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The first annual dinner of the Central Agricultural Protection Society was held on Monday, in Freemason's Hall. The great room was not capacious en to hold the company, and tables were provided in three other large rooms; spacious temporary galleries being, constructed in the hall to accommodate the listeners after dinner. Three hundred persons sat down to table, including seven or eight noblemen and a host of Members of Parliament.. The Duke of Rich- mond presided, and the Duke of Buckingham was Vice-President. About a score of speeches were delivered; filling nearly eight columns of the Morning

Post. Free trade and the misdeeds of the Anti-Corn-law League, and the ne- cessity of Protection Societies, were the main topics; and the conduct of Ministers often came under animadversion.

Lord Beaumont was much cheered while touching upon this branch of the sub- ject, with cries of " Go on !" Several honourable gentlemen, he said, who now deeply regretted their conduct, were induced to place their votes at the dieposalef the Prime Minister. And what followed ? Instead of haying final measures—in- stead of one of those prophecies and promises being fulfilled—they were but the prelude of renewed clamour for measures more injurious and unfortunate still. Parliament was asked to pass another fatal measure • he alluded to the Canadian Corn Bill. One of the many prophecies which had been put forth at the time of passing the Corn-law Bill was, that it was a desirable measure, if only for the purpose of hindering any great variations in prices for the future. It was indeed too true that there had been no variation, but, on the contrary, an unfortunate tuti - formity of low prices. What. had become of the fifty-six shillings ?—of that promise of the Premier which had beguiled so many, and had now, he feared, been broken with the rest? He should say that man would be wild indeed who would venture now to say that fifty-six would be the average price. Look again at the Canadian Corn Bill. Could there have possibly been concocted a meataue more diametrically opposite to every principle which had been advocated by the Ministers; who in the first instance maintained that the sliding-stale was neces- sary, and in the second instance, that of the Canadian Corn Bill, maintained that the sliding-scale was not necessary ? This was followed up by some attack on the Bank Charter Bill: no boon, said Lord Beaumont, to the agriculturists.

Mr. Baker, of 1Vrittle, declared that something must be done either to increase the prices of wheat or to diminish the burdens on farmers: he defied any Admi- nistration to raise the taxation of the country from the minimum price of pm- ducts now established.

Mr. S. Mills, of Enford, in Wiltshire, gave a hint to the landlords. He would suggest to the landlords, that, in preference to making the tenants a small remit-

tance on rent-day of five or ten per cent, they would spend that amount in perma- nently improving their farms. (Loud cheers, in which the Duke 11 Buckingham, and the Duke of Richmond especially joined.) 'f he tenantry should be enabled to improve poor and unprofitable pasture—to drain the land, level the ditelees, cut dawn waste timber, and make good roads through the property.

The Earl of elalmesbury alluded to "the calumnies of the League," "showered thick and fast upon the landlords" ; who had been "described as extortioners of the tenants and as grinding even the labourers below them": "but before the Almighty God lie protested that such charges were false." He was sincerely glad to hear Mr. Mills s speech. lie agreed not only generally but in the detail of those recommendations which he had given. He had never heard more com- mon sense expressed in so few minutes; and although he had not had his own pro- perty long in his possession, he was glad to be able to say that he had commenced on the same plan. Some hope had been expressed that the Corn-law Bill and Canada Corn Bill might be repealed: he had opposed both those measures, but he should be deceiving the meeting if he said there was the slightest possibihty of their repeal. He meant now, of course. He believed that, ut present, they could not be repealed. More years must pass, and more experience of their working must prove to the majority of the country that those measures were injurious to the British farmers.

Mr. Jonas, a tenant-farmer returning thanks for the "tenant-farmers," re- ferred to the "wholesome advice" which had been given to farmers to carry ont permanent improvement in agriculture : there would be no lack of improvement, he said, if they had adequate protection. "The cry on one side has been Culti- vate, cultivate !' my answer, in the name of the tenant-farmers of England, he 'Remunerate, remunerate !' Rest assured, my Lord Duke, that nothing can in- duce or enable us to progress in those permanent and expensive improvements in agriculture, but our feeling that we have, not only security of tenure by loeg

leases,—and no man can farm well without thernt—but also that we can wa. safety and security look to the Government of this country, be they who they may, not only to continue our present inadequate protection, but also, if n

to retrace any false movement they have lately made in declining our protectivili laws as regards the Canada Bill, the duty on foreign barley, and those other dutiee

that are too low to give us safe and fair remuneration." (" The burst of °vile- whe/ming and enthusiastic acclamation that followed the expression ofthis seitei- merit," says the Morning Post, "fairly mocks our powers of description. It was renewed and reiterated several times, and the speaker then proceeded.")

