The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-08 00:00:00

;EVENING-, MARCH 81_ 1847.

AN IMPORTANT LEGAL DIS-
CLOSURE.
(From the Opera-glass.)
COVENT-GARDEN CLOSED AGAINST ITALIAN
OPERA.—MUTUAL CONVENTION OF THE
PATENT THEATRES.
If the good faith of treaties have any weight in the moral
estimation of the community—if repudiation of engagement
have not ceased to incur among us an honest, I,,nglish dis•
gust—if deeds are to preserve their legal value, and a plain
commercial transaction to maintain its probity through the
lapse of time—then, through the authentic statemei t
have now to make—and the verified legal documents uy
'which we shall support that statement—the public will arrive
at the conclusion that Covent-garden is, by every code of
justice, closed against the undertaking which it is seeking
to enforce; and that, of public right, there can be no secorid
Italian Opera in this metropolis—no legal Italian drama but
that which is performed at her Majesty's Theatre.
The story of the circumstances out of which' arose, and
upon which were founded, the patents granted respectively
to the three great theatres, in the Haymarket, Covent-
garden, and Drury-lane, must now be, for the first
time, made known to the community; and it will be
sieti that what is now her Majesty's, and was, of old,
the King's Theatre, secured to its own, and shut out
from the ether patents, the exclisive right to the per-
formance of Italian opera in London, by an immense pecuniary
sacrifice—a large amount of money paid in compensation, and
a vast transfer of vested interests—the consequences of which
have all descended, with the deed by which they were exe-
cuted, to the present proprietor, and, through the changes of
property, brought with them incumbrances which he has de-
frayed. That deed, embodying a mutual convention between
the three theatres, and reciting the very stipulations upon
which they obtained their patents in concert, is morally as
binding now as it was then, and must hold its good faith in
public estimation, in spite of the flagrant and daring violation
of it which is being attempted now.
The deed was framed " for the purpose of regulating the
conduct and management of the King's Theatre in the Hay-
market, and for the purpose of paying the debts of the late
Pantheon Theatre, and for other purposes therein men-
tioned." It refers to a most interesting period in our
dramatic history, when Richard Brinsley Sheridan was one
of ' the ruling spirits ; when Thomas -Harris (the
theatrical veteran, so long proprietor of Covent-garden, who
ended his days in rural retirement and rheumatic gout in that
elegant ground-floor villa called " Kensal Manor," now in
the possession of Harrison Ainsworth); when George
Prince of Wales and the high nobility took warm and per-
sonal interest in the prosperity of the drama; when the
Duke of Bedford was proud of having a national theatre
on his domain, and the Marquis of Salisbury performed the
office of Lord Chamberlain with con amore spirit and a hearty
good will.
The condition of affairs called into action the energies of
all these royal, noble, and distinguished personages. An at-
tempt had been made to establish a second Italian Opera at
the Pantheon, in Oxford-street, which had ended in signal
failure and ruin; debt having overwhelmed the project, and
fire constiined the premises. Harris was one of the parties
interested in settling the enormous responsibilities which had
accrued;' and Drury-lane, only itself a skeleton theatre,
new building from the Wreck of another conflagration,
wanted houte.toom for its company, and leave and license
to perform on the Italian Opera stage. Harris had a dor-
mant patent to assign and legalise this performance, and
for such assignment he sought compensation in sterling
moneys.
The King's Theatre in the Haymarket was selected to
meet the difficulty and to bear the onus of all these emer-
gencies. It *as to settle the debts of the Pantheon—to
award Harris a compensation—to give the Drury-lane com-
pany a place of performance, and to actually disemburse or
encumber its exchequer with a responsibility of about
68,000/. ; the condition being a right in perpetuity to the ex-
clusive production of Italian opera, and a bar in perpetuity to
either of the other theatres attempting the same. And the
value of this condition has been always taken by other pro..
prietors, and was taken by Mr. Lumley,
into the estimate
of the value of the property when he purchased her Majesty's
Theatre.
Now here are the incontrovertible facts--facts which, if
they do not startle the Court of Chancery, force conviction
upon the Sovereign and the Lord Chamberlain, assume the
form of injunction,-and crush an attempting treason in its
plot, will yet speak trumpet-tongued to the British public,
and proclaim the truth through the land.
The proceedings commenced August 24th, 1792, as:
" Between William Taylor, John Andrew Gallini, William
Sheldon, Robert Burton, John Needham, William Witham,
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Thomas Harris, Robert Bray
O'Reilly."
These parties having drawn up a preliminary outline of
arrangements to be submitted to the arbitration and ap-
proval of the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Bedford, and the
Marquis of Salisbury, preparatory to a deed of convention
between the three theatres being founded upon it, this out-
line has been preserved, and is before us • and we make
from it the following extract from the seventh clause
:--
'• It is to be understood as a part of the settlement bona
fide between the three theatres, that the patents of Drury-
lane and Covent-garden shall never be exercised for the
purpose of Rattan operas ; and that the Haymarket Theatre
and patent shall be for Italian operas only, with such occa-
sional aid as has been usual from balls and masquerades."
The,entire outline of these arrangements was laid before
the royal and noble arbitrators in the following form by the,
parties interested in their fulfilment :
" We recommend the above outline as a just and honour-
able settlement for all parties. •

