The Sun. — London, England, 1840-01-07 00:00:00

„,, I ri EDITION. vt-Es-VONDAI • --.0.--- ( VI 'LYM OUR , 7)WN Pr.4O,t,PoNDENT.) I COLLISIUN.—I ()SS 01;' THE BRlti SKEEN. AND SEVEN HANDS. The Mary pilot boat, E. Mitchcli master, last evening ba nded the Captain, mat e , ar.d one man, l_:elt - aiging to the ig Skeen, 220 tc.t,s, L John master, kftit agutta, wit , . 340 t. , te s of logwouit, tot Lon,:oit which %es el vv.. , ru.. down by the schooner Exile (of 190 tons), of Brix- Isom, wheat laden, from London for Bristol. It appears that on the GliP: d t of the 4th inst. the schooner was running down Chaoticl with a fresh wi n d f rom th e ea stward, the brig beetle at 11 30 P.M. they came in contact. Th e .1 u P' whe n „ ..00 ner was seen f rom t h e b r i g, an d t h e C apta i n o f tc ikeen hailed her, and endeavoured to avoid her run b.4g on board, but finding she would take them amidships, iee put the helm down, intending to take her stern on, but she took them on the starboard bow, and he fears the brig almost immediately went down: he, with the mate, one man, and a boy, succeeded in getting on the schooner's tnainboom, from which the boy unfortunately fell and was drowned, the others reached the schooner's deck, but saw 1 10 more of the brig, in which were six hands. The schooner lost her bowsprit and cutwater ; and the crew ' not knowing the extent of her damage stood for the land, and at eight A. M. was boarded by the Mary, which vessel took on board the brig's crew, and went imme diately in search of Ow brig, for which she cruised till one P.M., without success; and as the six men on board were below at the time the vessels struck, and on coming on deck called out that the brig was sinking, and begged for assistance; no doubt she soon went down. The schooner proceeded for Brixham to repair damages. On the sth arrived the Dolphin, of Gottenberg, Chas. Weckberg, master, from Manilla, with a cargo of sugar to this port for order. She had been sii months on leer passage, and had lost six of her crew by scurvy, having but four to work the ship . she came into harbour this morning to repair damages. 6:h.—Arrived the.Paiemon, Richard Biggs, of London, from Richebucto, with timber, for London. ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON INTELLIGENCE. 6th.—Wind N. E., fresh.—Carne out of harbour to fit out for the season, Mr. John Leveson Gower's yacht the Albatross, of 75 tons. W. Lyon, Esq., has sailed from Gibraltar for the West Indies, in his schooner yacht Merlin. The Earl of Wilton's schooner yacht Xarifa, 175 tons, is expected. from the Mediterranean. The Earl of Desert's cutter yacht Owen Glendwr, 113 tons, is undergoing a thorough overhaul on Mr. J. White's slip. The Hon. H. F. Walker's new cutter yacht of 120 tons, and Captai n G. Reane's yawl yacht of 50 tons, are pro gressing in the same yard. Mr. J. Nicl's new schooner Louisa, of 123 tons, is nearly ready for sea. THE NAVY. Our annual retrospect sta'e of Naval Affairs affords matter for congratulation, so far as regards the amount and efficiency of force maintained and in re serve. The actual increase in the last year has not been more than two or three ships of the line ; but the crews of all those in commission have been augmented, and the ships employed in conveying troops, as well as the flag-ship s on foreign stations, are now placed in con dition for active service. The new armament has been adopted to a consi derable extent, and will, we presume, henceforth be uni formly so in the ships fitted for commission. In some cases, we perceive, that heavy guns intended for dis charging shells have been despatched to foreign sta tions, and no doubt this would be done in all cases were there any apprehension of hostilities. Circumstances having rendered it necessary for France to increase her squadron in the Levant, we have had the opportunity of witnessing whet she was capable of under her boasted system of Maritime Conscription. Not only has there been considerable delay in manning her ships, but the crews collected, after the most ri gorous exercise of their naval conscription, have been r found, when contrasted, immensely inferior to our own. Indeed, it is generally admitted, that in point of effi ciency, the fleet under Sir Robert Stopford is not in ferior to any we ever possessed ; for, notwithstanding that the French ships have larger crews, at evolutioniz• k g or at gun-practice they are palpably inferior ; and this is admitted by their own officers. Two noble ships---namely, Queen, first-rate, of 110 guns, and Nile, second-rate, of 92 guns (same class as Rodney) —have been launched in 1839 ; and St. George, another first-rate of 120 guns, will be put in the water before midsummer. On the slips of these, and also on other slips, three first•rates, similar to the Queen, named Royal Frederick, Victoria, and Algiers, are or dered to be built ; also twelve second-rates of the Rod ney and Vanguard class ; and some of those latter, such as Collingwood, Goliah, Superb, Colossus, Ma jestic, &c., are already considerably advanced. It is in Steam Navigation, however, that the chief progress has been made ; and every day's experience convinces 1,8 of the fact, that to this branch the greatest exer tions should be applied. On this point our rulers appear of the same opinion as ourselves ; for within th e last year, the Cyclops, Stromboli, and Vesuvius, of 300 horse-power—Hecate and Hecla of 250 do.— Alecto and Ardent of 200 do. with several others of an inferior degree—have been added to the list, whils,. the present year will probably produce as many more. There are now, in fact, under the Queen's pendant up wards of seventy steam-vessels, including those employed as packets ; and if we reckon upon those in the Mer cantile Marine, some of which—such as the Peninsular Steam —are already under contract with Government, we might calculate on having instantly available such a force as would suffice to sweep the seas, and seal up every port on an enemy's coast, so that.not a cock-boat could enter or depart from it without our permission. diWe are much gratified to perceive the improved con tion of seamen generally, and to bear congratulatory accounts on all sides respecting this desirable event. The infusion of young blood of the right quality, in the persons of upwards of twenty-four thousand appren tices, within the last five years, Was bad a marked effect upon the mass ; for some thousands of these having completed their apprenticeship, are now become active, able seamen. The number of apprentices reared in steam-vessels—(the General Steam Navigation alone maintain upwards of fifty, principally selected from the Naval Schools at Greenwich)—will become a most va luable class of men ; and we have heard that the highly respectable firm of Seward and Co., so celebrated for their sums, ill the manufacture and improvement of s team-engines, have now upwards of three hundred youth s indentured as apprentices, with the view of their becoming engineers and assistant-engineers in steam vessels, and fully competent to repair any casualty in the engin es that is practicable at sea, without the ne cessity for returning to port, or of laying up the vessel. —Naval and Militant Gazette. SADLER'S WELLS. Mr. Honner seems determined to back up the Panto mime, which is one of the best we ever witnessed, even at this house, by a succession of novelties, and accordingly last night, he produced a new melodrama, entitled Norai a O'Donnell, or the Sybil of the Camp. The scene, as may be gathered from the name. is laid in the Emerald Isle, and the action takes place during the Irish Rebellion. The interest of the piece turns on the adventures of Edward O'Brien ( Cathcart), a soldier in the King's service, who is induced by Norah O'Donnell (Mrs. R. Benner), to desert, and take the command of the rebels In an action with the King's troops O'Brien saves the life of Capt. Blakely ( Elvin unde whm he a formery served, and enables him to p e scape r from the rebe h ls. d O'Brie l n himself is subsequently taken prisoner, and sentenced to be shot as a deserter, but Blakely procures his pardon, Si hich is brought to the Commander-in-Chief by Nora') just as the sentence is about to be carried into execution. The graver matter of the piece is agreeably relieved by the co mical misadventures of Marc Antoby Tapes, a tailor from Tooley-street (admirably acted by Hall), who is travelling for orders, and kis companion Handel Squall (Mr. K. Honner), an itinerant professor of singing, who is indefatigable in his endeavours to get up a concert. The excellent old farce the " Sleeping Draught" followed, in which Hall, as Popolino ; Williams, as the Doctor ; and Miss Pincott, as the waiting-maid, kept the audience in a continued roar, and the pantomime concluded the even ing's amusement. Tho house was literally crammed. LL YD'S SHIPPING. , -(THIS DAY.) DEAL, TAM. 6.—Wind E., strong breeze.—Arrived from the river and sailed the Roc pester, Kenney, for the South Seas; Libra, Gibbons, Corunna; and Saucy Jack, Spriggs, Corfu. PLYMOCTH, JAN. 6 . —Wind N. E.—Arrived the De sign, Bedwell, from St. Michael's; Traveller, L} nn ; Devonshire steamer, London ; Royal William, Dublin ; and President steamer, Liverpool, with loss of foremast. Put back the James, Finlayson, for FALMOUTH, JAN. s. —Wind S. E. to E., fresh breezes. Arrived the Royal Tar, Brooks, from London for Oporto ; Rowena, Teesdale, Odess a ; and Rob,rt Henry, Kill!, Seville. Sailed the Montefiore, P ar d , for Hobart Town; Aimvvell, Herne, Cane of Good Hope; Queen Victoria, Clark, Algoa Bay ; Victory, Frost, Rio Janeiro; Abeona, Essen, New Orleans ; Gazelle, Lakey, St. chael's ; Agnes Sophia, Thompson, Alexandria ; Tribune. pally, Marseilles; Hei.riet Lcifse, Guertzer, C.Ate ; Vi gilant, Langdon, Mogadore; Emma, May, S e vill e ; Dorvenson, Oporto; Redcliff', Collins, Santand er Exmouth, Packer, ditto ; Jane, Re.berts, Wexford . ; Fife, G ood, Cord ; and Opp ossu rn p a ck e t, on a cruise with supplies for the homeward-bound. LIVERPOOL, JAN, 6 —Wind E N E.—Sailed the Fer gus. Doane, for New Orleans ; Thomas Laurie, Graham, New South Wales; Charles Jones, M‘Fee, ditto; Col chester, Withers, Bombay; Cornwall, Butcher, Rio Ja neiro ; Orwell, Gleyham, New Orleans ; United king dom, PAtison Charleston ; Agnes, Tinean, Venice; ARII - liOkii, Lisbon ; Torrijo. ditto ; Da Silva, ditto. RAMSGATE, JAN. 6 —Sailed the Fanny, Rossegnaird, for Malta. CORK. JAN. 4 . —Arrived the Caledonia, Hackett, from Jamaica ; and Vulture steamer, London. Sailed the Thomas, Perry, for „amaica. 0 M, _n ondav last some incendia►y set fire to a haystack, the property of John Sutcliffe, Esq., of Chapel Hill, Huddersfield. The top of a lucifer box was found agar the stack. The Earl of Ducie and Lord and Lady Morton have arrived at Aropney , House, Gloucestershire, for the season.