The toast of "The Labourers" was proposed by Mr. Stafford O'Brien; and was drank standing, with three times three. The Duke of Richmond declared his determination to retain the opinion, "that if agricultural protection be diminished one iota lower than it has already been reduced to, the tenantry and labourers and landlords of this country will cease tto exist as a class in England." He pointed out the advantage of their admitting tenants to share in the management of the Society. "I ask you whether we here not this day learned a great lesson from the tenants. I do not wish to say which class, landlord or tenant, has spoken best; but this I say, that the speeches made by tenants were equal at least to those made by landlords." "I entirely concut in every word and sentiment uttered by the tenantry on the present occasion."

"If tenants think that improvements ought to be made by a landlord, I say I think so too; and it may fairly be considered whether money so invested would

not operate more beeeficially to the tenant than any reduction of rent. A gentle- man told us tonight that landlords ought to grant leases. I like to hear him say. so. I myself have always been inclined, and always shall be inclined, to give leases. But this I felt, that in a time when the principle of adequate protection was in danger, and when the friends of produce are threatened with an over. whelming reduction, that at such a time very urgent offers or grants of leases come with rather an awkward grace from a landlord: and here I call on yon. to remember this, that never till the formation of this Society had we any distinct

ledge from Government that they would not diminish (or did not contemplate diminishing) the amount of protection afforded by the Corn-law. But be the

Throughout all these speeches the applause was of a kind to exhaust and baffle the descriptive powers of the reporters. The meeting broke up about half-past nine o'clock.

Mr. Thomas Slingsby Duncombe, M.P., was entertained at a public soiree, at White Conduit House, on Monday, by about three hundred of his political friends. Dr. Wade took the chair: among the guests were Mr. Feargus O'Connor, and Mr. Roberts, a delegate from the Miners Association. In the course of his speech, Mr. Duncombe promised not to forget the subject of Post-office espionage in the House of Commons. He bad been told that the Secret Office in the Post-office had been shut up within the last few days, and the clerks all sent to the right about: bethought that the Secret Office was only removed to the Home Office, to be more accessible to the Home Secretary. Through this espionage, certain patriotic per- sons had been imprisoned in the Neapolitan kingdom, and in the Papal dommions. . For this good service to the Pope, Sir Robert Peel was now asking a favour in re- - turn; he was asking the Pope to exercise his political authority, if he possessed any, and his spiritual authority, over O'Connell, in order to persuade him to nourish .8 more favourable feeling towards the Tory Government. He alluded with appro- bation to a proposed conference of trades, for the purpose of organizing more ex- tensive "strikes." Strikes had often failed in producing their effect from a want of unity, or from their being often founded upon an unjust principle. With- out unity among themselves nothing could be done. Let them meet and organize themselves, and if one partion of their body complain, let them all complain; and if one trade strike, the others ought to be bound in honour to support it during hat strike.

We deeply regret to state, that the discussions in the College of Surgeons on the Supplementary Charter terminated last night in what amounts to a virtual refusal of the improvement, which, a short time since, we had fair grounds for believing on the point of concession.—Medical Times, Feb. 7.

A memorial, signed by Messrs. Rothschild, Messrs. Baring, and other influential merchants and brokers, was presented to the Gresham Committee, praying that the merchants' area in the Royal Exchange might be covered in with a skylight, and that some provision might be made to check the draughts of air from the arched door-ways. The memorial was taken into consideration at a meeting of the Committee, on Friday; when the Clerk was directed to reply, that the area had been constructed with two-thirds of the space covered and one-third open, in com- pliance with the wish of a great majority of the merchants and brokers in the City, expressed in answer to a circular addressed to them by the Committee; and that with regard to the draughts, orders had been given to put up inner doors at the North and South entrances, so as to cheek the current of air without impeding the thoroughthre.

Marylebone Vestry unanimously adopted, on Saturday, resolutions in favour of total and immediate repeal of the Window-tax; and appointed a deputation to act with the Metropolitan Association organized for that purpose.

