Zbe Itittropolis.

Special Courts of Conservancy of the River Thames were held on Wednesday, to forward the great scheme which is in contemplation for the improvement of the river. Some time ago the Lords of the Treasury, the Commissioners of Public Works, and the Corporation of London, caused a report, with estimates, to be made on embanking some portion of the river ; a Committee of the House of Commons pushed the inquiry yet further, and a project for a general improve- ment of the banks is in agitation. Special Courts of Conservancy were accordingly constituted on Wednesday, at Westminster, the Borough, Greenwich, and Stratford, for the several counties whose lands embank the river. The Lord Mayor, the Recorder, and several of the Corpora- tion and their officers were present. The Juries are to make their presentments at the next courts, on the llth March.

The Anti-Corn-law League had a " grand Metropolitan demonstra- tion," on Wednesday—a public meeting of their friends and supporters at the Crown and Anchor Tavern. Mr. Hamer Stansfield of Leeds took the chair ; and there were present, Mr. John Bright of Rochdale, Mr. Brooks of Manchester, Mr. Joseph Hume, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. Ewan, Dr. Bowring, Mr. R. R. R. Moore of Manchester, Mr. Paulton' and a great number of the Chairmen and Secretaries of the branch Associations of the Metropolis. The meeting is said to have been the largest held at the Crown and Anchor for twenty-four years : not only the great room, but all the ante-rooms and passages, were crowded ; and deputations were sent from time to time to the platform for speakers, who came out and addressed the auxiliary meet- ings. Frequent allasion was made to the scene in the House of Com- mons last Friday night. The Chairman remarked— "If there be any characteristic of an Englishman which distinguishes Richard Cobden more than another, it is his love of fair play. Now, foul play has been practised ou that gentleman. ( Vehement cheering.) The higher the party from whom it emanated, the fouler the deed. To accuse a man openly of instigating to the commission of assassination, if there were grounds for such a charge, it would be manly—it would be bold—it would be English to make it : but to insinuate what it is not dared to express, is worthy of a mind practised in duplicity. (Loud cheers.) But let Mr. Cobden he assured that, from whatever source this atrocious stigma proceeds—whoever aims the foul blow—whether it be a wily enemy or a false friend—(Loud cries of " Roe- buck ! " and groans)—his countrymen will rally round him and see that he has fair play." (Continued cheering.)

Mr. Cobden himself said, he would rather that the transaction had not been alluded to : he should leave it in the hands of his intelligent coun- trymen, and be satisfied with their verdict-

" You have been told that I have been charged in my place in Parliament with instigating to assassination ! 1, who received a diploma from the Society of Friends as a peacemaker, on account of my writing, long before 1 was known as a politician : 1, who in all shapes, to the best of my humble ability, endea- voured to depress the false boast of mere animal powers at the expense of the immortal part of our being: I, who abhor capital punishments : I, who am conscientiously of opinion that it is worse than useless to take life, even for the punishment of murder I have been accused of instigating to assassination !"— ( Loud groans.)

He then proceeded indignantly to denounce the imputations of the Tory press. He was interrupted by some person, who called out " Qut•stion !" an interruption which Mr. Cobden with much temper and adroitness, turned to account-

" That gentleman, whether he be friend or enemy, is right. It is a mis- take, and a great fault on our part, to allow ourselves for a moment to be di- verted from the real question. It is the game, the deliberate game of our ene- mies, to scatter charges against us, and thus divert the minds of the people from the object which we have at heart." He described the peaceful weapons of the League—the printing-press, and lectures; its object—to make the Corn-law known, understood, abhorred, and therefore speedily put to an end. After a clever Anti- Corn-law address, Mr. Cobden again adverted to the charges against the League ; referring particularly to the speech of the Rev. Mr. Bayley, of Sheffield, on the 6th of July— Their enemies might single out an individual speech or an individual act to reproach them with : and what then ? Let a man, whether he be a real enemyor a false friend, single out the individual speech of a minister of the gospel, and say that his language was violent and indiscreet, and Mr. Cobden would say to him, as had been said to another before him, " Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone." There was no doubt but that the short life of the League had witnessed acts of indiscretion, as there were acts of indiscretion in the daily and weekly lives of them all : but was it the part of a friend to mount the mostpublic stage he could find in the country, and declaim against a member of the Anti-Corn-law League, in language which he knew would be seised hold of by the Monopolist press and applied to the whole League ? Was

it right that a friend to their cause should take such a way of reproving indivi- dual acts of members of their body ? or should he not have written upon the subject

to those members of the League with whom be was in close correspondence at the time. But he did not attend there to exculpate the members of the League from charges which might have been brought against them. He heard these charges with regret, but he knew that the League had outgrown such charges. They could laugh at them, and despise them ; nay, more, they would do what probably such kind friends as those who advanced them did not intend or wish that they should do—they would profit by their censures. (Loud cheers.)

