The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-03 00:00:00

MONMOUTH, TUESDAY, DEC. 31.

There now being 12 jurymen sworn in the box, their names
were called over, and the following persons composed the
jury
John Daniel, of Abergavenny, haberdasher.
Thomas Davies, of Abergavenny, butcher.
Richard Lewis, of Lanv air, Disceed, farmer.
Edward Brittle, of Mitchell Troy, farmer.
James Hollings, of Monmouth, ironmonger.
Thomas Jones, of Greathouse Nash, farmer.
Edward Reece, of Lanmartain, farmer.
Edward Smith, of Chepstow, coachmaker.
Christopher John, of Redwick, farmer.
William Williams, of Langattock-nigh-Usk, farmer.
John Richards, of Chepstow, baker.
John Chapel Smith, of Chepstow, grocer.

MONMOUTH, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 1.
This morning, pursuant to the adjournment of last night,
the Court was open at seven o'clock. The Judges having taken
their seats, and the Jury having been brought into their
box, Mr Bellamy directed John Frost to be placed at the
bar. The names of the jury having been called over, and
Mr. TALBOT having briefly stated the nature of the indict-
ment,
Sir F. Por.uoca rose, and objected that the prisoner had
not had any list of witnesses delivered to him, pursuant to
the statute, and therefore no witness could be called, but
their lordships refused to interfere, as the Attorney-General
was prepared to prove that a list of the witnesses had been
delivered at the request of the prisoner, pursuant to the
statute.
The ATTORNEY.GENznAL then proceeded to address the
jury :—May it please your lordships, gentlemen of the jury :
In the discharge of my official duty, I have the honour to
attend you to conduct this important prosecution ; and I
hope you will believe that my only object is that the facts of
the case may be fairly laid before you ; that truth may be
fully investigated ; that innocence may be vindicated, if in-
nocence exists ; and that you should only pronounce a verdict
of guilty upon clear and convincing evidence. Gentlemen,
it is highly important that parties accused should be zealously
and ably defended ; but it is also of importance that the law
should be vindicated, that the peace of society should be
preserved, and that where crimes have been committed, the
criminals should be brought to punishment. Gentlemen, I
think no one will deny the necessity of the solemn inquiry
in which we are engaged. There has recently been in this
county an armed insurrection, the law has been set at defi-
ance, there has been an attempt to take possession of the
town of Newport, there has been a conflict between the in-
surgents and the Queen's troops, there has been bloodshed,
the loss of many lives. Gentlemen, the intelligence of these
outrages has caused alarm and dismay throughout the king-
dom. Gentlemen, various persons charged with having been
concerned in these outrages were committed on a charge of
the highest crime known to our law, not only on account of
the importance of the occasion, but from the forms of law,
made it necessary that her Majesty's special commission
should issue for the trial of the persons charged. Gentlemen,
a bill of indictment for high treason has been found against
many persons, and amongst others against the prisoner at
the bar, and it is fit he should be put upon his trial ; and,
unless there is strong, clear, and convincing evidence to,
bring home the guilt imputed to him, it will be your
duty to say he is not guilty. Gentlemen, I need hardly
caution you to dismiss from your recollection all you
may have read or heard upon this subject. You are
to be guided only by the evidence, and you will pro-
ceed as if you had never heard of the case until the in-
dictment was read. Gentlemen, I would further use the
liberty to say,—you are not to regard my statement either as
to the law or the facts ; the law you will receive from the
vefterable judges who preside here ; the facts you will hear
from the witnesses, and you will be guided entirely by the
evidence they give, and the :credit you think their evidence
entitled to. Gentlemen, a most important charge is given
to you to consider of the guilt or innocence of the prisoner.
No man can have higher functions to discharge. The life
and the reputation of the accused are in your hands ; but I
would likewise remind you there are in your hands the pub-
lic safety and public justice of the country. Gentlemen, this
indictment against John Frost, consists of four counts.—
There are two for levying war against her Majesty, in her
realm ; the third is for compassing to depose the Queen from
her Royal throne ; and the fourth is for compassing to levy
war against the Queen with intent to compel her to change
her measures. Gentlemen, I believe, according to the in-
structions I have received, that there will be evidence which
