The Statesman.
London, England, 1809-12-04 00:00:00

COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.

The first victim to the watch house manceuvre
was brought for gemination in the forenoon
of Saturday. This examination was conducted
with a

" Keen cocouoter of the wits."

The licensed aimed his namo to be Jas. Thomas,
and that he hail lived in Argyle-street, bat did net
deem it necessary to particularize his preseat resi-
dence, conceiving ti►e investigation of the calm
of his having been deprived of liberty, for a
•
whole night, of more immediate importance.
Mr. GRAHAM, however, requested him aot to
considet himself in the Pit of the Theatre.

The Clerk having registered the usme of tho
prisoner, and some portion of the conversation,
The Public Accuser, Professor Brandon, chart.
cd Mr. Thomas with hootingrillssiag, brandishing
a stick, speaking insultingly to the Boars, wear.
ing 0. P. I. (runt and a Placard at the back of
his bat.

To these offences he had superaddod that dolma.
clog on the benches, which had the effect of
increasing the distorbance in the House, during
the fourth act of the Play on Friday evening.—
By the command of the Professor, the Traps had,
fur these multiplied offences, grntobeil Mr. Themes.
" How)" said the accused to the Professor,
" did you knew that 1 was hissing or hooting,—
the noise its the house being at that time so vie.
lent ?"—" By your motions,—your bps moved
and your mouth opened, and you seemed to
be straining cud bawling ; and, you pointed at the
Bola with your fingers so—(pointing at the Me.
gistrate).—Hesides, you stood in a position that
made me certain of %hat you were about."
" Do you swear that 1 insulted the cotnpatty in
the Boxes ?"..." To be sure, you were talking to
them, and bawling all the time 1 speak of."
" How do you know whit I utid; did you hear
'me ?"-.." No; but I am certain, from pier man-
ner, that you were insulting the Boxes. I have nu
doubt of it."

" Well, but as you did not hear my words,
contd you see them Oh ! stuW! I was sure
of what you were about."
The Professor found it inconvenient to continue
this pleasant dialogue, and retired—upon which
William Smith, an Officer, stated, that by the
order of the Professor, he went into the Pit—and
there was a great disturbance in the 4th Act. The
Prisoner was standing upon two seats, and he
seized and carried him of.

William Gatliffe, of Duke.street, St. James's
(profession !tut stated), saw the Prisoner very
active in the Pit ; he eshihited ',we're' placards,
brandishing a stick, and increasing the noise and
tumult, which were very great.
Whey► this willing witness was asked at wbat
time liesaw this outrageous conduct, he answered
en Monday night. He was directed to retire.
Mr. Thomas admitted the wearing the O. P.
and placard in his hat, I►ut denied brandishlog Me
stick, with an intention to assault any pencil,
and also denied having been at the Theatre on
Monday.
Mr. GRAHAM directed him to find bail, and very
gaud bail too. Mr. Thomas war then taken as ay,
and, as we understood, exprelhed his determination
not to give bail, but tomakeapplieation to a Judge
on a Habeas. Corpus. We shall be most happy
if Mr. Thomas has recourse to this mode of prate.
dna', which is, in truth, the remedy that ought to
have been resorted to in the first instance, by the
greater part of those who have been held to bail.
The evidence of Professor firandon, and Smith
the Officer, as our Readers will perceive, justifies
our observations in Tut STATLIMAN of Saturday
on the misrepresentation of The Times. Twit
coascleon may now be considered to have joined
the honourable band of daily pensioners in the
service of the Managers.
To what brilliant genius the merit of the watch.
house manoeuvre—of right belongs—we have nut
yet heard. Bow.street, is in raptures ill the
lucky thought. That the author of these emir tac.
tics merits exaltation above his fellows, we rel.
dily admit, and should be among the first, to teems.
mend. But happy as at first sight this thought
may appear, it is possible that the Managers may
in this, as in so many preceding instances, be
" reckoning u:ithout their host." For the effect
of this fresh manoeuvre against the liberty of the
subject, has be.•n precisely what might have been
anticipated,—Universal exasperation. The friends
of the Managers, as well as their opponents, unite
in one common sentiment of feeling ; and the
Managers will too late find that, of all the ma-
neeierres, this will prove the most fatal to their cha.
rimers in the estimation of the public.
When we see the abuse of the word conspiracy
by the application of it to the public, we are more
astonished at the absurdity than at the impudence
of the accusation. Had the opposition conspired,'
had they even entertained a thought of conspiracy,
could the united efforts of the miscreants, by
whom they have been so outraged, ha►e drugged
one person from the Pit ? It is only by reason of
the Public nat haring conspired together, that de
outrages against the people have been so lung
committed with impunity. This consideration
must be, to every dispassionate man, a conclusive
argument against the existence of a conspiracy.
We have very lately heard it said, and that from
the highest authority, that the " accomplishment
of teen a legal object, by illegal means, ie mot to
be endured."
Now laying aside the consideration of the merits
of the question, are the means to which the Pro-
prietors and their Agents have resorted, and which
they are even now adopting, legal, warrantable,
or justifiable, in any Court, either of Law or
COnscionce?—Cla

