The Sun.
London, England, 1840-03-10 00:00:00

A public Meeting of the working classes was held last
evening in the Mechanics' institution, Southampton-buildings,
for the purpose of taking into consideration the best means of
.ereeting. a Trades' Hall in the metropolis. The theatre of the
Institution', which it is estimated will hold 1,500 persons, was
literally cratemed with working men, but the different speakers
were listenedto with the most anxious and patient attention.
MoMAS IZTLEY, •EsQ., M.P., was unanimously elected
to the Chair, amidst enthusiastic. applause.
The CIiAIRAAN said it was impossible for him to express
the satisfaction he felt at having conferred on him the very
great honour of occupying the Chair at a meeting called
upon a subject of such' vest importance, not - only to
the working classes, but to the nation at large,
Pr to express the satisfaction he felt in having discovered, in
the propositions that were about to be submitted to them that
night, a fixed e'etermination on their parts to assume that -psis'.
tion in society which they ought long ago to hive ,occepied.--;-'
(Cheers.) There was nothing, in his opinion, Which angured
better for-the prospects of the country than the intelligence
which the labouring classes in this kingnomieere then: display-:
eases to whom this country owed all her greatness,
aft her Wealth, all her military and naval glory,' and all the
credit which.she enjoyed 'in the opinion of foreign nations for
lihnour and integrity.--( Hear.) There was a time when por-
sone were disposed to sneer at any attempt which the labouring.
people of England might be resolved to make In their own he-
helft j That day. was past.—(Hear, hear.) It : was now dis-
TOvered that those who by their labour. produced the wealth
aitd'the power'tyf 'England;•'hattfourrd out the means of eman-
'cipatmg themselves from thraldom, mand'of occupying that poSt
and position- iii. society which they Well isueve they ought to
posseis.—( Hear, hear.) He would inquire of those who were
disposed to keep down the-working-people,- and to undervalue
their exertions, what woldd haVe been. tub condition of Eng-
land if' it' had been for the labouring people ?—(Clfeers.
But, unfortunately, their vast physical energies had been
,controlled by other minds than their own. He hoped
the day 'was coming, and that it was near at - hand,
When. their own minds would regulate their own energies—
(Cheers)--great and haply results Would fol.ow that event.
They all knew how hortoured end glmitied the working people
.were when they obtained victories as armies or as navies—then
they were the most gallant and the most excellent of all human
beings—their fighting was spoken of in terms of the highest
actuation—it was astonishing vs-hat excellent fellows theyswere •
—(Laughter)—but the very moment the self-mine men looked
• about them- and reflected whether an inequitable bUrthen was not
fastened on their shoulders, and wriggled and twisted •with
uneasiness under those berthens—then it was that those
very ;parties
who praised them while -they had been fight-
'big in other people's quarrels, began to discover that they
were a restless and a swinish multitude,---( Cheers and laughter. )
He hoped that.restlessness of disposition would be continued,
and that the Working classes would show a fixed determination
to better their condition, and to improve the condition of their
felloi-men generally.—(llear, hear:) • What could not be
•donelby the working 'people-of this . country.? Look at • the
public erections, and the buildings distributed over the face of
this land, how had they been produced ! By the hands of the
.industrious classes, regulated' by'the! minds of other people.
Look at the railroad undertakings ! In fact, there was no
limit; to the achievements of the - working people.—
.( Heir, hear, and cheers.) Then, should it be said that
those men who-were boasting of their intelligence had not the
power and ability for themselves to create a Hall wherein they
should •meet to discusi their own grievances? Should it be
said they.were" such a rope of sand' that there was so much
dissension among them that they could not erect a temple de-
dicated to Industry ? He thought it WasiMpossible•that such a
plan as that could' be suggested in such a place as the metro.
polis,of thie'enspire, and not be followed by time most triumph.:
and splenditleuccess,—(Cheers.) He would lend his aid
and humble exertions, and would contribute, •by every-
`Meats in his power, towards its success. The Tredes.
Writ only wanted to meet occasionally in London,
:not only in hundreds,'
bet ito the, extent emf. thousands.--( Hear,. hear-) ~He (,the
:Chairman) vrielte&to see an area io which -he could make
10, of his •fellovreworktneti hear shire, and nothing short of
•10, 0 would' satisfy blin.—(Cheers-4d-linii;liter.) It they. ;erre ed sochibVildingi, they would show -an example worthy.
of b ing followed by the_ Aristocracy of
,the empire. Quite
cert in was he that .in .suelm an assembiyit would never be'ne-
cess ry, for the purppse of putting a stop to their proceedings,.
to cad 'the Riot Act.—(Loud cheers and langhter). He
h p4d they would set about in right earnest to accom-
their object. There was a gond old 'maxim, -thati " Gbd helps them who help
.themselves."
sii4Orely trusted they, would help themselves, and leave no
exert
riion undertad trie to cry to a successful isssue this great and
gloous unking—ar(Cheers)—for in his ortamion it would
leed:to the regeneration of the working elass'es, not only in
• London, but throughout the empire at large.—(Cheers.)
Through not being able to meet in requisite numbers, they
were a rope of sand ; and those who would dread their power
under other circumstances, paid ho respect to it now, because
their energies. , were .not united. That being his convic-
tion, he entered with the. greatest zeal into the under-
taking, trusting it would go far beyond what was at pr,,sent
contemplated ; and believing that, instead of 15,000 e, the
-present estimate, being, raised for the undertaking, in a
very shot time 50,000/. would be Collected. Having looked
thyoUgh the laws and regulations which hid been framed
for the govenverent of the institution, he found in them the
purest spirit of integrity, and the ftindamental laws scat such .
that it was notpossihle-the goVernment of the institution could
he taken out of the hands of the working people.—( Cheers. )
He hoped they would hear with patience all that might be said
' relative to tire plan, and if-there Was any one 'present who
thought it was not practical or practicable, that they would
hear his objection. If failure; took plane, the fault would be
-with themselves,. and would have no reference to the character
of the undertaking.—( Loud cheers,).
The ST:CRY:T./ai'r read to thesWking letteri' Arch he hod
!`received from Mr. Ewart, M.P., and Mr. Roebuck (the kit-
ter of whom had become a shareholder), apohigising for timer
1-absence, and pledgitm themselves to support the object of the
! meeting. in every possible war.
! The Report of the PrOvnwial Comthittee engaged in pro-
moting time progress of the London Journeymen Trades' Hall
was then read, of which the following is an abstrlict
The object of a Trades' Halt is to prevent, as much as possible,
. the necessity of hotding'tiade meetings at pubiie.ho..scs, and to
afflnd a facility to an the lodges of the large trades in the metro.
poli; to as emble together, on matters of importance, individually
to themselv,es.
To econOmlselhe expense of Trade Societies, by provtding !hem
with better accommodation, at a lower rate of rental, titan is at
present paid by the nitOorkty ; whether the 'same be in a fixed stun,
or in a supp)sed adequate consumption of -liquor during the hours
of meeting.
, To concentrate the London trades for the mutual protection and
benefit of all; and generally
'•
To promote the social and moral ithprovement of the working
class.