Mr. Bright delivered a very long speech, in the course of which he said, that as long as the Corn-laws existed, they would be liable to such outbreaks as those of the autumn : so long as human nature remained as it was, be felt satisfied that vast multitudes of men, who could live if the law permitted them, would not lie down and die quietly with wives and children starving around them. He believed that if the late disturbances had taken place in the agricultural districts, the probable results would have been such as he dared not contemplate. The brutal ignorance of the agricultural labourer might be in some degree ex- plained, when they recollected that there were no persons above their own situation in life who had for them a word of sympathy or comfort.

Such was not the case with the operatives in the manufacturing dis- tricts. Their employers interested themselves in their condition ; but had the rural squire and the clergyman any sympathy with their unfor- tunate labourers?

Colonel Thompson ridiculed Sir R. Peel's fears of assassinaticn-

The Prime Minister had been represented as baying been much excited at something—a threat of assassination (Laughter.) if this was true,

it must have arisen from the still small voice of conscience ; and he would

not wish him visited with any greater censure. He knew a little girl who stood being shot at a great deal better than he did. (Tremendous cheering for some minutes, intermingled with cries of " The Queen ! God bless her ! ") He believed that the whole affair was a political stratagem. The Quarterly Re- view had charged him with saying it was time to do something more than talk : that was uttered during the progress of the late election, and referred to the conduct of the electors on the hustings. That was a specimen of the truthfulness of the charges against the Anti-Corn-law League in reference to a late event.

The meeting was also addressed by Mr. Hume, Mr. Milner Gibson, and Dr. Bowring ; and, thanks having been voted to the chairman, it peaceably separated.

The Chartists succeeded in converting an Anti-Corn-law meeting to a tumult, on Tuesday. It was convened by ticket, in Hall's Riding- school, Marylebone ; but a knot of Chartists early blockaded the entry, and until the doors were opened kept back those who had tickets ; and thus they were able to take possession of the front of the platform. Mr. Bagshaw took the chair according to previous announcement ; but the Chartists also appointed a chairman of their own ; to whom, how- ever, they did not pay enough deference to keep order at his bidding. Sir Charles Napier, Sir Benjamin Hall, and Sir De Lacy Evans were present ; but the speaking was drowned in shouts and other noises. There seem to have been two distinct fights, in both of which the Commodore and the Colonel fronted the assailants ; but after all, the meeting was adjourned without any business having been done.

Other meetings in support of the League's movement have been held, at the Pineapple Tavern in Portman Market, at the Literary Institution

in Leicester Square, (the St. Anne's Anti-Corn-law Association,) Islington, Peckham, Chelsea; and by the Young Men's Anti-Monopoly Association, at Albion Hall, London Wall. The young men passed a resolution expressing " contempt and indignation at the disgraceful and utterly unfounded insinuation made against Mr. Cobden," with a hit at Sir Robert Peel's " affected misunderstanding."

The General Court of the Proprietors of University College was held, on Wednesday, at the theatre of the institution in Gower Street, Mr. Crabbe Robinson in the chair. Mr. C. Atkinson, the Secretary, read the report ; of which the following is a summary--

In the session of 1841-2, the pupils in the College and the junior classes num • bered 886. Of these, 336 were students in medicine, 155 in the arts, and 395 were pupils in the junior school. The amount of receipts from students and pupils was 12,7561. 4s. fid.; of which sum 9,081/. 18s. having been paid to the Professors and Masters, 3,6751. 2s. [0d- fell to the share of the College. The year's income from other sources was 4,039!. lls. 4d. ; and the disbursements for the establishment department, including payment for several permanent ad- ditions to the property of the College, interest upon mortgage, &e., amounted to 4,000/. 17s. 11d.; thus showing that the expenses were covered by the receipts. Of the sum above mentioned of 12,756/. 4s. 6d. received for education, 5,570/. 10s. was derived from classes of the medical faculty, and 2,570/. 14s. 6d. from those of the arts and law. To the library, a set of works one hundred in number, printed at the Government press at Cairo, had been presented by Lord Brougham, who had received them from the Pasha of Egypt. The junior school produced during the year 4,615L, a sum less by 2821. than the year before. The collection made at the public dinner in June last was 1,120/. Since the last meeting, a very fine collection of geological specimens had been offered to the College for the use of the students by Mr. Greenough ; but, on account of the expense of providing rooms for its reception, and keeping it in proper order—an expense the Council did not at present feel themselves justi- sed in incurring—they had been compelled, though reluctantly, to decline the present.

