Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/542

 no charge can be justly made against either the Government or the Legislature of any dereliction of duty in their endeavours to save the life of all persons who "go down to the sea in ships." Nor can we charge the people of this country with any callousness or want of sympathy for the seafaring portion of the population. The number of Acts of Parliament passed in recent years, and the grants of public money voted for the purpose of saving life, are an answer to all such charges; while noble private institutions, like the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, the Lifeboat Establishments, the Royal Alfred Asylum, besides various other charitable associations for the benefit of seamen, testify in this respect to the liberality of the public.

Nor have the lights, beacons, and buoys on our coast, all tending materially, as they do, to save life, been neglected. On the contrary, while we have greatly reduced the charges, we have increased the number and highly improved the quality of our lights. By the Act passed in 1836, a number of lighthouses, which formed part of the hereditary estate of the