• A preliminary meeting of the friends of such an undertating
was convened •by circular and titlvertbiernent, and held in Provi-
dence Hall, Finsbury square, July 11, 1839, at which your Pro-
visional Committee was app tinted, and they immediately proceeded
to an active discharge of their duties, by essetnb:lng weekly at
the' Suffall Coffee.house, 10, Old Bailey. An address was imme.
diately drawn .tip and forwarded to every Trade Society, as far as
practicable, requesting their cc-operation in maturing theproposed
'Measure. • •

Ih
reply to this address, the Provisional COmmittee had the
pleasure of meeting with Delegates from the following Trade,
Lodge4and Societies :—Tin.Plate Workers' Society, Bookbinders'
Friendly .Society (Lodge No. 1), City DiVision of •Bootmakers,
Camberwell Lodge of the Friendly Society of Carpenters, King's
Arms Society• of Carpenters, • Ladies' Shoemakers, City Branch •of
the Amicable Society of Operative Plasterers, Manchester Society
of Machinists and Engineers (Southwark Branch),• Tobaccoo-pipe
Makers, Operative Stonemasons, London Union of Compositors,
Lodges 2,"7, 8, 13, and 14, of the Friendly Society of Carpenters,
Goldsmiths' and Jewellers' Society for the Prevention of the In-
crease of the Hours of Labour, Anchorsruiths, Pianoforte Makers,
Letterpress hinters, • Operative Labourers' Society, Second So-
ciety of Carpenters, Hearts of Oak Society of Carpenters, Shore_
ditch Charter Association, Goldsmiths' and Jewellers' Friendly
Society, Working Men's Association, and the North London Char.
ter Association,

•
On meeting with these delegates, is became necessary at once to
define minutely the design and constitution of the Trades Hall
Company: a Prospectus in a pamphlet form was therefore promptly
circulated amongst the Trades' Unions, Lodges, and Societies, as
far as the same could be accomplished, yet, in the absence of cor-
rect informs' ion, it is feared that many of the trades of London have
not yet been communicated with. The growing knowledge of
such a Company leads the Provisional Committee to hope that the
necessity of supporting it will naturally force itself on the best feel-
ings of these bodies of operatives, and that in time their co-opera.
tion will be given arid exercised in Its behalf.
The design so published embraced the erection of a large Ilan to
accommodate from three to four thousand persons, in the centre of
the metropolis, with numerous Committee rooms under the same
roof. An extensile Library and Museum; the delivery of Prac-
tical Lectures ; the establishment of schools for the cheap and
liberal instruction of the children of operatives, and a refreshment
establishment on the premises:
The result of those prospectuses has not been quite so effective
as the Provisional Committee might have anticipated, yet they will
not accuse the trades of London with apathy to the welfare of the
werking men who compose them; there does exist a growing desire
to be released from the moral bondage which clings around the pre_
sent system of trade meetings, and whilst a mixture of • prejudice
arid ignorance respecting the humble proposers of this plait must
naturally exist amongst the great majority who toil, the Provisional
Committee venture to believe that prudential motives alone suggest
the apparent lukewarmness of those united bodies of operatives ;
and they atilt hope that after submitting the merits of a Trades'