smoothly and prosperously; a happy husband and father, and a prosperous
tradesman, he seemed destined to go through life without a cloud on his
fortunes, when he unfortunately became involved in law proceedings with
a Mr. Protheroe, town-clerk of Newport, and land-steward to Sir Charles
Morgan, a man of great influence in the neighbourhood. The immediate
cause of this quarrel was Mr. Frost's having become bail for a relation,
whom Mr. Protheroe (an attorney) was suing for an alleged debt of
150_l._ The legality and existence of the debt were both denied; but
owing, it is said, to some informality, the suit was decided against the
defendant, and in the consequences of this decision Mr. Frost became
involved. Conceiving himself wronged, Mr. Frost, it appears, threatened
to lay a statement of the whole affair before the public, unless his
portion of the loss was refunded. The judgment not being upon the
merits, but merely in consequence of a technical mistake, he conceived
he was not morally bound to pay the money. This argument it seems was
not satisfactory to the plaintiff, and the end was, that Mr. Protheroe
brought an action against Mr. Frost, upon the ground that this threat of
publication was an attempt to extort money. In the eye of the law it was
so, and Mr. Frost had 1000_l._ damages awarded against him for this rash
step. Mr. Frost immediately sold his stock, and paid all his creditors,
save one relation, who arrested him for a debt of 200_l._ Upon this Mr.
Frost declared himself insolvent, and surrendered himself as such."
The matter, however, did not end here; but the writer already quoted
says further:--
"In the mean time his opponent, Mr. Protheroe, had commenced a fresh
action against him for libel. Mr. Frost had, in reference to the former
action, alluded to the jury as being 'packed,' and also asserted that
two of the witnesses, clerks of the plaintiff, were perjured. Upon this
Mr. Frost was tried and found guilty of a libel, for which he paid the
penalty of six months' imprisonment in Coldbath-fields Prison, London.
"Public opinion was, however, in Mr. Frost's favour, though the law was
his enemy. On his return to his native town, after his imprisonment for
this libel, he was met by fifteen thousand of his neighbours, with
banners and music, and so made a sort of triumphal entry into Newport,
ruined by course of law, without having, in general estimation, been
guilty of a shadow of crime."
From this period Mr. Frost continued to reside in Newport, exerting his
influence, upon every occasion, in support of the more popular views
upon the various questions coming under discussion, and advocating, with
considerable effect, the necessity of reform in the corporation of that
small borough. When the Municipal Corporation Reform Bill was passed, he
was looked upon by his fellow-townsmen as the fittest person to
represent their opinions; and, in the year 1837, he was elected mayor,
notwithstanding the strenuous exertions of the party opposed to him in
political opinions. At the same time he held the office of guardian of
the poor of the union in which he lived, under the Poor Law Amendment
Act; and in reference to this law, as well as all others upon which any
popular feeling existed, he espoused the cause of opposition.
At the conclusion of the year of his mayoralty, he was placed on the
list of justices of the peace for the district of Newport, in
consequence of the representations of his fellow-townsmen, by Lord John
Russell, at that time Secretary of State for the Home Department; but,
notwithstanding his elevation to this undoubtedly honourable post, he
continued to employ his greatest efforts in favour of the wishes of the
working classes. In 1838 he joined a society called "The Working Men's
Association," at Newport, and this was the first step which he took
towards that unfortunate termination of his career which subsequent
circumstances brought about. In the course of the ensuing year he was
elected, as the representative of the district of Monmouthshire and its
vicinity, in "The Convention of the Working Classes," an assembly which
met in London in order to endeavour to procure the adoption of the
principles of the "Charter" by parliament. Preparatory to his quitting
Newport to take his share in the discussions which took place at this
Convention, he attended several meetings of the persons by whom he had
been elected, for the purpose of their determining upon the precise
grounds to be taken by him upon his arrival in London. Acting as
chairman at several of them, he made such assertions, and employed such
arguments, as were considered by the officers of her majesty's
government inconsistent with the duties of the office of magistrate,
which he then held; and Lord John Russell in consequence wrote to him,
to demand an explanation of his conduct. A long correspondence took
place, and considerable public excitement was occasioned; but the result
was that, in the month of May 1839, the name of Mr. Frost was removed
from the list of persons in the commission of the peace.
