Safety At Sea

Two serious warnings have just been given us on the Atlantic that the pvico of afety at sea,, as of Hberty on shoro, is an eternal vigilance. Twosteainerg, belongng the ono to the Cunard line, the very ïaine of wUich has becorae a synonym br prudence and security, and tho other a Gorman vessel navigatcl by a people , aiuuu for their cantion and ness, havo been completely wrecked. In oth cuses, it is true, the lives of the pasengers havo been saved. Bat whilo we do not yet learn how far th.is happy rosult nay havo been duo in the oaso óf the ílipoli to good lu;k and how far to good management, we do kuow that in the case of the Baltiniore it soems to havo been iue to the efficiency of tho British coast guard and lifo-boat service, not to tbo ÓTethought ai)d integvity of the mami;urs of the line to which tho vossel j ongud. The telegram which announces ho disaster tolk us ihat tho gcarir.p which shonld havo lowurod the ship's wats was found to be " out of oidur," so bat the boats would not float. It adds ather unnecessarily that upon asoertainng tliis cUsmal faot " the passrngers were I aized with constornütion." We should j liiuk thcy niiglit havo been! Their oaamity overtouk them within easy ruach of a friendly shore and ifi smooth voathr. Suppose it had oocurred, as it so easly might, in a tempostuous night on uiidAtlantic. What record of their feite could hen have reached us 'i Like tho hapless ouipanies of them who perished in the 'resident, tho Pacific, and tho City of Joston, the ignorance and silence of the cean would have swallowod them up unmarked by mortal eyes, unheard by moral ears. The Atlantic is fast bficoming great international ferry. The passon;ers who traverse it wcekly are to be umbered not by hundreds but by the lioueand. Is it not of the first moment j liat we should have hero as well as in Curope some easy and regular nieans of cecping guurd over the seaworthiness nd general good condition of the vessels i whiuh this inighty How of human life etween tho two coutineuts is carriod on 'i