— Worcestcr Jour►uaf, gois4 Ui II SPL,CIAL Co NI TRIAL OF MR. FROST—(Strrti DAY.) THE DEFENCE. MONMOUTH, MoNnsv NIGHT. Their Lordships t , .elt their sects at nine: o'clock precisely. Sir Frederick Pollock—May it please your Lordships, and gentlemen of the Jury—lt is now my duty to address you on behalf of the prison•sr, Mr. John Frost, and to state to you wh. i t i s hi s answer to the charge that has been made aFailist him. My Learned Friend, towards the close of his address, spoke of the difficult ta , k which the prisoner's Counsel would have to perform. Ido not agree with my Learned Friend ; and I would to God that I had as little difficulty in relieving M r . F ros t f rom every c h arge o f criminality on that fatal and eventful day, as I believe I have in answering the charge of high treason. I believe I shall satisfy you, certainly I believe so, that I shall bring the case within the compass of those expressions used by the Attorney-General, and that will entitle the prisoner to your verdict of acquittal. In the course of my address I must entreat your indulgence to me. To me criminal business is exceedingly new—a charge of high treason al together so. The business of this Court (so opposed to that of the other) is always accompanied with feelings of inte rest and anxiety to me so intense and painful, and almost overwhelming, that I have on all occasions, where I could with propriety do so, declined it altogether. But, on the present occasion, I readily accepted the office ; I thought it my duty when called upon, to undertake this task ; and I stated to the gentlemen who first applied to me on the instant, and without hesitation, that if I could make it accord with my professional engagements, it would be a want of manliness on my part if I did not give to Mr. Frost the benefit of any services which he wished to corn ' mand. lam sure that my Learned Friend will cordially agree with me that no loyal subject can be better em ployed than in thus disproving the existence of treason ; and in satisfying you and the public at large that there has been no case of that complexion, whatever degree of criminality of another sort may to attach to it. lam far from making any complaint, as sometimes hat been made on occasions of this sort, on occasions of such solemn, and I may almost say awful proceedings, as those in which you are called to take a part. I make no complaint of the is suing of a Special Commission on the charge of high treason being preferred ; and, least of all, do I make a com plaint of the manner in which these proceedings have been conducted. I think it quite right, on occasions when the public peace has been flagrantly disturbed, when numbers of her Majesty's subjects have been alarmed by the events which you have heard described by my Learned Friend, and to some extent proved by the witnesses who have been examined, I think it quite right that these things should be as early as possible investigated, the law vindicated, the offenders punished, and that species of protection given to her Majesty's peaceable subjects which results from the law taking instant cognizance of such proceedings, of as certaining the character and nature of the offence, and awarding to it its due punishment, nor do I complain of the form of the proceeding being that of k igh treason. I think it becomes the law officers of the Crown, under all the circumstances that first presented themselves, so to offer that charge to your notice; nor has the prisoner himself any reason to complain that it puts him in a worse position than he would otherwise occupy. From the earliest period of our history, and from all that I have read and heard of questions of this sort, it will be found that those who have been most en gaged in conflicts with the Crown for the liberties of the subject especially guarded individuals charged with high treason. The prisoner so charged is protected by having a copy of the indictment ten days before trial—a privilege from which others are excluded. He is also protected by having a list of the jurors and a list of the witnesses against him. And even before the Prisoners' Counsel Bill had passed, he had the privilege of being fully de fended by such advocates as must be assigned by the Court ; and even the inexperience, in the present case, of the Counsel assigned has been a benefit to the prisoner, for instead of taking the practice of the law from any books, we sat down with the Act of Farliament before us—we had the original documents in our view, and even our very inexperience induced us to exercise that caution and vigilance which has given rise to that point which my Lords have deemed so important as to reserve it for further consideration With respect to the proceedings which have occurred in your presence, so far as the Learned Judges are concerned, s-3 far from being entitled to make any complaint, I do most fully and absolutely declare that justice was never—l was about to say so ably—cer tainly never so satisfactorily, administered from the Court in such a case as the present. I have never . known en any occasion—l have never read of a ny proceedings of this sort which have been conducted with such patient and untiring attention on the part of the Learned Judges presiding ; and I do, on the prisoner's behalf, most fully and deeply thank them for the tirae and consideration—for the patience in hearing every point suggested--for their reaeliness in giving the prisoner's Counsel everypossible opportunity of hearing and getting at the truth of the evidence, and for the con sideration which they have been enabled to give that evi dence before they were called upon to address you for the defence. To you also, gentlemen of the Jury, for your ready acquiescenee in the suggestions of the Counsel at the bar, and for your cheerful endurance of %hat all per sons will admit to be the greatest inconvenience—your protracted absence from your homes and your business— asy sincere and cordial thanks are fully due and most fully and gratefully rendered. It is, permit me to add, a very good omen for the administration of justice. Thus far everything has been satisfactory. Of my Learned Friend's opening address I have nothing to complain. It was short— I think it was meagre. He abstained very much from a detailed statement. I make no com plaint of that, because I ascribe it partly to the moderation and forbearance of my Learned Friend, and partly also to the nature of the case he had to disclose. I know that it would be satisfactory to me if, instead of the case being summed up as it will be by my Learned Friend the Solicitor-General, it had been in some degree detailed at the opening; it would have been some assistance to me in looking at that evi dence the giving of which has eccupied three not very short days. It would have been of great assistance to me if my Learned Friend had stated distinctly and precisely, not a few general points --not that so and so was treason— not that some general facts wculd be proved to bring home guilt to Mr. !lost, but what were the particular facts, or what the particular delarations on which he meant to rely, as fringing home the charge to the prisoner at the bar. And after I had heard the evidence I own it would still have been further assistance to me if he bad said which it was of the many inconsistent parts of this case he meant to adopt ; for not only is it one, or two, but in ten instances that it will be found that the evidence of one part of the case is completely at variance with the evidence of the other, and I should like to know which of those inconsistent statements it was that my Learned Friend meant to say was the true one, which one it was of the varied, absurd, and incon sistent disclosures supposed to be made, my Learned Friend adopted as the true one. And it would have been gratify ing to me to have learned whether such and such a witness, whose misconduct, I might almost say whose infamy, I be lieve, has already distinctly appeared to you would be adopted by my Learned Friend as trustworthy. I should like to have asked my Learned Friend which of the wit nesses, thirty-Wino in number, he has called—which of them he required of you to believe, which it was that he relied upon when he would ask of you to give your verdict against the prisoner. Gentlemen, I believe it was not be e ause my Learned Friend had any desire to keep back re marks that ought to be made. I should do him an injustice if I were to put forth any such complaint; but I believe it arose from this, that my Learned Friend distrusted his own case. He was afraid to state circumstances which might . possibly not only be proved, but possibly be contradicted, and knowing this, that the case would come to be sifted; and my Learned Friend being fully instructed, seemed to consider it was of such a description, that the least said of it the better. Ido complain that he did not give us his statement in detail; that he gave an outline I do not deny. I should like to have known how my Learned Friend would have put the case, and not left to the Soli citor-General to collect together the scattered fragments of the evidence upon which he will call upon you to give a verdict against the prisoner. The charge is one which our law always considered—and believes justly so—to be the highest crime against the State. It is one, also, which is visited with the severest punishment. This charge you will now find presented to you in an indictment of four very long counts. I make no complaint of the form of pleadings in our Courts of Law, whether criminal or civil. But here, you perceive, the four counts of the indictment contain much, certainly, of repetition, and a plain man of sense might wonder that a charge apparently so plain should be in. volved in so much circumlocution and repetition, as make it exceedingly difficult for an unlearned and uninformed person to know what it means, or why there should be so many counts, or so many repetitions in the same count. I believe I have my Learned Friend's authority for saying, that you need not give yourselves much trouble in direct ing your attention to the third and fourth counts, that is, so far as they involve a personal attack on the Queen. I believe I may say that my Learned Friend's speech showed you that this charge could not be sustained ; and so it is with reference to the charge of the Government. It is, I believe, on the fourth count my Learned Friend, if I re collect right, did not point it out as one which would call for much attention from you or from me. I thus call your particular attention to the third and fourth counts now, as these are the charges contained in them, so far as I could collect from reading them. The first count, upon which my Learned Friend relies, is for levying war for a certain defined object ; the second count is for levying and making war generally. I believe I shall be able to satisfy you, in stating the offeace of Y.r. Frost, that he is not guilty. I mean to confine myself to the second count of the indictment, for I am not aware that, substantially, the charge in the second count differs from that in the first, except that the second states a certain