Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-27 00:00:00

manner in which you have presented this precious bowl for
me. I shall retain it with the greatest pleasure, and shal
consider it in the light in which our forefathers considered
those precious giblets which were said to contain an
antidote to poison, so that no ungenerous or unsafe liquor
could be poured into them that the vessels would not give
a timely. warning before it wag quaffed. I feel satisfied,

from the appearance of this bowl, that nothing poisonous

is contained halt, and t shall therefore drink from it with
the greatest pleasure, wishing that you, Mr. Mayer, and
all the members of the Historic Society of Lancashire

and Cheshire, may live many years to follow out your
useful and patriotic exertions (Cheers.) Before I con—
clude, I should wish to express the great gratification
which we all feel at our visit to Liverpool. Ia the first
place, I ought to apologise to the ladies and gentlemen I

see before us for having occupied, as at present, the places
'of those gentlemen whose presence I have no doubt was
'more welcome to them. [Lord Talbot spoke, as we have
already mentioned, from the orchestra, which the band
had just quitted to allow the ceremony to take place.] I
feel that I ought to apologise for having interrupted an
abasement which I am sure must be more congenial to
many minds than any dry details of historical or archmo
• logical discussion. (Cheers.) However, I may observe
that one of the subjects in which archaeologists interests
themselves is that commonly known as " folk-lore." Folk-
' lore means the traces of ancient habits, which, although
everything has changed around them, fretilent7.y survive
the reign of more formal institutions. These r' mains are
frequently discoveries which attest even thee fo.emer exist-
ence of paganism in countries which have fe r centuries
long been subjected to the mill and lastie, doctrines of
Christianity. Among these subjects Inlay st ate that none
are more attractive than the inquiry intco the agencies
which operate upon the minds of men—t' lose agencies
which, whether we call them qualities. , or whether
we consider them as vain superstitions, chill freq•a+ently
have had the greatest possible influet ice upon the
.career of men. I need not allude t'n the many in-
teresting occasions upon which the Ties tion of sorcery
has been before us. I nec 1 not allu he to the m any
occasions on which the idea of sorcery has beea male
the subject and the cause of dire and c• euel persecution.
Those times are long past. Bit at the same tier) I feel
that, where I now stand, the subject i's‘ elf is not gone by.
I feel that we now stand in a part of ' ,he country which
is celebrated for the inthence, the al'-j ;ovverfa'. inaneace
of the Lancashire witches. (Loud ehee ,re.) In the name,
therefore, of the Archeological Institr Ite of Great Britain
Treland—and I may beg to oh! ;erva that, although
armed for the pursuit of antiquarian study, and of hives
-
t igating-the past, yet its members a ee not entirely blind
e,'ther to the present or to the futur .e; have not lost all
a ltachmea. to present interests, ar iI have not lost that
feesling.cf attachment and enthuedas m which pervades the
breasts of men in the presence of t; he gentler sex• I give
yen, in. their name- and in my c we, " The Laecishire
Witches." (Loucl cheers.) His lordship drank to the
toast from the bowl he had jest re 3eiyed.
The toast was responded. to. • with acelamatioa, and
claming immediately recommence a,

Each member of the Historic 5 )ciety was authorised to
receive two cards for himself' a' id a lady or gentleman
friend. Abcut two hundreT took advantage •of this
arrangements: the remainder„' from non-residence or
absence from Lown, were unabh to do so. The invitation
cards sent to non-membersk- scluied town couacillors,
borough magistrates, ceuntylr
.agistrates in the hundred
of West Derby-and Wirral; mayors of municipalities
with the shires, county andi b orough officers, officers in
the army and' navy, the pr' 3sidents an 1 secretaries of
almost all the societies and: i astitutions in the town, and
the.'.councils of all the ethf r societies of a learned or
literary and scientific chaos
.cter.
The gratification of thsel isitors with the whole of the
day's proceedings could: tx it find adequa‘te expression in
words. One- described :•t as a continued succession of
agreeable surprises. ra, ? sail on the river, Speke-hall,
the hospitable reception there, the visit to the Niagara,
St. George's-hall, Mr. It ayer's museuqi, and, lastly, the
gathering at the Tovs'n4t formed almost too much for
a single day's pleasures; indeed, any.- one or two would
have been enough for-; single day. T. 13 reception and
dejsuner ai; the AdelPilf formed a quiet interval, which was
greatly relished by 3 party, and by those who accorn-
!
pealed them.

