B

England.

The following table, shows the number of days after the advertised latest safe date before the Calcutta letters left Bombay for England during the last 12 months, and the comparative number of covers despatched from Calcutta and all India, when the latter could be ascertained.

Numberot days
between latest

safe date and

letters leaving
Bombay for

Letters

News

Covers

papers

THE CHAIRMAN then addressed the meeting as follows: this cause has expired.-In short, that delay, disappoint-Gentlemen,- We are again met to advocate, I trust, ment, and an enervating climate, have combined to renwith all our might, the comprehensive scheme of Steam der us indifferent to the success of the important object Navigation to all the presidencies of India by way of the which has convened us together so often in this great Red Sea. I fervently congratulate you, gentlemen, that hall; and for which we have so frequently and so urgentyou have in such numbers laid aside all other occupation, ly petitioned. I mention these circumstances, not beand by thus assembling together here, placed beyond all cause I think there can exist any doubt that you hold power of refutation the fact that your ardour, your zeal, them in derision and contempt, but because they mark and your anxiety for the complete success of this great forcibly the absolute necessity for our continuing to act and important object, is not only undiminished, but will most strenuously and unitedly. Gentlemen, we must suffer no diminution until the entire accomplishment of consider nothing done, whilst anything remains to be all your desire has rewarded your most praiseworthy per done. We must persevere as if we were one body, with severance. At this critical moment, gentlemen, the one soul, and resolved to be satisfied with nothing short of strongest demonstration you can make of an unrelenting complete success. What have we to discourage us? determination to gain the object you have so long and Nothing. What have we to encourage us? Much, very so ardently sought, is peculiarly called for. As was to much. To confirm our confidence, we know that our be expected, you are opposed by interested persons who late, and our present Governors-General, anxiously dehave other views and other schemes for the furtherence sire that we should attain our wishes. We know that of which they have an undoubted right to use their best the Commons' House of Parliament, the Ministry, and endeavours. To fair and avowed competition not one of many of the greatest and most influential public men in us here, I am sure, would object, but, gentlemen, I state England, have declared that we are entitled to what we with regret, that it is asserted, on credible authority, that ask. This is not all, gentlemen. We have another great less than justifiable means have been employed to dis- advantage ground, for it has been shewn, satisfactorily suade the British public from joining our cause. It has been shewn, that Steam Communication to all the Presidencies represented to our countrymen at home, that Steam com- would actually be less expressive than confining Steam munication by the Red Sea will be always uncertain and Communication to Bombay. The statements to the refull of danger; and that certain and permanent Steam port, which Mr. Greenlaw has read to you, prove that Communcation can alone be obtained by the Cape of notwithstanding all the imperfections and uncertainties Good Hope. Further, that we in India have abandoned of the present Steam Communication to Bombay, the the earnestness of our desire to establish the comprehen- Post Office Revenue thus derived, has progressively consive scheme by the way of the Red Sea; that our zeal in tinued to encrease; and that it would be double what it

This mail was made up in consequence of a notification from Bombay, that the Atalanta was to leave on the 3d July for the Persian Gulf, but the Semiramis arriving thence on that day, and it appearing that the services of the Atalanta were not required in the Gulf, it was determined not to send her there, and in lieu to despatch the Semiramis to the Red Sea on the 12th of July: she left on the 15th and put back on the 26th. Her packets were the largest yet put up, amounting to 10, 102 covers, and these were considered as forming too heavy and too bulky packets to admit of their being conveyed by the Persian Gulf, they were therefore detained and despatched by the Berenice for the Red Sea on the 12th September, being 89 days from the date of the letters leaving Cal

cutta.

