Yet these acts of generosity and self-denial, altogether unparalleled in the history of the world (we have no record of any such acts in the great tides of emigration from the East, and in those which peopled Carthage from Phœœnicia), had been performed during many previous years, the sums remitted for this purpose having varied from about half a million sterling to more than a million and a half annually. This rush for emigration having induced Shipowners, eager to reap so rich a harvest, to place vessels in the trade, many of which were altogether unsuited for it, with other causes, compelled the Legislature to investigate the whole subject; the result being the comprehensive Passenger Act of 1855, which was passed not one day too soon. During the _seven_ years ending December 1853, no fewer than _sixty-one_ ships were lost in this trade, with the further lamentable loss of 1567 lives. In 1854, alone, _nine_ emigrant ships were wrecked. Five of these were from Liverpool, including the _Tayleur_, stranded on Lundy Island, when 330 persons perished, and the _City of Glasgow_, having on board 430 souls, who, with the ship, were never afterwards heard of. The _Black Hawk_ and _Winchester_ foundered at sea in the great storm of the 15th and 17th of April; the _City of Philadelphia_ steamer was wrecked on Cape Race, Newfoundland, in August, as well as the ship _Tottenham_, from Cork to Quebec, on Cape Breton, but, happily, in these instances no lives were lost. Such were the disastrous total losses of British ships in 1854; and, although few or any of these losses can be attributed to unseaworthiness, the loss of life was so appalling, that the Legislature was led to bestow more than usual attention to the subject. But besides these, several ships were so seriously injured that they were compelled to return for repairs. One loss, that of the _Powhattan_, was a singularly melancholy one. This vessel sailed from Liverpool with German emigrants on board, and, after sustaining much other damage, was, afterwards, wrecked at Barnagat, off the coast by New Jersey, during the gale of the 16th April: although stranded within eighty yards of low-water mark, and so near, indeed, that the unfortunate people on board could hear and reply to the suggestions made to them by persons on the land, not a single individual reached the shore, though the vessel did not break up for twenty-four hours after she struck. [Sidenote: Emigration system.]