In the space of eight years three ships belonging to
the Royal _Mail Steam-packet Company have been lost at sea, with great destruction of human life,—the Solway, off Coruna; the Trent, in the Gulf of Mexico ; and now, most fearful of all, the Ama- zon, by lire. Various other steamers belonging to the Company have been lost during the same period, though under less painful circumstances. None of the companies trading to New York or the East Indies can show such a list of casualties. How is this ? The Directors of the Royal Mail Company have very properly lost no time in instituting an inquiry into the causes of the loss of the Amazon. But is an investigation conducted by themselves likely to elicit the whole truth, or to satisfy the public mind ? Men will say that. the Directors may shrink from pushing home any ques- tions that might tend to place in an unfavourable light the general management of the Company. An inquiry by gentlemen accustomed to conduct judicial investigations, and appointed by Government, would not be liable to the like suspicion. For their own sakes the Directors ought to challenge such a scrutiny.
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