purpose. Ba.on Parls observer! that there was n.:t much d;ffet ence between them, Out the first cunta'ned more particu lars t an the accor d. war in Fv.etP-y4glienneeltr—s.l Si- in t a h . e second states the levying of li te Ll' i The Attorne, -Geriera'— I am sort y to inteerupt tr Learned • Friend, but Ithink• •t right to inform him Y :hat I do n-o. . mean to give up the t it. h• 4 aid fourth counts. Sir F. Poltoek—l ") so newhat surp i i se d at my L earne d Fa iend's interruption I n my Learr.ed Fr;end's open;. g addrel• to you he said tha' your attention woukl br d rect• d to the first and second counts. When he s a id Ibi s i t a, neared to me as much an General of a t• ird or lotn a t b h andonrnent by an Att.,rney count as any I Attorney-Ge net al could poisib i % give, atidnicirthen, rather as t on i s h e d, when I compare his opening address with what h e now says ; or he says i ow, though It: y'Ai on the r pqring your attention would be narti Y eularl address e d t o t h e fi rst a d second count ,, yet I now t ,ii Y must be call, d to the third and fou rth al-o But, i• GentlemenProduc, tly., mil mat ea from my Learned Friend purpose in my mind--alters not e a jot the produce no nub_ of the b j,,et which I had t , kcn, and whi ch is confirmed of by what has fallen fr,rn the Bench—not stating that the Attorney_ Attorney- General ought to abandon the third and fourth fiat an c d ounts of the indic:ment, but that in substance the °L counts contained the same offs nee—the levy ng e"d of PRE SUN, LONDON. TUESDAY. JANUARY 7. i-440 ear de , : I mil,- eka to say. that at the crine'u , ilort of this case, treLss the I. vying of ear, and that for a trel ent,able object, be made out. Mr. Frost is in no danger whatever on ,he !'ou-t counts of the. indictment. Certainly, Gentlemen, I am indebted to my Learned Friend for explicitly stating an the part of the Crown what is your duty on this important and solemn occasion. Says my Learned Friend at the outset, " You are to presume Mr. Frost to be innocent ; you are to begin the inquiry with every presumption in favour of his innocence until as sailed by proof ;'' and my Learned Friend said, " The evi dence to prove hint otherwise than innocent must not be left in ambiguity—you must be in a situation from strong, clear, and convincing evidence distinctly to see that you are doing no possible wrong to any one by the verdict." Every doubt, every difficulty is to be resolved according to the original presumption with which, as my Learned Friend said, you were to set out ; and if it be consistent with the innocence of the prisoner, you are to adhere to the presumption with which you began, and to believe Mr, Frost innocent, until by the strong, clear, and convincing evidence which my Learned Friend admitted 'to be indis pensable, you find yourselves bound and compelled, acting under the conviction produced by that strong and clear evi dence, to pronounco a verdict of guilty. In my judgment, Gentlemen, the great point in this important inquiry—im portant not merely to Mr. Frost himself, who stands at that bar, awaiting the issue of your verdict, for life or death, but important to the county in which we sit, impor tant to the kingdom at large, under whose Government we live ; and the great question will be this—was the proceed ing of Sunday, November 3d, which terminated in the fatal transactions of the Monday morning, fatal only to the per sons who were unfortunately engaged in the transactions, was that—whatever you may call it-...by whatever name it is to be designated, criminal I admit it to have been—was it done with any treasonable purpose, and was that trea sonable purpose existing in the mind of Mr. Frost at the time he concerted, if he did concert, that proceeding, or joined, as I must admit he did join it, and marched with those persons from the Welsh Oak, where, I think, we first find him, down to the corner of the Westgate Inn, where he appears to have been lost sight of. Gentlemen, I take that to be the great question of the case. If I can satisfy you, as I feel very confident I have the means of doing—l do not feel so very confident as to the use I may make of those means—but I must ask on your part all the indulgence which will be necessary while, by and by, I call your attention to all the important parts of this melancholy transaction. If I satisfy you, as I think I have the means of doing, that there is no evidence on which the least reliance can be placed, even as the matter now stands, by which you can come, as reasonable and judicious men, to the conclusion that this treasonable pur pose existed ; still more, if there are certain parts of the transaction which I can prove not to be as they have been stated, then Mr. Frost will be entitled, whatever may have been the criminality of the meeting—the marching —the arming—the alarm—the terror, and the fatal consequen ces which ensued—how criminal soever these things may have been—however ranch to be deplored and lamented ; if I can satisfy you that the purpose was not a treasonable one, then Mr. Frost will be entitled to your verdict of ac quittal. Nor, Gentlemen, do I feel any alarm as to any prejudice on your minds to his injury. May years ago, perhaps the advocate of a prisoner under these circum stances might have felt a degree of doubt, almost approach ing to despair, in case where undoubtedly armed person were collected, where marching had taken place in diffe rent directions of the kingdom, and where the transaction ended, as my Learned Friend has said, in bloodshed—a doubt, I say, might many years ago have been felt by Coun sel how far a Jury would discriminate and do justice to diffe rent parts of the same transaction, and how far they might be carried. by their indi g n a tio n a t th e consequences , so as to give a character to the transaction which legitimately does not belong to it But, I speak not to latter y ou, Gentlemen, sitting in that box, nor indeed to flatter the general body of jurors to which you belong, but I do thank God that we live in a time, when there is that general diffusion of intelligence—still more that general glow of inde pendence by which you will, I am sure, be animated unhesitatingly to fulfil your duty, and if I can satisfy you that the object of the meeting was not for the pur pose of treason, you will not be misled by any strong com ments which may be made on the mischief that was done, or on the suC a irings of the wounded ; circumstances which I feel had nothing to do with the transaction —by any remarks on the lawless chat acter of the transac tion before it terminated in the deplorable events in front of the Westgate. You will not be misled by circum stances foreign front the transaction, but your intelligence will discern and your independence will give effect to your judgment; and if I can persuade you that Mr. Frost had no treasonable intention, you will give him the benefit of that judgment, aye, even of a doubt whether you can come to an opposite judgment from that which it will be my duty to ask at your bands. Nor, Gentlemen, let it be supposed that any. one under these realms, or in this county, or in this Court, has an interest in a verdict of an opposite character. If I can make out that Mr. Frost is not guilty of treason, so far from that being a verdict to be heard with regret, or that any one will have to deplore, it is of all others, under such cir cumstances as these, the one that would give the greatest satisfaction to this county, to the kingdom, and to the pub lic Et lady—of all others, it is that which would best re essdre those whom this transaction has alarmed, if I can show that this wide spread of danGerous and destructive treason has no foundation in fact—if I can satisfy you that the thousands and thousands who were there assembled had no treasonable object in view, I relieve this country from a stain, a charge, an imputation of the blackest and deepest dye—l give an assurance that the alarm which has spread from county to county, all over England. is not well founded, that no person need be afraid of a repetition of the lawless violence which prevailed on the 3d and 4th of November, and that should even such an assembly again meet, it will not be for purposes of treason, or for any of those objects which create alarm and terror, at being in consistent with the public safety. Now, Gentlemen, before I proceed to consider the evidence of my Learned Friend, 1 must make a few observations as to the time when we are now assembled, and considering this important question. I mean to make no reflections upon those who now guide the councils of her Majesty. I have no instructions, and I 'ate no inclination to utter one ward of bitterness or aspe rity against individuals front whom personally I entirely differ on many political subjects. Above all, l-should re gret if any thing which mie j let fall from me were calculated to give personal pain to any absent party. But it is im possible to consider the character of these transactions without adverting shortly, hastily, and lightly to the trans actions which have occurred within the last seven or eight years. Some years ago, gentlemen, meetings, such as the evidence tells us took' place at tie Welsh Oak, at Ponty - pool, and at that other place where Zephaniah Williams assembled those under him—some years ago meetings of this description would have been deemed of themselves, almost without anything more, indications of treasonable designs. Gentlemen, the law cannot be altered by the conduct of those who are called upon to obey it, and I make that admission to my Lords on the bench, because, in the few remarks I shall have to make on this part of the case, Ido not mean to say that any change of the law has occurred by the relaxed discipline of society within some years, but I do mean to say distinctly, from what has actually taken place, that when you have permitted. perhaps, in some instances even sanctioned, a very dif ferent estimation to be held of public meetings, aye, and even of armed meetings, from that which might have oc curred twenty or thirty years ago, the object and inten tions of a party may receive, at the close of the year 1839, a construction far more favourable, and justly favourable than, perhaps, might fairly have been awarded to it in earlier periods of the history of this country, with which you, Gentlemen, and I are familiar. Ido not go back to any very remote period. Gentlemen, we have lived to see thousands, I believe I should not be wrong if I said hun dreds of thousands of men collected for the purpose of ex hibiting their numbers, and of showing their strength. Aye and we have lived to see those numbers displayed, and that strength exhibited, for the purpose of interfering with a change of the system of Government. According to the strict letter of the law, as laid down by my Learned Friend the other day, the one or two hundred thousand persons who assembled at White Conduit House, I think it was, a few years ago, and marched in tr.ilitary