July 4th, 1869.
In 1869 the Duke of Edinburgh was absent, and the Prince of Wales undertook the office of presiding at the dinner on the 4th of July. Sir Frederick Arrow, Deputy Master, and the Elder Brethren, among whom were Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone, honorary Brethren, received the invited guests, among whom were Prince Arthur, Prince Christian, Prince Teck, Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, and numerous men of high distinction in public life.
The Prince having proposed "The Health of The Queen, the protectress of this ancient Corporation," Sir Frederick Arrow gave "The Health of the Prince and Princess of Wales and the rest of the Royal Family." The Deputy Master referred to the sympathy of the Prince with naval service in all departments, and especially his love of yachting. He also referred to his tour in the East, since they last assembled at their annual festival. The Prince replied:—
"Your Royal Highnesses, my Lords, and Gentlemen,—I am gratified by the honour you have done me in drinking my health and that of the Princess of Wales and the other members of the Royal Family. I can assure you it has given me great pleasure to be present on this occasion, but I feel I have hardly any right to occupy this chair. The last time I was here I was elected a younger member of your Corporation. To-day I have become an elder member, and Sir Frederick Arrow asked me to take the chair in place of my brother, the Master, who is now in a far distant land. You may be sure that I shall always be ready to assist in every way I can to promote the good of this excellent institution. Sir Frederick Arrow has been pleased to allude to my yachting. It is true I am fond of yachting, but I cannot claim to be either a nautical or a naval man. You may, however, always reckon upon any services I can render in any way in which you may think I can be useful to your Corporation."
Other customary toasts were then given, and responded to. To the toast of "The Master of the Corporation," his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, "wishing him a happy, prosperous, and safe voyage from the Southern hemisphere, and a quick return home," the Prince of Wales replied:—
"Your Royal Highnesses, my Lords, and Gentlemen,—I feel I am in rather a difficult position in having to return thanks for one who is absent. At the same time, I feel assured my brother would be gratified by my thanking you for the manner in which his health has been proposed and welcomed. According to the French proverb, 'Les absens ont toujours tort.' But I hope you will think differently, seeing that my brother is a post captain in Her Majesty's Navy, and is visiting one of Her Majesty's far distant colonies. I am sure if he knew you were drinking his health at this time his heart would be with you. Before I sit down I have the honour of proposing to you a toast—the principal toast of the evening. I call upon you to drink, 'Prosperity to the Corporation of Trinity House.' It would be almost superfluous in me 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 present 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 Corporation 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 has long been the terror of our sailors, will before long cease to be so. This will show 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. Before I resume my seat I give you 'The Health of Sir Frederick Arrow, the Deputy Master,' and I am sure you will drink it with enthusiasm, knowing as you do how justly he merits your applause. He has done his duty in every way to maintain the interests of the Corporation, and I think the honour was eminently due which his Sovereign conferred in making him Sir Frederick Arrow. I call upon you to drink 'Prosperity to the ancient Corporation of Trinity House,' coupling with the toast the name of Sir Frederick Arrow."
Sir Frederick Arrow, having briefly responded, gave the toast of "Her Majesty's Ministers," saying that, although politics are unknown at the Trinity House, it was their duty to mark their respect for the Government of the day. Mr. Gladstone responded. The toast of "The Maritime and Commercial Interests of the Country," was coupled with the name of Mr. Bright, as President of the Board of Trade. Mr. Bright made an eloquent reply, discoursing on the benefits to this nation, and to all nations, of the works of the Trinity House Corporation. He said that he believed that "at this time the merchant ships of England are equal, or nearly equal—I have heard it said they surpass—in number and tonnage the seagoing merchant ships of all other countries in the world. This is an extraordinary thing, if it be true. But, whether it be exactly true or not, there can be no doubt with regard to foreign commerce—with regard to ships on the ocean—this country has a position at this moment which I believe it never held before, and one I think we may fairly be proud of. I delight, therefore, to dilate on the grandeur of our merchant navy, and I agree with Mr. Cardwell in hoping that the time is coming when the resources of this country may not be expended to an extravagant extent in maintaining our military establishments."
In dilating on the magnitude of British commerce and the number of British merchant ships, it probably never occurred to Mr. Bright that in case of war, a few swift armed cruisers would make these ships fly, like doves before hawks, and the seas be cleared of our now countless merchant steamers. The Alabama and a few swift rovers speedily swept all the commerce of the United States from the sea; and the same would be the fate of the vaster commerce of Great Britain, if there are not armed vessels, swift, powerful, and numerous, to protect our mercantile navy in every region of the globe. There is no political question in this, but the common prudential principle of insurance against possible peril and disaster. Our coasts may be adequately defended, but there is need of a naval volunteer service as well as of volunteer riflemen and gunners on land. It may be one of the future national services rendered by the Prince of Wales to get the yachting men of the day to form themselves into naval volunteers, in case of the protection of swift armed cruisers being needed for protecting the fleets of merchantmen on which the people of England depend for supplies.
After Mr. Bright's speech, the toast of "The Honorary Brethren" was responded to by Mr. Disraeli, who was followed by Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir R. Phillimore, and Sir John Burgoyne. Seldom has the banqueting hall of the Trinity House been honoured by the presence of so many illustrious and eloquent guests.