The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-09-12

The navi gation of our great inland Lakes aud
Rivers has been free, of recent years. from those
terrible disasters which at one time were of COM
mon occurrence, that the loss of nearly three
hundred lives by single casualty must necessar-
" revive, in the travelling public, that sense of
insecurity which Congressional legislation had
done so much TO allay. The laundering of the
steamer Lady Elgia on Lake Michigan is no ord-
nary calamity. The circumstances under which
it took place; the time, two hours after midnight
the joyous company engaged in dance and reve-
ry; their confidence in the staunch character of
the vessel; the acknowledged skill Of her COM
mander and the entire absence of apparent dan
ger, either from wind, or wave, or defective
macbinery-all these invest the catastrophe with
even deeper awe than people usually feel when
reading of shpwrecks by sea, or of steamboat
explosions on our inland waters. The story, as
we have it from the lips Of the survivors, is n
startling one. The LAZY Elgin was on eScur-
sion trip--the last trip of that kind which was to
have taken place during the present season. At
Chicago she took on board fifty regular passen-
gers and three hundred excursionists. Two hun
dred and fifty of the latter were from Milwaukee,
and consisted principally of the members of four
military, and several fire companies, the Milwau-
kee brass bands, and their friends and acquaint-
ances. The remaining fifty excursionsts were
residents of Chicago. These, with the officers
and crew of the boat--thirty-fve in all-increased
the number of persons on board of the Lady En-
gin, when she left her wharf at halfpast eleven
O'Clock on Friday evening last, to three hundred
and eighty-fve. At halEpast two o'clock the
following morning, whilst the wind was blowing
fresh-in the midst Of a heavy rain storm, and
at distance of about ten miles from the shore,
she came into collision with schooner, which
struck the steamer 'just forward of the paddle
box tearing off the wheel, and cutting through
1.-THE guards into the cabin and hull" What
followed Immediately afterwards is thus graphi-
cally described by the clerk Of thelost steamer:
AT the moment of collision there was music
and dancing on in the forward cabin. In an in
"stant after the crash all was still. passed
Through the cabins. The ladies were pale but
''silent. There was not cry or shriek-n
'sound but the rush Of the wave ard the surge of
the heavy sea-" In less than half an hour the
steamer went down carrying with her all who had
not been taken off by three boats-the only ones
that were on board. The whole number reported
to have been saved does not exceed ninety-eight
the number engulphed with the vessel, or
drowned in attempting to reach the shore, cannot,
therefore, be less than two hundred and eighty
seven. Upon Milwaukee the loss of so many of its
inhabitants falls very heavily, and it is with no
surprise, therefore, that we learn that the city ap-
pears shrouded in mourning; that business is al
most entirely suspended; and that the political
demonstration which was to have taken place
there on Monday last, in honor of Senator SEWARD,
has been postponed. The abatement OF these do
nestle sorrows must be left to the good offices of
those who sympathise with the bereaved, and to
Time the ConsoIer. To others, it may be that this,
the saddest and most startling of all the disasters
which have ever taken place on our waters will ami
mate them to obtain FIR ON Congress such additional
legislation as may more efficiently protect our in
land navigation from such occurrences in future.
That it will really produce so salutary result
partakes, however, with us, more of the nature of
a doubtful hope than of an assured conviction.
1t is one of the characteristics of people to feel
acutely, but to forget easily; to be quickly de-
pressed and as quickly elated. The grief of to-
day softens into melancholy Tomorrow subsidies
into indifference the day after, and by the middle
of the following week we recover all of our old
recklessness and elasticity of spirit. The innu-
merable railroad accidents aud steamboat explo-
sous, which have been recorded from time to
time in the columns of various journals, have led,
in some instances, to the adoption of regulations
that have worked well; but the gross carelessness
by which so many lives have been lost has never
so far ELECTED public action to bring the Often
l. II. In I,a Of fha Ind, II
GIN either her officers, or those of the schooner
must have failed to keep that vigilant look out,
upon which the safety of so many human lives
depended The three boats on board of the steam
er when the collision took place evidently too
few in number to provide for the safety of so many
passengers, and of Life Preservers'' of any kind
there appears to have been none to be had Yet
the owners of all steamers are required by act of
Congress to furnish their vessels with number
of Life Boats in proportion to the passengers
which they carry, and also to have ready for dis
tribution an ample supply of Life Preservers--
Had these conditions been complied with many of
those who lost their lives on board of the
Lady Elgin would have reached the shore in safe.
ty. These facts show that due precaution had
not been taken against these accidents to which
all vessels are liable Upon whom the blame of
the collision will finally rest will not be known