+ In consequence of a notification from Bombay of its being intended to send a Steamer either to the Red Sea or Persian Gulf, on the 25th July, the 8th of that month was advertised at Calcutta, as the latest safe date for letters, a Mail was accordingly despatched, but on the 14th July, a fresh notification appeared, stating that a Steamer would be despatched to the Red Sea on or about the 1st of August, and the 16th July was advertised as the latest safe date. The vessel, the Atalanta, left on the 1st of August, but her destination was altered, and she proceeded to the Persian Gulf instead of the Red Sea.

now is, whenever this presidency and Madras have Steam that link. I have obtained, from a gentleman lately reCommunication, cannot be reasonably doubted. The late improvements in Ocean Steam Communication, hold out to us the fairest promise, that when their Leviathan steamers are employed in the Red Sea, our intercourse with London will be reduced to 35 or at most 40 days. What will then be our joy! who can venture to describe, by anticipation, either the extent or the number of the incalculable advantages this country must derive from such an increased proximity of communication with our blessed country, and with Europe generally, It will be then, gentlemen, that morality, science, and civilization will make strides of advancement, which, without such potential aid, could not be accomplished in

"On arriving at Bombay, I requested that a dák might be laid for Mrs. — and myself via Nagpore to Allahabad. This the Deputy Post Master said could not be done, at that season of the year, without almost the certainty of our both dying of jungle fever. I then suggested our going to Madras viâ Hyderabad. To this he replied that I could only calculate with certainty on getting on as far as his authority extended, namely, through the Bombay terriMR. R. D. MANGLES, after a few preliminary ob-tory, and that I should, probably, be detained in the Maservations, proposed the following resolution, adding that dras provinces for want of bearers, 3 weeks or a month, he was about to proceed to England where his best efforts and POSSIBLY, after all, be oblidged to return to Bombay, shall be directed to aid the Comprehensive Scheme of as the Madras troops were then in motion, and the bearers -Steam Communication with India. would all be employed for their accommodation.

"That the report be received; and that this meeting, fully concurring with the Committee, in considering it to be expedient, that a reiterated and strong expression of the public desire for the immediate establishment of Steam Communication to all the Presidencies of India by way of the Red Sea, should be made, declare that the late improvements in Ocean Steam Navigation, where by the communication by way of the Red Sea between Calcutta and London may be made in from thirty-five to forty days, only increase their desire for its establishment, and request the Committee to continue their exertions to-ers, and with a few trifling interruptions and delays, made wards its accomplishment."

"As a last and only recource, I took a patamar and sailed down to Tellicherry, hoping there to procure bearers to carry us across to Madras via Seringa patam ; but offers to carry us across to Madras via Seringa atam ; but nue my voyage to Poonany, a considerable distance further down the coast. Well it was for us that we had on the whole favorable weather, else, on the open sea, in our small boat, which, during one shower we had, admitted the rain through every seam in the deck, we should have been very uncomfortable. At Poonany we got bear

After this, it may be superfluous to refer to theoretical difficulties; but in the early discussions on this question, these difficulties were so clearly seen and described, that I cannot refrain from bringing them to your notice; nor are there weight or force lessened in that they come from the BOMBAY STEAM COMMITTEE! That body on the 18th May 1833, published a report in the Bombay Courier, in which occurred the following passage. It is to be remembered, that quarterly trips were then contemplated :

By remaining, during one intermediate trip of the steamer to Egypt, the whole country, from the wonders of Abyssinia to Aleppo, with the splendid monuments of antiquity of Syria and Egypt, Damascus, Palungra, Albuck, Jerusalem, Cairo and the Pyramids, Dendera, Thebes, Philé, and Mount Sinai might be visited for one-tenth part of the expense, with far less danger, and in nearly the same period that would be necessary to cross the continent of India from Bombay to Calcutta, and back again.".

Now, gentlemen, I hardly think it possible for us to have more conclusive evidence than the above, that whether for purposes, social, political (for the government equally suffers,) or commercial, the restriction of the communication to Bombay is utterly inefficient, and that the communication ought forthwith to be extended as we desire it to be.

"That the thanks of this meeting be given to the Right Hon'ble Lord William Cavendish Bentinck, for His Lordship's continued zeal and exertions; to the Right Hon'ble Sir Wilmot Horton, for the promptitude and energy with which, immediate on his arrival in England, be exerted himself in favor of an extended Steam Communication with India, and particularly for his able conduct as Chairman of the public meeting held at the Jerusalem Coffee House on the 12th of October Meeting, last ; and to the Committee appointed at the for the devotion which they have made of their time to the cause of a Comprehensive Steam Communication between England and India by way of the Red Sea, and especially to Timothy A. Curtis, Esq., the Chairman of the Committee, for his disinterested exertions."

