words:--"John Frost, Zephaniah Williams, and William Jones, after the
most anxious and careful investigation of your respective cases before
juries of great intelligence and almost unexampled patience, you stand
at the bar of this court to receive the last sentence of the law, for
the commission of a crime which, beyond all others, is the most
pernicious in its example, and the most injurious in its consequences,
to the peace and happiness of human society--that of high-treason
against your sovereign. You can have no just ground of complaint that
your several cases have not met with the most full consideration, both
from the jury and the court; but as that jury have, in each of them,
pronounced you guilty of the crime with which you have been charged, I
should be wanting in justice to them if I did not openly declare that
the verdicts which they have found meet with the entire concurrence of
my learned brethren and myself. In the case of all ordinary breaches of
the law, the mischief of the offence does, for the most part, terminate
with the immediate injury sustained by the individual against whom it is
levelled. The man who plunders the property, or lifts his hand against
the life of his neighbour, does by his guilty act inflict, in that
particular instance, and to that intent, a loss or injury on the
sufferer or his surviving friends; but they who, by armed numbers, or
violence, or terror, endeavour to put down established institutions, and
to introduce in their stead a new order of things, open wide the
flood-gates of rapine and bloodshed, destroy all security of property
and life, and do their utmost to involve a whole nation in anarchy and
ruin. It has been proved in your case, that you combined together to
lead from the hills, at the dead hour of night, into the town of
Newport, many thousands of men, armed in many instances with weapons of
a dangerous description, in order that they might take possession of the
town, and supersede the lawful authority of the Queen therein, as a
preliminary step to a more general insurrection throughout the kingdom.
It is owing to the interposition of Providence alone, that your wicked
designs were frustrated. Your followers arrive by daylight, and, after
firing upon the civil power and the Queen's troops, are, by the firmness
of the magistrates, and the cool and determined bravery of a small band
of soldiers, defeated and dispersed. What would have been the fate of
the peaceable and unoffending inhabitants, if success had attended your
rebellious designs, it is useless to conjecture. The invasion of a
foreign foe would, in all probability, have been less destructive to
property and life. It is for the crime of treason, committed under these
circumstances, that you are now called upon yourselves to answer; and by
the penalty which you are about to suffer, you hold out a warning to all
your fellow-subjects, that the law of your country is strong enough to
repress and to punish all attempts to alter the established order of
things, by insurrection and armed force, and that those who are found
guilty of such treasonable attempts must expiate their crime by an
ignominious death. I do, therefore, most earnestly exhort you, to employ
the little time that remains to you, in preparing for the great change
that doth await you, by sincere penitence and fervent prayer; for
although we shall not fail to forward to the proper quarter that
recommendation which the jury intrusted to us, we cannot hold out to you
any hope of mercy on this side the grave. And now doth nothing more
remain than that the Court pronounces (to all of us a most painful duty)
the last sentence of the law, which is, 'That each of you, John Frost,
Zephaniah Williams, and William Jones, be taken hence to the place from
whence you came, and be thence drawn on a hurdle to the place of
execution, and that each of you be there hanged by the neck until you be
dead, and that afterwards the head of each of you shall be severed from
his body, and the body of each, divided into four quarters, shall be
disposed of as her Majesty shall think fit; and may the Lord have mercy
upon your souls.'"
The prisoners received the announcement of their fate with the utmost
firmness, yet propriety of demeanour. They were the only persons in the
crowded court whom the fearful nature of the sentence, and the low,
solemn tone, in which it was pronounced, did not most deeply affect.
The prisoners were then removed from the bar, and the clanking of their
chains was painfully audible.
Charles Waters, John Lovell, Richard Benfield, John Rees, and Jenkin
Morgan, were next placed at the bar, and, as in the former case, were
addressed by the learned Judge with great solemnity. Their cases, though
sufficiently aggravated, presented features of palliation which entitled
them to an extension of mercy, and their lives would be spared. "At the
same time (said his lordship), looking to the active and prominent share
which each of you has taken in the lawless proceedings at Newport, on
the fatal 4th of November, we cannot hold out to you the hope of further
mitigation than that you must be prepared to leave your native country,
and probably for the remainder of your lives. For the present, and with
the object of obtaining such mitigation of the execution of your
sentence, it is our duty to pass the sentence required by law;" which
his lordship did in the form adopted with the other prisoners.
