It was not, however, until steam-vessels began to attract attention that any regular postal service other than by sailing-vessels was seriously considered. But on this subject opinions differed widely, the prevailing one at that time being at first in favour of the Cape route, transferring the conveyance of the mails from the old East Indiamen to steamers. Nothing, however, was definitely proposed till 1822, when a public meeting was held in London with the view of forming a Steam Navigation Company to trade with India, the result of which was the despatch of Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) J. Johnston, to Calcutta to see what could be done to prosecute the object in view. Johnston went through Egypt and became subsequently one of the ardent supporters of the route by Suez, though his own employment and the intention of those for whom he then acted, was more especially the promotion of the Cape route. [Illustration: S.S. “ENTERPRISE.”] [Sidenote: Calcutta meetings, 1823.] Soon after his arrival in Calcutta, several meetings took place, the most important of which was held in the Town Hall of that city, December 17th, 1823,[294] with Mr. Harrington in the Chair. Various routes were then considered. At the meeting it was announced that the proposal of a more speedy communication with England by means of steam-vessels had met with the cordial approval of Lord Amherst in Council, who was prepared to recommend towards the promotion of the enterprise a “gift of 20,000 rupees” by way of premium “to whoever, whether individuals or a company, being _British_ subjects, should permanently, before the end of 1826, establish a steam communication between England and India, either by the Cape of Good Hope or Red Sea, and make two voyages out and two home, occupying not more than seventy days on each passage.” For this object somewhere about 80,000 rupees were raised in India, of which 12,000 were subscribed by the Rajah of Oude; and, on the news reaching England, another meeting was held in London, at which more money was collected, sufficient on the whole to justify the promoters to order as an experiment, the construction of the _Enterprize_, the first steamer destined to double the Cape of Good Hope. [Sidenote: The _Enterprize_, first Steamer to India, by Cape, 1825.]