Star.
London, England, 1813-04-29 00:00:00


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gating Christina knowledge in the East Indies.
Lord LONSDALE presented a Petition from Kendal, and
the Earl of ROTHES from the Synod of Fife, potitionios to the
same effect.

The innkeepers' Rates Bill went through 4 Committee, and
was reported without any amendment.

CATHOLICS.

Lord ROLLE presented a Petition from the SUVA Clergy,
Freeholders, and Landholders of the County of Devon, against
the Catholic Claims, so far as those claims entrenched on the se-
curity of the Protestant and Constitutional establishment. His
Lordship observed, that the Petition was most numerously and
respectably signed; that at the Meethig in Exeter, according to
advertisement, another Petition of a contrary tendency, since
presented by a Noble Baron (Lord Holland) had been produced,
but upon a show of hands there appeared in favour of the pre-
sent Petition a majority of twenty to one.
Lord 136RINGDON, who entered the House a few minutes
after the Petition was received, regretted that he had not been
present a little earlier to express his approbation of the principle
and object of the Petition presented by the Noble Lord opposite
(Rolle). He lamented that he bad been prevented from attend.
log the Meeting at Exeter, on the 12th of March, by the more
urgent call of attending in his place in that House, on the OCC4.
sion of a Noble Marquis's motion (Wellesley), which was fixed
for that day, relative to the war in the Peninsula. It appeared,
however, very clear to him, that the object of the Petitioners
was, to secure the constitutional establishments by all fair and
proper means, and among others, by conciliation, and the invi-
gorating union and accord of all his Majesty's subjects. That
was the sentiment which he recognised its pervading the Petition,
and which induced him cordially to support it.
The Bishop of EXETER had read the Petition, the general
propriety and temper of which he so far approved of, that he
scrupled not to sign it, which doubtless he would not have done,
had he thought it objectionable, or as giving a sanction to some
of those claims advanced by the Catholics, which he could not
but regard as hostile to the constitutional establishments.
Lord BORINGDON read some passages of the Petition, to
;hew that no opinions were therein offered relative to the Catho-
lic claims, but that the Petitioners were content with only pray-
Lag of the Legislature to be careful while those Claims were
under consideration, that no measure should be adopted which
should have a tendency to endanger the security of the State, or
of the Protestant Establishment.
The Bishop of EXE [ER explained; when, after a few words
from Lord KENTON, who regarded the Petition as clearly sod-
Catholic, and some tuttle-e explanation bons Lord Boarnopoe,
the conversation ended.
Lord SIDMOUTH, by command of his Royal Higlines; the
Prince Regent, presented certain Documents relative to the state
of the Blush ships on the American station.
Their Lordships then adjourntd tll to-morrow.

