The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 5, L 869.

ground when he referred, however euphemistically,
to the great party question now actually matter of
contention between the Lords and the Commons.
The Deputy Master of the Trinity House took oc-
casion indeed immediately after Mr. LOWE had re-
sumed his seat to observe emphatically—" The Tri-
nity House is not a place for politics." Nevertheless,
under the guise—it could hardly be called the dis-
guise—of a joke, of a very laboured joke, articulated
with an extraordinary amount of circumlocution,
Mr. LOWE, in wilful and flagrant defiance of
all considerations of social etiquette, dragged in,
as the homely idiom has it, by the head and
shoulders, the very subject of all others about
which not one word ought, in decency, either di-
rectly or indirectly, to have been uttered, particularly
at a Banquet, presided over by the Heir Apparent to
the Crown, and one at which, among the illustrious

guests were the two great Leaders of Party, Mr.
GLADSTONE and Mr. DISRAELI, the present and the
late First Lord of the Treasury. LuTerously com-
paring the sensations of the House of Commons at this
moment to those experienced by a Poet or a Painter

while passing through the ordeal of adverse criticism,
Mr. LowE observed that the House of Commons is

just now placed precisely in that position.
flattered ourselves," said he, with a heavy-go-
light jocularity, " that we had done a great
work. We traced a broad and clear outline—we
laid-in what we be believed to be neutral tints—we
took infinite pains and labour with our performance,
and satisfied ourselves with its thoroughly artistic
character." Then he went on to say, " But now
we are subjected to an excruciating ordeal. We
see our performance reviewed by no friendly eyes—
criticised, altered, and remodelled according to the
notions of our critics. The neutral tints disappear—
[All this, we say, is very laboured joking--all this,

"We

as DOGBERRY has it, ' is very tolerable and not to be
endured.'] Tho neutral tints disappear and give place
to the most violent lights and shales. The clear
and definite outline we had drawn becomes blurred
and indistinct. All sorts of, I will not say tricks
and experiments, are tried on our perform-
ance, and we are compelled to stand by, our
arms folded, to watch this excruciating pro-
cess without being allowed to interpose a word.',
The heaviest and the most laboured jocularity—all
this is, to our thinking. But—it is something more
than laboured joking to our mind—it is in the worst
possible taste, particularly under the circumstances.
Mr. LOWE, for once, had on the cap and bells, how-
ever, and must needs continue to disport himself
according to his own notions of facetiousness.

He had lugged up a horse-collar from under the
table-cloth, and must perforce grin through
it so long as the jesting mood was on him. Revert-
ing to the comparison he had been drawing with
such tedious elaboration—" That," he exclaimed,
" is, no doubt, a painful position for the House of
Commons to be in. But the darkest night is nearest
the dawn, and we console ourselves with the reflec-
tion that after these alterations have been made in
our performance it will return to us, we shall have to
give it the final touch ; and we are not without hope
that we may be enabled to reform what has been
blurred, restore the outline, and make the picture,
if not exactly the same as before, yet so much
the same at least as to be satisfactory in all
points of view. That such may be the re-
sult of this very remarkable prciduction I have
no doubt you will join with me in anticipating."
All this—at a non-political banquet, with the rival
Leaders of Party sitting, there, almost cheek-by-jowl,
and with the Heir Apparent to the Crown placed at
the head of the board as Chairman ! All this- —upon
such an occasion—in reference to the Irish Church
Bill, and the conflicting views of the Lords
and Commons, and the Amendments already carried
or preparing immediately to be taken, by the Lords'
Committee, into serious consideration. Iu sa.:ll exe-
crably bad taste was the whole of this extraordinary
exhibition on the part of the CHANCELLOR. of the
EXCHEQUER, that we cannot wonder in the least the

display should elicit, befurc the evening had rua out,
the repreheusious—covert, yet overwhelming courtly,
but excruciating—of a Master of Sarcasm as perfect
as Mr. DISRAELI.