array, a certain number in each rank, and the ranks following each other like an armed force, who marched thus to the office of the Home Secretary, and presented a petition complaining of grievances, and praying for an alteration of the Constitu tion, according to the strict letter of the law, those men were guilty of high treason; there can be no doubt that arms are not necessary, according to the construction of the Statute, to the levying of war. Yet, lam sure such is the general information which pervades all ranks of society now; such is the lively attention which every one pays to public affairs, that I cannot be addressing twelve gentlemen of your station in life, without, perhaps, every one of you being aware that *hen that extraordinary event took place, when the leaders of that assemblage were admitted to a personal communication with an Under Secretary of State, when a gigantic petition correspond ing with that vast army of men was unfolded in an inner chamber of the seat of - Government, and when they were discharged, I cannot say without a reprimand, for I be lieve they were told that their proceedings were unlawful, and, if 1 mistake -tot, they were allowed to deposit the burden of their petition in the chambers of Government, but were told, that coming in that fashion, it was more like treason, or public tumult, to which no attention ought to be paid. But no notice was taken of the matter, and those 100.000 or 200,000 men returned that night to their peace ful homes, after having marched through the public streets until all London was alarmed at the sight of so powerful an army—for really such I may call it—l believe this was after the passing of the Reform Bill, but at the period of the Reform agitation, which commenced so early as the introduction of the first Bill, in February or March, 1831. I think at that period, in various parts of the kingdom, persons assembled in numbers, to show their strength, and to exhibit by what preponderating and overpowering numbers the expectation of Reform was entertained, and its doctrines were to he enforced; and in one of the most populous parts of the kingdom (I mean Birmingham) persons assembled and talked of marching to London and encamping —not as an army —oh, no, gentlemen, but as a body of petitioners come to represent their grievances ; they were to come from Birmingham and encamp in the neighbourhood of London, of course not to overawe the House of Lords —nothing of the kind; but in order that those persons in London, and especially in the Legislature, who were opposed to Re form, might be aware how large a body of men—formidable and fearful if unarmed, irresistible if armed —were in neighbourhood and ready to bear a part in the agitation of the day. -With that body, possessing so much power and strength, I believe some members of the Government were in actual communication. That is matter of history ; and there is no more doubt of what has been passing within the last seven or eight years, than there is that we have to-day the happiness of living under a gracious Sovereign, and have the prospect of much happiness and prosperity in living under her mild and beneficent rule. Under the name of agitation, what has not been been done in every town and corner of the kingdom ? if we pass —and I shall do it lightly, because I do it reluctantly —if we pass for a moment, and take a glance at the sister country, how familiarly do we hear of petitions from 600,000 pople ? I shall say no more on that subject ; but I call upon you, Gentlemen, to remember these trainee toils when you come to deliver your verdict upon this charge of high treason, and let it be understood, that without altering the law, it has been so far practically relaxed by the permission, if not actual encourage. ment, afforded to such proceedings, that it would be most unjust to use the same measure which was formerly in use. As to the motives of parties, it would not be just to weigh in the same scales, in which it would formerly have been weighed, the transaction into which you are making inquiry. Gentlemen. I shall now proceed to call your attention to the manner in which my Learned Friend has made out his case. Before Ido that, I may, however, be allowed to say that my course, in order to obtain the obtain the object I have in view, will be merely on this part of the case to comment upon the testimony which has been actually given, and to add to those comments a remark or two on the evidence which I shall be in a condition to offer. Gentlemen, I have no eloquence to lay before you—l have nothing to offer but remarks—of the value of which you are to judge —upon the case as it has been and as it will be proved. At the same time, do not understand me to disclaim any appeal to your feelings or position. The feelings and the sentiments and the habits of men have far more ir,fluer,ce upon their general conduct than the calm evidence of reason. Nay, even their passions frequently come in and exercise an important, sometimes an uncontrol lable sway. For you to be addressed as sitting there calmly to hear and coldly to decide upon mere reason and evidence, does appear to me not in accordance with the duty I have to discharge. When you come to decide upon human con duct, you must be prepared to judge and to feel as men ; and the man who enters that box without being ready to sympathize with his fellow-men, and to enter into all the feelings and sentiments, and even passions, which actuate him, is but half furnished for the important duty Le has to discharge. Gentlemen, my Friend's case has, I think, been very skilfully marshalled. He is an experienced and an able general, and I think he has made the most of the forces which he had to bring into the field. His case is this—and the evidence, as Sou all remember, from the manner in which it was arranged, I have no doubt, on purpose by the officers of the Crown, presents a clearer view of it than if the witnesses had been called indiscriminately to give evidence upon different parts of die case. My Learned Friend began by proving what occurred on the fatal morning of the 4th November. He then traced the prisoners through the various places passed in, what he called, the night march. He then traced Zephaniah Williams from Nantyglo, and then Wil liam Jones from Pontypool, and he showed them all to be marching on the town of Newport. Each of those nar ratives of the collecting and marching of those persons my Learned Friend interspersed with certain declarations, to which I shall presently call your most especial atten tion, for, Gentlemen, without these expressions, without these declarations, his case would be abso lutely nothing—l mean, Gentlemen, as a case of high treason. Do not for a moment imagine that I consider there is no crime in assembling a number of armed per sons, and marching them for any purpose ; but this case could be nothing without the declarations of my friend. Gentlemen, my friend then proceeded to prove, by the landlord of the Coach and Horses, at Blackwood, I be lieve, that a number of persons.had assembled there on Friday, the Ist of November; that there were about thirty others with whom he was not acquainted, and that Me. Frost, the I,risolier, William Jones, and Zephaniah Williams, were three amongst them ; and he con cluded his case with Mr. Thomas Jones Phillips's evidence respecting the apprehension of Mr. Frost himself. Gentle men, it is qu to impossible to deny —nay, it is part of my case, that persons did march down, and that they intended to be in Newport at or about the same time; that some of them were armed ; but, Gentlemen, I own that I very much doubt that the arming was by any means so exten sive as it has been spoken of, for the number of weapons which were picked up after the people retreated and were dispersed, appears to be very inconsiderable, and I do not know if all that were picked up have been produced here. It would appear that they have been, if I am to judge of the inclination to create effect by the display of those which were brought here. But, from the number of weapons produced in Court as those picked up, it is clear that the arming was by no means so extensive as it has been de scribed. In point of fact, however, they marched into New port, and had a conflict with the special constables, but whether there was a conflict with the military in the seme which doubtless one of the gentlemen meant by the inquiries made by him, although Captain Gray did not return a satis factory answer. I can gave it to him. It cannot be denied, Gentlemen, that the constabulary force was attacked—that one of the military was wounded (under circumstances which 3 ou will see presently), and, to use the expression of one of the witnesses for the Crown, the moment the mob saw one person fall, they all fled in every direction," and in a few minutes the town of Newport was, almost as c l ear of Chartists as it had been at an early hour in' the - morning,. at six or seven o'clock, when not a single Chirtist had entered it. Gentlemen, all this is not to be denied,' but it goes to show what the object of those people was, and that is the question—what was their object ? Now, for the purpose of bringing one view before you as to what their object probably was, I shall take the liberty of pre senting to you the evidence of a few of the witnesses for the Crown, who stated what that object was, and who pro fessed to hare collected it from the general body, or from their leaders. Gentlemen, I shall take the first person who gave any information as to their object—a witness of the name of Waters. The Solicitor-General—He is the second substantial witness, my Lords, Sir F'. Pollock—No, not Waters; I shall take Thomas Bevan Oliver, who is the seventh witness, commencing with Sirr,monds as the first; for he was the first called un doubtedly who spoke to the charge, as Mr. Maulc was merely examined as to the list of witnesses. Thomas Bevan Oliver, who was a special constable at the West gate, says, " They turned round and came up to the door of the inn, and called out, " Surrender yourselves our prisoners." Now, undoubtedly, if that be taken to ,be literally true, it has the aspect as if some of the matters contained in the declarations of other witnesses were the real, genuine objects of their going to Newport. But ifis very odd that this should only be addressed to the special constables; At that time the shutteri of the 'windows had nut been opened, and I am satisfied that it was not known to the people that the soldiers were there, notwith standing the evidence 'of the two "boys to the contrary, or if it were known, the: shutters were shut and bar ricadoed, and' the soldiers were' placed altogether beyond their sight, and I am surprised as to whom the words, " Surrender yourselves our prisoners," could be addressed. Gentlemen, I believe you are already informed from the cross-examination of some of the witnesses as to the fact that several prisoners —twelve, I believe —had been taken. Some of these