The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-02 00:00:00

MOi I UTH SPECIAL
Cu AI

TRIAL 'OF FROST—OBJE6TION
• RESERVED.
M'ONMOUTH, WED?iiSDAY Neenr.
This morning the greatest interest prevailed to hear the
trial, and at a very early hour all the avenues of the
Court were besieged. The moment it was known that an
objection affecting the validity of the indictment was
raised, the interest increased tenfold' it being the general
opinion that if the Counsel for the defence could succeed
in getting that point reserved the lives of the prisoners at
least would be safe. Mr. P. O'Connor was in the Court
the whole day.
TRIAL OF MR. JOHN FROST.
The prisoner was placed at the bar precisely at nine
o'clock.
Mr. Talbot opened the case on the part of the Crown.
The indictment, he said, charged the prisoner, John
Frost, with other persons, as being guilty of the crime of
high treason. The firstvount stated that he had levied
war against our Sovereign Lady the Queen—that count
stated certain overt acts. The second count stated a
levying of war, but no overt acts. The third count was
foe, compassing and imagining to depose the Queen ; and'
the fourth count for conspiring to levy war againgst the
Queen to compel her to change her councils.
Sir F. Pollock said that lie presumed that his Learned
Friend was then about to open the facts of the case, and
he, therefore, with the permission of the Court, and per-
haps
with that of the Learned Attorney-General, took
that which was the earliest opportunity afforded to him, to
make an objection, which must be disposed of before a
single witness could be put in the box.
The Attorney. General said he should interfere.
Sir F. Pollock said the objection he had to make must
come out sooner or later, and what he wished to do was to
sive his Learned Friend the trouble of making a speech
which could not be sustained by evidence. The prisoner
here had not a list of witnesses;, pursuant to the statute.
After a desultory conversation, in the course of which
the Attorney-General said he was ready to put the fact in
issue whenever the proper time arrived for doing so, but
that time had not yet come, and he therefore insisted upon
proceeding with his statement.
Chief Justice Tindal said the Court could not 'nterpose
with what was the regalia' mode of proceeding, if the
Avorney-General insisted upon proceeding.
' The Attorney-General then rose, and thus proceeded to
address the Court and Jury—May it please your Lord-
ships, Gentlemen of the Jury, in the discharge of my offi-
cial duty I have the honour of attending here to con-
duct this important prosecution. I hope you will believe
that. my only object is that the facts of the case may
bl fairly laid before you ; that truth may be fully
investigated; that innocence may be vindicated, if inno-
etnce be found to exist; and that you will only
pronounce the verdict of guilty upon clear and convincing
proof. Gentlemen, it is highly important that parties
accused should be zealously and ably defended ; but it is'
littewise of importance that the law should be vindicated,
that the peace of society should be preserved, and that when
crime has been committed guilt-should be brouetst to punish-
!twit. Gentlemen, I think that no one will deny the ne-
cessity .for the solemn inquiry in which we are engaged.
There has recently been in this county an armed insurrec-
tion—the law has been set at defiance—an attempt has
been made to take possession of the town of Neispore_
there has been a conflict between the insurgents and the
queen's troops—there has been blood shed--there has,
too, heen the loss of many lives. Gentlemen, the intelli.
gence of these outrages has caused great alarm and dismay
thkoughout the kingdom. Various prisoners charged
with having been concerned in these outrages, are now
accused of having committed the highest crime known
to; the law. Not only on account of the importance
of: the occasion, but from the forms of law, it be-
capie necessary for her Majesty to issue a Special
Commission for the trial of those charged as offenders.
Ai bill of indictment for high treason was found by
a 'Grand Jury of the county against, amongst others,
John Frost, the prisoner at the bar; but still be is
to. be presumed to be innocent. All the idictment says
is this, " that he should be put upon his trial." I need
haidly caution you, Gentlemen of the Jury, that you are
to dismiss from your recollection all that you have read and
all that you have heard upon this subject. You are to be
guided entirely by the evidence, and you will proceed as
if you never had heard of the case until the indictment
was read to you. I further use the liberty of saying, that
you are not to regard my statement, either as to the law
or as to the fact. - The law you will receive from the ye-
neirahle Judge's who preside over this Court ; the facts
(„yeau Wilt4seate' froM th'e w‘ithesseg, and you will be guided
bs4lo- evidences ther glee, 'Enid the Credit that youthink
testimony is entitled to. A most important charge
1:40. given -to you,--131. 'it '`.l:3 n
rw
_glint or iiihbeetree orfho Prisoner. which bears upon the
No
h men can have
higher functions to diseharge. Tho life and the u tation of the ac6accusedare in our hands ; but thires? is
likewise in your, heeds, the public safety, and the public
justice of the couptry. The indictment against the prisoner
John Frost consists of four counts. The two first are
for the levying of war against her Majesty in her
realm, the third is for compassing to depose the
Queen from her royal state and dignity, the fourth is,
for compassing to levy war against the Queen, to compel
her to change her measures. I believe, according to the
instructions I have received, that.there is evidence to bring
home the chargé against the prisoner on,each of these
four counts ; but it is probable that your attention may be
chiefly directed to the counts for levying war against the
Queen in her realm, These two counts are framed upon
an aneient:Act of Parliament, passed 'in the 25th year of
the reign of Edward 111., a statute which, has been consi-
dered the safeguard of the liberties of Englishmen--
another Magna Charta__a statute' which, if properly en-
forced, is also the safeguard -of the public peace and arane
quillity—a statute' which Is neither to be strained, nor in-
vaded; nor frittered' away. ' There had been. complaints
made in the reign of Edward the Third that the law of
treason was vague acd uncertain, and to rescue the country
from that miserable servitude this statute was passed. It is
entitled " A Declaration of whit Offences shall be adjudg-
ed Treason," and.thus begins :—" Ifem---Whereas there
have been divers opinions, before this time; in what cases
ireaaon shall be said and in what not, the King. at the re-
quester the Lords • and Commons, made a declaration, as
hereinafter follows, that is to say, when any man doth corn-
pass orimagine the death of our Lord the King, or -if any
'man do levy war against our Lord the King in his realm, or
adhere to his enemies in his realm, and thereof be prove-
ably attainted of open deed, by the people of their con-
dition. It is hereby delared to be substantially treason to
levy war against the King in his realm. That is to be
proved by acts that are to be done, and must be proved
clearly and satisfactorily." But where there has been a
breach of the peace, and even that is effected by an armed
force, it is not sufficient to establish the crime of treason.