Towards the close of the entertain:ant-, the
Deputy Master of the Trinity Houso having
risen to propose the toast of " The Honorary
Brethren," said—" I shall associate with this toast a
name which is a household word"—•adding, "By
command of his Royal Highness, I associate with it
the name of Mr. DISRAELI, and he will, by the
same command, return thanks." Out of this
royal command arose the ex-Premier's oppor-
tunity for an exceedingly gentle but cuttingly ironi-
cal reference to the display of ill-placed pleasan-
try on the part of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Addressing himself with courtly frankness to " the
Prince nearest the Throne," who was there presiding
over the assembled guests as Chairman, M. l)ISIIAELI

—as will immediately be seen—with a distinct design in
so doing, after congratulating his hearers upon their
having just enrolled his Royal Highness's name on
the ancient records of that old fraternity, observed to
the PRINCE himself, "Nor can we doubt that, however
numerous your engagements, you, Sir, will fulfil your
duties in connexion with this corporation with the
same cordial patriotism, the same happiness of
manner, and the same felicity of feeling with
which you have fulfilled all your other public
duties, and which have obtained for you the kind
feeling of your fellow-countrymen. Perhaps, Sir,"
added Mr. DISRAELI, still addressing himself person-
ally to the Prince of WALES, " Perhaps, Sir, in the
execution of some of these duties you may at times
experience cares and anxieties not less than those
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has, with so
much tact and taste, recalled to our recollection—and
sure I am you will feel this—whatever may be your
public duties, you may encounter them successfully
with the temper and forbearance which generally in
public affairs meet their due ieward ; and you will
feel sure, in the transactions of public life, that there
is no wise rule that it is more sedulously our
duty to observe than this—that it is not unwise to in-
troduce difficult subjects upon which men may differ
when it is unnecessary to obtrude them on public notice."
Never did any Minister of the Crown receive a
more richly deserved, a more publicly outspoken, or
a more cutting reprimand in the presence and hear-
ing of the Heir of the SOVEREIGN.

FRIDAY night's debate in the Lords forcibly illus-
trates the difference that there is between the two
Houses of the Legislature. The House of Commons
is the best business assembly, the House of Lords
the best speaking club, in the world. The first dealt
with the Irish Church Bill in a truly practical
fashion. Few set speeches were made after the
measure had passed into committee. There were
conflicts short and sharp, divisions fre-
quent and decisive, but there was no colli-
sion of principles. The vote of one
night was strictly and logically in accordance with
the vote of the preceding night. A certain duty
had to be done, and all minor considerations were
set aside in order to do it. The House of Lords has
adopted the opposite course. It has debated this
bill with surprising eloquence. No finer speeches
have ever been heard in any Legislative Chamber
than those which have been delivered in that
splendid gilded room wherein our nobles sit. But
when they have come to deal practically with this
bill they have simply stultified it and them-
selves and have reduced everything to chaos. They
began well. They accepted the fact that this measure
was demanded by the nation, and would be extorted
from them U they did not grant it freely, With

true wisdom they recognised the principle of the bill
by reading it a second time; they then straightway
set about altering it so that the principle is utterly
lost, so that their amendments cannot possibly be
accepted.

