608 



NEWPORT NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



the court was then adjourned to the 3Ut of De- 

 cember. On that day the proceedings were re- 

 sumed. The attorney and solicitor-general, ser- 

 jeants Ludlow and Talfourd, with Messrs Wight- 

 man and Talbot, appeared for the crown ; and Sir 

 Frederick Pollock, with Mr Kelly and Mr Thomas, 

 for the prisoner Frost. John Frost was put to the 

 bar. The whole of the day was occupied in 

 challenging the jury. On Wednesday, Mr Talbot 

 opened the case on the part of the crown ; and the 

 attorney-general addressed the court and jury. 

 After which Sir Frederick Pollock objected to the 

 calling ol the witnesses, in consequence ul the list 

 of them not having been given to the prisoner, 

 Frost, agreeably to the terms of the statute. Mr 

 Kelly followed on the same side, and the attorney- 

 general was heard in reply. The chief justice 

 Tiiuhil decided that the trial should proceed, and 

 the opinion of the judges be taken, in the event of 

 the result of the trial making such reference neces- 

 sary. On the third day the evidence was entered 

 into; and on the eighth day (Jan. 8,) after the most 

 patient attention of the court and the jury to the 

 laborious and eloquent addresses of the counsel, 

 and to the immense mass of evidence, the learned 

 chief justice summed up in a very clear, able, 

 and impartial address to the jury, who retired for 

 half an hour, and then returned a verdict of Guilty 

 against Frost, with a strong recommendation 

 to mercy. Zephaniah Williams was then placed at 

 the bar. His trial occupied four days : and Mr 

 Thomas conducted his defence. The jury returned 

 a verdict of Guilty, with a recommendation to 

 mercy as before. William Jones, watchmaker, was 

 put to the bar. Mr Richards conducted the pri- 

 soner's case, and the trial was concluded on Wed- 

 nesday Jan. 16. A verdict of guilty with a recom- 

 mendation to mercy, was also returned in this case. 

 Charles Walters, Jenkins Morgan, John Rees, 

 Richard Benfield, and John Lovell, were then 

 placed at the bar ; and having been allowed to 

 withdraw their plea of not Guilty, they then 

 pleaded Guilty. Upon them also sentence of death 

 was passed, the court intimating that they would be 

 transported for life. Four were discharged, the at- 

 torney-general declining to proceed against them. 

 Two forfeited their bail; and nine, having pleaded 

 Guilty to charges of conspiracy and riot, were 

 sentenced to terms of imprisonment not exceeding 

 one year. On the 2oth Jan. the objection raised 

 by Sir Frederick Pollock was argued before the 

 fifteen judges in the court of exchequer ; when the 

 attorney-general, the solicitor-general, Mr serjeant 

 Ludlow, and Mr serjeant Talfourd, appeared as 

 counsel for the crown ; and Sir F. Pollock, Mr F. 

 Kelly, and Sir W. Follet for the prisoners. The 

 arguments were continued on Monday the 27th, 

 and Tuesday the 28th, when the judges decided 

 against the objection by a majority of nine to six. 

 The royal mercy was, however, eventually ex- 

 tended to Frost, Williams, and Jones, whose sen- 

 tence of death was commuted to transportation for 

 life. 



NEWPORT; a town in the Isle of Wight, 

 seventy-nine miles from London. It is situated 

 nearly in the centre of the island, on the river Me- 

 dina, which falls into the sea seven miles below the 

 town, and consists of five parallel streets, running 

 east and west, and crossed by three others, at right 

 angles, at the intersections of which are three large 

 squares, serving for the cattle, corn, and poultry 

 markets. Most of the agricultural produce of the 



island is sold at these markets, which arc held on 

 Wednesdays and Saturdays. The church, which 

 is dedicated to St Thomas-a-Becket, is situated in 

 the centre of one of the squares, and is a spacious 

 edifice, consisting of three aisles of equal length, 

 separated from each other by pointed arches, and 

 an embattled tower at the west end. About u 

 mile from the town is Carisbrook castle (which 

 see, in the present Supplement) memorable as a 

 place of confinement for Charles I. Population uf 

 Newport in 1841, 3858. 



NEW RED SANDSTONE, or variegated 

 sandstone, lies above the coal measures, but with 

 its strata in an unconformable position to those on 

 which it is placed. In appearance this sandstone 

 is of a deeper red than the general hue of that of 

 the coal measures, and also of a more friable porous 

 consistence, and is altogether evidently a different 

 deposit. In England the new red sandstone com- 

 mences at Tynemouth, and extends in a south- 

 westerly direction as far as Cheltenham, covering 

 the surface of the counties of Durham, York, Not- 

 tingham, Stafford, Warwick, Cheshire, and Shrop- 

 shire. In it both animal and vegetable petrifac- 

 tions occur, though sparingly ; it also contains beds 

 of gvpsum and rock salt. It consists of subordin- 

 ate formations, which may be divided into upper, 

 middle and lower beds. The lower beds consist 

 of a coarse conglomerate cemented by a ferrugin- 

 ous sand or marl, the middle beds of inagnesiai. 

 limestone, and the upper of sandstone or marl. 

 In these upper beds are found gypsum or sulphate of 

 lime, and rock salt. The valuable material of mu- 

 riate of soda, or common salt, is found in considera- 

 ble quantity dissolved in the waters of the ocean ; 

 also, in salt springs issuing from the earth in vari- 

 ous kinds of strata, and in beds or masses some- 

 times of immense extent in this new red sandstone. 

 Various opinions are entertained regarding the ori- 

 ginal production of such beds. By some it is sup- 

 posed, that the salt has been deposited by the 

 gradual evaporation of inland salt lakes, the muri- 

 ate of soda, the least soluble of the salts, being 

 first precipitated, while the other salts that are 

 more easily soluble in smaller proportions of water 

 have been drained off, thus leaving a bed of pure 

 salt. Others again have conjectured, that salt is 

 a chemical production, formed by the decomposi- 

 tion of granite and other rocks containing a large 

 proportion of soda. Rock salt, when dug from 

 the pit, has a reddish hue, being tinged by iron and 

 other impurities, from which it is freed by repeated 

 solution and crystallization. Rock salt is found 

 in England at Norwich, in Cheshire, and Droit- 

 wich in Worcestershire, besides several salt springs 

 in the northern counties, and in Leicestershire ; in 

 France, in the salt springs of Salins ; in Switzer- 

 land, Spain, Hungary, Poland, and various other 

 places on the continent of Europe. It is abundant 

 in the deserts of Caramania in Asia ; in the table 

 land of Tartary ; in Thibet and Hindostan; in Caf- 

 fraria, near the Cape of Good Hope, and in both 

 North and South America. Rock salt has also 

 been discovered in New South Wales, so that this 

 important substance seems universally diffused 

 over the globe. The salt district in Cordova in 

 Spain comprehends the hills on which the town is 

 situated, and the environs for several miles. The 

 surface is almost every where covered with vegeta- 

 ble soil to the depth of six inches or more, which 

 renders it productive. The rocks of salt form a 

 valley, a mile in length, and half a mile in breadth. 



