Secret Meeting Of Delegat...
The Times, 1824-10-23T00:00:00

(From the Glasgow ltYroniclk.) For some time past the cottots.spinnera and cloth.,lappers of this $tty have been sending circular letters to the difterent tracs for the puteose of precaring a pencral meeting of thevarioueoperative bodies. M inday nightw as thc one fixed apon, and the meeting was held in a dancing hall in FXing-staeet. The hout fixed was eight o'clock, at which perio -scarcely a dozen were assetmbled. About half-past ci-hrt thpzn-,mber was inereased to about 50, and a person, who ap- p -red to :.t,c an active hand in the proceedings, said that till tha 5L..rsiog viasc-onatituted, and had chosen a President fer themselveg, he woula move that flr. Reid, who was chosen President by the cotton-spinnerA and cloth-lappers, do take the chair ad interim. which wasaccordinzly done. The same active person then said thatf he urners Wed thnat there were two reporters from the Chronicle office present, and he wished the meeting, before proceeding to business, to declare whether they be allowed to remain or not. One person present, on moving that the'reortertes do retire, said theemotion vwas one which, he thought, should be decided upon without delay, as he saw they had already proceeded to business. Anothier personsaid, as coti.ng from oneofthe most liberaljournals in this city, he had no objection to their remainiug. 1ehoped they would givea fairreport; on ;hich anoth'er, with great vehemence, added, " We'el no gie them .,n opportunity." One of the persons then remarked, that from the present situation of the meeting, and their being all strangers to one another2 they could not know who were friendly to the object of the meeting, and who were not. There might be some present who were friendly to the masters, and who came there to be spies upon theirproceedings. Hethought, therefore, that the best way would be to call over the roll of the different trades to whom letters of invi- tation had been sent; and, upon the trade being called over, the delegates appointed by the respective trades to attend would come forward and seat themselves beside tbe President. Several here again vehemently insisted that before calling over the lists the re- porters should retire. To this it was ansawered by others, that the mecting not being yet constituted, they had no power to make them go out; for, till the roll was called they did not know who had a right to be there. and who had nor. A well-dressed man here rose up and protested, with grei,t indignation, against the very illiberal feel- ings which appeared to influence a number of persons present. He himself came forward, and hie expected that those with whom be was to meet would have come forward as independent tradesmen, in a free, open, and candid manner, willing to let all the world know their proceedings, . nd not to act in the clandestine manner which the motion for the exclusion of the reporters implied. The speaker was here rudely interrupted by demands of who was he, as probably lie had no more right to be there than the persons under consideration. The individual, in reply, described himself as pre- sident of the associated tailors, which title he established to their satisfaction. After some further conversation, a list of the trades to 'whom invitations had lbeen sent was read, when only about one-half of the trades called answered to their names; and of this mnoiety a rity hadl only come as individuals, and net as delegates. '1 he Chairman was then about to open the meeting by a written speech, when one of the delegates again broached the question of the expul- sion of the reporters--a question which seemed destined to come in like a chorus to every part of their proceedings. Seeeral of the dele- gates said the presence of reporters wouldbe a great bar to thatfree- dom in expressing their senttments which they wished to be allowed to exercime. The Chairman said, as theirproceedfngs were legal, he thought they need not be afraid of any person being present. They had no ntention of hurting either master,or man. As thequestion for the expolsion of the reporters was about being put, the delegate from rtle tailors again entered his protestagainst the meascre.V What,' le asked, would the public say if it were to go forth to the world that their discussions were of such a n%ture that th ey were ashamed to let them be known ? The effect upon 'all their fu- Ature proceedings would be most prejudicial. T'hey would hence- forth be looked upon with an evil eye. An indelible htixma would be attached to all their actions in aL collective capacity, and if they pursued this system of secrecy, the public would not fail to vriet them as a collection of Jacobins, or some such body. (The speaker was hiere again interrupted by loud clamoevs, and when si- lence was in some degree restored he asked)-" Is there any here who would wish to say ordo anv thing which they would be ashain- *ed to see in the Public prints ?i' One of them here said, " Aha, a bird has whistled in' myv ear thatt much tmischief might be done by publicity; it might pre)udicc them in the minds of their employer.." The roll of the trades wag then called over, when the rawyers, wea- rer, tailors, ceUiers, tobacco-spinners, and Ftocking-weavers, voted that the reporters should remain; and the calico-printeras, cabinet- makers,joiner8, curriers, l,saxois, founders, tin-smeths, blacksmiths, cerk.cutters, nailers, brushmakers, coopers. shoemakers, ro -spin- rer,. saddlers, reed-makers, and carvers anid gildera, voted that they should retire. On the reporters rising to go away, tbe Chair- unar, addressed theni, and raid, " Perhaps NVwen our ,obciety is better organized, vwe will be happy to see yout at our meet. ing. In the mean time, I hope you will speak as favourably of uI as possible." To this one of the reporters answered, that they always reported as faithfull; as they rould. As to saving [anything to their prejudice, in his opinion, nothing that ihev, could say could liave a worse efflect than to state the siimple fact tlhat they had been expelled. To which the delegate fiom the associated tailors feplied, " You are perfectly right." The repor- tets then withdrew at half-past nine otilock, leavLn the pre8ident of the tailors continuing his protest against the step th e nieeting had "ken. We understand that the meeting separatea without coming any resolutions, with the intention of meeting again on that day fornight, when no person ias to be allowed to bo present but those who had tickets from the associated -bodies wvho had sent them as delegates. It mnay be proper to mention, that the weavers were re- pesened on this occasion by two persons belonging to their body, whn stated that they appeared there only on their own account, and I erely for information. When their vote wrs called for upon the l uestion for the turningout of the reporters, MIr. Lockerbie, onc of the delegates for Andersion to the Weavcrs' Association, and who tad formnerly refused tor seat hinslelf amnong the delegates at the pre. OCt meeting. roSe up andi protestecr against the vote of the two per- 'ni who had gone there fo vote for the weavers, in direct opposition "'. drwaibo of the asieciation on Saturday night. The chairman' '---sf he;be to keep silence, anl added, that if he was e.-^,w h the pro<d?tt lhe might go out. In an early part I etediotiis a; resolcittb b% ro?Posed, >whichll moved that this Uislti~a,sljUt meeting be calied-- the mcetitgz of associated trades," et ow;ingto the interruptions mentioned above, the reporters had '- before any name seas adopted. SECRET MPBTING oF DELPGATES IV GLASGOW