This step upon the part of the government had the effect of raising Mr.
Frost still higher in the opinions of those persons of whom he was now
the professed leader; and, while in the Convention in the metropolis, he
acquired considerable influence, on his return to Newport he was
received with great enthusiasm. In his speeches, the views which he
took, although undoubtedly opposed to the government of the day, of whom
he spoke in no measured terms, were decidedly in favour of the operation
of "moral force," as distinguished from "physical force," in securing
the object which his partisans had in view. It is surprising, therefore,
to find, that on his eventual re-appearance at his native town, he
should have espoused the cause of violence, and should have consented to
take the lead in so formidable a movement as that which was made under
his immediate control and direction.
Frost, however, was not the only individual whose proceedings attracted
attention. Other delegates to the Convention had been appointed from the
same district, and the violence of the declared opinions of one of them,
named Vincent, laid him open to charges against him of a very serious
nature. He was found to have gained great power over the operatives in
the coal and iron districts around Monmouth; and his outrageous language
soon obtained for him the notice of Mr. Phillips, the mayor of Newport,
within whose sphere of action he most frequently exhibited himself. A
prosecution was in consequence determined upon; and, on the 2nd of
August 1839, true bills were found at the Monmouth Assizes against him,
together with other persons, his associates in the cause of violence,
upon a charge of unlawfully meeting together, intending to disturb the
peace and tranquillity of this realm, and to excite disaffection and
hatred to the government and constitution of the country. Amongst the
defendants upon these indictments was Mr. Frost; but, unfortunately for
him, his case was postponed to the ensuing assizes. A verdict of
"Guilty" was returned upon the charge preferred against Vincent, and he
was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, while his companion, William
Edwards, was ordered to undergo nine months' imprisonment, and John
Dickenson and William Townsend were sentenced to six months'
imprisonment.
After this conviction no popular movement took place, but the prisoners
were conveyed, without any attempt at disturbance, to the county jail;
and although many remonstrances were heard as to their being subjected
to the rigorous discipline of the jail, these eventually ceased, and a
prospect of peace and quietude presented itself. While yet the
authorities were congratulating themselves upon the check which appeared
to have been given to physical-force chartism, however, information
reached them that secret meetings were nightly held in beer-shops and
club-rooms in the country districts, the proceedings at which were
calculated to excite feelings of the greatest uneasiness amongst the
well-disposed subjects of her majesty. Rumours were afloat that a rising
was meditated on the hills, for the purpose of attacking Newport, and,
in the event of success, of marching to Monmouth to liberate Vincent and
the other Chartist prisoners confined in the jail of that town. From the
frequency and vagueness of such reports, little importance (generally
speaking) was attached to them until Sunday, the 3rd of November, when
Mr. Phillips, mayor of Newport, obtained information, to which some
credence was attached, that an insurrectionary movement had been
determined on in the Chartist lodges. The mayor, from the first moment
of serious alarm, adopted every precautionary measure, which firmness,
correct judgment, and indefatigable exertion could accomplish. On the
first intimation of danger, he sent the police-officers to summon all
the special constables to attend him at the King's Head Hotel, at eight
o'clock in the evening. The call was promptly responded to by all the
respectable inhabitants; and it was resolved that, in consequence of the
information received, it was necessary that fifty special constables
should remain on duty in the King's Head Hotel all night, fifty at the
Westgate Hotel, and fifty at the Parrot Inn. The mayor afterwards
adjourned to the Westgate Hotel, where the magistrates held their
sittings; and a detachment of the 45th foot, consisting of thirty
soldiers only, was stationed in the house, under the command of
Lieutenant Gray, it having been deemed advisable that the remainder of
the troop should stay at the workhouse with Captain Stack, where about
two hundred stand of arms were deposited. In the course of the evening
and the night, the special constables, who were on duty parading the
streets, captured many Chartists, armed with pistols, pikes, and other
deadly weapons. The alarm was complete; for, during the whole of the
afternoon, every inhabitant, or stranger, who happened to arrive in town
from the vicinity of the works, brought in the terrifying intelligence
that the ringleaders of the Chartists had been scouring the hills during
the whole of the day, in all directions, and compelling, by brute force,
all who came within their reach to join their ranks, and that it was
highly probable that an attack would be made upon Newport that night.
