In turning over the pages of old authors, it is amusing to note how the
_mountains_ of our primitive ancestors have become _mole-hills_ in the
hands of the present generation! A few instances would, I think, be very
instructive; and, to set the example, I give you the following from my own
note-book.
_The Overland Journey to India._--From the days of Sir John Mandeville,
until a comparatively recent period, how portentous of danger, difficulty,
and daring has been the "Waye to Ynde wyth the Maruelyes thereof!"
In _Lingua, or the Combat of the Tongue_, by Brewer, London, 1657,
originally published in 1607, Heursis complains that Phantases had
interrupted his cogitations upon three things which had troubled his brain
for many a day:
"_Phant._ Some great matters questionless; what were they?
_Heur._ The quadrature of the circle, the philosopher's stone, and the
_next way to the Indies_.
_Phant._ Thou dost well to meditate on these things all at once, for
they'll be found out altogether, _ad graecas calendas_."
Dr. Robertson's _Disquisition on the Knowledge the Ancients had of India_,
shows that communications overland existed from a remote period; and we
know that the East India Company had always a route open for their
dispatches on emergent occasions; but let the reader consult the
_Reminiscences_ of Dr. Dibdin, and he will find an example of its utter
uselessness when resorted to in 1776 to apprize the Home Government of
hostile movements on the part of an enemy. To show, however, in a more
striking light, the difference between the "overland route" a century back,
and that of 1853, I turn up the _Journal of Bartholomew Plaisted_: London,
1757. This gentleman, who was a servant of the East India Company, tells us
that he embarked at Calcutta in 1749 for England; and, after encountering
many difficulties, reached Dover _via_ Bussorah, Aleppo, and Marseilles in
twelve months! Bearing this in mind, let the reader refer to the London
daily papers of this eighth day of November, 1853, and he will find that
intelligence reached the city on that afternoon of the arrival at Trieste
of the _Calcutta_ steamer, furnishing us with telegraph advices from--
Bengal, Oct. 3. 36 days!
Bombay, Oct. 14. 25 days!!
Hong Kong, Sept. 27. 46 days!!!
Rapid as this is, and strikingly as it exemplifies the gigantic appliances
of our day, the cry of Heursis in the play is still for the _next_, or a
nearer _way to India_; and, besides the _Ocean Mail_, the magnificent
sailing vessels, and the steamers of _fabulous_ dimensions said to be
building for the Cape route to perform the passage from London to Calcutta
in thirty days, we are promised the _electric telegraph_ to furnish us with
news from the above-named ports in a less number of _hours_ than _days_ now
occupied!
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We have thus seen that the impetus once given, it is impossible to limit or
foresee where this tendency to knit us to the farthermost parts of the
world will end!
"Steam to India" was nevertheless almost stifled at its birth, and its
early progress sadly fettered and retarded by those whose duty it was to
have fostered and encouraged it--I mean the East India Company. From this
censure of a body I would exclude some of their servants in India, and
particularly a name that may be new to your readers in connexion with this
subject, that of the late Mr. Charles P. Greenlaw of Calcutta, to whom I
would ascribe all honour and glory as the great _precursor_ of the
movement, subsequently so triumphantly achieved by the Peninsular and
Oriental Company. This gentleman, at the head of the East India Company's
Marine Establishment in Bengal, brought all the enthusiasm of his character
to bear upon the question of steam _via_ the Red Sea; and raised such an
agitation in the several Presidencies, that the _slow coach_ in Leadenhall
Street was compelled to move on, and Mr. Greenlaw lived to see his labours
successful. Poor Greenlaw was as deaf as a post, and usually carried on his
arm a flexible pipe, with an ivory tip and mouth-piece, through which he
received the communications of his friends. How often have I seen him,
after an eloquent appeal on behalf of his scheme, hand this to the party he
would win over to his views: and if the responses sent through it were
favourable, he was delighted; but, if the contrary, his irascibility knew
no bounds; and snatching his pipe from the mouth of the senseless man who
could not see the value of "steam for India," he would impatiently coil it
round his arm, and, with a recommendation to the less sanguine to give the
subject the attention due to its importance, would whisk himself off to
urge his point in some other quarter! I have already said that Mr. Greenlaw
lived to see the overland communication firmly established; and his fellow
citizens, to mark their high estimation of his character, and the unwearied
application of his energies in the good cause, have embellished their fine
"Metcalfe Hall" with a marble bust of this best of advocates for the
interests of India.