The annual dinner at the Trinity House, attended by every-
body except pilots, came off on Saturday. The Duke of Edin- burgh, the Master, and the Prince of Wales, proposed the toasts in speeches of the usual sort, and the replies were mostly of the perfunctory kind. Mr. Gosche», on behalf of the Navy, hoped that when the battle of Dorking came to be fought the Navy would blow up its foes. Mr. Lowe, on behalf of the House of Commons, declared that it was liable, like the public, to panics, during which it spent money wildly, and then shuddered if the Treasury asked for some petty tax ; and the Lord Chancellor, ou behalf of her Majesty's Ministers, declared that they would uphold the flag everywhere, and that the Navy of England was a defensive force, and that " this was a great consolation to his mind."
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