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.