All the prisoners received the intimation that they should be
transported with some indication of surprise. Rees alone leant his head
upon the bar and wept.
Notwithstanding the extremely perilous situation of the unfortunate men,
who were thus convicted and left under sentence of death at Monmouth,
during the whole period occupied in their trials their brother Chartists
throughout the county persisted in pursuing their reckless and
mischievous career. In the immediate vicinity of Monmouth, small armed
bands associated themselves for the purpose of deterring the attendance
of jurymen and witnesses at the trial; but the active interference of a
large body of the London police-force, sent down with a view to the
preservation of peace and good order, effectually prevented the success
of their schemes. Rumours were industriously circulated, as well before
the commencement of the proceedings of the special commission as during
their continuance, that a new rising was intended, to procure the
release of the prisoners from custody; and the most active preparations
were made to meet any outbreak which might occur; but it eventually
turned out, either that the reports were unfounded, or that the devisers
of the plots wanted the courage or the means to carry them into
execution. In Sheffield, Dewsbury, and many of the northern towns, the
Chartist agitation was kept up, avowedly without the least consideration
for the wretched prisoners; and, by the vigorous agency of the police,
the most atrocious plots were discovered and frustrated.
In the metropolis, too, the work of disaffection was apparent. Repeated
meetings took place, and schemes of the very worst character were
devised; and, on Tuesday the 15th of January, the government received
private information that an insurrection was to break out on that night
or on the following morning, and that the firing of London in various
parts was to be the signal for a general rising throughout the country.
Orders were in consequence instantly transmitted to the Horse Guards,
for the preparation of a sufficient force to repel any treasonable
attack which might be made; and here, as well as at all the barracks in
the vicinity of the metropolis, and at the Tower, the whole of the men
were put under arms. The metropolitan police-force and the city
constables received orders to be ready for immediate action, and the
London Fire-engine Establishment--a body of most enterprising and active
officers--formed into a fire-police, was placed in readiness to employ
their exertions to assist the municipal authorities to suppress the
supposed intended conflagration.
The alarm, which was necessarily spread through the metropolis in
consequence of these warlike preparations, however, turned out to be
without cause; for although on that night a very large meeting of
Chartists took place at the Hall of Trades, in Abbey-street,
Bethnal-green, there was no attempt at violence. The conduct of the
speakers at this assemblage, indeed, sufficiently showed the extremes to
which they desired their followers to go; and a subsequent meeting on
the following Thursday proved that they were not quite so harmless as
their apologists would have had it supposed. At this convention, held,
as it was announced, for the purpose of discussing the existing state of
the working-classes throughout the country, upwards of seven hundred
persons attended, the majority of whom seemed to be individuals of low
rank. At nine o'clock the committee came upon the platform, when Mr.
Neesom was called to the chair. After the chairman had detailed the
objects for which the meeting had been called, Mr. Spurr, who had on a
former occasion taken an active part in the discussions, rose to propose
the first resolution. After a few preliminary observations, he contended
that the only way to preserve the peace was to be prepared to wage war;
and in support of such an assertion he thought it would be well
deserving the attention of the meeting to bear in mind the words of a
celebrated person, "to put their trust in God, and keep their powder
dry," which was received with loud cheering. On silence being restored,
the speaker was about to proceed, but a body of police appearing at the
door with drawn sabres, caused the greatest possible confusion. The
chairman entreated the meeting not to be disturbed, as it was held on
constitutional principles, but in order not to give their enemies an
opportunity of succeeding, he hoped there would be no breach of the
peace committed. The police then, having blocked up every avenue leading
to the room, prevented all present from retiring, and proceeded to
search their persons. Daggers, knives, sabres, pistols primed and
loaded, and other weapons of an offensive character, were taken from
many of them, while upon the floor were discovered others of a like
description, evidently thrown away by their owners in order to enable
them to escape detection. Twenty-one of the persons who were taken into
custody on this occasion unarmed, were detained in the Trades Hall, and
eleven others, upon whom pistols and daggers had been found, were
removed to safe custody, in order to await their examination before the
magistrates. Upon subsequent inquiries taking place, several of them
were discharged, while, however, others, with new prisoners subsequently
secured and identified as parties to the meeting, were tried and
convicted at the Old Bailey Sessions, and sentenced to various terms of
imprisonment.
