to the safety of life and property such as, I may
confidently affirm, cannot be found in any other civilized nation. A
very small tax on the steamers would pay the expenses; but the Westerns
say, and say with truth, "This is not a local, this is a national question.
Government builds lighthouses, harbours, &c., for the eastern board, and
we are entitled to the same care for our commerce." A navigation of two
thousand miles is most certainly as thoroughly a national question as a
seaboard is. It should also be remembered that, if the navigable
tributaries be added, the total presents an unbroken highway of internal
commerce amounting to 16,700 miles--a distance which, it has been
remarked, "is sufficient to encircle Europe and leave a remnant which
would span the Atlantic."

Next on the list comes the "explosions." I have already given you an
account of how the so-called examinations are too often made. Surely
these inspections might be signed upon oath before a magistrate; and as
surely, I should hope, men might be found who would not perjure
themselves. The burnt vessels are few in number, and more than one case
has, I believe, been tried on suspicion of being set fire to
intentionally.

The last on the list is "collisions, &c." By the "&c.," I suppose, is
mount vessels which, having run on the river till they wore only fit for
firewood, still continued "just one more trip;" and then, of course, the
slightest concussion, either on a bank or a floating log, would break
them up like a chip basket. The examination on this point is conducted
like that of the boilers, and the same remedy might readily be applied.
I think, however, that the greater number of losses from collisions,
&c., may be chiefly ascribed to the collisions. The cause of these
collisions is easily understood, when you are informed that vessels
meeting indicate the side they intend to take by sounding a bell. They
have no fixed rule, like vessels meeting at sea. The sound of the toll
of the second bell may easily be blended with the first, if it be struck
hurriedly, which in cases of danger is more than probable; or, the sound
of a single toll may find an echo and be mistaken for two tolls. The
collision we met with was caused by this very misunderstanding; at
least, so the captains mutually explained it. The reason given me for
this unsettled system was, that, owing to banks and currents, vessels
could not always take the same side. Supposing this to be