MR. R. S. THOMSON, in seconding the resolution, eulogized the conduct of Lord William Cavendish Bentinck, whose zeal and disinterestedness, have entitled him to the lasting gratitude of every man in the country. The resolution was then put and carried.

MR. G. A. PRINSEP, proposed the third resolution. He was glad to see it stated that the apathy which had been hitherto felt in England towards Indian subjects, was fast giving way to a honest feeling, corroborated as that statment was by the many real and not lukewarm friends, Steam Communication on the Comprehensive Plan, had found in England. He yielded to MB. C. W. SMITH.-The subject of Steam Naviga- no one in the respect he entertained for the noblemen tion between this country and England, has hitherto and gentlemen who had laboured so strenuously in the been neglected and disregarded by the public in Eng-cause, and who had been so eloquenly alluded to by Mr. Smith, but he thought it would ill become the land, to an extent which would be altogether unaccountable had we not been accustomed to see the same neg. meeting if they were to separate, without noticing the lect extended to almost every other Indian subject, how. exertions, the talent, and the spirit eviuced by their ever important in itself, and interwoven with the nation-agent in Englaud, Captain Barber, whose exertions, be it recollected, were not in proportion to the pay meted al prosperity. Recent intelligence gives us good reason to hope, that this feeling of apathy and indifference be- out to him, but applied, with all the spirit and energy gins to disappear, before a spirit of awakened interest, becoming the cause he had engaged in, and the dithculties to which they were opposed. He congratulated and that among others the cause for which we have so often met together in this hall, and for the furtherance the Committee on having an agent who had determins of which our Committee has so long and so unremit.edly espoused the bouldest plan, the best and the most tingly and so ably laboured, and at length been taken likely to answer. up and advocated with a vigor which bids fair to over"That the thanks of the meeting be given to Capcome every obstacle, which ignorance or interested mo. tain Barber, for the judgment and decision evinced by tives may have placed in its way. In the resolution bim in calling a public meeting in the city of London, which I have the honor to propose, we are called upon to take the subject of Steam Communication with laand whose bosom will not respond to the call? to dia, by the Red Sea into consideration, by which the express our grateful sense of the exertions of those friends question is at length fairly brought before the British in England, who are giving their hearty assistance public in general, and the merchants of London in to the formation of a Comprehensive Plan of Steam Na- particular, as well as for his able and persevering exervigation between India and our beloved native country.ions in preparing and laying before the Committee, Who is there, I say, that is not eager to acknowledge plans and estimates, and procuring evidence for the his sense of the continued, consistent, and disinterested consideration of the Committee." exertions of Lord Williain Bentinck? Who that does not feel desirous to carry, by acclamation, a vote of thanks to Sir R. Wilmot Horton, who, when in India, was ever a staunch friend to our views, and who had no sooner set foot in England, then be adopted the earliest measures to bring forward the subject, and to obtain for it that degree of public interest and attention, to which it is so preeminently entitled? Who is there, that would withhold his warmest thanks from Mr. Curtis, the chairman, and every other Member of the Committee, who voluntarily came forward to give effect to the resolutions of the meeeting held at the Jerusalem Coffee House? (Cheer). There cannot be one of the many here assembled who would refuse to unite in one unanimous burst of praise towards those, whose patriotic exertions have so richly merited our applause. To such an one would apply the words

of the immortal Scott :

MR. STOCQUELER had much pleasure in seconding the resolution, more particularly as possibly he might be connected with Captain Barber in business. He thought, not be inappropriate were he to read an it would extract of a letter relative to Captain Barber, which he had recently received from London.

"Barber is, without exception, one of the best men of business in London, and that is saying a great deal. To an unnecessary activity of body he unites system and firmness of purpose. He is besides extremely zealous in the discharge of the duties entrusted to him, and is not to be turned away by any consideration from effecting the objects on which he has set his mind. The transfer of the agency of your steam committee was a happy hit, and I am greatly mistaken if it is not productive of the best results."