See what happened on Friday. There were two
propositions before the Peers. One was to hand over
the glebes and parsonages to the Irish clergy free of
charge ; the other was to make similar gifts to the
Roman Catholic and Presbyterian clergy. To carry
both amendments was not inconsistent with the
object of the measure—religioas equality; to carry
either without the other was absolutely destrucHve
of that object. Yet this is what the Lords did. By
a majority of nearly three to one they decided that
the Protestant clergy should have their parsonages.
By a much smaller, but still a large, majo-
rity, they decided that the Roman Catholic
and Presbyterian clergy should not have theirs.
In other words, having first admitted, by a
majority of thirty-three, the principle of the bill for
establishing religious equality, they afterwards, by
exactly the same majority, alter the bill so as to
re-establish inequality. The firstcourse was eminently
statesmanlike, the second is not only unstatesmanlike,
but childish. Nor do the arguments urged in defence
the least mitigate the folly of it. The words of Mr.
GLADSTONE, Mr. BRIGHT, and the Duke of ARGLLL
were quoted in order to shew that last year they
did intend to give over the glebe lands and
houses to their present occupants. But they
expressed that intention in ignorance of a very im-
portant fact, that the property was subject to build-
ing charges which the Government has to take upon
itself. If the laity wished to possess this property.
they could not do so withoat paying every shilling
of the charges upon it. Yet it is given back to
the laity for the benefit of their future ministers at
a sum very much below what is charged on it as
encumbrances, so that the Church gets more than it
is entitled to in strict equity, not less, as the INlarquis
of SALISBURY implies.
With regard to the proposed concurrent endow-
ment much was said that was seemingly contradic-
tory, but which is really susceptible of reconciliation.
The Marquis of SALISBURY, for instance, declared
that the old " No-Popery " bogy had lost much of its
former influence, and that, therefore, the nation, if
appealed to, would not now obj act to provid-
ing Roman Catholic priests with residences. On
the other hand, the Earl of KIMBERLEY,
while personally approving the principle of
that proposal, was convinced that the popular
antipathy to it was so wide and deep that he felt
bound to sacrifice his own predilections in obedience
to what he believed to be the national will. Both
peers are right, both are wrong. The objection to
that particular form of endowment which the Duke of
CLEVELAND proposed, and the Marquis of SALISBURY,
the Bishop of Oxford, and the Archbishop of CAN-
TERBURY supported, is much weaker than it was.
Men see clearly enough that it is absurd to endow a
Church of the minority, and not to endow a Church of
the majority. Exeter Hall may object to providing
Roman Catholic priests with potatoes and cabbages,
but the great bulk of the people do not. "What
these object to is any extension of State endowment
of religion. The conviction is rapidly gaining
ground that such endowment is mischievous, and
that we ought rather to curtail than to extend. It
is this alteration of public sentiment which has made
the MURPHYS, the HARPERS, and the NEWDEGATES
so powerless, while it has made the Liberation
Society so strong. It is here that Mr. DISRAELI
blundered so terribly ; here that Lord CAIRNS,
faithfully representing his old chief, has
just blundered again. They judged at first, and
rightly, that the "No-Popery" spirit had died out, and
they inferred, but wrongly, that they might endow
the Roman Catholic religion. They were astonished
at the vehemence with which levelling up was
denounced. They then thought that they had been
mistaken, that "No Popery " was still a power in
politics, and they entered into an alliance with
it, but only to be more signally betrayed
than before. They are puzzled, baffled,
bewildered. On the other hand, Mr. GLAD-
STONE has found the key to the mystery;
has discovered that what the nation wants is neither
anti-Papal legislation nor more State Churches. The
Irish Establishment must go; that all men admit.
But there must not be in its stead half a dozen esta-
blishments. Lord CAIRNS sees the latter half
of this truth, and he separated from a large
number of his followers in order to defeat the
Duke of CLEVELAND'S amendment. He does not, or
will not, yet see the first half, and so it comes to pass
that he is still seeking to maintain an ascendancy
which both Houses of Parliament have declared must
cease. It remains to be seen what Ministers will say
to a measure that stands self-convicted of inconsis
tency and absurdity.

cT7F9
TAIT
nfrit7*

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, July 4.

The Queen, accompanied by their Royal High-
nesses Princess Louise and Princess Beatrice,
drove out yesterday afternoon.
Her Majesty, with Princess Louise, Prince Leo-
pold, and Princess Beatrice, and the ladies and
gentlemen in waiting, attended Divine service this
morning in the private chapel.

The Prince and Princess of Wales attended
Divine service yesterday morning in the Chapel
Royal, St. James's.

ROYAL HORTICULTURAL GARDENS.

