Editing John Frost (Chartist) (section)

== Letter to Lord John Russell ==
Because of his continuing role within the Chartist Movement, [[Home Secretary]] [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|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 straightforward letter, containing the contemporary Chartist songs of Wales, which gave expression to the feelings and determination of the Welsh coal miners:

{{poemquote|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 upraised 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 any longer and still doubting its success, Frost burst into tears. A thirty-member conference ultimately fixed the date for 3 November.