The report was adopted ; and thanks were voted to Mr. Greenough for his offer. Colonel Leicester Stanhope declared the institution to be a failure, in consequence of its not comprising religions instruction ; and he made a motion on the subject ; but it did not find a seconder. Lord Brougham was elected President, and the Earl of Auckland Vice- President, in the room of the Duke of Somerset ; who resigned, receiv- ing the thanks of the meeting.

At the Court of Bankruptcy, on Saturday, a novel and interesting question was argued before Commissioners Merivale, Holroyd. and Fonblanque, in a Court of Subdivision, upon the examination of Mr. Feaver, of Ludgate Hill. The father Qf the bankrupt had assigned to him, for valuable considerations, the secret of an embrocation for the cure of gout and other diseases; which deed of assignment was after- wards deposited, as security for pecuniary advances, with Messrs. Contts. The bankrupt offered to manufacture the medicine for the benefit of the creditors, but declined to communicate the secret to the assignees. Mr. Merivale, on their behalf, applied to the Commissioners to compel Mr. Feaver to divulge the secret; contending that, as it had been purchased for valuable considerations, and was afterwards pledged

for pecuniary advances, it was clearly part of the bankrupt's estate. Several cases were cited by the counsel to show that even a matter so incorporeal as the production of a man's mind was in law property-

" The mere title of a newspaper had been held to be personal estate. Lord Mansfield cited a case where a news-walk had been declared to he assets ; and it was stated that as much as 400/. had been given for a milk-walk. The mere good-will of a business was deemed in law assets, for which an executor was accountable, although Lord Eldon had defined that description of property to be the simple probability that certain customers would resort to the old premises. The secret of James's powders had been at various times bought,. sold, divided among children, and in every way treated as property." Mr. Mayhew, the bankrupt's solicitor, denied that any case had been made out for the interference of the Court ; and insisted that, as the secret had been communicated verbally, no transfer could be made of words. The Commissioners ultimately decided that the secret was not a part of the bankrupt's estate which he was bound to disclose, and de • dared him entitled to pass on his balance-sheet ; reserving to themselves a right to enforce hereafter a disclosure of the whole transaction relative to the assignment if they thought fit.

The first application to the Court of Bankruptcy fur its sanction to institute criminal proceedings against a bankrupt under the new act, was made on Thursday. The bankrupt was Harris, a linendraper in Great Portland Street ; and the charge against him was "mutilation and fabrication " of his books. Commissioner C. F. Williams said that the application was a very proper one : the proceedings would have the effect of teaching other bankrupts, that the proper keeping of books is as important a part of the law as anything which the new law has enacted.

Joshua Jones Ashley, formerly Ensign in the Fortieth Regiment, was again brought up at Marlborough Street Police-office on Thursday, charged with stealing silver spoons and forks to a very large amount from the Junior United Service, the Union, Army and Navy, Erec- theium, Reform, and Colonial Clubhouses, of each of which he has been a member. The court was crowded with noblemen and gentlemen belonging to the several clubs; whose regard he met with a steady gaze. A number of pawnbrokers were also present, bearing the stolen plate. Three files were produced, which had been found at his lodging in Allington Street, Pimlico : one of them was curved, so as to fit. into the handles of fiddle-pattern spoons, in order to erase the marks on them. After a long investigation, he was committed for trial ; but was remanded, in order to the production of some further evidence.

It is said that the prisoner's proper name is Joshua Jones, and that be is the stepson of Mr. James Ashley, of the late firm of Ashley and Son, bankers and army-agents.

The forcing into a gaming-house by the Police early on Thursday morning had a melancholy result. The house was No. 34, St. James's Street ; and it had been visited on Wednesday night by a Police-In- spector, in plain clothes, who took part in gaming. Superintendent Baker, having heard of the Inspector's success in entering the house, repaired thither with a party of constables, and was admitted. In the alarm, Henry Smart, the son of the proprietor of the house, escaped to the roof; but he slipped, and fell into the area of the next house in Jermyn Street. He was dreadfully shattered ; and he died next morning, at St. George's Hospital. Isaiah Smart, the proprietor, and three other persons, were taken before Me. Hardwick, at Marlborough Street Police-office, and fined ; Smart's penalty being reduced from 100/. to 30/. in consideration of the affliction with which he had been visited.