This induced the mayor to look for further assistance, and he
accordingly sent an express to the mayor of Bristol, requesting a
reinforcement of troops. The morning dawned upon the affrighted town
without apparent danger, but still alarms were abroad; and, as the hours
advanced, business appeared at a complete stand-still, and no one
ventured to open his shop. At eight o'clock Lieut. Gray, of the 45th,
with two sergeants and twenty-eight soldiers, arrived at the Westgate
Hotel, from the barracks at the poor-house, beyond Stow Hill, the
remainder being left under the command of Captain Stack at their
barracks. The gallant lieutenant immediately placed himself and men
under the direction of the mayor; and the brave and determined fellows
were judiciously posted in the room which commanded the entire extent of
the front of the premises. The shutters of the Westgate Hotel windows
were closed, but the entrance was open, and the passage occupied by
special constables with staves, there being no appearance of a military
force from the exterior of the house.
The subsequent circumstances attending this unfortunate affair, are best
detailed by the Attorney-General's speech, and by the evidence which was
produced at the trial; and having merely stated the fact of the riot
having occurred on the 4th of November, 1839, we shall proceed to the
description of the circumstances attending the investigation before the
jury.
The importance of the inquiry was deemed by the officers of the crown to
be sufficient to warrant the issuing of a special commission for the
trial of the prisoners, and the necessary preliminary arrangements
having been made, the business of the commission at length commenced on
Wednesday, the 1st of January, 1840, at Monmouth, Sir N. C. Tindal, the
Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas; Sir J. Parke, one of
the Barons of the Court of Exchequer; and Sir J. Williams, one of the
Justices of the Court of Queen's Bench, being the Judges appointed to
undertake the difficult task of trying the numerous prisoners in
custody; and the Attorney-General (Sir John Campbell), the
Solicitor-General (Mr. Serjeant Wilde), Mr. Serjeant Ludlow, Mr.
Serjeant Talfourd, Mr. Wightman, and Mr. Talbot, being the counsel for
the crown. The counsel engaged for the prisoners were Sir F. Pollock,
Mr. Kelly, Mr. Thomas, and Mr. Rickards.
The whole of the prisoners had been arraigned upon the indictment
preferred against them on a former day, and had solicited to be tried
separately, in obedience to a right conferred upon them by act of
parliament.
Mr. John Frost was the first put upon his trial. He was placed at the
bar at nine o'clock in the morning, and appeared to posses great
confidence.
The Attorney-General then rose, and thus proceeded to address the court
and jury:--"May it please your lordships, gentlemen of the jury; In the
discharge of my official duty, I have the honour of attending here to
conduct this important prosecution. 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 innocence be found to exist; and that you will only pronounce the
verdict of guilty upon clear and convincing proof. It is highly
important that parties accused should be zealously and ably defended;
but it is likewise 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 brought to punishment. I think that no one
will deny the necessity for the solemn inquiry in which we are engaged.
There has recently been in this county an armed insurrection; the law
has been set at defiance; an attempt has been made to take possession of
the town of Newport; there has been a conflict between the insurgents
and the Queen's troops; there has been bloodshed; there has been the
loss of many lives. Gentlemen, the intelligence of these outrages has
caused great alarm and dismay throughout 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 the law, it
became necessary for her Majesty to issue a special commission for the
trial of those charged as offenders. A bill of indictment for high
treason was found by a jury of the county against (amongst others) John
Frost, the prisoner at the bar; but still he is presumed to be innocent.
All the indictment says is this, that he should be put upon his trial. I
need hardly 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 venerable judges who preside over this
court--the facts you will hear from the witnesses, and you will be
guided by the evidence they give, and the credit that you think their
testimony is entitled to. A most important charge is given to you, for
it is one which bears upon the guilt or innocence of the prisoner. No
men can have higher functions to discharge--the life and the reputation
of the accused are in your hands--but there are likewise in your hands
the public safety and the public justice of the country."