A very gay assemblage gathered in the Royal
Horticultural Gardens on Saturday afternoon to
assist at the twelfth annual meeting of the Metro-
politan Schools. The gardens were in the height
of midsummer bloom, and the all-important ele-
ment on the weather was quite propitious. The
chorus, which was composed chiefly of school chil-
dren, was distributed as follows:-1,750 first sopranos,
1,250 second sopranos, 1,000 tenors, and 1,000 basses;
total, 5,000 voices. Mr. A. W. Martin, the
founder and director of the National Choral So-
ciety was the conductor. The singers were
arranged in front of the Conservatory, and the con-
cert took place in the open air—an arrangement
which the weather favoured to the utmost, but
which was calculated to secure the utmost effect on
the music. The Crystal Palace, where there meet-
ings have been previously held, is a large
area for a concert, but it is better than the open air.
In some instances the children's voices were almost
inaudible. The singing, however, was good, and
evinced the most careful training. The programme
opened with a chorale, " Awake, my Glory," com-
posed by the late Prince Consort, and the remain-
der of the concert was made up of sacred and secular
music, chiefly popular airs, such as wHome, sweet
Home," the " Spanish Chant," and the " Last Rose
of Summer." Some of them, as we have said, were
lost in the space ; but the singing of the mass was
very effective. An enjoyable afternoon was spent.

A " flying column," under the command of
Major-General Sir A. Horsforil, K.C.8., will leave
Aldershott Camp, en route to IVimbledon, about
the 14th instant. The column will consist of a de-
tachment of Royal Engineers ; E Battery C Brigade,
Royal Horse Artillery ; D Battery, 11 th Brigade,
Royal Artillery; 10th Hussar 3 ; 33 battalion of
the 3d Buffs; 2d battalion of the 3d Buffs; 2d bat.
talion of the 231 Royal Welsh Fusiliers ; 3lth
Regiment; and the 2 1 battalion Rifle Brigade, with
the requisite transport.
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Depot 266, Liigh)1910:11

THE MAGAZINES.

The readers of Blackwood will not this month find any
unusual attractions in its table of contents, for the number
is scarcely up to the average. Besides the inevitable
article on the Irish Church Bill and the instal-
ments of two tales, we have a lengthened account
of domestic life in the Fiji Islands, an essay on
earthquakes and volcanoes, and two critical notices of
recent works. The Fiji Islands, as the chronicler of their
history reminds us, are likely to become before long of
considerable importance to this country. We must
hope that the English settlers, whose number is
rapidly increasing in Western Polynesia, will im-
prove the Fijian standard of morals and manners. At
present the records of their royal house read very much
like a page from " Foxe's Book of Martyrs." The chief of
Mbau, which is the foremost kingdom of Fiji, inaugurated his
career when six years old by clubbing to death a boy of his
own age who had been taken prisoner. At his father's death
five of his wives were strangled, according to custom, the
Prince helping to pull the cord. At his own formal inau-
guration as Vuni valu of Mbau, eighteen human beings were
put to death and cooked—cannibalism having by no means
gone out of fashion in Polynesia. It is, however, gratify-
ing to know that the persevering labours of the missionaries
have not been without their reward, and this cannibal king
has not only acknowledged the truth of Christianity and
been publicly baptised, but he has forbidden the practice
of cannibalism in his kingdom, and now sets his people a
good example by his new mode of life. The recent extraor-
dinary freaks of the weather, which have confused
all our ordinary notions of July and January,
have not unnaturally been connected in the minds of
the scientific with the volcanic disturbances so remarkable
of late years. The earthquake in the West Indies
which devastated St. Thomas was the first of a
startling series of convulsions which reached their
climax in the tremendous catastrophe of Peru
and Ecuador. Even quiet England has been made
sensible of some subterranean commotion, though, happily,
we have not seen our cities swallowed up, or our men-of-
war carried miles inland. In the article on Earthquakes
and Volcanoes a new theory is put forth, in which a
parallel is traced between the electrical phenomena in
the earth and in the atmosphere ; and the origin of earth-
quakes, which are not inaptly termed " thunder-
storms in the earth," is found in the zone of
electric action which the writer believes to exist
underlying the earth's surface. Mr. Morris's poems are
very fully and carefully criticised by one who cordially
admires and appreciates them, placing the author, however,
not among the " grand old masters," but with those
" simple poets" whose "songs have power to
quiet the restless pulse of care." It was not
doubtful which side Maga would take in the
great controversy in the Lords, and accordingly the
bishops and 'archbishops who neglected to vote against
the second reading of the Irish Church Bill are censured
with uncompromising sternness. " What," it is asked,
" are they placed in the House of Lords for if it be not
to defend their Church's privileges ?" a somewhat new
reading of the code of public duty. The ecclesiastical
dignitaries may, however, derive some consolation from
the fact that they are not the only offenders. One hun-
dred and thirty lay peers were absent from the division,
and by that virtual abdication of their functions mani-
fested timidity, indifference, or some other unworthy
motive. It is fair to add that the conclusion of the article
advises the Protestants of Ireland to be quiet and loyal,
remembering." that there are limits to resistance, even
when the resistance is to wrong," and that the law once
enacted, all good citizens and subjects are bound to
obey it.