The following Resolution was proposed by COL. MCLEOD, and seconded by SAMUEL Saith, Esq.

That James, Young, Esq., be appointed a Member of the Committee in the room of James Prinsep, Esq., gone to England."

MR. PARKER.-The resolution I have in my hand, is that I see before me, pointing to a drawing on the relates to the respected head of our Government, and table.) Is it the great Eastern ?

though I could dilate much upon what we already owe, upon more that we hope for, under his enlightened and benevolent administration, I will not at this hour delay you long.

rule.

(THE CHAIRMAN. No, the British Queen.)

MR. CLARKE. Very wrong. Unless it were the Great Eastern, and my own face peeping over the tatrail bidding you adieu, it is not a good style of drawing, (a laugh.) We have had many great men in the position now Mr. Mangles has told you he is going to England; L occupied by the noble Lord, many who have deserved shall essay to follow him. He has promised to support well of India: Lord Clive won the country and well your views at home. 1 will promise the same, when I did he deserve; or I firmly believe that, under Pro-arrive there-aud be contented if I am. proximus sed vidence, the regeneration of this empire will be owlongo intervallo. MR. MANGLES.-No, no. ing to its connection with Great Britain. Lord Cornwallis-well too did he deserve of a land, where, if 1 may MR. CLARKE. And now, gentlemen, behold me here use the expression, he created order out of disorder, a persecuted man; for, bel.eve me, I have had, since and cast the elements of stability and law and civili-I came into the room, some fifteen of these papers conzation, into what was then a chaos; where, in good taining this motion, thrust, "like greatness, upon me"; time, and with God's aid, they will hear wholesome notwithstanding my friend, our Secertary, had provident fruits. Well, too, did Lord Wellesley deserve of ly provided me with one the day before. Gentlemen, this India; for he arrested the efforts of foreign an internal argues a suspicion that I am not hearty in the cause, and foes, whose success would not have been followed by never was there suspicion more unfounded; and of that, which alone justifies war, the inestimable blessing this I will give you the best reason in the world. The of peace, but by further centuries of anarchy and mis-only speculation by which I ever made money, was Lord Hastings crowned the good work, through by Steam. The first property I ever had, was in a Steam which the peasant sits unscathed beneath the shadow boat, and that was the Victory, the fist Steamer of his ancestral tree, and the townsman no longer that ever ploughed her way from London to Margate. watches from his walls the horrizon blackened with the Gentlemen, when I tell you that my earliest money smoke of Pindarry warfare, Lord. William Bentinck making was by Steam, you may have a lurking notion, gave an impulse, a forward motion, a feeling of life and that I still feel an interest in the charming occupation, energy, to all connected with the welfare of this great em- (a laugh.) But, gentlemen, let me come to the reso pire, the fruits of which are developing themselves at this lution which I have to propose to you, and it will, I very moment, and no where more manifestly than in feel well assured, meet with the hearty concurrence of tins very assembly. I will say, that he too deserved all whom have the honor of addressing. The object well, very well, of India; he continues to deserve well of this resolution is to promote unanimity, the want of of her, by his exertion in the good cause at home; but which has worked us so much evil, and by obtaining notwithstanding, I have mentioned many great men, which, I believe, our success must be inevitable. It is to many benefactors of this country, as great a place re- a want of unanimity only, that I can attribute the slow mains for him who shall put the final seal to what-progress which has been made in achieving the compre ever of good Great Britain has accomplished for India; hensive scheme. Let any man reflect on the vast objects who shall cast on one side the greatest obstacle to that to be gained, the practicability of the measure, and good being permanent and complete; who shall put the the unbounded means of those by whom it was to be key-stone to the arch, the capital to the column. Who worked out. Why, the object of it is to unite together ever does this work, I say,-whoever brings all India the most potent nation in the world, with a colony, unto the threshold, as it were of our native land, under exampled for the immensity of its population, the the double protection of her power and her justice, shall surely take his place with the greatest of those 1 have enumerated. I hope and pray, that such good fortune may be reserved for one, who has. I am sure, nothing more at heart than the good of this country; who has hitherto manifested so cordial a feeling towards the comprehensive scheme of Steam Navigation between all India and Great Britain, via the Red Sea, and in this feeling I beg to propose the following

resolution :

