The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-27 00:00:00

CASE OF FROST, WILLIAMS,

AND JONES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sir,—.With this letter I beg to hand you a copy of a
petition which I forwarded to Lord Normanby on Monday
last, with a request that he would lay the same before the
Queen.

I also send herewith a copy of a letter which I have
since received from his Lordship's Secretary.
I shall feel much obliged by your allowing those docu-
ments to appear in your Paper of to-morrow, and pro-
bably you will be good enough to give insertion to this let-
ter also, and thus afford me an opportunity of making
known to those who have felt interested in the case of these
unfortunate men, that I went to .Portsmouth on Thursday
last for the purpose of seeing them, and that I had two
interviews with them of some duration. I had to undergo
in those interviews a truly heart-rending scene. The pri-
soners were confined in a small cell, which they were not
permitted to leave under any circumstances. They were
clad in a dress which I shall not attempt to describe, and
each had on the right leg an iron manacle. They were
greatly depressed, but more particularly Mr. Frost and
Mr. Williams. The former is evidently fast drooping into
eternity, borne down by mental anguish and bodily decay.
They all firmly and frequently declared they would rather
have undergone the extreme penalty of the law than the
pain and torture inflicted by the suspense in which they
were kept at Monmouth, by the manner in which they were
removed from thence, and by the mental and bodily suffer-
ing they ate now enduring.
I abstain from further comment at present, it being my
intention shortly to address a series of letters to the British
public on all the bearings of this extraordinary case, in
which will be embodied a volume of matter supported by
unquestionable and convincing evidence, which will not
only tend to palliate the offence of which these unfortunate
men have been guilty, but will necessarily create an im-
pression and produce a conviction in the public mind, which
facts warrant, and which justice has long demanded.
I am, Sir, your very obedient servant,
Tavistock Hotel, Feb. 26., W. F. GEACH.

TO THE QUEEN'S MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY.
The humble petition of Sarah Roberts, widow, who is now
in the 81st year of her age, mother of John Frost (a
prisoner on board your Majesty's transport ship the
York, at Gosport), of Mary Frost, the wife of the said
John Frost; Elizabeth Frost, Sarah Fry, late Sarah
Frost, Catherine Frost, Ellen Frost, Ann Frost, and
Henry FroSt, the children of the said John Frost,
humbly showeth—
That your petitioners' unfortunate relative Mr. John
Frost bath lately been found guilty of a high offence
against the laws of your Majesty's realm :
That your petitioners deeply deplore the infatuation
which plunged their unfortunate relative into the commis-
sion of that offence, and your petitioners do and must ever
continue to feel deep and poignant regret and sorrow at the
fatal and calamitous consequences which followed the
offence in which their unfortunate relative has been involved.
That your petitioners have ever found their unfortunate
relative affectionate, kind, and indulgent, and humane in
all the relations of social life, and your petitioners humbly
beg permission to express to your Majesty their united and
honest belief and conviction that their unfortunate relative
became involved in the assemblage of persons that pro-
ceeded to Newport on the 4th of November last, and
which terminated so fatally under circumstances of over-
whelming apprehension, without a suspicion that such dis-
astrous consequences would have ensued, and free from the
contemplation of any attack upon persons or property.
That your petitioners beg to represent to your Majesty
that within the period of a fortnight antecedently to the
4th day of November, your petitioners' unfortunate rela-
tive had been confined to his bed for many days by a severe
attack of illness, and that at that time, as also upon other
then recent occasions, he ha l manifested an absence and
an aberration of mind, and an alteration of conduct, which
was observed and remarked upon, not only by your peti-
tioners, but by professional men and others, who are pre-
pared solemnly to depose to the truth of these your peti-
tioners' humble representations.
That your petitioners have been informed that a doubt
exists as to the legality of the conviction of their unfortu-
nate relative, six of the fifteen of your Majesty's judges
having decided that such conviction is illegal, and two out
of the three of the Learned Judges, who alone, as your
petitioners are informed, were invested with lawful au-
tho: ity to try your petitioners' unfortunate relative, having
decided that such conviction was illegal.
Your petitioners humbly pray that by your Majesty's
gracious interposition the full benefit of the doubt so exist-
ing may, in conformity with the humane spirit and principle
of criminal jurisprudence, as established and recognized
within your Majesty's realms, be secured and extended to
your petitioners' unfortunate relative, and to his follow-
prisoners. And that in consideration of the facts set
forth in this your petitioners' humble appeal, and in
the righteous exercise of the extended clemency which
has heretofore characterised the nuptial hour of Royalty
within these realms, and in merciful consideration for
your Majesty's bereaved and heart-broken petitioners,
an aged mother and unprotected wife and children,
who are innocent of any offence in thought or deed
against your Majesty's sacred person or laws, that your
Majesty will be graciously pleased to extend to your peti-
tioners' unfortunate relative, and to his fellow-prisoners, a
free pardon, thereby affording your petitioners the means
of lessening, as far as human efforts may avail, the remorse
and anguish of mind under which their unfortunate and
deluded relative is doomed to linger out his few re-
maining years.

And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.
SARAH ROBERTS. CATHERINE FROST.
MARY FROST. ELLEN FROST.
ELIZABETH FROST. H. H. FROST. -
SARAH FR T. ANN FROST.