COPY OF LETTER ADDRESSED TO A MEMBER OF THE ITALIAN PARLIAMENT UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EASTERN MAILS, NOW DESPATCHED _viâ_ MARSEILLES AND _viâ_ SOUTHAMPTON, BEING TRANSMITTED _viâ_ BRINDISI. LONDON, _5th June, 1867_. In consequence of the promise I made when in Florence on the 20th and 21st ultimo, that I should write to you on the subject of postal communication between Great Britain, the East Indies, China, Japan, and Australia, I have the honour to address this letter to you. I propose to commence it with a short sketch of the history of this communication, which, from being of comparatively trifling importance in 1830, has become, at the present time, one of immense magnitude, as well as of equally great commercial, social, and political importance. Previous to 1830, the mail communications of Great Britain with the East were maintained solely by the route round the Cape of Good Hope. Letters then were never less than 90 to 120 days on the passage between England and Calcutta, and from 20 to 30 days more between England and China. In 1830, the then great political and commercial company of England, called the East India Company, first placed a postal steamer in the Indian Seas; but it was not until 1834 that a regular monthly service was organised between Suez and Bombay. In 1835, steam communication was organised, although in an imperfect and unsatisfactory manner, between England and Alexandria. By degrees this service became improved. In 1839 the British Government, by convention with that of France, opened the Marseilles route for the conveyance of a portion of the Indian Mail; as, at that period, the railway system was not in operation in France, it required 108 hours to convey the correspondence despatched by this route, between Calais and Marseilles. It may here be mentioned that in 1845 great efforts were made by Lieutenant Waghorn of the British Navy, a man eminently distinguished in connection with the first attempt to establish postal communication between Great Britain and the East Indies, _viâ_ the Isthmus of Suez, to make Trieste the port for the embarkation of the mails. These efforts were, however, not successful, and the attention of Great Britain became thenceforward limited to the routes, _viâ_ Marseilles for the more rapid communication, and _viâ_ Southampton for the heavier and larger portion of the Indian mails. Reverting to the year 1840, the British Government entered, at that period into a contract with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company for a service once a month, from Southampton to Alexandria, and from Suez to Calcutta and China; and two services were organised between Marseilles and Alexandria, one in connection at Suez, with the service by the steamers for Calcutta and China, and the other in connection with a service between Suez and Bombay, which was performed by the postal steamers of the East India Company.