"That this meeting cannot separate without record. ing its grateful sense of the support and encouragement which the cause of Steam Commnnication with England, by way of the Red Sea, has received from the present Governor-General, the Right Hon'ble Lord Auckland nor without expressing its conviction that the matured experience derived from his Lordship's lengthened Rules must have confirmed the views early entertained of the immeasurable value of a regular, speedy frequent and comprehensive intercommunication between the two countries by means of steam vessels by the shortest route, viz. the Red Sea.

Mr. R. H. Cockerell, seconded the resolution, and it was carried.

MR. L. CLARKE came forward to propose the next resolution. He stood immediately behind Mr. Pattle's chair, who moved to make room for him. Mr. Clarke commenced by saying to Mr. Pattle. Pray sit still. and quiet your alarm; though standing here, I will say nothing of you behind your back, (a laugh.) But what

vastness of its resources, and the extent of its limits, As to its praticability, reflect for a moment that the shores of Britain and Columbia have been united. The broad Atlantic has been traversed without one resting spot; yet here, in the same measured space, you have Madras, Ceylon, Socotra and Cossier, all as entrepots. In short, gentlemen, difficulty does not exist, if enter prize can he found (Cheers) Experience has demon. strated its practicability. (Cheers.) let us next examine the means to carry it into effect. What can you cominand? Why, the power of Britain-the wealth of England and of India, and the experience, enterprize, skill, and energy of the most enlightened era the world ever saw. (Cheers) Such is the object to be achievel, Such are the means of attaining it. Unanimity alone is wanting, and with so much to gain, and so little to overcome, is there a man who hears me, but must be conscious, that had the great Government of England, the all wealthy Court of Directors, and the whole of the ardent and rich population of India, been unanimous, but that the scheme would have been perfected in as many days, as it has now dragged on for years, (Cheers.) But, gentlemen, we have not only wanted unanimity, but we have met with opposition. Our brethren at Bombay have, most injudiciously, opposed the comprehensive plan, and the Court of Di rectors have insiduously assisted them. Communication with India never did, and never will be, honestly supported by the Court. (Cheers.) Better for us had it been that they had never interfered but left us to ourselves. They have been the empyric administering to the patient, who will not cure him, yet dare not let him die;

may discover that in the general weal, their own is best identified; and that our efforts may conclude in the naval proverb of our country, "a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together. (Sheers.)

"That this meeting learns with much satisfaction the mutual good understanding which prevails between the Calcutta and Madras Committees and cordial by confirms the proceedings of the Committee, in requesting Mr. D. Elliott, Member of the Madras Committee, to become an Honorary Member of the Calcutta Committee.

and their whole conduct reminds me of a story I have] Would that the example may spread, that all Indiæ somewhere read, of an ancient lady in the country, whose apothecary at last left her, and consigned her to the clergymen, his usual professional successor. But Nature asserted her sovereignty, and when the quack departed, health returned. Dear me, said the lady, to her spiritual guide, here is an undoubted miracle, I have recovered, after the doctor gave me over. No, no, said the clergyman, the real miracle would have been if you had recovered, before he gave you over- (Much laughter). Gentlemen, to me it appears that this is our case; as long as the Court of Directors administer to Steam. Navigation, it never can thrive or be healthy. The MR. WILLIS EARLE seconded the resolution, and people of India must take it up themselves; they must THE CHAIRMAN in putting it to the meeting, remarked' be unanimous among themselves-not for a partial, but the gist and pith of Mr. Clarke's address had been in "for a comprehensive plan. Not for a Bombay plan, to the favour of unanimity, yet, strange to say, his observati exclusion of the other presidencies,-nor for the other ous were also calculated to promote an unpopular feelpresidencies, to the exclusion of Bombay, (Cheers.)ing towards the most powerful engine the comprehenLet Bombay rest assured that she never can be passed sive scheme could possibly possess. He was not inclia. by. The Court may make her the resting place, may ed to contemn the Home authorities; he thought they insidiously stop short there, but let all India force had done much, and sure he was, they would do more. Steam Navigation to the metropolis of all India, and Whatever of inactivity they had displayed, he ascribed her sister presidency at Madras; anl Bombay, will to causes not made public, rather than to an apathy for equally participate in the benefit. They have not the welfare of this country. Moreover, the Home Auviewed the question aright, they have not discover-thorities are as yet unheard, and it is not becoming a ed that our intesests are cominón. Madras always gentleman of the profession to which Mr. Clarke belongs, has done so. She has ever aided and assisted us, to condemn parties who have not had an opportunity of and, therefore, is it, that I call on you, gentlemen, being heard in their defence. (Hear, hear.)

