John Frost (Chartist) - Letter To Lord Russell

Letter To Lord Russell

Because of his continuing role within the Chartist Movement, Home Secretary Russell dismissed Frost from his position as Justice of the Peace. In response, while at a Chartist Convention in Pontypool, Frost responded to Russell in a straighforward letter, containing the contemporary Chartist songs of Wales, which gave expression to the feelings and determination of the Welsh coal miners:

Uphold those bold Comrades, who suffer for you,

Who nobly stand foremost, demanding your due,

Away with the timid-'tis treason to fear-

To surrender or falter, when danger is near,

For now that our leaders disdain to betray

'Tis base to desert them, or succour delay

'Tis time that the victims of labour and care

Should for reap what is labour's fair share

'Tis time that these voice in the councils be heard

The rather than pay for the law of the sword;

All power is ours, with a will of our own

We conquer, united-divided we groan.

Come hail brothers, hail the shrill sound of the horn

For ages deep wrongs have been hopelessly borne

Despair shall no longer our spirits dismay

Nor wither the arms when uprasised for the fray;

The conflict for freedom is gathering nigh:

We live to secure it, or gloriously die.

Nonetheless, while the desire amongst the Welsh to rebel was ever stronger, Frost himself still wished to postpone the date of an uprising. By the end of October, the Welsh Chartists were holding daily meetings in Monmouthshire in an attempt to force an armed rebellion. Records suggest that ultimately, finding himself unable to postpone the date of an organised uprising and longer and still doubting its success, Frost burst into tears. A thirty member conference ultimately fixed the date for 3 November.