To which the arbitrators responded :
" We approve of the same.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTH, MAncn 7.—The Sphynx was docked yes-
terday afternoon (the coppering of the Centaur having been
most expeditiously completed), but the water not having
been run off, the damage she has sustained cannot be all
ascertained. That the vessel is much strained is evident, in •
asmuch as the bed-plate and condenser of the engines are
both broken, the former in several places. The kelson bolts
are also several of them started up by her thumping on the
rocks. The engines and boilers will have to be entirely re-
moved to repair the injuries sustained by the keel and bottom
planking. The lower part of the knee of the head was car-
ried away on the 14 ult. by the chain cable, when the vessel
went broadside on the shore.

(ANOTHER ACCOUNT.)
THE RECOVERY OF THE SPHYNX STEAM-SLOOP.—The
recovery of the Sphynx steam-sloop from the fate which
was generally predicted for her, has reflected so much credit
on Captain Austin, C. 8., Commander Caffin, Lieutenant
Thompson, of the Victory; Mr. Bellamy, assistant master
attendant of Portsmouth Dockyard ; Mr. Biddlecomb,
master ; and Mr. Mallard, second master of the St. Vincent,
and the officers and men belonging to the royal navy, and
Mr. Watts, assistant master shipwright, and the officers
and men of Portsmouth Dockyard, that although it involves
a repetition in some respects of what we have already pub-
lished, we shall be.excused far giving the following correct
details of an operation which has excited so much attention.
As we have before stated, it is impossible to commend too
Lighly the exertions of all engaged in the arduous task, and
the cheerful manner in which they endured all sorts of pri-
vations. It will be recollected that Commander Caffin, of the
Scourge steam. sloop (a most worthy officer), was at first
sent to assist in getting off the Sphynx. He at once saw the
necessity of mechanical help, and immediately applied to the
dockyard, when Rear-Admiral Parker ordered Mr. Watts to
go to her, taking 50 mechanics of different departments. In
an officer of Mr. Watts's attainments, scientific and prac-
tical, Commander Caffin had a most agreeable colleague, and
no time was lost in consulting on the best means to be
adopted. It occurred to Commander Catlin that they should
avail themselves of the paddle beams and framing to apply
buoyant vessels of some kind underneath, and Mr. Watts
thought a raft of casks or of tanks might answer the purpose.
The difficulty, however, of lashing or uniting them together
sufficiently securely to withstand the immense force of the
rollers and breakers, so common off that part of the island,
was seen, and Commander Caffin then suggested the London
barge, decked over and applied as camels underneath the
paddle-boxes. On this the framing was immediately planned,
and Mr. Watts's designs were received at Portsmouth-yard,
where it—together with the barges—was prepared. In the
first attempt with these barges they failed, in consequence in
part of one of them having received Injury for want of suffi-
cient security. Unfortunately it forged a head, and the pump,
which projected up through the deck, came in contact with
one of the bearers of the framing, and ripped up a portion
of it, which caused it to fill. But even if this accident had
not happened, the change of weather would have defeated
them. They profited by this experience, and Commander
Caffin having left, Mr. Watts went to work to remedy and
improve on the first attempt; and Captain Austin having
arrived, determined on carrying out the plans agreed upon.
The barges were found not to possess sufficient buoyant
power, and consequently they were raised upon so as to bring
them up to about 140 tons. Mr. Watts found that the nose
of the vessel, instead of being lifted ever the reef of rocks or
bank, was rather forced into it by the downward action of
the cables when hove upon. To obviate this he had a third
barge or camel prepared, with a framework at the extreme
end sufficiently high that when the cables, hawsers, &c.,
were carried over it, this downward action, instead of de-
pressing the vessel, should produce the contrary effect. To
accomplish this he placed at the opposite end of the camel;
firmly secured to its deck, two strong pieces of timber, kept
sufficiently asunder for the stem of the vessel to pass between
them, so that they forked the stem. Attached to the stem,
immediately over this fork, was a strong cleat on each side.
By the depressing of the end on which the frame was placed
the end next the vessel was raised, and an upward pressure
on the cleats resulted therefrom. Beyond this a great por-
tion of the buoyant power of the camel came into operation.
The undulations of the sea also contributing to increase its
effect.