thus publicly to record your opinion of the soun.l MR. CLARKE declared the Home Authorities had judgment and, excellent feeling, which our Com-been fairly put upon their trial.

mittee have evinced, in expressing their acknowledge- After this the resolution was put and carried, and the ments to our sister presidency, and placing among business of the meeting declared at an end. - Hurkaru, their numbers one of her most distinguished members. February 21.

MEETING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MECHANICS' INSTITUTION AND SCHOOL OF ARTS.

Last Tuesday evening, about 300 persons met at the Town Hall, to take into consideration the establishment of the Mechanics' Institution, of which, some days ago, we gave an account. Sir J. P. Graut, Mr. J. Lowis, Revd. Messrs. Boaz and Campbell, Drs. Corbyn and Spry, and several other distinguished members of society, were among the number.

knowledge. The case in this country was different Here we had not many who were employed in mechanical works. The young students were generally of opinion, that mechanical pursuits are beneath their notice. One of the objects of this institution, would be to remove such an erroneous impression from their minds, by shewing to them dressed in all the charms of science, the beauties At half-past seven, Sir J. P. GRANT having been call of mechanical occupations. People talk much of the ed to the chair, opened the business of the evening by inveterate prejudices of the natives, by which they are observing, that most of those who were present, had no said to be averse to the acquirement of useful and doubt read the prospectus of the Society, which, although scientific knowledge. To prove the falsity of this notion, brief, was clear, and properly explained the nature and we need but look at the Medical College, both here and objects of the institution. It was not, therefore, necessary at Bombay, where he had witnessed the relinquishment for him to say much on the subject; he would, however, of prejudices among the natives that at once set at make a few observations which occured to him as ap- naught any reflection against them on that score. Here, propriate to the occasion. He then adverted to the at the Medical College, dissection is now performed by advantages that had been derived in America and other the native students without the slightest aversion. These countries, from institutions similar to that which was circumstances were sufficient to set at defiance the noabout to be established here, and he looked for the same tion he had adverted to. Education is now rapidly result in this country. There was, however, some dif- [advancing in this country, and every step of advance ference between institutions of this kind in Europe, and ment gives a blow to prejudice (loud cheers.) We that which would be established here, Society in Europe have met here this evening to form an institution which was far advanced in civilization, whilst the people of is to teach useful knowledge to the people of India-to India were just beginning to receive the dawn of know-show to them that the arts by which the commonest ledge. Institutions like these in Europe, were intended comforts of life are secured, are connected with the chiefly to direct the attention of the great body of men employed in mechanical occupations to the advantages of science These people require to have their attention diverted from the pursuit of sensual gratifications to those of a mental character, as a relaxation from their usual employments and an intellectual enjoyment. They require such institutions, to wean them from improper habits, to give to them a character of sobriety and morality, and to open to all the vast treasures of science and

sublimest sciences-that thought and observation were necessary to secure success in the prosecution of these arts, and to give the people habits of reflection and reasoning. Some time ago he had the happiness of being connected with the Hindoo College, where he had occasion to deliver several lectures upon the laws of England and to point out to them that those institutes were grounded on, the great principles of moral justice and national laws, which formed the basis of every civil institution. He