were in the soldiers' room—the room, not at the corner, but at the extreme end from the corner, and some in a room between that and the passage. These prisoners had been taken between the Sunday night and the Monday morning, and were confined there. I think, therefore, Gentlemen, that you have a:- ready anticipated what the demand to surrender really meant—that it was to surrender those prisoners —the Chartists who had been taken, and who had belonged to the body which had marched down to Newport. It is very singular, Gentlemen, that only one person—it is a most important fact—has been called to prove the use of these words in reference to the surrender of prisoners. You have special constables in front of the Westgate, lining the place : you have persons who turned King's evidence, and who were near enough to the spot to be wounded. I allude to the witness Matthew Williams, who spoke to other declarations and expressions that had been used ; whilst there is but one witness called who speaks to the demand made of the persons in the inn, whether civil or military, to surrender themselves pri soners; and, Gentlemen, that man admitted that much confusion and noise existed at the time, and, that in in his mind there was a great sense of danger prevailing. I must say I think it singular, if the words were used, and used in the sense in wh ch he would wish you to be lieve—l marvel that the case for the Crown is supported by no other testimony to confirm the evidence as to this de mand. I think it remarkable: It is a most important and striking feature, gentlemen, that even if this be true, it is not decisive against Mr. Frost, because 'the demand might have been made with other,objects of a private or personal nature, and not at all partaking of high treason. It does not follow, if that demand has not themeaning applied to it, that Mr. Frost is guilty of treason ; but it follows that he is not guilty if my friend is wrong and I am right, and I am in a condition to prove it, that the demand was not " sur render yourselves our prisoners," but " surrender our pri. Boners," the persons, (the Chartists) who had been appre hended during the night, and who were in the inn at that moment. Gentlemen, I think it so important that I can not help impressing on your attention that the first act of this negotiation or parley was a ;demand made, before any= violence was used, before a islet wan fired, and before a window was broken. If that demand were made, why has it not been proved over and over again by a large body of the witnesses for the Crown? For, if it be true that it Was made, I submit that it could be so proved. Gentle men,exd between liste complain, if it there have been summoned, accordin g t o th e li sts that have been furnished us, two hundred wit nesses , an d ndeiffter s e h n o c u e ld out of these not more than thirty - nine or forty h ave b een called. Ido not complain. Do not understand, gentle men. some of the witnesses for the Crow n with resp ec t to their testimony as to some exp ressions used and declara tionsturneda I out c m t p h n; a made—and if the Crown presented one witness and kept back another ; and I will tell you why I should not complain. Although in stating a case for the Jury yoii are bound to state no fact which you do not believe to be true, and to present no witness who is not to some extent at least entitled to credit, still I doubt if you are bound to risk a prosecution by sending a ll your witnesses into Court, who may thus give an inconsistent account of what if is your duty to prove. But I cannot help thinking that it must have occurred to those who conduct the prosecution —(tbis is not in the department of my Learned Friends r here)--to ask others " Did any one come up and say ' sur render yourselves our prisoners ?' " Who is there to prove it ? Why, there were hundreds present who must be competent to prove it. The Chartists who have been witnesses here could prove it. One of the constables' own party is said to have called out in reply " Never I" This was not Thomas Bevan Oliver. No. Who was the man ? Where is he? Has he been called? No. Now, Gentle men, I believe that lam right—l believe that I might appeal to my Lords, if I am not correct, when I say that Thomas Bevan Oliver is the only man who has proved the declarations made by and in the hearing of several. He is not the person who called out " Never !" It was another, and it cannot be said that he is amongst the slain. Thank God, Gentlemen, that although severe suffering and painful wounds were inflicted upon one and another of those who were assembled for the protection of the town and the preservation of peace, the fatal events of that morn ing lighted a10..e on those unfortunate individuals who were engaged in these unfortunate transactions. The man who called out " Never I" ought therefore to be forthcoming. He whe answered the challenge—where is lie ? Has he been sought for? If so, could he be sought in vain? Is there, Gentlemen, a want of disposition to come forward and claim a gallant and manly part in the events of that day ? Apparently not. I wish not to disparage any person, and least of all Sir Thomas Phillips, who has been most de servedly honoured by the dignity be has received from the Crown, and which I hope I may be permitted to say, in my opinion, receives lustre from the fact that it has been vice. so conferred on ste , h a Man. Al t Learned F.iend and my self, who are associated in this title with iim, may vveh feet honoured by the association of a man bearing if for trial services as . he has rendered to his Queen and to hit country, by the prompt, the gallant and persevering way in which he conducted himself. But there has been no backwardness iu claiming a share in these transactions.. I do not speak disparagingly. To speak in terms of respect of Sir Thomas Phillips is my sincere desire ; and, Gentle men, it must be in your recollection that the Mayor and the gallant Captain, who commanded at the Westgate, have con tended here for the post of honour and danger. It is clear that this post was the portion of the bow-window nearest to the door where the insurgents were. There was the Mayor 'and the commander of the troops also. Sir Thomas Phillips stated that he was the nearest to that side, and the cap tain the farthest from it, whilst the gallant Captain reverses the positions, and claims for himself the post of danger, and places the Mayor in that next removed from it. Thus, Gentlemen, there has been no want of a disposition to claim a part in those transactions ; but where is the bold indivi dual who, when the demand to surrender was made, called out " Never l" It was not Oliver who thus answered the challenge, and yet he is the only witness to prove it. He proves both the demand and the answer; but where is the man who made the answer ? Where are those by whom he was surrounded when he made it? If there be such a man in Newport, why has he not been asked as to this? But he was not alone. If Thomas Bevan Oliver heard him call out " Never," tnere are several others who must have heard the demand also. Has that man been asked by the active, zealous, and discreet Magistrates who bare been engaged in getting up the prosecution—has he been asked " are you the person who called out Never?'" And" To what demand did you thus reply ?" Has he said that " the demand was not surrender yourselves our pri soners,' but surrender your prisoners ;' " and has it been said to him " you are not the men we want ; you would contradict Oliver, but who was beside you? What woollen draper, what smith in the town? if any, send them to me," and has it been said to them, " you have heard your neigh bour call out never,' to what did he then answer'—" to the demand that the prisoners shall be surrendered ?" And has it been again said to them, " Then'you are not the witnesses we want, you will contradict the witness Oliver?" These arc serious considerations, and will no doubt present themselves when you take up the case of the Crown. I hive said, Gentlemen. therefore—to quit this part of the case—that Thomas Bevan Oliver is the only one of the special constables around the man who has stated the words of the demand, and of the man whom he does not know, who called out " never," and who has not died since these transactions. Why, then, is he not here to avow that be is the man? Why are not those who surrounded him here to speak as to what they answered ? But before I dismiss this part of the case, I have to state that I am instructed there are one or two—several witnesses, who will be called to prove that what passed on that occasion was a demand for the surrender of the prisoners who were then confined in the inn ; whilst you have to sustain the other side of the question one solitary witness, who was doubtless mistaken as to its import. The words are similar, and he might have been mistaken without any criminal intention to press upon the prisoner. But still there is but one witness to support the case of the Crown ; and where there is but one where there might be a host, and where there must at least be one more, this, Gentlemen, I submit, leaves the case of the Crown in a state cf doubt—in a state from which you can derive nothing conclusive that the demand was " surren der yourselves our prisoners." But I shall be enabled to put this part of the case in a condition beyond all doubt, as I shall be enabled, I am informed, to show, by persons acting, not as Chartists, but as special constables, by in different witnesses, that the demand in question related to the surrender of the prisoners who were then in the West gate Inn, that the call for these prisoners was loud and general, and that the mistaken statement, supported as that statement is by the evidence of one witness only, is to be merely accounted for by the alarm and confusion of faculties in which that witness was at the time. Now, the statement, so far as I can recollect, is the first part of the evidence that is brought forward to indicate the object and and intention of the prisoner in thus entering Newport, and when the truth comes to be investigated what is the result ? Why, so far from fixing the guilt of treason on Frost, it tends to show that the immediate object of going to the Westgate Inn was to obtain the liberation of the prisoners whom they knew to be there, and not for the purpose of fighting the soldiers, whom I shall be enabled to give you the strongest reasons for believing they not only old not know to be there, but whom they believed to be elsewhere. I shall again have occasion to advert to the expressions of the witness. lam now coming to another part of the case, but I must still call your attention to what he says in rela tion to the alleged object of the prisoner. The witness is Samuel Simmons, who says, " I saw Frost ; he was on the :paving, the anchor shop, close by. The people could not ke e k on. ' Th ere i s a b ow window on one side. Frost said> txurn .:round,-; and. sh ow your appearance to the front.' " Now .I remember one of you, Gentlemen, asked him if he was quite certain that was the expression. I think it exceedingly p ro b a bl e t h at was not the exact •ex pression, and that it was put in other language. At the same time, it is not for me to charge a witness with wilful mis-statement, far less with perjury, on a point of this sort. But I call your' attention to the expression, even as the witness gave it, " Turn round, and show your appearance to the front." Not a word of making any attack—the order is totally divested of the idea of attack. Not turn round and attack the inn—not turn round and fire on the military—not turn round and do any thing —except " turn round and show your appearance to the ft ont ;" and I really believe that this expression, which has fallen from a witness of the Crown, affords the true solution of the whole character of the unfortunate busi ness. I now pass to some of the more extraordinary, and in some degree the less important objects—what the wit nesses have imputed to these parties on the 4th November. For the present I say no more about the dernand of sur render; but I trust I have.made it intelligible to .you, Gentlemen, that this expression was proved only by one witness, instead of by dozens, as, if really uttered in the language stated, it might easily have been---this demand, not being replied to by the individual to whom it was ad dressed, merely related to the surrender of the prisoners, whom, for the first time that day they heard were confined in the Westgate ; and that it is absurd to imagine, as the witness for the. Crown wishes you to .believe, that they went up to the pWestgate in military array, and called upon the constables there to surrender themselves pri soners of war. Now then, Gentlemen, let me call your attention to Matthew Williams, the fourteenth witness, and the first witness examined on the second day. I will first call your attention to that part where he endeavours to fix the prisoner, and those who were with him, with treasonable intentions, on account of the objects they had in view. He says, "We were told we were to go to Newport to stop the coaches, the post, and all traffic; be sides, we were to stop and guard the town." Now, this Gentleman, the witness, with respect to whom a very odd matter occurred about a man said to be a messenger, and called Reid or Reeves, you may remember, if e stated he lived up in the hill country, that he met, at five or six o'clock, with other persons there. Cefn was mentioned, and they went to the Oak, and also that the witness wanted very much to give his evidence in Welch, and that their Lordships very properly prevented him, as he spoke much better English than we did Welch. This witness, Gen- semen, pro.essed to be a person pressed into the ser- You will judge, Gentlemen, how far those per sons who were pressed into the service were the indivi duals most likely, as they pretend, to be made the con fidential and privy counsellor of this treason. You will also judge how far it is likely, or reasonable, or pro bable that the parties accused intended to do all that is ascribed to them by the declarations imputed to them by such witnesses as these. You will ask yourselves what is the probability, if such designs were centem- plated, that the confidants of them would be persons who had boon pressed into the service, and that to them should be confided the extent of the mischief intended to be done, and the ti eason about to be perpetrated. Well, this wit ness, after describing some of the country round about, says they went to Tredegar Park, &c., and it ap pears the party did not know where they were going, nor what they were going to do, except that they were going to Newbridge after Mr. Frost. He then says that a per- SJCI of the name of Reid came as a messenger from Frost, and that his name was George Reid. This part of the case is left in a good deal of doubt and confusion. The de positions of the witness, I believe, were read. Chief Justice Tindal—They were. Sir Frederick Pollock—Yes, and in the depositions he spoke of this messenger as George Reeves, a collier, whereas he afterwards, as he says, turned out to be George Reid, a shoemaker. Certainly it is often ex tremely convenient to fix upon a wrong man, who cannot be called to contradict you, and prove that he was else where, and then, at the last minute, turn round and sub- stitute some one else, of whom no mention has ever been made before. And it is, moreover, not very easy to explain how Williams, who knew the man—who lived within one hundred yards of him—who knew that he was married, should speak of him as George Reeves, a collier, when be turns out to be George Reid, a shoemaker. I observed that one of you, Gentlemen, put a question to this! witness of considerable importance as to how he would have addresSed this man if he had spoken to him before this transaction, and he answered, George Reeves. But, Gentlemen, that was the only way in which he could have answered such a question, and he had evinced sagacity enough to know that if he had said, " Why, I should have called him George Reid," he would have found himself in the predicament of being a detected witness to an untruth. He had, therefore, but one way to answer, and I am sure you will agree with me, that I do not press this answer too much if I say, that when you find a question put experimcntum crucis one way, and which if answered ac cording to the views of the person who puts the questior, destroys the credit of the witness, it does not follow that an opposite answer should therefore set up that cre dit. But, Gentlemen, a blunder in a name I can under stand, but how the witness can have made such a blunder in the business of a man whom he knew, who lived within a hundred yards of him, I cannot understand, and I could have wished that the question had been further put to him by you whether, prior to this transaction, hdt would have applied to this man to act as a collier or as a shoemaker. But now, Gentlemen, with these facts before us, to throw a strong doubt over the credibility of this evi dence, what is the alleged purpose which this witness re selves? He says, we were told that we were to go to Newport to stop the coaches, the post, and all traffic." This does not app ear to come directly from Frost, for if I recollect rightly, he speaks of a messenger purporting to come from Frost, and of the object of the meeting as being talked of or communicated, fOr the witness says, " When it was said we were to go to Newport, it was said we were to stop the coaches, the post," &c. Now re member, Gentlemen, " stop the post," for this is more im.. portant than the surrender of prisoners, and I shall have to call your attention pairticularly to it. Well, the witness was asked what besides th ey were to do at N e w port ; and he said " they were to strop there and gua r d the town, and that nothing more particular occurred." At that time Mr. Frost had not arrived. The witness said, and he is also confirmed by the respe( table evidence of Mr. Brough, that Mr. Fros• did not appear at the We sh Oak till break of day. Now with respect o the declaration '4* Matthew Williams, as it, dot's not come home to Mr. important. B u t you Frost at all, Ido not think it vory will judg- from the character of the man and of his corn. train:cations, whether it is ev en t rue th a t i t was ever s ,id et all. I may say it is of no irepottance, and I may say that I don't believe ; but the question is what 7%1 be lieve. I certainly hold it to be irregmar to make any ersonal declaration of my own belief in order to guide yours; and my Learn id Friend interrupt e d nee when I other day; but did so the ~ ut it is sometimes imposzible, In the teertrith of argument, for an advocate to av o id m i x i ng u p his strong personal convictions with his profeselresal repre sentations. The question; therefore, is, wh e ther Mi. Frost being absent, yen attach any Importance to it, and if you do, whether you believe the fact on the evidence of such a witness, more especially when you conic to coo sider the fallacy, the improbability, nay (as I shall presently demonittrate), the utter impossibility, of some of the propositions thus stated. d here, Gen tlemen, let me call your Lttention ,to the manner in which this case--seme part of it—has been got up. Ido not mean this in an offensive sense. I blame not those employed by the Crown and the Solicitor of the Treasury in collecting evidence; but it is quite plain that the mo• ment after the affair of the morning of the 4th November, there was a general demand for some evidence personalty against Mr. Frost. The declaration of 'the witnesses makes it quite plain that the story of the two boys, about the troops, the supposed communications to and from different persons in the course of the march, were gathered in con s..luence of the eager search, at the expense of indemnify g al! those who would furnish such evidence. Indeed, one of the witnesses expressly tells us, that when he had said what he had to say against Mr. Frost, he found him self placed in a very different situation to that in which he was before such a communication was made. I now pro ceed to the statement made by James Hodges, the fifteenth witness—but I am properly reminded by my Learned Friend, that there is also another objection to the tes timony of Matthew Williams, but of which his Lord ship would have reminded you, and which I am sure yon have not forgotten, viz., that he has been in custody for three months, not on a charge, but in consequence of a conviction for stealing. But to refer to the evidence of James Hodge, the second witness on the second morning of evidence, who was examined immediately after Matthew Williams ; he gives this account of the object they had in view :—" I went to Frost, and asked him in the name of God what was he going to do—was he going to attack any place or people ?" He said, "he was going to attack Newport, take it, and blow up or down the bridge (I can't say which), and prevent the Welsh mail from proceeding to Birmingham." He said there would be three dele gates there to wait for the coach one hour and a half after time, and if it did not arrive, then the attack would com mence at Birmingham, and from thence spread to the north of England and Scotland "and that was a signal for the whole nation." My own note which I commenced with, is more imperfect than that taken by some other persons, and to which (the Learned Gentleman re ferred to the London newspaper reports which were before him) I may now, without impropriety refer, for the purpose of refreshing my recollection. This, there fore, is the description given by this witness of the object of the great movement from Pontypool, Nantyglo, and Blackwood. It is most strange, and it cannot have es caped you, Gentlemen, as a remarkable feature in this case, that not one of those professed objects, according to the witnesses against the prisoner, was ever attempted to be car ried into execution. It may