The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-28 00:00:00

Flcos 's TRIAL

TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS
• 'OF NORMANBY.
Taystock Hotel, Covent Garden, Dec. 6,1339.
My LORD—In my letter of the 22d ult., which I
had the honour of addressing to your Lordship, I took
the liberty of calling your attention to a report which
was in circulation, and the truth of which has been since
confirmed, to the effect, that the trial of Mr. Frost and
others, who stand charged with treason, would take
place in the course of the present month, and I felt it
my duty to call your Lordship's attention to the
injustice that would be committed in bringing those par-
ties to trial before their cases could, by any possibility,
have had that perfect attention and mature deliberation
which the magnitude of the offence with which they are
charged imperatively demands and requires.
Your Lordship's reply to that letter does not in any
way notice the appeal therein made, and I, therefore,
feel compelled again to obtrude upon your Lordship,
and to implore your kt,:rposition, so far at least as to se-
cure to my clients somewhat more of probability than at
present exits of their being afforded a full and an
impartial trial. This, my Lord, can only bm secured by
time, by a fair and reasonable postponement of the day
of trial—a postponement loudly called for by the voice
of humanity and of justice, and sanctioned by the
usages of all our Courts of Law, not only by those of
criminal, but also by those of civil jurisprudence.
May I be allowed to call your Lordship's attention to
the case of Archibald Bolam. That, my Loyd, was a
case of the most revolting barbarity. The offending
criminal was found deluged in the gore of his unoffend-
ini victim ; and yet, my Lord, in that case an appeal
to the Judge secured a delay of several months, on the
ground of the excited state of public feeling and the
prejudice which had been created against the pri,oner.
It is possible, my Lord—or perhaps I should say highly
probable—that an appeal to the Judges appointed to
try my clients v‘ll be responded to with huma-
nity and consideration, the pros erbial characteristics
of those who at the present day honour and adorn the
judgment seat of this country. In the Judges appointed
to preside at the trial of my clients, I have every con-
fidence that man can have in roan ; but, my Lord, I
know that the Judges of the land are governed by
established rules, and I am not aware how far their
authority to postpone these trial. might extend, when
acting under powers delegated to them by virtue of a
Special Commission.

I have, my Lord, tak,in leave to call your Lordship's
attention to the recent ease of Archibald Bolam, and I
could here mention a variety of other cases wherein a
similar course has been pursued, but were I to pro-
ceed to call your Lordship's attention to the several in-
stances in detail, in ouch the trials of accused parties
have been postponed under circumstances far less press-
ing than those which exist in the case of my clients, it
would imply the existence of a doubt in my mind of
Your Lordship's acquaintance with those canes, a doubt
which I do not, and would not, for one moment enter.
taln. I would there:Cre only ask your Lordship to give
those cases and the cash of my clients your full consi-
deration, to reflect upon the nature of the offence with
which My clients are charged, upon the consequence of
a conviction, and upon the awful reso.onsibility that
must neceasarily attach to those, who, haring the means
of securing to the accused parties a full and fair trial,
shall hare refused their interposition, and by hat refusal
shall, in effect, have caused those parties to he con-
demned untried, uoluserd, and undefended.
There is, my Lord, another matter to which I beg to
be allowed to appeal to your Lordship.
I am concerned in the whole for, I believe, upwards
of thirty prisoners, at present confined in the connty
gaol of Monmouth upon charges of treason and sedition.
Most of these men are poor and destitute ;. none of
them are wealthy. They have not the means of de-
' fending themselves, and the question arises, how am I
to perform the duties imposed upon me. Tho cost of
counsel alone will amount to nothing short of 1,000/.
for lie there will be no circuit bar, counsel must be taken
down specially, and the other expences necessarily at-
tendant upon the defence of so luau r...rsons will,
amount to little short of .500/. more.

The Crowe in the prosecution will be ,tided by all
the forensic ability (and truly gigantic is the ability)
now at its command, as well as hy all the means and
appliances of an unlimited public purse, cod all this, my
Lord, is, I admit, as it should ht. But when I direct
my observation to these facts, when I conteitplate the
phalanx of talent that will iJe arrayed against my clients
as well as the resources without bran!: possessed by
those who, in the fair and legitimate performance
of their duty, are conducting these prosecutions,
I cannot, my Lord, contemplate the relative posi-
tion of my clients but with the mast painful
disquietude and with the most agonising suspense, and
I feel that it would be extremely wrong in me to con-
tend against that overwhelming power which will be

