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

"R. B. SHERIDAN.
THOS. HOLLOWAY.
WM. SHELDON."

" GEORGE P.
BEDFORD.
SALISBURY."
And upon the good faith of the Prince nearest the throne, the
authority of the Lord Chamberlain, and the participation of
the landed proprietor of the Covent-garden domain, the deed
in 1793 was duly executed, is now in the proprietor's posses-
sion, and recites as follows:
"It is agreed, with the consent and approbation-of all the
said parties to these presents, that the said theatre or opera-
house, in the Haymarket, shall be again exclusively used for
the performing Italian operas, and for exhibiting balls, mas-
querades, musical and other entertainments according to the
original institution thereof."
The deed goes on—
" And this indenture further witnesseth, that in further
pursuance of the said outline, and for effectually carrying the
same into execution, they, the said R. B. Sheridan and T. S.
Holloway, for themselves respectively, and for their respec-
tive heirs, executors, and administrators, do, and each of
them for himself doth covenant, promise, and agree to and
with the said W. Taylor, his executors, administratcirs, and
assigns, that from and immediately after the execution of
these presents, the said two Theatres Royal, Drury-lane and
Covent-garden, shalt, be used only for exhibiting English
plays, tragedies, and.''comedies, farces and other entertain-
ments such as have usually been given in the same theatres
respectively. And that no Italian operas shall ever in future
be given there." •
There can be no mistake about such a document as this
deed, framed for a petpetuity, and by the Act of the three
great theatres in concert excluding one of them—the Italian
Opera —fin. all time from the performance of the British
drama ; and the other ii.;o—Drury-lane and Covent-garden—
equally for all time from the performance of Italian opera.
Upon this mutual convention were obtained the patents
which have been from time to time renewed to the Great
English theatres—which have formed the stronghold of that
very exclusiveness which one of them is now seeking to dare
and to defy—which have been the subjects of so many
popular murmurs, so many dramatic execrations, such fierce
and radical debates in the Commons, and such sturdy de-
fences by the Peers ;—these patents,
which the proprietors of
Drury-lane and Covent-garden have claimed as permanent
and inalienable, exercising towards all minor establishments
the most tyrannous rights of property—which Covent-garden
was loudest to proclaim when its own interests were in jeo-
pardy, and is loudest to abjure now that it is about to per-
' petrate on another the injury it once scouted from itself—
these patents, which, in the case of her
majesty s Theatre
only, secured the aristocracy, when in the cases of the other
'
theatres they robbed the people;—well, these were only
granted in virtue of a convention which, in return for an
outlay of 68,0001., secured to the Italian Opera its solitary
privilege and its exclusive right.
The matter does not seem to be one for the Sovereign or
her Chamberlain, but for the Lord Chancellor of England ;
but even if the deed were by some slaughter of honesty to
be struck dead—if the respect due to the good faith of her
Majesty's august uncle King George IV. were to be violated,
to the detriment of regal authority and the value of a royal
word—if the compact_ made through the instrumentality of
the house of Bedford were to be broken upon its own ground
of promise—if a succeeding Lord Chamberlain were asked to
`abrogate a property Which the arrangement, of• a former one
secured—if, in a word, all ties of probity are to be shattered
for the purpose of giving to a Costa what would have been
reffised to a Kemble, 'and floundering a Mario over the ruins
among which a Miscready failed—we behave that equity will
gladly step in to stay the "robbery and the desecration, and
that the law will ratify the"natural integrity of the English
people, and vindicate the national fairness of the land.
Nous verrons f—and we, believe we shall witness also the
closing of Covent-garden Theatre against the performance of
Italian opera.

A MAN AND A HORSE DROWNED IN THE SURREY
CANAL.—On Saturday forenoon a distressing accident took
place at the Grand Surrey Canal Docks, Rotherhithe, by
which a man and a horse lost their lives.
Smith, about forty
Between ten and
eleven o'clock a man of the name of John
years of age, went with a timber carriage and three horses
to the dock for the purpose of getting a load of timber deals.
In order to get the carriage to the edge of the dock, the man
unhitched two of the horses, and was backing with the one
in the shafts, when the animal backed farther than it ought,
and the carriage fell over the bank into twenty feet of water.
The deceased, who bad hold of the reins, was pulled in with
the hors.. The animal, as the carriage drifted about, kicked
and
violent blow with its feet, the unfortunate man became stun-
ned, and immediately sank. Mr. Mackinnon, the super-
intendent of the dockb gave orders to have the waters
searched, but upwards of an hour and a half elapsed before
the poor fellow was found, life of course being extinct. The
body was removed to Rotherhithe parish dead-house to await
a coroner's inquest. The carriage and horse were got out of
the water at a late hour of the day, with the aid of floating
cranes belonging to the Dock Company. Smith was in the
employ of a timber-merchant at Paddington, and has left a
wife and two children totally unprovided for.
THE LATE STEAM-SIIIP COLLISION.—GRAVESEND,
SATURDAY NIGHT.—The efforts of the Whitstable smack-
men iu raising the sunken wreck of the schooner Rose, run
down on Sunday morning last by the Royal Victoria, have
proved most successful. Immediately intelligence reached
them of the accident they proceeded to the spot, and con-
trived, after much labour, in chaining down six smacks to
the wreck, and on Friday she was lifted and carried about a
mile up the river. She there grounded, and the flood this
morning carried the smacks and their burthen on to the
Essex shore at Shell-haven, where there is little doubt all
her cargo, a most valuable one, will be saved. ller appear-
ance externally forcibly shows the fearful character of the
collision, her larboard bows being cut down nearly to her
keel, the deck torn up to a considerable :extent, and the
foremast carried away. Captain Webber, the master, who
was saved, and taken into Leith by the steamer, returned to
London last night. It should be observed that the captain
was saved by a bargeman, who picked him up in a boat and
took him aboard of the steamer. With respect to the situa-
tion of the schooner at the time of the collision, we have
ascertained that she was moored close in shore on the Essex
side, out of the way of the general navigation of the Thames.
There were three or four large vessels lying at anchor outside
of her. How the steamer came so close in shore, out of the
proper course, is a circumstance difficult to solve.
A young man, of about 20 years of age, was arrested
on Friday, in the garden of the Palais Royal, after having
seized on a handful of bank-notes at a money-changer's.
He entered the shop under pretext of inquiring whether a
counter which he presented was gold or not, and whilst the
master of the shop was looking at the piece he seized on the
notes and took to flight. Fortunately for the money-changer,
%the thief was arrested, and the money recovered.