be said by my Learned Friends for the Crown, that they were totally routed or defeated long before it was time to begin any one of them. But, Gentlemen, where is the evidence even of such an intention ? I should have thought that if they had really meant to blow up the bridge, that the military possession of the post of the estgate Inn was of very small importance, compared with at once setting about that chief, that great important ob ject, which Hodge says they had in view, and which was to give the signal to the whole nation, viz., the taking Newport, blowing up the bridge, and stopping the mail from proceeding to Birmingham. Now, then, Gentlemen, let us direct our attention particularly to the point, and here I might add, to the advantages of which the Crown has not deprived the prisoners, that of your personal and local knowledge of the surrounding districts, of the temper of the inhabitants, and of the events which have taken place within the last few months, and which you may refer to as a matter of public notoriety. This advantage it was certainly competent to the Crown to have deprived us of by changing the venue. Now, lam told that the mail frem Newport to Birmingham proceeds first to Bristol, that it crosses the water at the short ferry, that is at the Old Passage, which is the shorter one of the highest up the river; and I dare say many of you are aware that the mail itself, i.e. the mail-coach, does not cross the passage at all. I cannot, Gentlemen, I have no right to press any experience of my own into this service; but I have a right to appeal to yours, whether, when you come to the passage, it is not the letters only that cross, whilst the coach itself does not go over. Indeed, it would be exceedingly silly to take a coach across a passage fre quently rough and sometimes dangerous. I understand that I shall be in a situation, if necessary, to prove the fact ; but if there be any difficulty, I dare say you know the truth. When the mail arrives at Bristol—we find that Bristol acts as a sort of general post-office for all that part of England—the letters are taken out and re-sorted, and a new mail goes on from Newport to Bristol. The same coach, then, that leaves Newport, does not cross the passage to Bristol ; the coach that carries the letters from the pas: age to Bristol does not go on from Bristol to Bir mingham ; it is not the same coach that performs either of these three journeys. How monstrous, then, how absurd, to imagine for one moment that the non-arrival of the mail from Newport to Birmingham for an hour and a half after time should be the signal for a general revolt? What effect would the blowing up of the bridge have? I am reluctant, even hypothetically, to suppose such an absurd intention on the part of Mr. Frost. Let me, then, suppose that the bridge is blown up, for that certainly would stop the mail going out of Newport. But how would it stop the mail leaving Bristol for Birmingham, in order that the three delegates might know of what had occurred at New port? Was it to be supposed that the Bristol and Bir mingham mail depended upon the arrival or non-arrival of the Newport bag, that all the north of England was dependin g for its commu n i c ations up on N ewport; or be cause the Newport bag was detained, and then the three delegates, seeing the coach, had not arrived for it to march their troops ?—and yet this is the sagacious scheme ascribed to Mr. Frost. This, according to the Crown, was the plan laid by Mr. Frost for communicating with the north of England, S and take military possession of the north. I say tharsuch a plan could give no information—l say that he might as well have agreed with the three dele gates of Birmingham to look at the same star in the Heavens at the same hour, as to adopt this mode of com munication. I think that it became the Crown, when it relied upon such a piece of evidence as this, to have gone a little further—they should have shown us some of the effects which might be supposed to have resulted from it. They have done no such thing—they have attempted to do no such thing. I do, therefore, charge this declaration of Hodges, that it is absurd not only to the verge, but actually into the impossibility of its being true. I say that if Frost had used this experiment there could be no three delegates to have taken advantage of it; there could have been none to await the non-arrival of the mail. But then you are to remark that Mr. Frost is a man of business ; he has had constant communication with Bristol ; he makes his bills payable there. I shall have occasion by and bye to show you that he had a bill coming due on the 4th November—on that very Monday—and that he had made provision for it at his banker's. I shall have occa sion to prove that he made provision for that very bill on the Friday before. I shall make use of that fact, as you all must easily perceive that it is very important to explain this business. I use the fact of Mr. Frost's being a man living in Newport, and being in the habit of transacting mercantile affairs, must have known as well as the Post master at Bristol how the mails were conveyed, and there fore must have been conscious that such a scheme must have been absurd and impossible. It is plainly the invention of the witness who put the words into the mouth of Frost. If he had uttered them he must have been raving. They could not possibly originate in his mind, for he knew well what was the mode of communication to Bristol. If the officers attach great importance to this part of the charge—to this stop ping of the post—to this stopping of all communications with the north, and it is plain that they did so, for the At torney-General condescended to dwell on it at length ; it is plain that the Crown thought it so very important that the Attorney-General stated it to you very fully; and it is one of the few parts of the case in which he favoured us with details. But if I show to you that the thing is ab surd and impossible, what becomes of the charge that rests upon that foundation ? Some mention the fact of Frost having provided fur the payment of the bill which was due upon that very day from the Friday previously ; mention it to show you that Frost communicated with Bristol. I say it because the officers of the Crown, if they meant to rely upon this part of the case, I do think it became them to show the course which the mails take for Newport and Bristol, and from Bristol to Birmingham, and not to throw upon Mr. Frost that explanation which I understand there will be no difficulty in giving. In those matters we cannot tell how far the personal knowledge of the witness will bear out the statements we are in- EVENING EDITION. the Crown an opportunity of giving evidence of this sort. You are aware that the Government has unlimited means of procuring information, and unfettered resources to bring these !Titans to bear. It shows that Hodges' declaration about the pat, whi.7. l t is the basis of the charge in this case, is completely with6: l t found.stion. My Learned Friend is not in a condition to sooty that there was any preparation in Birmingham or elsewhere to take the signal that was to be given by Mr. Frost at Newpoat, Iss this true, or is it false ? If true, must there not be a mesrernOt somewhere or another? But is it imaginary up to this moment? There is nothing to show that it is otherwise. Can you, then, by any possibility imagine that Mr. Frost had thus planned to blow up the bridge and stop the mail for an hour and a half to give information to three persons at Birmingham? Can you imagine that he arranged. without Government having some information of some meeting of some portion of the people assembling—some thing or another on the part of the people of England— to show that they F.are aware of this important communi cation. t es you waiting, o believe and there no r The evidence on this point is a complete blank. w thing. eto he There is n o suc h testimony. therefore have a r:saht to ask Therewere none—there nwoass: ele effort to be made at co-operation ; and there was none— there was to be no signal, and there was none. Harford's statement is one fabrication. It is possible that the Ma gistrates and active officers who endeavoured to trace crime to the bottom, were anxious that persons should give evidence against Mr. Frost. When this is presumes!. any one might feel that he would be encouraged, if ho came forward like Harford. But what is his story 7 He says that be was compelled to go along with them; and yet, be has the hardihood to tell their leader that he was leading them like a butcher to the slaughter-house. That was a very true, and a very just emark ; but here was a man who was forced—be was under compulsion ; and yet it is to be supposed that he was speaking to the leader, in the face of the men to whom he had given this explanation. He was asked if any one heard him, or in whose presence this bsd taken place. He could not tell us, all he could say was, that he was compelled to enter in this service, and that he expostulated with Mr. Frost ; that he remonstrated with him. This man said he had the hardihood to remonstrate wish him, in the face of the multitude, in terms that were true and just, yet the first opportunity that occurred he tnadas his retreat. I : - oive not done with Hodges yet, for it is only by taking this ease piecemeal, and examining it in de tail, that a person will be able to get at the trutb, or come to a just conclusion. This is the way, the only way, of getting to the value of such testimony. There is no act done by Mr. Frost, there is Co act to give to the trans action of the prisoner the char actor of treason. There is nothing else in the case, unless you rely on the evi dence of Hodges. His deposition was read to him when he was cross-examined by my Learned Friend, He said that a man came in with a glazed hat, that he came from Newport, that the soldiers were all Chartists, and that their arms were piled up. This Ras infinitely absurd, it could not be believed, and yet it was brought in at an instance of the truth. And yet how comes this man to make any such statement ? Hodges told us that he did not make it until the other day—that he did not tell it before the Magistrates when ,he was making his depo sitions. My Learned Friend asked him if he did not think it to be material and important. The answer was, " Yes." And yet, when he was examined before the Magistrates, he was asked how so vei v important a piece of evidence came to be emitted' by him. It is for you to judge of the nature of such testimony, and upon that fact to stamp your judgment, one way or another; but I would also add to this the at:surdity of the story. Hodges admits that be was at ..licnne and in bed at ten in the morning. He admits that, and I believe that we have the means of showing that he was at home and in bed at nine in the morning, or very little after that time. He escaped at a dark hour of a November morning, and be had some twelve or thir teen miles to go, and to