The Sphynx, cleared of everything except her engines,
drew upwards of ten feet of water; and the reef over which
she was ultimately carried had not more than six feet on it
at the time. She had twice before been brought up to this
point, and could not be got over it; but on Wednesday last,
by the joint effects of the camels under the paddle-boxes—
the one against the stern, nicknamed the dromedary, and the
two tiers of casks (alias bulls), under the bottom, and main
strength in heaving, she effected the passage. The outer
shoal or reef, on which there was only about six inches more
water than on the inner, brought her up again. The pur-
chases having been perhaps prematurely detached from the
vessel, not expecting that they would be further required,
they impeded the progress of the vessel over the intermediate
flat, and would perhaps have prevented her reaching the
outer reef in time to get over in that tide, so that the result
would have been the same in either case; thus she was not
got entirely over these reefs before ten o'clock on Thursday
morning.

The recovered" Sphynx was taken into the Angle Dock
at Portsmouth, on Saturday afternoon, but as it was too late
to get the water out, it could not be seen what damage she
had sustained in her keel, stern-post, &c. As she made but
little water after she was floated off (about an inch per hour),
her bottom cannot have been very materially injured.
To-day, a large gang of shipwrights will be turned on her,
and we have no doubt but in a short space of time she will
be again fit for commission. Her engine gear having been
nearly all disconnected and brought up to Portsmouth piece-
meal, will also require very considerable repair. The Echo
and Monkey steamers have returned to Brook to collect the
material, hawsers, anchors, &c., which were of necessity left
behind.

With great pleasure we mention the Admiralty Board
had, previous to the getting the Sphynx off the shore,
rewarded the riggers and artizans employed on her for
their extra exertions, and the damage done to their
clothes, by a payment of 6/. 10s. each, and higher re-
wards to the leading men ; in addition to which all the
hands employed on her recovery were on Saturday assem-
bled at the Naval College, when a public letter of thanks
from the Admiralty was read to them acknowledging their
services.

The Centaur, steam-frigate, having been caulked and cop-
pared, was brought out of deck at Portsmouth, and will take
on board another load of meal for Scotland. She is still
under command of Mr. Davy, of the Caledonia.
The- Rattler, steam-sloop, Commander Moorman, is lying
at the mooring of the King's Stairs, Portsmouth, awaiting
the arrival of Lord llowden. Mr. Grant, paymaster, ap-
pointed secretary to Sir Thomas Herbert, goes out to outh
America in her.
The Myrtle, steam-vessel, left Devonport for Portsmouth
on Friday morning.