The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-29 00:00:00

THAMES POLICE.

UNLICENSED THEATRES.—Yesterday afternoon,
Mr. John Wheatley, a man of respectable ap-
pearance and good address, the proprietor and ma-
nager of the Theatre of Variety, in the Commer-
cial-road (East), and Was. Andrews,James Howard,
Wm. Bannister, Thomas James Palmer, Elizabeth
Palmer, and Rosina Christopher, part of his ewps
were charged on an information lodgrd
with performing the drama in an un-
licensedr againstn ati
theatre.
Mr. Samuel Lewis the son of a gentleman who
is the owner of many houses in the district, resided at
No. 1, Buross-street, adjoining the Theatre, which
themlllc '
he described as a nuisance of the worst kind, and

nightly attracted an assemblage of disorderly cha-
racters. The noise was so great during the per-
formances that the inmates of the adjoining houses
could not hear themselves speak. On Saturday
evening he went to the theatre for the purpose of
afterwards giving evidence of what he saw. The
prices of admission were, to the pit twopence, and
the gallery one penny. He paid a penny at an
aperture in the passage, behind which was a green-
grocer's shed, and received a ticket from Mrs. Pal-
mer which admitted him into the gallery. The per-
formance announced in printed bills was The Mid-
night Ghost, which was found to be a condensation
of the tragedy of Virginias, with some of the prin•
cipal incidents changed. By an anachronism
Appius Claudius was made the uncle of Icilius, who
was accused of murdering Lucretia.—(Loud laugh-
ter.) At the moment Appius Claudius was charg-
ing Icilius with the murder, a bloody dagger falls
from under the cloak of the former, with his name
marked on it, the ghost of Lucretia at the same
instant appears, and the spectre and Appius Clau-
dius both disappear in a flame of sulphur.—(Roars
of laughter.) Siccius Dentatus was made the lover
of both Lucretia and Virginia.—(Laughter.)
Mr. BALLANTINE could scarcely preserve his
gravity at the description, and said, " The Mid-
night Ghost has murdered ViTinius." He inquired
how the house was fitted up.
Mr Lewis said it was a shed, and there were a
few raised seats, which were called the gallery, and
between that and the pit there was a piece of vacant
ground, where he stood, in consequence of the
gallery being overflowed. Mr. Wheatley had, in
spite of repeated warnings, kept the theatre open
every night since the 26th of last August. There
were two performances every evening. The stage
was well fitted up, but the audience was anything
but respectable, and consisted of lads and girls,
many of whom walked the streets. The language
he heard in the theatre was disgusting, and the con-
duct of the audience was outrageous.
Mr. BALLANTINE, on the performers promising
not to offend again, discharged them, and ordered
Mr. Wheatley to find good bail, liitns,lf in 1001.,
and two sureties of 50/. each, to answer a charge of
keeping open a disorderly and unlicensed theatre at
the sessions.

PARISH OF MARYLEBONE.-ASSESSED

TAXES.

As allusion has been made in several of the Sun-
day papers to the proceedings of the vestry of St.
Marylebone, with reference to the late seizures for
assessed taxes, perhaps a short report of what took
place at the vestry-board on Saturday may not be
unacceptable.
Mr. WILSON called the attention of the vestry to
the subject of the seizures, and said he was fearful
they were taking place to an alarming extent, and
against persons who were really, from poverty, un-
able to pay. If it should be so, he thought the
representative vestries would not be doing their
duty if they did not come forward and induce Go-
vernment to desist.