The accounts received from some of the country districts also, showed
that the conduct of the Chartists there was still more alarming;
although from the vigilance of the police, and the constant watch kept
on their movements, all serious mischief was prevented.
At Sheffield a plot of a most fearful description, which had for its
object the burning of the town, was discovered to have been formed, and
considerable preparations towards carrying this diabolical attempt into
execution were found to have been completed. The magistrates immediately
procured the assistance of the military, and the most anxious exertions
were made to render any attack which might be attempted futile. It was
ascertained that a midnight meeting was to be held among the Chartists
on the night of Saturday, the 11th of January; and Colonel Martin,
commanding the troops in the vicinity of the town, was called upon by
the magistrates to render them such assistance as should be necessary to
prevent any outbreak. In the outskirts of the town it was found that the
Chartists had assembled in great numbers, and were prepared to undertake
any mischievous attack which might appear to their leaders to be proper.
The police, who were stationed in the roads to gain intelligence of
their proceedings, were repeatedly fired upon and wounded; and one
individual, who, from his dress, was mistaken for one of their body,
received no fewer than twenty-seven slugs in his neck and shoulders from
repeated discharges at him. In the course of the night a great many
persons were taken into custody, and a large quantity of muskets, pikes,
daggers, a species of instrument intended to impede the progress of
horse-soldiers, with three long and sharp prongs, called a cat, with
powder, balls, and hand-grenades, were secured. In the darkness of the
night large bodies of men, armed with muskets and spears, were seen
moving from various points towards the town; but, upon their approaching
as far as the pickets which had been thrown out, they appeared to come
to the conclusion that their scheme had been discovered, and that
therefore their attack would be repelled, and they turned back and
marched off into the country districts. During the whole of Saturday
night and of Sunday, the greatest degree of excitement prevailed
throughout the neighbourhood of Sheffield, and frequent seizures of
combustibles and arms took place in houses in the suburbs.
The prisoners who were taken were instantly conveyed before the
magistrates for examination, and Samuel Holberry, Thomas Booker, his son
William Booker, James Duffey, William Wells, John Marshall, Thomas
Penthorpe, Joseph Benison, and William Martin, were eventually committed
to York Castle for trial.
Throughout the whole week, great alarm prevailed among the well-disposed
inhabitants of the town; and the military continued in possession of the
principal places of strength to prevent any new effort against the
public peace.
The exhibition of violence on the part of the Chartists, however, was
not confined to Sheffield; but at Dewsbury a simultaneous rising took
place. On the Saturday night the town was seized by a number of armed
men; and the private watchmen, six in number, were compelled to fly. Mr.
Hale, an inhabitant of the town, who was acting as inspector of the
watch, was fired at, although without effect, and the mob kept the
neighbourhood in a state of terror during the whole night by the
constant discharge of fire-arms. In Heckmondwicke, and other villages,
similar scenes were enacted; and it was afterwards learned that the men
who thus disturbed the public peace, were proceeding to join the
Sheffield Chartists, but before morning all of them had dispersed.
While these disturbances, however, had occupied the attention of the
authorities in the North, in London the government and the law officers
of the crown had been occupied in determining the fate of the prisoners
under sentence at Monmouth. The questions for the consideration of the
judges, reserved at the time of the trials of Frost, Williams, and
Jones, for in each the same points arose, were argued before the fifteen
judges in the Exchequer Chamber; and after a most lengthy and learned
discussion, extending through three days, the case terminated on the
afternoon of the 28th of January.
