The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-04 00:00:00

CORN EXCHANGE.

The weather having been foggy has prevented many vessels
from getting up our river, and the fresh supplies to-day are in
consequence small. The trade generally remains without life,
the buyers purchasing to a very limited extent, and are unwil-
ling to give Monday's prices except for fine parcels. Flour
meets a little better sale than of late.

ARRIVALS.
I Wheat. Barley. Oats, Flour.
English
Irish - 2,126
Foreign - brls.

coat.

THE MINOR THEATRES.

The adjourned meeting of the managers and actors
of the minor theatres, and of others interested in
dramatic affairs, was most numerously and respect-

ably attended, at the Freemasons'-hall, yesterday,
for the purpose of receiving the report of the Com-

. .
mittee which had been appointed to prepare a pe-
tition to the Legislature.
On the motion of Mr. DAVIDGE, CHARLES STUR-
GEON, Esq., barrister-at-law, was called to the Chair.
The CHAIRMAN opened the business of the meet-
ing. The attempt recently made by the patentees

of the major theatres on the very existence of the
minor theatrea reminded him very much of a pro-
clamation issued in the year 1790 by the button-

makers, declaring a penalty of 5/. to be chargeable
on every individual wearing covered buttons to hi.
The enactments under which the penalty

was chargeable were, however, repealed, and he did
not doubt the same result would follow the present

attempt to enforce an odious monopoly.
Mr. SERLE, of the Coburg Theatre, came for-
ward, amidst loud applause, to move the adoption
of a petition to Parliament, praying an abolition of
the penal statutes now in force affecting minor
theatres.

Mr. GRAY (of the Coburg Theatre) seconded
'd
the petition, which is
the
The adoptionc ttAt
no
Inf
At the
tpheetni tiroena
as follows
TO THE HONGURABLE THE COMMONS' HOUSE OF
ENGLAND, IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
"THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE UNDERSIGNED VARIOUS PER.
SONS, EXERCISING THE ARTS OR PROFESSIONS OF AUTHORS
AND ACTORS, AND OTHERS INTERESTED IN OR FEELING WITH
THEM IN THAT BEHALF, ASSEMBLED AT THE FREEMASONS'
TAVERN, QUEEN-STREET, ON TUESDAY, THE 3D DAY OF
JANUARY, 1832,
" Most humbly showeth—fhat by an Act of Parlia.
ment made so long ago as the tenth year of the reign 0!
King George the Second, chapter 28, and in the year of
our Lord 1737, it is in the first section enacted Tha

every person who shall for hire, gain, or reward, act el
represent any interlude, tragedy, comedy, opera, play,
farce, or other entertainments of the stage, or any part
therein, in case such person shall not have a legal settle-
ment in the place where the same shall be acted, without
authority of letters patent from his Majesty, or without
licence from the Lord Chamberlain of his Mtjesty's house-
hold, shall be deemed a rogue and a vagabond within the
statute of Anne,' which Act is repealed, but in substance
re-enacted by the 17th Geo. 11. chap. 5, but which ba
since been repealed by the sth of his late Majesty Geo. IV.
chap. 83, so far as to take the stigma of the rogues and
vagabonds away, but no further.
" That by the 21st section of the said Act of 10th Geo.
11. chap. 28, it is enacted that if any person having or not
having a settlement, shall, without such authority or
licence, act or represent for gain any interlude, &c., such
person shall forfeit 501.
" That by the sth section of the said Act, it is enacted
that no persons shall be authorized by any letters patent,
or by the license of the Lord Chamberlain, to act or repre-
sent for hire, gain, or reward, any interlude, &c., in any
part of Great Britain, except in the city of Westminster,
and in such places wherein his Majesty shall, in person,
reside during such residence only.

" That by the 6th and Bth sections the said penalties
may be recovered either by action at law or before two
magistrates.
" That by an Act passed in the 28th Geo. 111. chap. 30
power is given to magistrates in sessions to grant a licence
to perform such plays as are represented at the patent
theatres, so as such place be not within 20 miles of Lon
don and Westminster.

" That by the 25th Geo. 11., chap. 36, made perpetual
by the 28th Geo. 11. chap. 19, the magistrates in London
and Westminster, and within 20 miles, may, in sessions
assembled, grant licences for music and dancing, and other
entertainments of the like kind.

" That at the period when the said Act of the 10th
Geo. 11., chap. 28, was passed (nearly 95 years ago), peti-
tioners believe the Legislature enacted such a restricting
clause to prevent rogues and vagabonds from strolling abi ut
from place to place, and, as the Act expresses it, not
having a legal settlement in such place.'
" That petitioners humbly submit, that the present
dramatic performers are now, and have been for some time
past, a different race of men from what the Legislature
contemplated : that their houses and performances are at-
tended by the nobility and gentry, and some of them have
the Royal sanction, and are well known to many Member.
of your Honourable House.
" That by these statutes a monopoly has been crest ,d of
theatrical amusements within 20 miles of the cities of IA ra-
don and Westminster, which monopoly is, in spirit, en-irdy
repugnant to the laws and customs of England, as declared
in the Act of 21 James 1., chap. 3. sec. 4.
" That in the most oppressive parts of their operation
these statutes have for near 95 years been a dead letter,
and have only within a few months been sought to he re-
vived ; but it being now declared upon a prosecution ins i-
gated by the patent theatres against a minor one, by the
first legal authority, that the representation of any kind
of dramatic entertainments, even of such pieces as may
have been denied exhibition at the patent theatres and
actually purchased by the others, is an infringement of
those statutes, and subjects all parties proved to be con-
cerned in such representation to a penalty of 501. for each
performance,' and ❑otices having been served upon many
of your petitioners by the solicitors for the patent theatres,
to the intent that such prosecutions will be invariably pro-

