GUILDFORD.
The Second Annual General Meeting was held at Guildford, on Thursday, the 28th June. 1855. The proceedings took place in the Public Hall, which had been engaged for the purpose. At twelve o'clock the Chair was taken by W. J. Evelyn, Esq., M.P., F.S.A., Vice-President.
The Chairman, after recapitulating the previous Meetings of the Society, said that "it would appear presumptuous were he to attempt to address any lengthened details concerning the topography and antiquities of Guildford to a Meeting chiefly composed of the inhabitants of the town. Nevertheless," he continued, "I should be entirely unworthy of inhabiting Surrey if I were not aware of the general facts relating to this most eminent and interesting borough. (Applause.) We know that it is one of the most ancient in this country, and I think it can be proved to have been incorporated for a thousand years. We know the Anglo-Saxon tragedy which rendered it memorable in early times, previous to the Conquest. I will not go into the details of that tragedy, which you, doubtless, have read. Guildford has ancient charters, it has been incorporated for more than a thousand years, perhaps for 600 years it has been the county town, and I think it most fitting that a Meeting of the Surrey Archæological Society should be held in the county town. (Applause.) I think it will be impossible for us to exhaust Guildford on this occasion, and am of opinion that we may hold future Meetings here with great profit to ourselves. (Applause.) Guildford is a town with an ancient castle memorable in history, with ancient churches, and local institutions that have lasted for centuries. Now it is objected to archæology that it tends to cramp the mind, and check rather than develop the understanding. I cannot but think that this imputation is wrong, but I think it is founded, like most of these assertions, on some truth. (Hear, hear.) I think, perhaps, we are too apt to confine ourselves to mere material objects, and forget that the sole advantage accruing to research is the development of the life and manners of our ancestors. (Applause.) It is to no purpose to go about excavating unless we endeavour to realize to ourselves the state of society of which those objects ought to lead us to form a clearer idea. I am one of those who advocate what may be called extreme views as to the rights and privileges of the English people, and value all our ancient institutions of local self-government; and holding these opinions, and believing in our adherence to those principles laid down in the Common Law of England, and which I think have been some times encroached upon, I think we shall be giving a practical value to our studies, and often enlighten ourselves as to the present times, and that many questions which have perplexed the politician and essayist may be solved by a consideration of the original meaning and purpose of an institution, and that more is often done by curbing the corruptions that have crept in, and restoring them to the original object, than by erecting a totally new system in their stead. (Applause.)