The conclusion arrived at by the judges was communicated by the Lord
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas to the Home Secretary, in the
following letter:--
"Westminster-hall, 28th January, 1840.
"MY LORD--I have the honour to inform your lordship that the
argument upon the three cases of The Queen v. Frost, The Queen _v._
Williams, and The Queen _v._ Jones closed this afternoon, and that
the judges, after considering the subject, have come to the
following determination upon the two questions which have been
argued before them, viz:--First--A majority of the judges, in the
proportion of nine to six, are of opinion that the delivery of the
list of witnesses was not a good delivery in point of law.
"But secondly--A majority of the judges, in the proportion of nine
to six, are of opinion that the objection to the delivery of the
list of witnesses was not taken in due time. All the judges agreed
that if the objection had been made in due time, the effect of it
would have been a postponement of the trial in order to give time
for a proper delivery of the list. The result, therefore, of the
determination of the judges is, that the conviction is right.
"I have the honour to remain, my lord, your lordship's faithful and
obedient servant,
"N. C. TINDAL.
"The Lord Marquess of Normanby, &c. &c. &c."
On the day following the receipt of this communication, at a Privy
Council which was held, it was determined that the lives of the convicts
must be forfeited to the laws of the country, and the following letter
was transmitted to Monmouth:--
"Whitehall, January 29, 1840.
"SIR--I am to signify to you the Queen's commands that the
execution of the sentence of Death, passed upon Zephaniah Williams,
John Frost, and William Jones, now in the jail at Monmouth, be
respited until Thursday the 6th day of February next. But the
prisoners are to be distinctly informed that the sentence of the
law will then be carried into effect.
"I am, sir, your obedient humble servant,
"NORMANBY.
"To the High Sheriff of the County of Monmouth."
The governor of the jail, in obedience to these instructions, delivered
a copy of this letter to each of the prisoners, and they appeared
perfectly composed, and as if they had never entertained any hopes of
mercy being extended to them. Every exertion had been made in the
metropolis in the meantime with a view to procure the mitigation of the
sentence of the prisoners. Petitions from all classes poured in to the
Home Office; but all were declared to be of no avail, and it was not
until Friday evening, the 31st of January, at a late hour, that her
majesty's ministers came to a resolution to spare their lives. Sir
Frederick Pollock used his greatest efforts to procure this desirable
end; and having had no fewer than six interviews with Viscount Melbourne
upon the subject, he had given up his task in despair, when, urged by
Lord Brougham once again to see the premier, the learned and
indefatigable advocate retired with the promise of her majesty's
ministers, that the crimes of Frost and his two wretched partners in
guilt should not be expiated on the scaffold.
On the following evening an express was sent off to Monmouth, bearing
intelligence of this decision on the part of the government; and on
Sunday night it arrived in that place. The reprieve, however, was
accompanied by an order for the immediate removal of the prisoners to
the hulks; and a military escort having been procured, at half-past one
o'clock on Monday morning, the prisoners were roused from their beds,
informed for the first time of their altered fortunes, and ordered
instantly to prepare themselves for their removal. The wretched men had
already taken leave of their families, supposing death to be inevitable,
and their first feelings at their escape can be well imagined. They were
now supplied with refreshments: and at two o'clock they were hurried
into the prison van, and, escorted by a troop of lancers, were conveyed
to Chepstow, and there put on board the Usk steamer, to be carried to
Portsmouth, from whence they were to be transported for life.
In the course of the time during which the prisoners lay at Portsmouth
awaiting the sailing of a vessel for New South Wales, renewed attempts
were made to procure their freedom. Petitions from many districts,
numerously signed, were presented, in which the impolicy of tarnishing
the annals of a month in which the nuptials of the young queen were to
be celebrated was urged; and even parliament was occupied with the
discussion of the propriety of the steps taken by the government. In the
House of Commons and in the House of Lords motions were made with a view
to obtaining the pardon of the prisoners, but the ministers of the
Crown, in a wise exercise of the duties of their office, strengthened in
their opinion upon the case by that of the learned judges, before whom
the prisoners were tried, declined to recommend that Her Majesty should
make any farther alteration in the sentence of the prisoners. The
following letter, conveying the sentiments of the judges upon this
occasion, was produced in both Houses of Parliament:--
"Westminster-hall, January 31st, 1840.