"Put Yourself in His Place " is continued at some
length in the Cornhill, and this instalment is interesting,
though perhaps not so eventful as its predecessor. Henry
Little succeeds in bis daring attempt to outwit the
unions, and converts the sacred edifice to secular purposes
in a manner that is anything but orthodox. While his
business prospers, his acquaintance with Miss Carden

languishes, and at last altogether ceases. The visit which
Little pays to the Dence family is a pleasing episode, and
furnishes a refreshing contrast to the more sombre pas.
sages of the narrative. An able article on "Andrew
Marvell " is among the attractions of this number ;
and it throws some light on the career of one worthy of
respect. It is here said of him that he occupies a higher
position than that of a poet, and it has been his fate " to
stand out before the eyes of succeeding generations as an
- example of purity and integrity in a corrupt age, and the
brightness of his virtues has in some degree outshone the
lustre of his genius ; had he been less brilliant as a patriot
he would have been more conspicuous as a poet." Five
editions of Marvell's poems have been published ; the first
is dated 1681, three years after his death ; and the last,
1857, was published in Boston. It is strange that his
name has been so seldom mentioned by the writers
of the last century, and that his poetry should
not have been found among the collections and miscel-
lanies of that period. The coarseness of his political
satires interfered with his fame as a poet in some degree,
but those works on which his reputation must chiefly
rest belong to a different time. He is distinguished among
the poets of his time by his love for nature, which he
seemed to delight in for its own sake, and not to regard in
the spirit of his contemporaries, who merely respected
it for furnishing them with ideas and illustrations.
The paper on " Useless Knowledge" conveys some plain
truths to the mind, in a pleasant style and an impressive
manner. The chief point insisted on is that the human
intellect is limited, and that to be useful in this world one
must be restricted to a narrow field of- labour. We have
so many facts that we don't know what to do with them.
" We want historians who can deduce some living prin-
ciples from history, and men of science who can reduce
the vast masses of observation to some general laws." '1 he
writer complains of the arrogance of those who copy the
genuine leaders of thought, and descant upon subjects of
which they understand but little. For this reason he
rejoiced the other day to hear that the Gulf Stream was a
delusion. The Gulf Stream had become almost as great
a nuisance as Macaulay's New Zealander, and one could
not mention the weather without someone clothing him-
self with a true scientific swagger, and hurling .the Gulf
Stream at your head. We are left in the hope that
we may not be quite overwhelmed before same
one arises to put, things straight. "Sola" is
the title of a new story, which is related in
an interesting manner, and contains some good sketches
of character. "Pre-Reformation Shrines and Pilgrimages
in England" are pointed out to the antiquarian reader in
an instructive paper. Master Thorpe was an instance of
the danger of confronting the popular taste. He finished
his days in prison for indulging in a tirade against the
pilgrimages of the fifteenth century. "Friends in High
Latitudes" contains an account of a visit to Greenland,
where the free and easy life so "novel and so wild" can
offer attractions to those who are wearied with the artifi-
cial forms of more civilised existence.
The Art Journal declares of the present exhibition of
the Royal Academy that it is " the finest known within
living memory." This high praise is qualified by some
severe fault-finding. Serious blunders have been com-
mitted. It is absolutely discreditable that some of the
works now at the Supplementary Exhibition should have
been excluded from the Academy, the more so because a
large number of foreign works have been admitted which
did not deserve admission. The Art Journal is especially
severe upon the President, Mr. Richmond, and Mr. Knight
for having sent twenty-four large portraits, and proposes
that the maximum shall be redw:ed from eight to four, and
even then admission to be dependent upon merit. On the
other hand, Mr. Leighton is deservedly praised for the
self-sacrifice he has shewn in hanging his own works so
badly that they absolutely suffer seriously. Of the Sup-
plementary Exhibition the Art Journal says that while
there are works in it whose exclusion from the Academy is
altogether unpardonable, the great majority of the pictures
could not have found entrance at Burlington House, had
there been twice the space there was at the disposal of the
Hanging Committee. The engravings in this month's
number are Marcus Stone's " A Young Painter's First
Lesson," Stanfield's " Wreck off Dover," and Stodart's
engraving of Crittenden's group, " Play." Mr. Dafforne
writes about William Cave Thomas and the Uffizj Gallery
at Florence.