will bring home the charge against the prisoner at the bar
upon each of these four counts ; but it is probable that your
attention may be chiefly directed to the two first counts of
the indictment for levying war against the Queen in her realm.
Gentlemen, where two counts are framed upon an ancient act
of Parliament passed in the 25th Edward 111., a statute which
has been considered the safeguard of the liberties of English-
men, another Magna Charta—a statute, which if properly
enforced, is to be considered a safeguard of the public peace
and of the tranquility of society ; it is a statute neither to be
strained nor evaded. Gentlemen, there had been in the reign of
Edward 111. complaints that the law of freedom was vague and
unknown, and to secure the country from that miserable
servitude this statute was passed. It was entitled " A
Declaration which offences shall be adjudged Treason,"
and it thus begins—" Item, whereas divers opinions have been
before this time, in what case treason shall be laid, and in
what not. The King, at the request of the Lords, and of the
Commons, hath made a declaration in the manner as herein-
after followeth ; that is to say"—now these things that follow
are to be declared treason—" When a man doth compass or
imagine the death of our Lord the King, or if a man do levy
war against our Lord the King in his realm, or be adherent
to the King's enemies in his realm, giving to them
aid and comfort in the realm, and thereof be probably
attainted of open deed by the people of their condition." It
is therefore hereby declared to be substantive treason to levy
war against the King in his realm, and that is to be proved by
acts that are done, and it must be proved clearly and satisfac-
torily. But then, gentlemen, it is not every breach of the
public peace, even with an armed force, that makes out the
crime of treason •, it must be by some public and premedi-
tated plan, and this is guarded by the statute itself, for the
statute goes on with an enactment—" And if percase any man
ride armed, covertly or secretly, with men of arms against
any other, to slay him, or rob him, ortake him, or retain him,
till he hath made fine or ransom or to have his deliverance,
it is not the mind of the King or his council that in such case
it shall be judged treason, but shall be judged felony or tres-
pass, according to the laws of the land of old time used, and
according as the case requireth." Therefore, gentlemen,
you have the line drawn by the statute itself, for
" it is not to be held treason to ride armed to slay a person,
or to rob him, or to take him, or retain him till
he bath made fine or ransom to have his deliverance."
Whenever there is a private wrong only to be complained of, ,
a private grievance to be redressed, or a private object to be
attained, although force may be used, and although this is an
offence against the law, it does not amount to the crime of
treason ; but where you have an armed force setting the law
at defiance for a general object, gentlemen, that is an offence
comprehended by that act of Parliament. Levying war
against the King does not mean merely heading a force by a
pretender to the crown, according to the ancient wars we
had in the wars between the houses of York and Lancaster,
or in 1745, but it is where there is an armed force seeking to
supersede the law and to gain some public object. Gentle-
men, that of course is not to act upon any authority. Gen-
tlemen, I will state to you upon this subject the authority of
one of the most eminent and most constitutional of judges
that ever adorned the English bench—l mean Sir Michael.
Foster. Gentlemen, he has defined the offence that this
statute comprehends, and after pointing out that it is not to
apply to private cases, he goes on thus. I will read. the
of the passage that it may be fairly before you :--" The
case of the Earls of Glocester and Hereford, and manystbel
cases cited by Hale, some before the Statute of Treilleon, and
.
others after it. These assemblies, though attended mr!
them with bloodshed, and with the ordinary apparlir
war, were not holden to be treasonable assemblefr,
were not in construction of law raised 'against
the
or to remove
King or
nal
his Royal Majesty, but for purposeros:ofw:aienPl.pan9vaPeters°claim
the reason
nature. Upon the same principle, an!' within••
and equity of the statute, risings to
persons, without
of right or to destroy particular
point
particular enclosures,
of interest, the parties assembled for these purposes, or to
nuisances which affected, or were thought to affect, in
break prisons in order to release
holden
any other acts, have not been to be a levying of war
within the statute ; .and upon the same principle, I think, it
was very
rightly held by five of the judges, that the rising of