The case of the Queen rersus George Smith, the distiller charged with de- frauding the Excise revenue, came before the Court of Exchequer on Thursday; the Solicitor-General having claimed a trial at bar. The greatest interest was excited by the case. The nnst eminent counsel were engaged on both sides; and among the preparations made by the officers of the Crown was an elaborate model of the defendant's premises, said to have cost 600/. The defendant was charged, under various counts, with having a distillery within a quarter of a mile's dis- tance from a rectifying-house, against the law; and with having a communication between the two. The Solicitor-General stated the case. Mr. George Smith is a distiller, who had carried on business as such to so great an extent in Buck's Row, Whitechapel, that he frequently paid duties to Government to the amount -of 1,0001. in a day. Mr. George Smith resided in the dwelling-house belonging to the premises, with his brother James Scott Smith, who carried on business next door as a rectifier of spirits. The defendant and his brother were not actually partners, as the law prohibited parties carrying on the two businesses together; but it would be shown that they were virtually pairtners. Sir Frederick Thesiger entered into many details explaining the nature of the frauds discovered, but they are almost unintelligible without the model. The main allegations are these. The duty is taken in a distillery on the stock produced; in a rec- tifying-house, not on the stock, but on the spirit " permitted " to custom- ers. On George Smith's premises was a vast spirit-receiver; the floors of which, as usual, slanted, to fficilitate the running of the spirit. This Slanting was wrongly stated; and in 1842, Drinkwater, an intelligent Ex- cise-officer, discovered that the capacity of the vessel was understated by 4-10ths of an inch in depth, equal to nine gallons of spirit, or 8,000/. a year duty at the rate of production. This roused his suspicions; and, without inter- fering with the business, he took a long series of observations on the spirit made from October 1843 to February 1844: sometimes jie found a deficiency of the spirit that ought to have been produced by the works; sometimes an excess on the quantity stated, which would have been liable to seizure: showing in fact, as -we understand the allegations, (which, be it reinembercd, are as yet ex parte,) that more was made than was lawfully avowed, but that some of it disappeared in an unaccountable manner. At length, in October last, by exercising much sagacity, the officers discovered a pipe, artfully disguised by being confounded with the ordinary pipes with which the East London Water-works Company supply all the houses of the street, but communicating with the rectifying-house; and by means of that pipe they actually transferred spirit from the distillery to the rectifying-house. 'lime defendant and his brother accused the officers of doing so by some trick. Evidence in support of the charge was taken at great length; but in the midst of it, yesterday, the case was brought to a sudden close; the counsel for the prosecution having discovered an informality in the writ autho- rizing the trial; and the cause was withdrawn for the present. Mr. Fitzroy Kelly loudly complained of the hardship entailed on his client the defendant by the additional delay.

In the Bail Court, on Tuesday, Mrs. Harriet Eleanor Pelham was convicted of ill-treating Brent Spencer, her illegitimate son, in May last, by confining him in a dark room, without sustenance and other necessmies.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, four men were tried for the late robbery of tobacco at the London Docks, and found guilty. They were all sen- tenced to be transported for ten years.

Thomas Dickman, the Uxbridge baker, was tried on Thursday, for adminis- tering poison to his wife; and acquitted, as the proofs of his guilt were incomplete.

At the Queen Square Police-office, on Saturday, Miss Elizabeth Osborn, a fashionably-attired woman, about thirty-five years of age, the daughter of Sir John Osborn, of Earl's Court, Brompton, one of the Commissioners of the Audit Office, was charged with stealing a pot of potted meat from the shop of Mr. Edward Allum, Italian warehouseman at Brompton. Evidence was given that the lady secreted the pot under her shawl while purchasing some soap, and left the shop. She was followed, and gave up one pot, which had not been taken from Alum's; but another, which did appear to have been taken from the shop, she dropped on an iron grating, as she said by accident ; and then gave up a third pot, which she said she had purchased. It was proved that she had bought one pot at another shop. When taken into custody, a number of articles were found on Miss Osborn was brought up for reexamination on Thursday; when her father, Sir John Osborn, and many of her friends and relatives, were present. Mr. Clark- son appeared on her behalf; and at his desire the witnesses repeated the evidence given on Saturday; but cross-examination elicited nothing of importance. The shopman to a stationer in Sloane Street, where the lady had purchased some books, was brought forward by the Police; but he proved nothing against her. Mr_ Clarkson applied to have Miss Osborn remanded and admitted to bail, as he hoped to be able to obtain favourable testimony in her behalf. The Magistrate- remanded her till Saturday week; taking her own bail for 5001., and that of her father and the Honourable Edward Byng for 2501. each.

William Onley, a General Post-man, has been committed for trial, from Bow Street Police-office, for stealing a letter containing 61. 10s.

Several well-executed forged five-pound notes have been put in circulation within these few days, particularly among the shopkeepers of the West-end, by two fashionably-dressed women, who are attended by a page, and make small pur- chases. The paper is thinner than that of the genuine Bank of England notes, and of a greasy nature.

The inquest on Emma Whiter was renewed on Monday; and after bearing fur- ther evidence of similar effect to that before given, the Jury returned a verdict of "Wilful Murder" against Tapping.

A hatch-boat laden with fish was upset by a squall early on Thursday morn- ing, between Barking and Woolwich ; and four men were drowned out of a crew of five.

The spire of Chiswick Church was found to be on fire on Sunday morning. By prompt measures the flames were subdued before much injury was done.