The treason must be committed to attain some public ob-
ject, and thus you will find it guarded by the Statute itself
for it goes on with the proviso, " And if percase any man
shall arm in the realm, or shall ride about armed with in-
' tent against another, to assault or retain him, such in the
mind of the King in his Counsel shall not be adjudged to
be treason, but judged to be felony, or trespass, according
to the law of the land, as of old time has been used and
the case required." You have then the line drawn by the
Statute itself, for it is not to be held treason to use arms,
for a person to arm to attack another person or retain
him, wherever a private revenge is to be gratified or
private grievances redressed ; the private object, when at-
tained by force, and force be used, it is not an offence
against this law. It does not amount to the crime of
high treason; but where you have an armed force, and set-
ting the law at defiance for a general object, that is an
offence comprehended in the Act of Parliament—it is a
levying of a war against the King. It does not mean
merely heading a force belonging to a pretender to the
Crown, as in the instance of the wars between the houses
of York and Lancaster, or in rebellions such as occurred
in the years 1715 and 1745, but it is with an armed force,
setting at defiance the supremacy of the law, and joining
together to gain some public object. This does not rest
upon my authority; but I will state to you that which is
said upon this subject by one of the most eminent, learned,
and constitutional Judges that ever adorned the English
bench--I mean Sir M. Foster. He has defined the
offences which the statute comprehende, and after pointing
out it does not apply to private causes, he goes on to say
that assemblies, such as those of the Earls of Gloucester
and Hereford, where blood has been shed, were not trea-
sonable assemblies, for they were not arrayed against the
King's Majesty, but for purposes of a private and personal
nature. 'Upon the same principle, the rising to claim as
a private right, or to remove that which was regarded as
a private nuisance, was not to be dealt with as a levying of
a war within • the statute, even though there have been
great outrages committed. He instances the rising of
weavers in the neighbourhood of London, for the purpose
of destroying looms, for though there were serious out-
raga's there, yet these were to be regarded and con-
sidered as the dealings in private trade. Five
of the Judges, he says, were of a different opinion ;
hut still the Attorney-General only prosecuted the parties
for a riot. There were various other instances then given
of eases in which the statute did not apply ; but every
insurrection was to be regarded as a levying of war against
the person of the King which had for its object to alter
the measures of the Government, or to take evil counsel-
lors from about• him. All these were thelevying of war
within the statute. Then follows a passage to which I
pray your particular attention ;it was this that an in-
surrection, in order to throw down or alter the established
law, or to change the religion, or to enhance the price of
all labour, all rising in arms to effect these innovations,
and to do this by an armed force, was, in the construction
of law, High Treason within the clause for levying war,
for though it be not againstthe person of the King or his Royal
Majesty, still it has a direct tendency to destroy the bonds
of society, by combination and an armed force ; insurrec-
tions to redress national grevances, or to reform real or
imaginary evils of a public nature, and an insurrection not
especially interesting those rising to effect it, are, by th,a
construction of law, a levying of war against the King s
crown and Royal dignity." It will not be said, I hoPe,lo
this case, that we are resorting to any constructive or in-
terpretative treason. We seek here to bring this charge
within the very case defined by the Act of Parliamcntas
that Act of Parliament has ever been enforced since
the time of the reign of Edivard 111. If those treasons be
not punished, what safety is there for society t what pro-
tection against the ambition, against wrongly-directed zeal
bringing about a revolution? If such atttempts can be
made by one they can be made by many, and the conse-
quence must be the general dissolution of society. Sir
M. Foster proceeds to remark, "that if a sudden quarrel
arose and death ensued, that mightberefn o
elornydovbeurtnntiheenrte.
was no intention against the King's person
Where, as in another case cited by the Judge, a sudden
quarrel took place with soldiers, there might be a great
riot, but it could not amount to the crime of treason; but
shs
ta
n
where the attack on the King's trooipesct,haths
abtewenas u
premedi-
tated and designed for a general oh
tinily an offence that came within the Act of Parliament."
Gentlemen, I may now briefly allude to the laws as they
are connected with the other counts of the indictment.
They are framed upon an Act passed in the 36th year of