At a quarter •paStf ten the visitors retired to proceed
to Chester by the E pedal train ; and by that time the
general company "a' Id begun to withdraw. Precisely at
eleven o'clock ths•l )and struck up the nation ll anthem,
and in.a, few mini)/
,es more all had retired.

NPEatiL ECITLATION DT FRANCE —A Paris corres-
spondent write s :—" One el the first principles of most
Franchmen,ls.l
~hat their government should do all manner
of things which in England we think best lef in the
hands of pr ivate industry. If we sometimes push
our Fincir de to extra me 3, individual liberty is the
result, anlls
,ndepe neienc, 3 of action is secured to the public..
In Frala libsrty.
,And independence are meaningless
words. ! they are lir.ot understood, at all events, as we.
underatsi id the m. T 'has a short time since, an individual '
propeta that the 0 avernment should bay up all the houses
in Ffs• is, an d be come the propriataire of (' all the world
and h is wif 3." Imagine how pleasant it would be to.
lives • in a 1 ions e with a 0 overnment official to spy
yoi.tt every a: t. Far the concierges, according to
tb , scheme and of necessity, would have become
ficials if the plan had been adopted. But of
' course it vim t only a crochet, and was never worthy
of serious criticism. For some time past, however,
the Govern lent itself has had, a project of its own in hand,
which we a Light well fancy ought -to be left to private spa-
culstion, e not undertakenqat alt The E nperor is about
tc, opetzi an agricultural assual .nce office, to indemnify
the .4/1 niers of France• a gainst damage done to
their. crops by hail, ft ost, or inundation, and
:wand" mortality amongat, their cattle. A contradiction
is obv ions in the statements made. It is declared, first of all,
that the country people wit h for the estalishment of such an
insurance comPaarv,aua that they will support it warmly
while, on the othe:thana ,it is stated that every institution of
this kind, which ha& started within the last fity years,
has failed. Now,„ we might imagine that if pro-
vincial FrarLca. r as so eager for agricultural in_
sumac°, it wctull L have already availed itself of the
opportunities.
,t its command for attaining it.
But no ; rs,* , to this time, the offices formed
have beam •so badly supported, that they have
alwass fliik i. With this discouraging prospect
before it,, the government, nevertheless, boldly proposes to
enter theaild. If previous offices have failed, and existing
one?, dam t prosper, we are told it is because their price:
are, tech')." Lgh. At present a man cannot insure his grain
against fire, and other casualties, except at the rate of
about. four francs per hundred francs of value ; his vine:
will c ost him twelve francs per hundred. The Governmeal
affil a will charge, it is conjectured, notmore than fil-epxce
on ovary hundred francs, and in the insurance against the
itortality of cottle reductions equally large will be made
It certainly does not follow that the government scheme
will be a failure, By means of the machinery at it
corn 'nand throughout the ampire, it may draw thu
at..ention of the agricultural population more par-
%,icularly to its scheme than a private company
could. Thus a larger number of customers may
br, obtained, and if so the low pries may 13(
adopted. But if existing prices are higher than they
ought to be, the demand considered, how is it that
private industry has not long • ago found this out
and reaped the advantage which a lower sale must have
commanded? On the face of it, it seems very much as
though Government were responding, no:, so much to the
desires of the agricultural population as to its own. Th
plan carried out, it would find itself in the possession of
fresh funds, and of fresh means of making monoy—and
muney is useful to an imperial Government as to humble
Smith or Brown.