OF RAPID STEAM MAILS.

ARE OCEAN STEAM MAILS DESIRABLE AND NECESSARY FOR A COMMERCIAL
PEOPLE? THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE DEMANDS THEM: MUTUAL DEPENDENCE OF
NATIONS: FAST MAILS NECESSARY TO CONTROL SLOW FREIGHTS: THE
FOREIGN POST OF EVERY NATION IS MORE OR LESS SELFISH: IF WE
NEGLECT APPROVED METHODS, WE ARE THEREBY SUBORDINATED TO THE SKILL
OF OTHERS: THE WANT OF A FOREIGN POST IS A NATIONAL CALAMITY:
OTHER NATIONS CAN NOT AFFORD US DUE FACILITIES: WARS AND ACCIDENTS
FORBID: THE CRIMEA AND THE INDIES AN EXAMPLE: MANY OF OUR FIELDS
OF COMMERCE NEED A POST: BRAZIL, THE WEST-INDIES, AND PACIFIC
SOUTH-AMERICA: MAILS TO THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE BY THE NUMEROUS
CUNARD VESSELS: CORRESPONDENCE WITH AFRICA, CHINA, THE
EAST-INDIES, THE MAURITIUS, AND AUSTRALIA: SLAVISH DEPENDENCE ON
GREAT BRITAIN: DESIRABLE FOR OUR DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SERVICE:
FOR THE CONTROL OF OUR SQUADRONS: CASES OF SUFFERING: NECESSARY
FOR DEFENSE: FOR CULTIVATING FRIENDLY RELATIONS AND OPENING TRADE:
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH WILL REQUIRE FASTER AND HEAVIER MAILS: OUR
COMMERCE REQUIRES FAST STEAMERS FOR THE RAPID AND EASY TRANSIT OF
PASSENGERS: MODES OF BENEFITING COMMERCE.

Having seen that the ocean steam mail service is largely developed in
some countries, especially in Great Britain, and that the second and
third commercial powers of the world, the United States and France,
have not largely employed this important agent in their commerce, the
inquiry naturally arises, whether fast ocean steam mails are desirable
and necessary to the commercial prosperity of a people. Whether this
question be considered in its relative or its natural bearings, the
reply is the same. Relatively considered, a large ocean steam mail
service is indispensable to a people who are largely commercial,
because the most noted commercial rivals of the world employ it, and
thus either force them to its use, or the loss of their commerce, and
the gradual transference of their shipping and trade into the hands of
their rivals. Considered in its natural bearings, in its direct
influences and effects _per se_, it becomes even more evidently
necessary, as the means of a ready and reliable knowledge of the
condition, wants, and movements of all those with whom a commercial
nation necessarily has business, or could or should create it.

The spirit of the age demands a more intimate acquaintance and
communication than we