"MY LORD--As to the law, the uniform practice has been, so far back
as we have any means of knowledge, that if the judge upon the trial
of an indictment feels any serious doubt as to an objection that
occurs in point of law, he decides the point against the prisoner,
and allows the trial to proceed, reserving such point of law, in
order that he may take the advice and opinion of all the other
judges thereon. After consulting them, and hearing argument thereon
(if thought necessary) the opinion of the judges is taken, and that
of the majority binds the judge who has reserved the question. If
that opinion should be against the prisoner, the law is suffered to
take its course, and the sentence which has been passed remains. If
the opinion of the judges is in favour of the prisoner, the
constant course is for the judge who tried the prisoner, and passed
the sentence, to apply to the Secretary of State for a free pardon.
And this course in no way depends on any consent, express or
implied, on the part of the prisoner; the judge pursues it at his
own discretion, and decides the point for the present against the
prisoner, giving him the benefit of further consideration and
advice with the other judges. And this course is pursued for the
manifest purpose of preventing a failure of justice; inasmuch as if
the judge decided under his immediate impression, supposing it to
be in favour of the prisoner, and directed an acquittal, there
could be no new trial, although upon reference to the other judges
his own opinion was held to be wrong. On the other hand, if the
opinion of the judge is at the time unfavourable to the prisoner,
it can be reserved by that course, and if erroneous set right.
"With respect to the statement in the memorial, of what took place
at the trial, so far as relates to ourselves, we cannot but remark,
that the learned counsel labour under a complete misapprehension,
at which we are the more surprised, as we expressly stated that no
distinction would be made between this and other cases tried at the
assizes, but that it must follow the ordinary course.
"At the time of the discussion, we all of us entertained serious
doubts, more or less strong, on the objection that was raised
before us. And if the law had obliged us to come to an immediate
and final decision, without the power of consulting the judges,
which the law does not, we were not prepared, without much further
consideration, nor without hearing the argument on the part of the
Crown concluded, to come to any determination on the point. We
therefore followed the ordinary course pursued on similar
occasions, decided the point against the prisoner by allowing the
trial to proceed, subject to the revision before referred to.
"We beg to inform your lordship, that we think the circumstance
stated and relied on in the memorial; viz., that two of the judges
under the special commission ultimately declared their opinion in
favour of the objection, does in our judgment make no difference
whatever; nor do we think that any inclination in their minds at
the time of the trial ought to affect the question; the law is
taken from the majority of the judges when consulted.
"Under the circumstances above mentioned, we beg leave to represent
to your lordship, that in our opinion there is no ground whatever
to entitle the prisoner, John Frost, to a free pardon.
"N. C. TINDAL.
"J. PARKE.
"J. WILLIAMS.
"To the Most Noble the Marquess of Normanby, &c."
While these proceedings were going on in London, on the 26th of January,
Bradford, in Yorkshire, was made the scene of acts of conspiracy against
the government; but as the particulars of this affair appear in the
allusion to the trial of the conspirators, which we make hereafter, we
shall not here further refer to it.
The trial of those prisoners whose names we have already mentioned as
having been parties to the Sheffield conspiracy, came on at the York
assizes on the 16th of March, before Mr. Justice Erskine.
The court was at an early hour besieged by parties anxious to obtain
admission. In a part of the hall a great number of pikes, knives,
daggers, and fire-arms of various kinds, were laid in readiness to be
produced at the trial. On the table in the court was a large basket
containing pistols, muskets, balls, powder, and shells of various kinds,
some of them nine or ten inches in diameter, and bound round with great
quantities of pitched twine.
At nine o'clock his lordship entered the court, and was immediately
followed by the Attorney-General (Sir John Campbell) who had gone down
specially to conduct these prosecutions.
Samuel Holberry, Thomas Booker, William Booker, and James Duffey were
put to the bar. Wells, included in the same indictment, had pleaded
guilty.