ceeded in, it is the bounden duty of your petitioners to
b ring their case before the consideration of your Honour-
able House, and earnestly and most respectfully to solicit
the repeal of enactments destructive of their own liveli-
hoods, and pernicious to the public at large.
" That the art of acting is one requiring, besides the in-
dustry and assiduity needful to obtain success in any art,
more fortuitous advantages than are necessary to the allot-
ment of excellence in any other profession.
" That it is a monstrous and oppressive anomaly to sub-
ject individuals so circumstanced to a caprice which may
affect their very existence at the hands of parties who, if
not members of their profession, cannot fully appreciate
their claims, and if themselves exercising it, are actually
their rivals in public favour.
."That the same statement applies in its full force to
authors, who need practice in their art to become emi-
nent, and whose efforts, if confined to the patent theatres,
could not be encouraged in their growth, or be suffered to
arrive at maturity.
" That the livelihood of 2,500 individuals is dependent
upon their exertions at the establishments sought to be put
down.
" That the question being thus fully re-opened by the
efforts of the patent theatres to secure a monopoly, all the
advantages of open, competition and the disadvan-
tages under which your petitioners, and the general cause
of the drama, have laboured, may, without any shadow of
injustice, be fully insisted upon.
" That the poetical character of the British nation, and
in that its store of wisdom in the claim of its language to
immortality, are deeply involved in the higher class of its
dramatic productions.
" That the drama, in common with every other art,
has progressed in the exact proportion in which its
attempts have been free and unfettered, rising and becotn-
ing the glory of the Elizabethan age of British literature,
when theatres were in existence, and languishing under
the bondage of monopoly, until it may probably expire at
the very time when all other arts are gaining new life
under the influence of perfect freedom.
" That the patent theatres are limited in their perform-
ances to nine months: the Haymarket and English Opera-
house to four and six months each ; so that there can
scarcely at any time be a competition for talent of any sort
between more than two rivals, and that the interests of
these establishments being often considered to consist in a
combination, it frequently happens that authors and actors
are placed in the same situation as if but one theatre existed.
" That all these, and the Olympic and Adelphi Theatres
licensed to play burlettas, are situated at distances from
many parts of this immense metropolis, utterly insur-
mountable to many of those who might wish to witness
dramatic performances.
" That the public is every way concerned in having the
advantage of competition between those who offer to cater
for its amusement.
" That all the statements of fact, in this their humble
petition, your petitioners are prepared to submit to the
most rigorous scrutiny, and to verify upon the most per-
fect evidence. And, trusting to the justice of their cause,
and to the undeniable claim which a just cause possesses
upon the Legislature, they most respectfully and earnestly
entreat that all Acts which confine, or tend to confine,
the representation of the drama to a monopoly may be
abolished.
" Petitioners most humbly pray your Honourable House
to take their hard case into the moat serious consideration,
and be pleased to repeal the 10th George 11., chap. 28,
. and to extend the powers of Magistrates, under the 25t1,
George 11., chap. 36, and 28th George 11., chap. 19,
enabling them to grant to such persons as they may think
most proper, simil; licenses to what the Magistrates in

the county, under the 28th George 111., chap. SO, have
a power to grant.
" Or such other relief es to your Honourable House shall
in its wisdom seem meet.

" And petitioners will erer pray."
Mr. EUGENE MTARTIIY, as a member of the
theatrical profession, did not think that the prayer
of the petition had been urged to a sufficient extent,
unl concluded a most eloquent address, by moving
an amendment to the prayer of the petition to the
effect that the patents of the two great theatres
should be-revoked.—(lremense applause for several
minutes.)
Mr. NELSON seconded the amendment, which was
opposed by Mr. Davidge, Mr. Elton, and Mr. Ray-
•ter, and Mr. M'Carthy eventually withdrew the
amendment, which was unanimously agreed to, as
cell also a motion of Mr. Davidge's that the speech
of Mr. M'Carthy be printed and circulated.
Mr. ELTON moved that subscriptions should be
entered into to defray incidental expenses, and to
defend any proceedings that might he commenced.
Mr. W. H.WILuAms, of Sadlers' Wells, Mr. FAR-
RELL, of the Pavilion Theatre, Mr. M'FARREN, of
the Queen's Theatre, and Mr. OSBALDISTON of the
Surrey Theatre, each offered the use of their re-
spective establishments for one night, the receipts to
10 to the general fund.
Mr. DAVIDGE made the same offer of the Coburg
Theatre.

Mr. SWIFT, of the Jewel-office, in the Tower,
iffered the receipts for one day in that establishment.
Mr. YOUNG gave the use of his theatre, the Rlyal
Orange, Pimlico, for one night.—(Laughter.)
Subscriptions were immediately entered into, and
a sum of 521. was immediately subscribed, including
donations from Messrs. John Re.,ve, of the Adelphi,
Buckstone, Wilkinson, and 101. each from Mr. John
Petry and Mr. Richardson (the late Under-Sheriff).