The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-17 00:00:00

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

A conversazione took place on Monday at the Hall of
the National Association, and was respectably attended
and conducted.

Dr. BOWRING, M.P., took the chair, and in opening
the proceedings assured the meeting that he felt it a
most grateful and acceptable compliment to have been
asked to preside on the occasion, because it was a proof
that he was regarded as one who had an intense desire
for something wiser, happier, and better than the pre-
sent system. The Hon. Gentleman then referred to
some specimens of the fabrics of the Egyptian loom
3,600 years ago, as well as of manufactures produced at
subsequent periods down to the present day, as illustrat-
ing the improvements which had taken place in mecha-
nical and scientific arts, and he expressed his astonish-
ment and regret that our political institutions had not
made a corresponding advance. It was wonderful thatin
a country like this the millions should be excluded from
all share in the making of the laws ; but gatherings like
the present, to look at the past, the present, and the
future, gave a security that Treat political changes could
not be far off, although he knew not whether those
changes were more likely to be brought about by the wis-
dom of the friends of the people, or by the folly of their
enemies. Referring to what was passing in Ireland, he
expressed his conviction that the exclusion of four-fifths
of the people of that country from any participation in
the humblest judicial functions was a state of things
which the honest mind of England would not tolerate.
Re, for one, was prepared to say that if the union of the
two countries were one which excluded Catholics from
the tribunals of justice, the sooner such a union was
dissolved the better.—(Cheers.) Irishmen ought to be
treaten by us as friends and brothers and the English
people ought never to be content until the Irish had all
that an Englishman had a right to claim. He proposed
the sentiment of—" The National Association, and the
speedy realisation of its objects ; equal rights, just laws,
free institutions for man and woman, and the general
diffusion of knowledge and morality, so that those
blessings may advance the moral, mentel, and physical
elevation of the human race." This sentiment was cor•
dially assented to by the meeting.
The following sentiments were introduced with
energetic speeches, and responded to with acclamation
' by the meeting :
" Freedom of opinion, the best mode of improving our
political and social institutions. May our Irish brethren,
now prosecuted for the free expression of their opinions
regarding the best means of removing their social
grievances, find the justice of this great principle stronger
than right-restraining law."
Mr. Sharman Crawford and his honest coadjutors in
the House of Commons. May the forthcoming session
find them waited, and sternly resolved on enforcing the
just chum of the people, upon every proposal that may be
made for taking money fruni their pocitets without their
consent."
" May all classes perceive the necessity for cultivat-
ing the principle of peace, as one of the most effective

means of political and social reformation ; as its ten-
dency is to deprive our oppressors of the instruments of
their power, to prevent the brutalizing ravages of war,
and, consequently, to promote the civilization, the har-
mony, and brotherhood of nations."
Several pieces of vocal music were performed during
the evening.
The meeting, which was conducted with great de-
corum throughout, broke up at eleven o'clock.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, Jan. 16,
(Sittings in Banco.)
The Court took the special paper to-day, and was en-
gaged the whole morning in hearing arguments in cases
relating to technical points of pleading.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, Jan. 16.
IN RE STAFFORD SMITH.
The insolvent in this case had been a clerk in the
Legacy Duty Office, but had been discharged by the
Commissioners upon his being declared insolvent.
The amount of his debts and liabilities was 1;6491.,
of which 6491. were contracted without consideration.
He had been originally a bookseller at Cambridge, and
he attributed the origin of his insolvency to the fact of
the trustees of St. John's College in that town, having
required the site of his house for certain proposed altera-
tions and improvements of the college, and thus break-
ing up his business connections. He had paid his ad-
dresses to a young lady at Cambridge, to whom he
alleged that he had been engaged in marriage, but who
subsequently refused to marry him. He brought an
action, which, at the time, obtained some notoriety with
the public, but the insolvent was non-suited, owing, as
he stated, in the lengthened examination to which he
was subjected, to the fact of several important witnesses
whom he had subpoenaed being bribed. By this action
be lost a large sum of money, and he also stated that he
had lost money to a large amount by betting on Priam,
at the Derby, against the field. He had lost a consider-
able sum by theatrical speculation, having taken the
Sadler's Wells Theatre, where he appeared in the cha-
racter of Hamlet, and excited some risibility amongst the
audience. Upon this failure he wrote to a nobleman
stating his circumstances, and through his means ob-
tained the situation in Somerset-house, which he lost in
consequence of his insolvency.
The COURT after a lengthened investigation decided
that there were no grounds of opposition, and eventually
ordered the insolvent to be discharged.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
(YESTERDAY.)
BOW-STREET.

A prisoner was brought this morning before Mr. Twy-
ford, and placed at the bar, attired in a complete sailor's
suit, charred with assaulting one Mary O'Sullivan.
The Clerk (to the prisoner—What is your name ?
Prisoner, (in a feminine voice) Harriet Wilson, Sir.
Mrs. Sullivan then came forward, and stated, that in
company with her husband and two female friends, she
was passing along St. Martin's-lane, last night, on their
way home, when they turned into a public-house. They
there saw the prisoner with a young woman at the bar.
The prisoner came to her (witness) and said, " How do
you do, my dear?"— (Laughter.) Witness told him—
Clerk—Him ! her, you mean.
Witness—How the devil should I know it was a her
then; she looked man enough to me.
The witness went on to say that she told the prisoner
that she was a respectable married woman, and was the
mother of a family, and therefore she could not receive
the prisoner's advances. Upon this the prisoner fell
upon her, and tore her bonnet and cap off, and a police-
man coming in to see what the row was about, the pri-
soner was given into custody.
Mr. TwYFoRD (to the prisoner)—Well, are you a man
or a woman ? Prisoner—A woman, I believe, Sir !

Mr. TWYFORD—WeII, what have you to say to this
charge ? She said she was sorry for what she had done.
She had been to Woolwich yesterday to visit a young
friend of hers, an officer in the navy, and, for a lark, he
asked her to put on a suit of his clothes, and she did so.
Mr. TWYFORD said he should fine the prisoner 10s.,
or, in default of payment, commit her for seven days.
The money was immediately paid. •