————— se 
. 
The Opening Meeting. 107 
deputation desire to direct special notice to the three points named 
above, as requiring immediate attention: but they cannot conclude 
their report without advocating with all their might the re-erection, 
at the same time, of the great trilithon which fell in 1797, whose 
exact position is undoubted, and whose replacement has been so 
often urged by the most distinguished antiquarians, notably by the 
Royal Archeological Institute, when it met at Salisbury in 1849, 
under the presidency of Mr. Sidney Herbert. Should the proper 
appliances for readjusting the stones 6 and 7, and 25 and 1, mentioned 
above, be procured (whether, by permission, from the Royal Dockyards 
at Portsmouth, or elsewhere) it would seem an opportunity not to be 
let slip, now, if ever, to re-erect the great trilithon, which, if re- 
placed in position, would add so much to the grandeur and imposing 
appearance of Stonehenge, and whose prostrate condition is lamented 
by so many. 
We would, in conclusion, disclaim any intention of interfering 
beyond our province. Stonehenge is a national monument, of such 
world-wide renown, and its well-being and protection from injury 
are so intimately connected with the work of the Wiltshire Arche- 
ological Society, that it appears to us a paramount duty on the part 
of the Society to speak out boldly on this question, and we have 
therefore not hesitated to express our decided opinions. 
A. C, Smita ; 
‘ General Honorary Secretaries. 
H. E. Mep.ticott, 
W. Connineton, formerly Hon. Sec.: now Vice-President. 
H. Cunnrneton, Curator of Museum. 
The Prustpent then invited any other of the gentlemen who 
formed the deputation, and all of whom were present, to make any 
- further remarks to what had been said in their report. 
Mr. Mepticorr said they were called upon to make their investi- 
gation of Stonehenge in consequence of letters appearing in the 
papers, some of them from foreigners who cast reflection upon 
England for not taking greater care of what belonged not only to 
England, but to everyone everywhere who took an interest in 