SATURDAY,
the Brother of the late Game Chicken, for the
lint time, came into the Pit of the Theatre.
That he was introduced for the sole purpose of
heating the opposition, his expressions on the oc.
casion leave xa doubt. This new Performer,
although now recorded as one of the 66 Gentle.
stew," did not tanks his debut—there was co con-
venient oppostuitity for dis playing his abilities in the
line of character that he has undertaken to support.
not only thla Individual) bet many others, seek

as the futiodery.men, carpenters, and other me-
chauics, would take advice, we should seriously
recommeod them to abstain from leading them.
selves to so brutal an occupation as that of at.
tacking their felloe.roontrymee.
It Is impossible that these Individuals can have
reflected-on either the principles ur the effect of
their conduct; Thu, with their families, who
feel the weight and oppression of the Tates so
severely, the very men who arc weekly shifting
from one abscises fudging to another, to avoid the
operation of the Income Tot, and who arc daily
murmuring against oppression, are hiring them.
selves, like foreign Bravoes, for money, to indict
on their countrymen oppression and outrage of
every doscriptiou I I !
They cannot once hare reflected on the causes
of the disapprobation estpressod by the public
lit the Theatre—.the principal of which are, first,
,Sitp eaststrvctiso of privileged apartments in the
Theatre, from which the people are excluded—.
and nett, that for the ease and convenience of the
privileged persona, the accommodation and conve.
silence of the rest of the H.iuse are sacrificed,
Formerly, any man, however humble his situa-
tion, it decently habitod, sad whose deportment
we. Inoffensive, might have sat on the very spot
where the night before !bogie( of England had sat.
'ChM is known to have been the pride and glory of
many [ninon* of even mechanical steels pa ions. fhe
very people then,who ate interested in opposing •he
encroachments of wealth and power, are so stupid
as to assist in heating such of their felluw.coun-
, tryinen Into submission, who have the virtue and
courage to resist the hateful innovation. Let every
honest man, who has thus lent himself, perhaps
for want of reelection, think upon the subject.._
and haring so thought, let him withdraw hies elf
from a service in which, if he has a charecter to
lose...if it be at all worth keeping...every night
that he appears in the Pit of Covent Garden, will
only tend to destroy, in the opinion of every ho.
nest man.
THE &GUSH FLEET _

as performed, during the two first Ads, with.
out the slightest interruption. lit the third act
there was hissing. Subsequent to that period of
the performance, the interruptions were frequent,
so that the remainder of the piece was ouly heard
at intervals. The Widotr's Choke, which fol.

lowed, was performed amidst an increase of
It wit( not incesiant, but such as effectually to de.
stray the piece. The performers in the Pit seve.,
ral times joined in burlestining the airs on the stage
with a happier coincidence of tune than night
have been expected.
Tiw curtain finally drilla arnWit a much greater
" roar" than has been for sefrrel elehts.,
The uspal shouts and groans were pertirmal, and
the Noose was clearing very fait. when Perry
the fireman, entering the Pit with his !anthem, a
dispute took place, which threatened to terminate
in hostilities, but the parties at length erperated.
la the Pit only one crab on niede.fhe party
was described by some as a rimer, owl by ethers
as a character known to the Police. Ile bad got
been in the Howe many mitretet. Another per.
son was said to Iwo been taken nut of the fluxes
at an early period of the 'venlig,
The deigns ill the dregs Bales was ware then
wally coarse. The bovinely ul the females, the
coloered cretah of the males, and the .*tXtere
the police officers, gave to thip .nrit/ey gremlin, an
appearaace of the groteftque highly laughable,
The Gallery was Outlet!, as on /daily evening.
The Proprietors are pistri.ig forth all their r trate' h
to humide the Public; hat, in arc opiaign, %%sal
no gi v ter prospect of Recce,* hi the dragooning
syingne, than on the first night of opening this
Theatre.