tinue to be, has never been suffered with im- no one shall dure to hold language Mke this, punily. *

without being prepared to tell a jury of his Gentlemen, when you consider, not merely country upon what grounds he conceives himwhether the prosecution is to produce a ver- self justifiable in holding it under the circumdict of guilty, but whether the prosecution is stances of the present case. expedient and proper, it is not unnecessary to Gentlemen, advert a little to the timethis advert to the circumstances of the times, and was in November 1792. There does not exist the temper with which the particular defen- upon the face of the earth, I hope, a man dant may have proceeded, who is charged more zealously attached to this doctrine than with guilt by an indictment brought before a I am. I mean, that every man in this counjury of his country.

try, and in every country, has an equal right Gentlemen, this doctrine of equality and to equal laws, to an equal protection of perno king has been held in this country, which sonal security, to an equal protection of pernever did, and which I hope, never will, in- sonal liberty, to an equal protection of that, terfere with the right of free, of temperate, of without which, it requires no reasoning to sober, and of ample discussion, conducted un- prove, that neither personal security, nor perder those restraints, upon every political sub- sonal liberty, ever can exist, I mean to an ject, in which the interests and the happiness equal protection of property—that property of Englishmen can be concerned: but, gen- which the labour of his life, under the blesstlemen, when a doctrine of this sort, equality ing of Providence, may have gained to him, and no king-a doctrine which either means or which the superior kindness of Providence this, or it means nothing—that there shall be may have given him, without bestowing the no distinction of ranks in society, is brought labour of life in order to acquire it; all this forward, under circumstances so peculiar as sort of equality is that which the constitution those which attended the statement of this of Great Britain hus secured to every man who doctrine by the defendant, it becomes the lives under it, but is not the equality which duty of those who are intrusted with watch- was connected with the doctrine No King, ing over the laws of this country, under the upon the 6th of November 1792. control of juries, who are finally to decide be- Gentlemen, that country, from which it tween them and individuals who may be appears, from this conversation, Mr. Frost charged with a breach of them, at least to do caine, and to which it appears, from this contheir duty in stating this to the public, that versation, that he expected to go, in the year

1789 had framed what was called a constitu*“It” (High Treason]" is distinguishable tion, and almost every thing that was valufrom Sedition, which is now understood in a able in it was borrowed from the constitution more general sense, and extends to other of this country in which we live, which had offences, not capital, of like tendency, but provided for the equal rights of man to equal without any actual design against the king in laws; it had laid down in doctrine, however contemplation; such as contempts of the king ill or well it supported the principle, the equal and his government, riotous assemblies for right of every man to the protection of his political purposes, and the like: and therefore personal liberiy, of his personal security, and a charge of exciting sedition or doing any of his property. But in 1792, that first year thing seditiously, does not amount to a charge of Equality, as it was called, a different system of high treason. But all such contempts, of equality, connected materially with this though not amounting to high trcason, as not system of No King,' had been established : being connected with any actual design on a system, which, if it meant any thing, meant foot against the safety of the king, are yet this-it meant equality of property, for all highly criminal, and punishable with fine, other equality had been before provided for. imprisonment, and sometimes with the Gentlemen of the jury, it is every man's pillory." “ In general, it is sufficient to birth-right to have a certain species of equaobserve, that all contemptuous, indecent, or lity secured to him, but it neither requires malicious observations upon his person or reasoning, nor is it consistent with conimon government, whether by writing or speaking, sense, and cannot be consistent with reason or by tokens calculated to lessen him in the and common sense, because it is not conesteem of his subjects, or weaken his govern-sistent with the nature of things, as estament, or to raise jealousies of him amongst blished by the author of nature, that any other the people, will fall under the notion of sedi- system of equality should exist upon the face tious acts, as well as all direct or indirect acts of the world. ur threats calculated to overawe his measures Gentlemen, this equality, recommended by or disturb the course of his government, not this gentleman, advisedly, as I think you will amounting to overt acts of high treason, or bitisfied, in this transaction of the 6th of otherwise punishable by particular statutes. urember 1792, is a system which has deA second offence of this sort was, by a litostroyed all ranks-is a system which has temporary act, 36 Geo. 3, c. 7, s. 2, ni le destroyed all property—is a system of unipunishable with transportation: but that versal proscription-is a system which is as is now spent." East's Pleas of the Crown, contrary to sit order of moral nature, as it is c. 2, s. 1.

