 
dispassionate consideration, as a mere 
auxiliary ; especially, as great moral- and 
commercial benefits may be the consequence 
of renewing our former intercourse through 
Arabia : and, after all, it would not be much 
to boast of, that the subjects of a sailor 
king, should be able (with the assistance 
of steam) to do as much as those of Queen 
Elizabeth did only with sailing vessels, — 
that is making the Great River a high road 
to India, where our present Sovereign has, 
as he feels quite as much at stake, as her 
Majesty had ; and if it had depended up- 
on King William instead of Parliament, 
both lines would have been in operation at 
this instant. — Madras Herald.'^ 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
The valuable communications from Mr. 
Baddeley and Mr. Hodgson have been 
received. 