The Churchman's Shilling Magazine has among other
good papers one particularly interesting by Mrs.
Townshend Mayer. It is entitled " The English Le
Sage," and is a biographical sketch of that most eccentric
of men William Combe, author of the once immensely
popular, but now almost forgotten, " Dr. Syntax."
Combe was born in 1741, went to Eton, where he was the
'schoolfellow of Fox, and then to Oxford, where he lived
so luxuriously that he earned the title of Count Combe.
He was called to the Bar, but did not practise. Instead
thereof, he frequented fashionable watering-places, and was
the most popular of fops. Having spent all his
money and something more, he enlisted in the army,
and became as popular with his mates as Cole-
ridge was with his under similar circumstances. Combe
soon abandoned arms, and set up as a professor of elocu-
tion, but was considered so dangerously fascinating that
careful parents would not allow their children to go to
him. His popularity was fatal to success in this line, so
he crossed the Channel, and enlisted in the French army.
His second acquaintance with Mars was as short as the
first. He next entered a convent as a cook, and made
such capital soup that the monks implored him to take
the cowl. But the monastic life was as little to his mind
as the military, and returning to England he became
bookmaker. For many years he did a good deal of hack
work, spending much of his time in the Debtor's
Prison. In 1789 he received £2OO a year from Pitt to
write. Then he went on the staff of the Times. It was
not till he was over 60 years of age that he made his great
hit—" Dr. Syntax"—which made the fortune of the maga-
zine in which it appeared. The " doctor" became all the rage,
and Syntax coats and wigs. were as much in fashion as
Dnndreary whiskers have been in recent times. From that
time Combe continued to write for Ackermann, the pub-
lisher of the magazine, who gave him money whenever he
wanted it. A short time before his death he quarrelled
with his adopted son for marrying Olivia Serres, who
claimed the style and title of the Princess Olive. To
him he had left a huge pile of MSS., con-
taining his autobiography, but in his anger Combe
ruthlessly destroyed them. For seven days the
candle at which he burned them was not extinguished.
Thus the world lost one of the most entertaining narra-
tives of a life that was ever written. Combe died in 1823,
being then nearly 82 years old. A memoir of him has
just been published by Mr. Hotten. The Rev. W. Baird
takes his readers for a stroll through Columbia Market.
Mr. Spender narrates, under the title of " Fjeld, Fjord, and
Foss," his last year's experience in Norway. Mr. Ker
tells a story which is both startling and true. Mrs.
Broderip has some verses which are hardly up to her
mark. The serial tales are continued, and Mr, Arnold's
" A Lonely Life" contains some very good sketches of
character.

TEE BANQUET OF THE TRINITY

CORPORATION.

There was a most distinguished gathering at the annual
banquet of the Trinity Corporation held in London on
Saturday night. In the chair was the Prince of Wales,
who represented his brother, the Duke of Edinburgh (the
Master of the Corporation), and amongst those who were
present were Prince Arthur, Prince Christian, the Prince
of Teck, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, and most of
the members of the present and the late Governments,
Mr. Cardwell responded for the Army, Mr. Childers for
the Navy, the Chancellor of the Exchequer far the House
of Commons, Mr. Gladstone for her Majesty's Ministers,
Mr. Bright for the Board of Trade, and Mr. Disraeli for
the honorary members.
Mr. CARDWELL said very little. He remarked that it
was the province of the Corporation of Trinity House to
guide and illumine the paths of commerce, and the privi-
lege of the two great services to protect them. He dwelt
upon the successful trial of that body of men who had
just been added to the effective reserve of the navy, and
upon the volunteer spirit, as proofs that the same loyalty
and the same zeal to devote their energies to the protec-
tion of the country still as ever animated the people, while
complete security was thus given throughout the kingdom,
not only against danger itself, but against the fear of