clap as extinguisher upon the hope of foul* pros?!.
city to Drury-lane Theatre. In fact, so entirely was
.the re election of Drury-lane out of the contemplation
of the friends of the third Theatre (as it was called,
though it would have been a second), that they. ac-
tually evinced a disposition to treat for the site of old
Drury. If they had been successful in their ap-
plication, and their Theatre had become, what i;
must, then have become, a second Theatre, those
Gentlemen would soon have acquired theatrical
knowledge enough to resist any application that
might have been made for permission to erect a
thin( Theatre, a project pregnant with nothing but
ruin to all parties. For his part, he constderet
himself as wholly disinterested on the subject, having
only a five hundred pound share in Drury-lane s
but he was satisfied that if the Bill before the House
were to pass, the interest of those who had been asso-
ciated with him in the re-erection of that building
would be materially deteriorated, and the metropolis
would gain nothing by the measure. His Noble
Friend had talked of monopoly, as if it were so strict
that .the Public had the benefit of only two Theatres,
Drury-lane and Covent Garden. How many of the
Honourable Gentlemen who heard hem would he
surprised, and the Right Hon. the Speaker, whos.:
important avocations allowed him but little leisure
for theatrical amusements, would be surprised to
learn, that that very night there were no less than
seven Theatres in the metropolis open to receive
them, if they chose to honour them with their pre-
sence. At four of these Theatres regular dramas
were performed : at one Ridaard theTnird, at another
Douglas, at a third the Honey Novi, (and that in an
admirable, not a degraded manner) ; and at Covent
Garden an excellent new comedy, which he under-
stood had been brought out for the first time last
night. Besides these, there were three minor Thea.
tres, at which dramatic entertainment, of various de-
scriptions were to be performed. such was the
number of Theatres, that no one Theatre was full
above one night out of seven ; and they were never
all full together. He had as much objection to me.
retricious spectacle as his Noble Friend ; but the fact
was, that when there was no such spectacle to he re.,
presented, the Theatres were empty. His Noble
Friend talked of not being able to put up with the
present degraded state of the Stage, and of the ne-
' ces,ity of bringing forward great actors. Now, for
his part, he was an advocate for ill,. performers of
the present day. He was persuaded that there were
individuals in the tragic, comic, and every other de.
partment of the drama, whom Garrick, were he liv-
ing, would be proud to select, and to associate with
himself. He could riot therefore agree with his No.
Me Friend, that the Stage was in a degraded state ;
but even if it were so, that degradation had not grown
out of a monopoly, since monopoly was much more
strict in the time of the immortal Garrick. His No-
ble Friend talked of the necessity of Beal. g and
bringing forty ird.great actors. Where were they to
ee found? Was this new theatre to be their nursery,
their school, and afterwards their arena ? The well.
known fact was, that in all times our great actors
and actresses had been brought up in Provincial The-,
atres. In Great Britain alone, exclusive of Ireland,
there were no less than 174 Provincial Theatres, in-
dependently of the barns, &c. which were the resort
of low strolling companies, forming a great nursery
of actors and actresses. How many of our best perfore
mess had we not obtained from Edinburgh, Glasgow,
York, Bath, Liverpool, Manchester, Norwich, and
a number of other regular Theatres, all established by
Act of Parliament, and most of them conducted in a
manner highly creditable to the drama itself, as well
as to the individuals concerned ? Mrs. Siddons, Mrs.
Jordan, Mr. Kemble, Mr. Young, and all the other
great performers of the present day, had been deri,
ved from such sources as those which he had descri-
bed, and were not trained on the London Boards.--
Ungeestionably, it was competent to Parliament to
pass such a Bill as that before the House, But be-
fore they did so, he thought the Law Officers of the
Crown would stand up, and advise them not to
trench on the prerogative of the Clown, by interfer-
ing with the exact jurisdiction to which the prerogs,
tive ot the Crown extended ; and the more especially
after the circumstance of in application for a liceacv
having been made to the Crown, and fert splemn
beration refused. Nor did be think that those Hon.
Members who on a former occasion had compassio-
nated the state of Drury-lane Theatre, at that time
in ruins, would now interfere in the earliest moments
, of its renovated existence to deteriorate the property,
not of those alone who for the first time were subscri.
bees to the concern, but of r:-,e old claim tuts, who had
so liberally conceded the extent of their demands, in
order that the Theatre might be rebuilt. lu the course
of his Noble Friend's observations, he had glanced at
what he had termed misplaced economy in the ad-
ministration of the affairs of Drury-lane Theatre.
If, by the expression, his Noble Friend meant to say,
that there had been any improper parsimony, any
unjustifiable attempt to 'bate down the value of me•
ritorious performers, any disposition to vrithnottl froM
the Theatre money which ought to be expended in
purposes of dignity, of ornament, and even of com-
passion, he (Mr.Wbitbread) denied its 2,iplicability ;
and on the part of those who were associated with
him in the concern, and whose accounts would soon
be submitted to the Public, defied any man to lay
his finger on an instance of misunderstood economy;
their uniform object had been
,to do justice to the
proprietors, to the performels, and to the public.—
Without liberality, that justice could not be ezhibit.
ed ; without proper economy, there coula be no libe-
rality at all. He wished to ask his 'Noble friend,
where he thought a third Theatre could be built,
how it could be built, and when it could be built ?
He should also like to know, whence the audiences
were to be obtained to fill it, in addition to all die
other Theatres of the metropolis ? such audiences
too, as would enable the proprietors to outdo the
other Theatres, and to obtain the best performers
(and excellent ones, he repeated, these unque,tion-
ably were) in every walk ot the histrionic pitemion.
In order to illustrate the probability of success welch
thiru withinwitnessed
t,he List
Par-
liament (then sitting) adjourned at an early hour.—
On th,ts LVtning there w.ts performed at the
Theatre, in the Hay-maaket, a favourite Operas
Eesrico IV. in %\ h,ci, were exhibited some el the
greatest musical talents in the country ; Ides. Jordan
played at Covent-tairden ; at Drury-Yaw legiti.ree

:nateprinci *414e11-leted opera was represented , is Which
the p pan Was sustained byMr.Braham, who
had long been acknowledged to be the first English
singer on the stage. It was a fine and favourable
night ; he visited the several Theatres in succession :
the Opera House was exceedingly thi —C n ovent-
Garden a little better—and Drury-Lane still a little
better; but in no one of them was there an audience
sufficient even to pay the expences. And yet that
was in the very cream of the season, and when none
of the minor Theatres were open, to divert from the
others a portion of the public attention. It appeared,
therefore, that the play-going part of the population
of the metropolis had by no means increased, and
that no necessity existed• for their further accommo-
dation. The next point to be considered was, the
part of the town in which the projected new Theatre
should be erected. There was no room in that part
which the congregation of Theatres—Drury-Lane—
Covent-Garden—the Sans Pared—the Olympic, mis-
called Little Drury-Lane—the Lyceum, &c.—seem-
ed to declare to be inhabited by the description of
people most likely to visit Theatres; and in which a
new Theatre might derive some benefit, even from
the overflow of its competitors. By some it was
said, that the new Theatre ought to be built up in
Mary-la-bonne, by others in Leicester-square (a pro.
iiosition which he conceived the inhabitants of that
square would not be disposed very cordially to re-
ceive). Some talked of pulling down a market for
its erecticn, others of converting an existing stately
public edifice into a third Theatre. It appeared,
therefore, that no definitive determination had been
come to on this subject ; and yet it was a considera-
tion of the greatest importance to. the interest of the
new concern. If the third Theatre were built in
Mary-la-bonne, there it would be met by the Pan-
theon—if it were built in Tottenham-court road, there
it would be met by the Regency—if it were built in
the East, there it would be met by the Royalty.
In every direction it would find a population already
Snore than adequately provided with theatrical amuse-
ments. After a few further observations, Mr. W.
said, that, considering the drama was not degraded,
that the play-going population was already suffi-
ciently accommodated, and that the present Bill
would militate against the interests of thousands with-
out any assignable useful purpose, he should certainly
oppose it. If, unfortunately, it should be carried, he
was already prepared with petitions, to be heard by
Counsel against it, and would also move for every
document connected with the subject, the result of
which he felt confident would be to induce the House
entirely to concur in his opinions.
After a few words in explanation from Lord Os.
StYLSToN, the Gallery was cleared for a division ; but
Lord Ossulston withdrew his motion.--Adjourned..

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