be in his bed by ten in the morn ing. He had even to go over a cross road. Recollect these things, and then you will find that the conversation which my Learned Friend made him fix at Pie-corner, could not possibly have taken place. Like the witness George Reid, he was obliged to make the conversation to occur at the break of the day. His story will be found, looking at the time he reached home, os not consistent with truth, much less with probability; We have the evidence of the brewer, that Mr. Frost returned to the Welsh Oak, and was there at the break of day. It is then quite certain that, looking both at the distance and the time, it ia impos sible that this man could have had any such conversadon as he says he had. I have then to call your attention to the absurd, the ill-supported, and the monstrous charge thstt is founded on the testimony of Hedges. First, observe, k that Hodges suppressed an important part of his testi mony before the Magistrates. Ido not stop to go through the whole of my Learned Friend's cross-examina tion; for I perceive that you attended to it, as you have during the whole progress of the case. But I pass now to the evidence of James James, who is the witness No. 17, and who was called the second day, the next but one . after James Harding. He said that some noon came to Zephaniah Williams. to whom Williams said that he hoped they would all come safe back, and that nobody would be killed. I apprehend that this conversation re lated to the dangerous weapons which they carried, and which, I own, were calculated to cause alarm, and to do a great deal of mischief. But the question is, whether they all went there as a matter of life or death more than once ? Remark, that it is proved that Zephaniah Williams told the people that they were to keep the peace. I dare say that it is one feature of this transaction which has not escaped your notice—that the people were desired to take food with them ; that it was not to be expected that they were to forage on their enemies, The real object—l trust I shall satisfy you As to what it was—the real object of the movers, it will be seen, was not disturbance when they desired the people to take food with them, the better that they might secure the preservation of the peace. We have the words of Williams, " I hope that all may get safe back ;" and " I hope that nobody may be killed." The next !Arson who gives testimony as to these who spoke is William Howell, and we have him saying that he heard Zephaniah Williams express the command that there should be no shedding of blood, or any man hurt ; but that all might return to their own homes, in peace. The next witness was James Woolford, the game keeper to Mr: Phelps, who is concerned in the prosecu tion in this case. Mr. Phelps is a gentleman of as much zeal, and as much earnestness, and as much intelligence, as any one by t whom I have had the honour •of being in structed, an it cannot but be considered as natural, when he is engage d in this prosecution, that those about him should be disposed to give him every assistance. This man said that the Chartists declared they were going to take Newport. We do not know whether this is to be inter preted as the idle expression of some one that the witness heard, and who 7deslared, either that they were goiis; to Newport, or viiiaig to take Newport. That might have been all fancy, or some one might have said that which wa., the expression of another witness, "going to take a turn to Newport." The expression was one which the gamekeeper might - have heard and mistaken, and not knowing its "Peening, have interpreted as going to take Newport. The next witness was Thomas Saunders ; he was the twenty fifth, and he deposed that he asked Williams where he was going ? Williams said, " Why ?" " Because," said the witness, " some of the men say you are going to Mon mouth to draw Vincent out of gaol." Williams said, "We are not going to attempt any such thing, we are going to take a turn as far as Newport." I have collected together, and picked up, every particle of evidence that tended to throw a light upon the object of these persons: I think it much better that you should have them thus collected, the better to enable you to determine upon the °bk. cts of these parties. Look then at Saunders's testimony', rind see what does it amount to? Why, said Williams, a: you inquire what is the object of their march ?—Way Because some of the men have said that you are going to Monmouth to draw Vincent out of prison ; and Williams said, we do not mean any such attempt, we are only going to take a turn to Newport And now that I have arrived at this point of the evidence, I mean to glance at what was the true character of the whole proceeding. Vin cent had been tried for sedition. His sedition was that which was avowed in language impossible to defend —lan guage which I admit was dangerous to the peace, and possi bly fatal to the good order of society; and for this offence of sedition be was then a prisoner. He was considered by the Chas-fists as a martyr to the cause which he supported, and that it behoved them to evince their sympathy with hins s and for that purpose meetings were held. I think you re member the statements that were read about Frost and Edwards. They gave a character to that meeting—they show that it was wished to take men out of the gaol of Monmouth. And I believe I shall be able to give you some direct and positive evidence that it had been con templated by large bodies of those ignorant men that they would be enabled to free him from prison. Frost depre cated any such violence as that. He considered it would be highly dangerous to peace and civil order. Frost did not advise, but be permitted the mach to Newport. Lie permitted them to do so lest in their desperation they might take some resolution fatal to the public peace. With that intention only he accompanied them, or permitted them to go to Newport, for the purpose of making their appearance toi•re, and showing their strength previously to making another application to the Magistrates to release Vincent from imprisonment, or at least to render the character of his imprisonment less severe. And I say there is one passage in the evidence of the Crown which proves this structed to make. I believe, however, your Lordships on the Bench, several gentlemen at the bar, and I believe that many of you, Gentlemen, there kr() v the truth of that which I now open to you. Letters go from Newport in a coach which does not cross the ferry. They are then taken up on another coach, which does not cross the ferry, and they are then taken to Bristol, where there is a general office where they are sorted and sent to the West of England. This Mr. Fro , t well knew ; and yet H o d ges would induce you to believe that he El 3 guilty of the ab surdity and folly of making a communication to the three -elegates at Birmingham,. who were to wait for an hour and a half for the non-arrival of the Welsh mail. Now, if Newport bridge . was blown up or blown down—if the letters in it were singed or burned —if Mr Frort got pos session of the . bag — still the ma il that left Bristcl would reach Birmingham in a proper hour. I say, that of all the unc o nn ected and absu r d stor i es that everwere made for the purpose of being presented to intelligent men, this is the most absurd; and yet it is by its means that you are called upon to fix upon th e pr i soner at the b ar the highest crime of which he can be guilty against society. Having, I trust, then effectually removed this charge of the in tention to blow u p t h e b r i dge, and thereby giving a s i gnal to Birmingham, Manchester, and the North of England for a general riot, I procee d to make another remark. I t hi n k it was said that when this occurred it was to be known at Birmingham and London on Monday night. There is an absurdity in this very statement. The mail was not to ave tilt the evening of that day, I believe not until Tue.- day ; this shows you the absurdity of the idea of stopping the mail. It only shows you that the remainder of the statement is perfectly inconsistent, and will ultimately turn out as being utterly without foundation. lam re minded that this was no part of HoJges's, but part of Har ford's, the twenty-eighth witness. He .tated that the mails were to be stoppod, and that the information was to arrive in Birn i igham on Monday night. I should have suspected if there were any foundation for this r art as connected with Hodges's statement, that my L arned Friend would have proved on tl o part of the Crown something showing that there were preparations in Birmingham, or that something was done by the people of the north of England to correspond with the supposed riots at Newport. According to the rule of one of your Lord ships this declaration of Hodges would have opened to to be the case ; for one man in the crowd said he was told they were going to Newport to take Vincent ont of prison ; but Williams said they did not mean to make any such attempt. Mr. Frost was proved to have held the very same language ; but as there was a desire to do some thing on behalf of the prisoner Vincent, he permitted them to go as far as Newport, to show their strength and numbers, and the deep interest that was felt on the part of so many persons for Vincent, and then afterwards mak ing another appeal for his liberation. It was to see whe ther an exhibition on the part of the Chartists would not benefit him in whose condition they took so lively an in terest. I now proceed to those declarations in which the whole of the case of the Crown is involved. John Han ford, who is the second witness examined on the third day, says that Frost intended, and said they should first go to tne new poor-house, and take the soldiers and their arms, and that there was plenty of powder in the town, which they should take and blow up the bridge, and stop the Welch mail, which would be a signal to the men in the North, and that they would begin in the North on Monday night. You will see how far this story is involved in the same story as that of Hodge of stopping the mails. I do not mean to repeat the observations I made on that subject ; if I did so I should exhaust all your attention, and strength, without accomplishing any useful purpose. You can judge of the justice of the remarks which I have already made on this point. He adds, that they were to begin on Monday night. This man underwent a cross-examination from my Learned Friend. If you recollect, he quibbled at first about being in custody, about his stopping in the poor house—his being bound to stop there—and about his being let go. He had, he said, a few words with a man about Frost. He said a person talked to him about Frost—that he was a person whose name he did not remember—that , he never remembered his name—that he never knew his name ; he said that man told him that if be knew anything of Mr. Frost, and if he were in his place, he would tell it. Here, Gentlemen, you will perceive that a person is sont