brought to bear against my clients, without first appeal-
ing for aid to the justice of the Government of which
your Lordship is a memLer. In that feeling I ask
tour Lordship to recommend to the Lords of her Ma-
jesty's Treasury to grant such a sum as will be suffi-
cient to secure to those prisoners who have no means
wherewith to defend themselves, or who have not am-
ple means for that purpose, a sum sufficient to s,cure
for them the best defence that human talent can be ca-
pable of affording.
There is perhaps one mode by which the funds required
for the prisoner's defence might be procured without
invoking your Lordship's sense of justice—namely,
by a public appeal to the sympathies of the
party in Monmouthshire, and the adjoining counties,
entertaining the same political views with those of my
clients. I believe, my Lord, that by personally appear-
ing amongst that party the means would be obtained.
To this course I have been frequently urged, but, my
Lord, I shrink from the hazardous undertaking of adding
to the present excitement, because it is possible, in order
that my appeal might be effectual, that I should be
compelled to state facts and use arguments which upon
all occasions, but more especially in times like the pre-
sent, I should indeed regret to have recourse to. To
secure to the prisoners, however, the best defence and
protection the English bar can afford, I shall, if other
means fail, feel impelled by a sense of imperative duty
to pursue the course that has been suggested, and all,
save personal honour, shall be involved in a struggle to
obtain for them that to which law, justice, and huma-
nity pronounce them to be entitled.
But, my Lord, when I call to mind the various
and continued acts of clemency that marked your ex-
ercise of the Vice-Regal authority, with which you
were invested in the Sister Kingdom, I am inspired
with a strong and fervent hope that your Lordship will
use your powerful influence not only to cause the trial
of my clients to be postponed to such time as shall
allow public feeling to have regained its usual compo-
sure, and the public prejudices to have subsided, but
that you will also recommend the Lords of her Majesty's
Treasury to respond to the appeal which I have before
urged.

This appeal, my Lord, does not emanate from one
who is or ever has been the political partizan of the un-
fortunate prisoners. What the views entertained by so
humble an individual as myself arc, can be of little
importance ; but I may with propriety say here that
I have never been involved in any political agita-
tion ; I am not, nor ever have been, an advocate
for the principles embodied in what is termed the
People's Charter ; it is my pride to be of a party whose
exertions have ever been directed to the maintenance
and support of the British Constitution, and whose
earnest desire is that of transmitting it to posterity in
all its purity. To ensure that end, my Lord, the power
possessed by those in authority should be exercised so as
to maintain the authority of the law, and the respect and
confidence of the party governed.
This, my Lord, forms one feature in the course that
has hitherto marked your career as a Statesman, and
the uniform clemency of that course has imparted addi-
tional lustre to the brightest gems that can adorn the
Monarch's Crown—those of justice and mercy.
Allow the same spirit that has influenced your Lord-
ship upon all other occasions to extend itself to your
deliberation upon the case of my clients. In accordance
with the spirit of our criminal jurisprudence, let not
revenge for the past, but security for the future, be
the principle of action governing and guiding those to
whem the prosecution of my clients shall be confided.
As the Solicitor of the prisoners, my Lord, I have
had continued opportunities of learning much as to
the feeling at this moment pervading the masses in
various densely populated districts. Allow me, my
Lord, to assure you most respectfully, though advis-
edly, that it is not by any unhallowed persecutions, nor
by violent measures, that peace and harmony are to be
restored in those districts in which insubordination has
been and still is stalking abroad undiscovered and un-
suspected.

The Government with which you are connected, my
Lord, has at this moment an opportunity of acquiring
and securing the confidence of the millions, and of re-
storing and establishing peace and tranquillity through.
out the land. You now have an opportunity, my
Lord, of acquiring for your Royal Mistress,—to
whom God grant a long and happy reign I
—the love and veneration of the millions of
her Majesty's subjects ; and you have the means
of causing her Majesty's nuptial year to be ushered
in amidst the united voice of those millions joined
in one universal prayer for her Majesty's earthly
tranquillity and eternal welfare. May you, my Lord,
under the auspicious guidance of :a Divine
.Providence,
pursue that course whereby those ends are to be achieved.
My Lord, my letter has extended itself far beyond
what I had intended, and I must not further tres-
pars upon you. If I have already obtruded too far
upon your Lordship, I most humbly apologize, but I
trust you will ascribe the obtrusion not to any absence
of that high respect and consideration, which I am bound
to entertain for your Lordship, but to an anxiety of
mind attendant upon the onerous and painful respon-
sibility which has been thrown upon me.
I have the honour to be, soy Lord,
Your very obedient, humble servant,
W. F. GEACH.

THE REPLY.

Whitehall, Dec. 10, 1839.

Six—l am directed by the Marquis of Normanby to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th inst.
Lord Normanby directs me to inform you, that your
application for a postponement of the trials of the pri-
soners lately committed for high treason should be ad-
dressed in the usual course, as you must be aware, to the
Judges appointed under the Special Commission, and
that it would not be proper or regular for him to interfere.
Lord Normanby is confident that all application on
behalf of the prisoners will receive from the Judges the
fullest consideration, and that all will be done by them
which can justly be done, for ensuring to them a fair
and impartial trial.

