The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-16 00:00:00

tilg PRVSS.

PRINCE ALBERT AT THE TRINITY-HOUSE.
THE annual banquet, which formerly took place on
Trinity Monday, was given on Saturday evening, at
the Trinity-house, Tower-hill, when his Royal
Highness Prince Albeit, the Master of that ancient
corporation, attended the entertainment. Lord
Palmerston was also among the guests at the
banquet, which was of the usual sumptuous charac-
ter, and after dinner both the Prince Consort and
the Primo Minister addressed the assembled guests.
His ROYAL. HIGHNESS proposed the toast, " Her
Majesty's Ministers," and said :

If there was ever a time at which her Majesty's Go-
vernment, by whomsoever conducted, required the sup-
port, ay, not the support alone, but the confidence, good
will, and sympathy of their fellow•countrymen, it is surely
the present. (Loud cheers.) It is not the way to success
in war to support it, however ardently and enthusiasti-
cally, and at the same time to tie down and weaken the
hands of these who have to conduct it. (Cheering.) We
are engaged with a mighty enemy, who is using against us
all those wonderful powers which have sprung up under
the generating influence of our liberty and our civilisa-
tion. You find him with all that force which unity of pur-
pose and action, impenetrable secresy, and uncontrolled
despotic power, have given, while we have to meet him
under a state of things intended for peace, and for the
promotion of that very civilisation, the offspring of public
discussion, of the friction of parties, and of the popular
control on the Government and the State. (Hear,
hear.) The Queen has no power to levy troops, nor has
she any at her command, but such as offer their voluntary
services. (Hear, hear.) Her Government can take no
measure for the prosecution of the war which it has not
beforehand to explain in parliament. Her armies and
fleet can make no movements, nor even prepare for any,
without their being publicly announced in the papers.
No mistake, however trifling, can occur, no want or
weakness exist, which is not at once denounced and even

sometimes exaggerated with a kind of morbid satisfaction.
(Loud and continued cheering.) The Queen's embalm-
dot can enter into no negotiations without the Govern-
ment having to defend him by entering into all the argu-
ments which that negotiator, in older to be successful, ought
to be able to shut up in the innermost recesses of his
heart. (Loud cheers.) Nay, at the most critical posi•
tion, when war and diplomatic relations may be at their
height, an adverse vote in Parliament may at a moment de-
prive the Queen of the whole of her confidential servants.
Gentlemen, our constitutional Government is undergoing
a heavy'trial—and we shall not get successfully through it
unless the country will grant its confidence—patriotic,
intelligent, and self-denying confidence—to her Majesty's
Governinent. ( Loud cheers.)

, .
Replying to the address, Lord P,
served :

I beg, on the part of my colleagues and myself; to return
our best and sincere thanks for the honour you have done
us in drinking the toast which his Royal Highness has
been kind enough to propose, and for the flattering manner
in which you have been kind enough to receive it. We are
assembled under the roof of a body whose duties are inti-
mately connected with those arrangements which form
one of the most important elements of our national wealth,
and which also lay the foundation for one of the most im-
portant sources of our national strength. There is, in-
deed, a unity of operation between the Government that
may have to administer the affairs of this country and the
body which has done us the honour to receive us, which
also tends to make that honour which has been conferred
more agreeable to us, for it is the function of the Trinity
Corporation to provide pilots for those thousands of keels
that plough the waves that wash our shore ; and, on the
other hand, to erect those lights which warn navigators
from dangers which they would otherwise have to encounter,
and which point oat to them the havens where safety is to
be obtained. (Hear, hear.) The duty of Minlitters is of a
somewhat similar description. It is to guide and to
enlighten, and we well know, taking the example from
yourselves, that properly to guide we must begin by en-
lightening. We are now intrusted with the command of
the vessel of the State, and 1 am proud to say that that
noble vessel was never ih better "trim," was never better
formed, never had on board It more noble crew than at the
present moment. It is full of men animated by the most
exalted devotion to their duty, and determined to hear in
the " battle and the breeze," with honour and safety, that
royal standard which floats nobly and gloriously over their
heads. (Cheers.) We have certainly up to the present
moment bad storms and difficulties to encounter, but I am
convinced that, with the assistance of that crew which
have mentioned, those difficulties and disasters will be sur-
mounted, and that by a " strong pull, a long pull, and a
pull altogether," we shall be enabled to bring the vessel of
State safely through and anchor in the harbour of honour-
able and permanent peace. (Cheers.)

THE MORTALITY OF LONDON IS still higher than it
should be in the beginning of June, a month which is
usually the healthiest in the year ; hut the returns
of the last two weeks prove that the public health is
approaching a more satisfactory state. Last werk
1,087 persons, of whom 565 were males and 52i
females, died. In the ten corresponding weeks of the
years 1845 54, the average number was 931, and if
this is raised in proportion to the increase of popula-
tion it becomes 1,024. There was therefore an excess
in the deaths of last week of 63 above the estimated
amount.

'~➢lß. ARTFTiIt GUINNESS, the head of the great
Dublin brewing establishment, known all over the
world for its " double stout," died on Saturday lsit at
the advanced age of fir 4.