contrary to the order of political nature-it is $

a

a system which cuts up by the roots all the criminal.” “ Loose words, therefore, not relaenjoymerits that result from the domestic re- tice to any act or design, are not overt acts of lations of life, or the political relations of treason, but words of advice or persuasion, life—it is a system which cuts up by the and all consultations for the traitorous purroots every incentive to virtuous and active poses treated of in this chapter, are certainly industry, and holds out to the man who so; they are uttered in contemplation of some chooses to live a life of profligacy and idle- traitorous purpose, actually on foot or intendness, that he may take from him, who ed, and in prosecution of it.” * has exerted through life a laborious and vir- Gentlemen of the jury, it is competent to tuous conduct, those fruits which the God of Mr. Frost, and he will give me leave to say, justice, and every law of justice, have endea. I think it is incumbent upon him, having voured to secure to him. This is the only made use of words of this sort, to state to sort of equality that can be connected with you, that in the sentiment which that lanthis doctrine of "No King,' upon the 6th of guage conveys, he does not express those senNovember 1792.

timents by which his general conduct in life Gentlemen, I am ready to agree, that where is regulated. For aught I know, he is otherthe charge is, that words have been spoken, wise well disposed; and I am sure, if evidence it is fit for those who prosecute for the public of that sort is given to you, you will feel the to remember, that in that situation, they are propriety of giving to it, not only a candid, in a certain degree advocates for the defen- but you have my leave to give it the very utdant; for no man can do his duty who wishes most consideration that can be possibly given to press a defendant, charged upon the part of to it. Gentlemen, you observe too, that words the public, with acting more improperly than are not made treason, because words may be he shall appear, upon the candid examination spoken to by witnesses from a motive truly of the circumstances, to have acted; it is fit criminal. You will be to judge, whether the for me also to observe, that the degree of evidence of the witnesses to be called to you criminality of these words will depend very to-day proceeds from motives truly criminal, much upon the temper, the circumstances, or whether laudable zeal for the constitution the quo animo, with which this gentleman of their country is not their only motive for thought proper to utter them.

stating to you ihe conduct of this defendant. Gentlemen, I will not depart from this Gentlemen, there is another circumstance. principle which I have before stated, that if – I will say but a word to you upon it; that men will dare to utter words, expressions of is this: that the propriety of prosecuting for more serious import than those which pro- words of this sort depends a great deal upon duced the mischief to which I have been al- the time and season at which those words are luding in other places, it will be the duty of uttered. persons in official situations to watch for Gentlemen, we know, that in this country you and the public over that, which they the legislature found it necessary to interfere, conceive to be a blessing to you and the pub- and by a positive law to enact, that any man lic; at least to inform those gentlemen that who should dare to affirm that the king and they must account for their conduct; it will parliament could not regulate the succession be for them, if they can, to account for it to the crown, should be guilty of high treason; satisfactorily.

Gentlemen, you will hear from the wit- * See Foster's Crown Law, p. 200, 3rd nesses with what temper, with what demean- edition, of 1792. our, and in what manner, these words were “ Whatever doubts," says Mr East, “mav uttered; and I alludo again to that which will have been formerly entertained, or however be described to you, I mean the feelings of the law may have been stretched in arbitrary the persons present, as some degree of evi- times to reach particular men, it is now sei. dence, which will have its due, and not more tled that bare words not relative to any act or than its due weight in your minds.

design, however wicked, indecent, or repreGentlemen, I will read to you the words of hensible they may be, are not in themselves Mr. Justice Foster, as containing the principle overt acts of high treason, but only a mise upon which, though the law holds seditious prision, punishable at common law by fine expressions as an exceeding high misde- and imprisonment, or other corporal punishmeanor, it has not thought proper to consider ment. They are frequently spoken in heat them as a crime of the magnitude of high without any intention to act accordingly; they treason. He says, “ As to mere words, sup- are still more frequently mistaken or misreposed to be treasonable, they differ widely membered; and sometimes it is to be feared from writings in point of real malignity and the sense of them knowingly perverted. It proper evidence. They are often the effect of is one of the causes mentioned in the premere heat of blood, which in some natures, amble of the statute 1 Mar. st. 1, c. 1, for reotherwise well disposed, carrieth a man be- pealing all intermediate treasons created since yond the bounds of decency or prudence; the stat. 25 Ed. S, on account of the severity they are always liable to great misconstruc-of those laws that made words only, without lion from the ignorance and inattention of other fact or deed, to be high treason.” Pleas the hearers, and too often from a motive truly of the Crown, c. 2, s. 53.