Mr. KENSETT thought no d& lay ought to take
place, as he was credibly informed that several
hundred seizures had been made upon really dis-
tressed housekeepers. He should, therefore, at
once move, that a deputation of five vestrymen do
immediately proceed to the Government, to request
a stay of proceedings till the vestry could ascertain
whether the parties seized upon are really unable
to pay.
Mr. JACKSON should be sorry to oppose the mo-
tion if he could believe that any unnecessary seve-
rity had been exercised against the poor man ; but
he was confident it would turn out that the firm and
decisive measures adopted on the preceding day and
on that morning had been chiefly, if not wholly, di-
rected against those who had openly showed a dis-
position to set the law at defiance. It should be
borne in mind that the present Chancellor of the
Exchequer has only had granted to him taxes barely
to cover the supplies granted, and that Parliament
had not done as formerly—granted 5,000,000/. be-
yond the actual expenditure. This was important to
recollect, because the falling off, under these citcum-
stances, of even two or three hundred thousand af-
fects credit seriously ; but what would be the con-
sequence of a falling off to the amount of the assessed
taxes at the present moment?—too terrific to
contemplate, for are not the dividends paid out
of the taxes? He (Mr. Jackson) knew there were
some who were silly enough to laugh at the idea
of paying these dividends, but it was from pure ig.
norance in not knowing how their payment operated
upon the comforts and industry of the whole commu-
nity ; many supposed that the principal holders of
money in the Bank were large landed or house pro-
prietors, otherwise rich people; and therefore the
loss of dividends to them would not be of much
consequence, but the fact was known to be other-
wise from an authentic parliamentary document, that
showed that the great mass of persons who received
dividends from the Bank belong to the middle and
humble classes ;# then only see the serious evil you
would inflict upon the very persons it is pretended to
benefit in resisting taxation unlawfully and uncou-
siitutionally. Mr. Jackson concluded by expressing
a hope that the motion would be withdrawn.
Mr. POTTER concurred iu the withdrawal of the
motion.
After a few words from Mr. Underwood and Mr.
Green the motion was withdrawn by Mr. Kensett,
who said lie had just received some satisfactory in-
formation regarding the proceedings of the govern-
ment officers.

The document alluded to shows that in the year
1830 there were 274,823 persons receiving half-yearly
payments on dividends as fundholders; of these 83,609
were entitled to dividends not exceeding 5/. ; 42,227, to
dividends not exceeding 101. ; 97,307, not exceeding 50/. ;
24,314, not exceeding 1001. ; 15,209, under 2001. ;
4,912, under 300/. ; 3,077, under 500/. ; and 2,166 ,
exceeding 5001. Thus it will appear that a quarter of a
million of people, who are public fundholders, receive
each an annual sum not exceeding 100/. per an-
num from these funds, while not more than 25,000 per-
sons are entitled to dividends above that sum. Besides
these there are depositors in the savings banks throughout
the kingdom, amounting to not less than half a million
of persons, wholly belonging to the humbler classes, who
have about 17,000,0001. invested in the public funds.
Then, again, there are the friendly societies, who have
their funds invested in Government securities, to the
amount of about 500,000/. All these depositors, there-
fore, have a direct interest in upholding public credit.

DIABOLICAL ATTEMPT TO sE r FIRE
TO THE HOUSE OF LORD MONTAGU'S
BAILIFF, NEAR DATCIIET, BUCKS.

On Tuesday, Mr. Scott left home for Brent-
wood-fair, and no person was left in the house,
which was sufficiently secured, in the after-
noon, and from its peculiar situation it .vas con-
sidered almost impossible that thieves could ob-
tain access to it. Tete house is surrounded by a
broad moat, and the water it contains is from four
to five feet in depth, exclusive of the mud, which is
also deep. Across this moat a drawbridge is occa-
sionally let down, and it appeared fro the evidence
of Turton,the gardener, that he drew it tip before he
left the house. There is also a causeway across the
moat, leading to the house, on the landside of which
is the porter's lodge, the keeper of which, whose
name is Lipscomb, declared that he locked the gates
at 4 o'clock on the day in question, and went to
bed at ten, and that no person could have passed
that way to the house without his knowledge.
There is also a boat-house, which, however, was
found locked the next morning, and there was no
appearance of any of the boats having been re-
moved. A charwoman named H,nkin, who has
been for some time employed by Mr. Scott,
went to the house as usual on Wednesday morn-
ing, and found the front door fastened on the
inside, and on going round to the back part
of the house she discovered that a window
had been broken, through which it is supposed one
of the villains entered and admitted his companions
through the back door, and then secured the front
entrance. The womAn immediately:went for Lips.