danger.
Mr. CHILDERS referred to the doctrine that in warfare
force must yield to the great improvements of the day.
Mr. Childers said he did not think it was possible to over-
rate those improvements at the present time, and that
there was nothing in which the navy so much excelled as
in the application of great principles in matters of scientific
improvement. It was now more powerful than it had
ever been in the history of the country, and we might well
be proud of it.
The Prince of WALES proposed "Prosperity to the Cor-
poration of Trinity House." "It would be almost super-
fluous (he said) to make any remarks on the corporation
or its present or future development. It has existed since
the time of Henry VIII., and ever since that time to the
?resent the community has taken the deepest interest in
its prosperity. It has also been connected through its
honorary brethren with some of the most distinguished
men, and many of those honorary brethren are present
here this evening. Its object is to protect our ships
and our sailors, and that object is never forgotten. As
the First Lord of the Admiralty has just said, while the
navy is called upon to protect our commerce, the Cor-
poration of Trinity House is called upon to protect our
Sailors and our ships. The first :electric light put up in
this country was that at Dungeness ; and the great
Wolf Rock, which was long the terror of our sailors,
will before long cease to be so. This will shew you

that the Trinity House authorities are anxious to
do their duty, and to maintain their great name, which
I am sure is honoured here and in other countries."
His Royal Highness added to the toast the name of Sir
Frederick Arrow, the Deputy Master of the Corporation,
who, returning thanks, proposed the Houses of Lords
and Commons. For the former Lord de Roe responded,
for the latter Mr. Lowe.
The CHANCELLOR of the ExciEQUER, adverting to the
duties of the corporation, said :—" I only wish some similar
institution could be devised for buoying and lighting the
channels of political life. If Sir Frederick Arrow could
only see his way to put certain marks upon the rocks and
shoals and difficulties that beset:us on every side, I can assure
you he would well deserve the gratitude of the political just
as much as he deserves the gratitude of the nautical world
at this moment. I will say this for the House of Com-
mons—that I believe they are actuated by a sincere desire
to do their duty; and if I find any fault with them it is
that they are so anxious to expound the grievances under
which their constituents labour that they will not, without
the greatest difficulty, allow the House to do what is most
essential to the public service, namely, to adjust the
estimates for the year. I think the House of Commons is
entitled to your sympathy as a suffering body at
the present moment. We are like artists being criti-

cised. We had flattered ourselves that we had done a

great work. We traced a broad and clear outline—we laid
in what we believed to be neutral tints. We took infinite
pains and labour with our performance, and satisfied
ourselves with its thoroughly artistic character. Bot now
we are subjected to an excruciating ordeal. W' see our
performances reviewed by no friendly eyes, criticised,
altered, and remodelled according to the notions of our
critics. The neutral tints disappear and give place to the
most violent lights and shades. The clear and definite
outline we had drawn becomes blurred and indistinct—
all sorts of, I will not say tricks and experiments,
are tried on our performance, and we are compelled
to stand by, our arms folded, to watch this excruciating
process without being allowed to interpose a word. That
is no doubt a painful position for the House of Commons
to be in ; but the darkest night is nearest the dawn, and
we console ourselves with the reflection that after these
alterations have been made in our performance it will
return to us, and we shall have to give it the final touch ;
and we are not without hope that we may be enabled to
reform what has been blurred, to restore the outline, and
make the picture, if not exactly the same as before, yet so
much the same at least as satisfactory in all points of
view. That such may be the result of this very remark-
able production I have no doubt you will join with me in
anticipating. On behalf of the House of Commons I beg
again to thank you.
Mr. GLADSTONE commenced his speech by remarking
►teat this was not an occasion for political division and
strife. He therefore confined himself to the Trinity
House itself, and paid the corporation a handsome com-
pliment. " I beg to say, so far as the opportunity of
mixing pretty largely with the world enables me, that so