God forbid the time should ever come, and I do not believe it ever can come, when the legislature, acting upon the same principle, shall be obliged to say, that if it is at this hour high treason for men deliberately to affirm that the king and parliament of this country cannot regulate the succession to the crown, it shall be innocent for men to say that the king and parliament of this country have no right to continue any government in

under those circumstances ought to be dealt with. I never will press a jury for a verdict, in a case in which, whatever may be the strictness of the law as between man and man, acting upon moral and candid feelings, it ought not to be asked for; and having given you my sentiments, I leave the defendant in your hands.

EVIDENCE FOR THE CROWN.

citor General.

Do you know Mr. John Frost?-I never saw him but that evening in my life. What evening?-The 6th of November last.

Where were you that evening?--In the Percy coffee-house.

Who was with you?-Mr. Paul Savignac. Were there any other persons in the coffeehouse?-Yes, several gentlemen.

Can you name any?—Mr. Yatman was there; Mr. Bullock; there were not many that I knew.

Did you see Mr. Frost there?-Yes.

At what time?-About ten in the evening. Where did Mr. Frost come from?-He came from a room above stairs with several gentlemen into the coffee-room.

What did you first perceive with respect to Mr. Frost? He addressed himself, I think, first to Mr. Yatman, but that I am not cer tain; he was asked how long he had been returned from France.

this country. Why then, gentlemen, if this John Taitt, sworn.-Examined by Mr. Solidoctrine of Equality and No King has been attended with such consequences as it is notorious to all mankind it has been attended with, the notoriety of the fact renders it incumbent upon those, whose duty it is, to bring such defendants before a jury of their country, for that jury to say, as between the country and individuals, whether, under such circumstances as will be laid before you, he is to be publicly permitted to hold such doctrines as those which are stated, in a manner that seems to evince that they are not stated for any useful purpose; but that they are stated for the purpose of trying, whether there is any law in this country that will secure the government of the country from attacks, which mean nothing but to display the audacity with which men dare to attack that government. And if you shall be convinced, upon the whole of the evidence before you, that the case is such as I have stated it to be, this I am sure of, that you will duly weigh the consequences of the verdict, however you shall be disposed to give it, for the crown, or for the defendant; and I am sure, the crown, upon the temperate consideration of what the jury does, will not be dissatisfied with that verdict, let it be what it may. The constitution of this country, if it be excellent, if it has really handed down to us those great and invaluable blessings, which, I believe, ninety-nine persons out of a hundred are convinced it has, and if it be a matter of anxiety to transmit them to our posterity, you will remember that the stability of those blessings finally and ultimately depends upon the conduct of juries. It is with them, by their verdicts, to establish their fellow-subjects in the enjoyment of those rights; it is with them to say in what cases those rights have been invaded; and the same constitution that has left it to them to say in what cases those rights have been invaded, has also bound every honest man to say, that Lord Kenyon. You asked him?-Yes, bewhen they have given their decision upon it, cause I did not know him. Mr. Yatman anthey have acted properly between the coun-swered, that is Mr. Frost; upon which I asked try and the individual who is charged with the offence.

Gentlemen, under these circumstances, I shall proceed to lay the case before you, and I have only again to repeat, if you shall find, upon a due consideration of this case, that this is a hasty, an unguarded, and unadvised expression of a gentleman otherwise well disposed, and who meant no real mischief to the country, you will be pleased, with my consent, to deal with the defendant as a person VOL. XXII.

Lord Kenyon. Was he asked that by Mr. Yatman?-By Mr. Yatman or some of the other gentlemen; he said, he was very lately returned.

Mr. Sol. Gen. What did he say more?He asked him what they were doing there, and he said, things were going on very well there, they were doing very well.

Did you hear him say any thing more?— That he should very shortly return there.

What more?-There was nothing more, till, a few minutes after, he went into the body of the coffee-room, two or three boxes from where I was; I heard him exalting his voice, and he was for equality-" I am for equality"-upon which I got off my seat, and I went forward, and inquired, "Who are you, Sir?"

him, how he dared to utter such words? He still continued, "I am for equality and no king." Mr. Yatman asked him, if he meant no king in this country, and he said, yes, no king, or no kings, I rather think it was in the plural number. That the constitution of this country was a very bad one.

