'The loss of the "Royal Charter" is an awful illustration of that
solemn text, the vanity of all human expectations. It preaches the
humiliating lesson which divines and moralists are ever urging with
an impressiveness which must make its way to the dullest and most
callous mind. When the poet or preacher of old drew his
illustration of mundane instability from the perils of the sea, and
bade men look how "a dark night and an ill guide, a boisterous sea,
and a broken cable, a hard rock and a rough wind, dashed in pieces
the fortune of a whole family," his imagination fell far short of
the fearful fact we now deplore. A noble vessel, which had sailed
round the world in safety, has been totally destroyed within a few
miles of its port; and nearly four hundred human beings, whose eyes
had already been gladdened by a glimpse of their native land, have
found a fearful death on the morning of that day whose evening
should have made that land again their home....
'We hardly know whether to note with satisfaction or sorrow that, so
far as can be gathered at present, this melancholy catastrophe was
not the result of negligence and overconfidence on the part of any
one. Whilst it is most gratifying to think that no prudence could
have averted the disaster, and that no blame attaches to the memory
of a man who perished as Captain Taylor did, at his post, it is
lamentable to reflect that no application of human ingenuity is able
to withstand the elemental rage. Here was a large stout ship, one of
the kind and size which assumed to enjoy an immunity from the power
of the tempest--left to work its will on small craft and old crazy
tubs--well manned, well commanded, nothing neglected that art or
experience could suggest, offering as useless a resistance to the
storm as the worn-out hulls in which greedy owners were wont to
convey poor Irish emigrants. A blunder on the part of some one would
have allowed us to cherish the idea that security is possible, and
may be guaranteed, to stout material and good seamanship; but the
new ship, the "Royal Charter," completely destroyed within sight of
port, with the loss of 400 lives, although it may read a useful
lesson of humility, and warn men against too great an assumption of
victory over natural forces, is a terrible blow to that confidence
which the past immunity of ocean steam navigation had fostered.'