Upon that part of your letter, in which you request
Lord Normanby "to recommend to the Lords of her
Majesty's Treasury to grant such a sum as will be suffi-
cient to secure to those prisoners who have no means
wherewith to defend themselves, or who have not ample
means for that purpose, a sum sufficient to secure for
them the best defence that human talent may be capable
of affording,"—Lord Normanby directs me to inform
you that a compliance with this request is entirely out
of his power.
Lord Normanby directed a letter to be addressed to
you on the , which he hopes you have re-
ceived, informing you that you would be allowed to take
copies and extracts from the papers seized in possession
of Frost, in whose defence you are engaged.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
S. M. PHILLIPPS.
W. F. Geach, Esq.

The following petition was afterwards forwarded to
tho Queen's Most Excellent Majesty—
May it please your Majesty,
The humble petition of us, the undersigned pri-
soners, in your Majesty's gaol, at Monmouth, upon
charges of treason and sedition, and other charges
arising out of the late disturbances a* Newport,
humbly showeth,—
That your Majesty's petitioners are to take their
trials on or about the 31st day of the present month of
December, 1839.

That your Majesty's petitioners are to be tried under,
and by virtue of, a Special Commission, and that there
will be no Circuit Bar on the occasion of the said trials.

That your Majesty's petitioners are destitute of the
increased means, thereby rendered necessary, for pro-
curing the aid of able and experienced counsel to con.
duct their defence.

That several of your Majesty's petitioners stand
charged with the crime of high treason, and that bills of
indictment for that offence have been presented to the
Grand Jury and have been duly found.
_ .

That your Majesty's petitioners humbly but honestly
and truly beg to be allowed to offer their assurance to
your Majesty that ycur petitioners never entertained
either individually or otherwise any feeling or spirit of
hostility, or irreverence against your Majesty's sacred
person, rights, or immunities, nor against the Constitu-
tion r f your Majesty's realms as by law established.
Your Majesty petitioners therefore humbly pray to
be allowed to seek at your Majesty's bands, and that
your Majesty will be pleased to grant, that pecuniary
assistance which will enable your petitioners to establish
in the face of their fellow countrymen their innocence
of the high and penal offence with which they are
charged, and of evidencing to foreign nations that of
whatever other degree of offence your petitioners might
be guilty, there does not exist, on the part of your
Majesty's petitioners, and (as your petitioners believe)
of your Majesty's subjects generally, any spirit of dis-
loyalty or irreverence against your Majesty's sacred
person, rights and immunities, nor against the Esta-
blished Constitution of your Majesty's realm.
And your Majesty's petitioners will ever pray.
(Signed by 38 prisoners.)

THE REPLY TO THE PETITION.

Whitehall, Dec. 26, 1839.

Sir,—l am directed by the Marquis of Normanby
to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st
inst., transmitting a petition, addressed to the Queen,
from the several prisoners confined at Monmouth, upon
charges arising out of the late disturbances at Newport,
and to acquaint you that Lord Normanby cannot re-
commend to her Majesty to give orders for the granting
of pecuniary aid, as prayed for in the petition above-
mentioned towards the defence of the petitioners on their
trial for high treason and other charges.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
S. M. PHILLIPS.
W. F. Genii, Esq.
Tavistock Hotel, Covent-garden.

CHRISTMAS.--A eombination of circumstances
at this period tends to render the duty of active bene-
volence towards our necessitous fellow-creatures doubly
imperative on those possessing, the comforts of life, and
more than ordinarily acceptable to the recipients of it.

THE BRITISH QUEEN STEAM

SHIP.

The following is a list of passengers by the British
Queen :
Baron Blane, Esq., Charles E. Levy, Esq., S. Chinon,
Esq., Sep. Wiggins, Esq., C. W. Dayton, Esq. ; M. P.
Drummond, Scotch Fusilier Guards, and servant; Wil-
liam Chapman, Esq. ; Captain Eveleigh, 32d Regiment;
John Gordon, 93d Highlanders ; J. C. Sinton, Esq ;
Colonel J. Heth, U. S. Army ; F. Foster, Esq. ; T. Y.
Hall, Esq. ; A. Warrick, Esq. and Lady; Alfred Sandi-
man, El., William Ritchie, Egq., Captain Sarlad, M. F.,
Vit. de 1 emerin, Esq., Ramon Ruiz, Esq., W. Jamieson,
Esq., L. L, de Janon, Esq., Benjamin Sumner, Esq. ;
John Carthew, R.N., Lady, and Servant; Rev. Van
Lennep and Lady ; Miss Mitford, S. Lunnell, Esq.,
W. Smith. Esq., N. G. Carnes, Esq., J. B. Forsyth,
Esq., C. Thomson, Esq., R. Crowther, Esq., Joseph
Mitford, Esq., Isaac Heywood, Esq., R. C. Burke, Esq.,
S. C. Foulke, Esq., and Edward Green, Esq.

ABSTRACT OF THE LOCI OF TIE STEAM-BOAT BRITISH

QUEEN.