Did he say any thing more?-He said nothing more. I said, he ought to be turned out of the coffee-room; upon which he walked up the room and placed his back to the fire,

2 I

Did you hear any particular expressions he made use of?-When he passed the box I was sitting in, he was in the company of Mr. Yatman, and I heard him say, "I am for equality and no king."

Lord Kenyon. What did he say?-He was not in the box; he was walking up the middle of the coffee room, and he said, "I am for equality and no king." I heard Mr. Yatman, pressing his brow, say, "What! equality and no king in this country?" Upon which Mr. Frost answered, "Yes, no king; there ought to be no king." I heard nothing more in conversation pass. I stepped from the box, and asked him, how he dared to hold a doctrine of that kind in a public coffee room? He made some reply as before, that he was for equality and no king. I told him, if he was not under the protection of the very king he was then reviling, I would kick him out of the coffee-room. Upon which he asked me, if I doubted his courage. I told him, certainly he would not have made use of such expressions without, because I should have supposed it to be an insult to make use of such expressions in a public coffee-house. He was then handled by other gentlemen, and I sat down; but very soon afterwards he left the room, under the execrations and hisses of all the room.

Did you see him when he first came down into the public coffee-room?-I don't know that I might. I saw him soon after I saw Mr. Yatman.

Recollect yourself, and tell me how long you can speak to it, as near as you can-recollect how long he was in the public coffeeroom before he went away?-Not ten mi nutes; not more I am sure.

I would ask you whether this conduct and these expressions of his produced any, and what kind of notice in the company? That every gentleman there was under the same idea with me, that he ought to be kicked out of the coffee-room.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serj. Runnington. You don't live in that neighbourhood, do you? No, in Carshalton, in Surrey. How long had you been in the coffee-room, before you saw Mr. Frost come in?—He was up stairs.

Was he obliged to come through the coffeeroom from up stairs to go into the street?—I cannot say.

How far were you from Mr. Yatman?—— They were walking up the coffee-room close

to me.

Did any thing pass from Mr. Yatman to Mr. Frost? Yes.

Before Mr. Frost spoke at all?—No. Do you recollect Mr. Yatman saying, as he came down stairs, "Well, Mr. Equality, where are you going to?”—No, I do not. Matthew Yatman sworn.-Examined by Mr.

Baldwin.

6th of November, in the evening?-I was. Did you see Mr. Frost there?-I did.

You have long known Mr. Frost?-Mr. Frost was in the commission for watching and lighting the street in which I live, and I am one of the commissioners.

Tell us what passed between Mr. Frost and you at the Percy coffee-house?-He came from the room where he dined, and into the coffee room; he came up to where I was, and knowing he was lately come from France, I said, Well, how do they go on in France? He seemed to be stimulated at the question, and he extended his arm, and exalted his voice sufficiently to be heard up stairs, if the door had been opened, "I am for equality and no king."-"What!" says I, "no king in this country?"-"No king!" as loud as he could holla.

Did any thing more pass between you and your old friend?-No, I had enough. Upon this, the gentlemen in the coffee-room seemed to be stimulated with anger, and Mr. Taitt and Mr. Savignac got up, and were so enraged at him, I supposed they would have kicked him out off the coffee-room, and I believe it would have been done, but one gentleman got him to the door, and prevailed on him to go out.

Did he say any thing more that you recollect?-No, it was all confusion after that. And the manner of it was as you have described it?-Yes.

With vehemence ?-Yes, he was very warm.

Cross-examined by Mr. Erskine.

It was all general confusion after Mr. Taitt had interfered ?—Yes.

I believe Mr. Frost said this extremely loud, that he might have been heard up stairs? I am just of that opinion.

And then it was that Mr. Taitt interfered? -Yes.

After that all was confusion?—Yes. Mr. Baldwin. Though there was confusion afterwards, there was not when he spoke those words?-No.

Did he speak it coolly or otherwise, excepting the warmth of which you have spoken ? How was he in his understanding?-He spoke it very distinctly, and wished to be heard by every body.

Was he sober or no?-Certainly he was not drunk.

Mr. Erskine. It was ten o'clock, was it not?-Between nine and ten. I don't know whether it was quite ten.

Do you mean to say he was just as sober as he might be at twelve o'clock in the day?That he walked,

Do you mean to stake your character and your honour before the jury, by saying he was as sober as if you had seen him before dinner?—I don't say he was sober.

I ask you whether you mean to stake your character and your honour before the jury, Were you at the Percy coffee-house, on the by saying that he was as sober as at twelve