far as I am aware there is no institution whose laboursare
more thoroughly appreciated by the community at large
than those of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House,
although it is a very common observation, and, I think, a
very true observation, that a corporation, an ancient cor-
poration, a self-elected corporation, is thought in the
course of time to acquire a narrow and exclusive spirit,
and an incapacity of adapting itself to altered circum-
stances, and to meet the demands of opinions; yet looking
back on what has happened in our own times—the reforms
freely and frankly admitted into the constitution of the
Trinity House—l must say I think they have known how
to recognise the wants of the period in which we live, and
meet its just demands, and establish themselves in the
good opinion of the country."
Mr. BRIGHT was next toasted. In his reply—after
referring to the difficulties of his position that evening—
the President of the Board of Trade went on to dilate on
the greatness of our commerce. He remarked that " afte
struggles we have succeeded at length in establishing this
principle—that whatever comes into this country from
foreign countries shall pay only the duties deemed neces-
sary for revenue—that no dales shall be paid for the
purpose of bestowing on any section of the people any
privilege or any exclusive advantage. That I take to be
a principle of immense service to the country ; and if we
could only imagine that it was adopted by every other
mercantile and commercial country in the world it
is impossible to conceive how much the face of the
world would be changed, and how much blessing and
advantage it would bring to all the people of all countries."
Mr. Bright drew a vivid picture of all the nations of the
world preparing to send their produce to England, and
dilated on the dangers of the sea. " Whatever may be
said of self-election or antiquated institutions or the slow-
ness with which old institutions come up to the wants of
the time, little of that I believe can truly be said of this cor-
poration. But whatever may be said, we will all join in
this, that there is nothing more beneficent, nothing
more Christian, nothing snore divine, than the works of
mercy which this corporation exists to perform. The
system of establishing buoys, beacons, and lighthouses
to provide for the safety of mariners could not but meet
with sympathy. For myself, I never could compre-
hend why such great navies should be kept up. I should
forego all the luxuries of life rather than be tempted to
see them by crossing the sea. Such are the perils of the
deep, that I confess I never hear the wind howling, or see
the storm raging, or the clouds drifting, bnt I think of
my countrymen on stormy seas. Therefore 1 have a
strong sympathy with the life-boat system, and no less
sympathy with the great and benign objects of this cor-
poration. I know not what may be the fate of this cor-
poration. I hope it may so come up with the require-
ments of the times, and keep up with them, that it will
never require tope either disendowed or disestablished. The
subject to which I have referred leads me to hope that the
industry of our country may be sustained ; that its com-
merce may be wider and wider diffused ; that with an
economical Government—it is long since we had one—
that with an economical Government, and the efforts
that, I trust, will, before long, be made, to support a
general and universal education among lse people. I
hope that our people may grow in all that is good, and
that our country, great and glorious as she is, will be
destined for long generations and centuries to hold her
place among the nations. I thank you all for the kindness
you have paid me.
Mr. DisRAELr' replying on behalf of the honorary mem-
bers, thanked the corporation for the honour done.
" At all times it is au honour of which they are sensible,
but it must be especially so to-day in the circum-
stances under which we meet, when, before our banquet,
we held a court in which the greatest subject of
our Sovereign and the Prince nearest the Throne came to
inscribe his name on the ancient records of this old
fraternity. Nor can we doubt that however numerous
your engagements you, sir, will fulfill your duties in con-
nection with this corporation with the same cordial
patriotism, the same happiness of manner, and the
same felicity of feeling. with which you have fulfilled
all your other public duties, and which have obtained
for you the kind feeling of your fellow countrymen.
Perhaps, sir, in the execution of some of these
duties you may at times experience cares and
anxieties not less than those which the Chancellor
of the Exchequer has with so much tact and taste
recalled to our recollection ; and sure I am you will feel
this, whatever may be your public duties, you may
encounter them successfully with the temper and for-
bearance which generally in public effstirs meet their due
reward, and you will feel sure in the yansvitiona of public
life that there is no wise rule- that At is more
sedulously our duty to observe than this, eft i 4 is unwise
to introduce difficult subjects 'npupi
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