The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-21 00:00:00

°F a Town Council ; the Town Council of New-
port recommended Mr. FROST to him ; the citizens
had chosen him as Mayor; he appeared before
Lord JOHN RUSSELL as possessing the confidence
of the great bulk of the inhabitants of Newport, and
Lord JOHN RUSSELL knowing nothing more of
him than that recommendation—refusing, we pre-
sume, to listen to what was said against his conduct
thirteen years prior to that time—had his name put
On the Commission as a Justice of the Peace for
Newport. In that Lord JOHN RUSSELL was fully
justified. Mr. FROST'S previous conduct by no
means disqualified him for the office. When he had
redeemed himself in the eyes of his fellow-citizens
Other men were not justified in visiting on him the
sins of his younger days. We agree with the Man-
chester Guardian, which says :

Frost did not acquire influence because he was made
a magistrate ; he was made a Magistrate because he
had acquired influence,—not, as the Times expresses it,
amongst Chartist and other conspirators," for at the
beginning of the year 1836, when he was appointed a
Magistrate, there were neither Chartists nor conspira-
tors in existence. He had acquired influence in the
'Own Council of Newport, who recommended him
t° Lord John Russell to be placed upon the
Fattmission of peace for the borough. An ob-
Jection was undoubtedly made to his fitness for the
°flee ; but it was made by a person who had been in-
volved in litigation with him ; and Lord John Russell
would have been liable to very just censures, if, without
turther inquiry, he had refused, on any such ground, to
Place Frost's name upon the commission. His Lord-
'hip took the step which every fair and candid man will
admit to be the most correct that he could have adopted
Under the circumstances ; he consulted the Lord-
Lieutenant of the county, who resides in the neigh-
bourhood, and must have been ;cognizant of the facts ;
and at his recommendation Frost was appointed a Ma-
gistrate.
It may have been—indeed the result shows it was
`-the fact, that Frost was not a fit man for a Magis-
t,rate ; but Lord John Russell, who could know no-
tZuing of him personally, and who must therefore take
" Opinion from others, would have behaved strangely
'fldeed if he had set at nought the recommendations
°f a public body like the Town Council, and a public
°Beer like the Lord Lieutenant of the county, and
had
acted on the representations of an individual, who,
however respectable he might be, was avowedly a per-
be enemy of Frost, and had previously prosecuted
"Lin for libel.

The attempts of the Tory Journals to fasten
blame on Lord JOHN RUSSELL for appointing
4r• VROST to the Magistracy, like their other at-
tempts to depreciate merits they can never possess,
Will only recoil on themselves. Lord JOHN RUS-
6tLL is unhurt, but they must be branded with
haying wantonly and cruelly persecuted Mr. FROST.

We do not disguise from our readers that we are

tar greater Reformers than the Whigs. We look
further, and we see, we think, the road which society
must inevitably traverse; but we are desirous that
those whom long prescription have placed at its
lihead should continue in advance and lead it forward.
we wish accordingly that the progress should be
gradual, regular, and safe. To proceed too slowly at
ute time only makes greater haste more necessary at
another. To stop altogether compels afterwards a
startling velocity. We are for continued progress,
t° avoid the shock of hasty jumps and the friction
°I violent revolution.

Such a course requires that our guides be neither
"Pr?ciated nor too frequently changed. As advo-
cates-and friends of the popular progress—of the
successful advance of the democracy, we should
see
with great pleasure the pains now taken both
.Ithe mere Whig and Tory, but especially by the
tLerY Journals, to run down certain members of
e Aristocracy, but we apprehend that if the pre-
4entrace be ruined in the national respect before the
Bentirnent of veneration for an Aristocracy be at an
end,l that its power will fall into the hands of men
:4 worthy even than the present are represented to
On the whole, then, we see with more regret
than surprise the virulent attacks which are made
by, the Times on the whole body of the Aristocracy,
roligh the sides of the Court and the Ministers.
"Thatll corresponds with the general vocation of the
lur'ek-bat-and-bludgeon Journal. But we see with
6 surprize even than regret that the very aris-
c thratic Post and the reverential Standard follow
e sake course. All the Tory Journals now unite
t run down the Court and the Aristocracy, because
the Whigs are in office.
The exalted Post seems to us to have forgotten
its chief duty, when it forced the public to con-
teutPlate, week after week, according to its ver-
lilen, the scandalous case of Lady FLORA
b 414sTINGs. The Standard overlooked the re-
verence which it thinks due to the great, by
maintaining which alone can their power be pre-
-Berved, when it re-produced the stories of the Post
and the virulent attacks of the Times.

Nothing is more natural than that such a
"Durse on the part of the Tory journals should
!4`lBe attacks by the Whig journals, on the vul-
nerable and far from immaculate Tories. If we did
not prefer the public peace even to the progress of
1,
ernoeracy, instead of warning the Whig and Tory
Journals of the consequence of their conduct, we
8
of the
join in the warfare against the private lives
1 4 tile Tories, which offer an admirable mark,
rld encourage our Contemporaries to proceed in
their mutual attacks. Most effectually are the
T °rY Journals, by their incessant exposure of the
morals of the Court, and by provoking the attacks
°f the Whig Journals on the morals of the Tories,
"0 are at present not of the Court, doing the work
°f the Republicans.. Their cause, by its own
merits,
is thriving rapidly, and needs not and courts
not the aid of aristocraijc Journals, which, from
tarty malignity, are ,traitors 10 the cause of the
Aristocracy.

We rejoice to find that the spell which has so
l: ng bound the Nonconformist community is broken
t last. The Dissenters of Leicester, as will be
Beell by our report of the great meeting held in that
(rt°wn last week, have nobly taken the lead in vin-
'eating he great principles of religious liberty, so
grossly violated in the person of JOHN THORO-
(0", and in denouncing the unchristian and in-
humanl spirit of persecution displayed by the State-
endowed Church towards him and others, who, like
htm, refuse to bend their necks to her yoke of
bondage, and think it a duty to obey Gov rather
than man.

It has been alleged that the exertions of the
Dissenters have been less actively put forth, in this
case, than they would have been had there not existed
certain Societies' formed for the express purpose of
protecting the interests of civil and religious liberty,
to which Societies it belongs to watch motions
of the persecuting parsons, and succour, if they
eannot rescue, those •rho have the misfortune to
fall into their clutches. We are not disposed to
Question the truth of this allegation. We are
Willin that it should be received as an apology for
that apparent want of sympathy with the sufferings
of a martyr for conscience' sake, and indifference
to the principles of Nonconformity, which has
°larked the conduct of the Dissenting body since
j°l-114 THoRoGooD was thrown into the common
gaol of Chelmsford. But whether it shall be so
received or not, must depend entirely on the course
which they now pursue.
The delusion that the Societies alluded to will
interfere, is at an end. They have not stirred, and
they will not stir, a finger in the cause. No man
who is not wilfully blind can any longer deceive
himself on this point. It is, therefore, the duty
f the Dissenters, if they value their consistency,
to Come fonvard and take up the matter them-
elves frankly .and fearlessly. Do they want an
example? Let them look to Leicester. They will
there both see whi.Nt their duty is, and learn how
to perform it. If they shrink from the performance,
they must take the oonsoquences.

t will be seen from a statement which we have
copied from the Watchman, the organ of the Wes-