The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane Part 66

_Q._ Tell us all that he said to you at the time; did he not at the time when he was giving you directions to print it, say, that if De Berenger was the man, he had given the Stock Exchange the clue to it?

_A._ After reading the affidavit, his Lords.h.i.+p said "I once saw Captain De Berenger at dinner."

_Lord Ellenborough._ Was this at the time?

_A._ Yes; he said "I once saw Captain De Berenger at Mr. Basil Cochrane's--I have no reason to think that Captain De Berenger is capable of so base a transaction, but if he is, I have given the gentlemen of the Stock Exchange the best clue to find him out."

_Lord Ellenborough._ Did he say what sort of clue he had given?

_A._ The clue as to De Berenger.

_Mr. Gurney._ By his affidavit?

_A._ Yes, that by that he had given them the best clue.

_Re-examined by Mr. Adolphus._

_Q._ When was it this affidavit was given to you?

_A._ I cannot state the day.

_Q._ Was it so late as March?

_A._ No, it must be about the 27th or 28th of February I think, but the newspaper will prove the date; it might be the first or second of March, I cannot speak to that.

_Q._ Was it not after the 11th of March?

_A._ I cannot state indeed.

_Q._ It was given to you the day before it appeared in the Morning Chronicle?

_A._ It was the day before, about three o'clock.

_Mr. Gurney._ Look at that (_shewing a pamphlet to the witness_) have you received one of those pamphlets either from Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, Lord Cochrane, or Mr. b.u.t.t?

_A._ Lord Cochrane gave me one of those at my own request, hearing it was published.

_Q._ Look at that which purports to be an affidavit of Lord Cochrane.

_Mr. Serjeant Best._ Is that the identical book Lord Cochrane gave you?

_A._ No.

_Mr. Gurney._ Read the affidavit and tell me whether you know that to be verbally and precisely the same?

_Mr. Serjeant Best._ I submit to your Lords.h.i.+p that will not do.

_Mr. Gurney._ Where is your copy of the pamphlet?

_A._ It is at home.

_Mr. Gurney._ Will your Lords.h.i.+p allow him to go home and fetch it.

_Lord Ellenborough._ Certainly.

_Mr. Malcolm Richardson called again._

_Examined by Mr. Gurney._

_Q._ You are a bookseller?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ Were you employed by Mr. b.u.t.t to publish that pamphlet?

_A._ Not absolutely employed by him to publish it, but I sold it for him at his request, he wrote to me to know whether I would sell it for him.

_Lord Ellenborough._ This should be a publication by Lord Cochrane, to make the affidavit evidence against him.

_Mr. Gurney._ Certainly, my Lord, and if my learned friends wish it, I will wait till the witness comes back.

_Mr. Serjeant Best._ I have no wish to lay any impediment in the way, therefore if your Lords.h.i.+p thinks there is no impropriety in my permitting it to be read now, I will do it?

_Lord Ellenborough._ I leave it to your judgment, whether your resistance does you more good than the admission.

_Mr. Serjeant Best._ I will not resist it certainly. If I had the original I would deliver it up in a moment, but the fact is, we have not the original.

_The Affidavit was read as follows:_

"Having obtained leave of absence to come to town, in consequence of scandalous paragraphs in the public papers, and in consequence of having learnt that hand-bills had been affixed in the streets, in which (I have since seen) it is a.s.serted that a person came to my house, at No. 13, Green-street, on the 21st day of February, in open day, and in the dress in which he had committed a fraud; I feel it due to myself to make the following deposition that the public may know the truth relative to the only person seen by me in military uniform, at my house, on that day.

COCHRANE."

_March 11, 1814._ _13, Green-street._

"I, Sir Thomas Cochrane, commonly called Lord Cochrane, having been appointed by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, to active service (at the request, I believe, of Sir Alexander Cochrane) when I had no expectation of being called on, I obtained leave of absence to settle my private affairs previous to quitting this country, and chiefly with a view to lodge a specification to a patent relative to a discovery for increasing the intensity of light. That in pursuance of my daily practice of superintending work that was executing for me, and knowing that my uncle, Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, went to the city every morning in a coach.

I do swear, on the morning of the 21st of February (which day was impressed on my mind by circ.u.mstances which afterwards occurred) I breakfasted with him at his residence in c.u.mberland-street, about half past eight o'clock, and I was put down by him (and Mr. b.u.t.t was in the coach) on Snow-hill, about ten o'clock; that I had been about three quarters of an hour at Mr. King's manufactory, at No. 1, c.o.c.k-lane, when I received a few lines on a small bit of paper, requesting me to come immediately to my house; the name affixed, from being written close to the bottom, I could not read. The servant told me it was from an army officer, and concluding that he might be an officer from Spain, and that some accident had befallen to my brother; I hastened back, and I found Captain Berenger, who, in great seeming uneasiness, made many apologies for the freedom he had used, which nothing but the distressed state of his mind, arising from difficulties, could have induced him to do. All his prospects, he said, had failed, and his last hope had vanished, of obtaining an appointment in America. He was unpleasantly circ.u.mstanced, on account of a sum which he could not pay, and if he could, that others would fall upon him for full 8000. He had no hope of benefiting his creditors in his present situation, or of a.s.sisting himself. That if I would take him with me he would immediately go on board and exercise the sharp-shooters, (which plan Sir Alexander Cochrane, I knew, had approved of.) That he had left his lodgings and prepared himself in the best way his means allowed. He had brought the sword with him which had been his fathers, and to that, and to Sir Alexander, he would trust for obtaining an honourable appointment. I felt very uneasy at the distress he was in, and knowing him to be a man of great talent and science, I told him I would do every thing in my power to relieve him; but as to his going immediately to the Tonnant, with any comfort to himself, it was quite impossible, my cabin was without furniture, I had not even a servant on board. He said he would willingly mess any where. I told him that the ward-room was already crowded, and besides I could not with propriety take him, he being a foreigner, without leave from the Admiralty. He seemed greatly hurt at this, and recalled to my recollection certificates which he had formerly shewn me, from persons in official situations. Lord Yarmouth, General Jenkinson, and Mr. Reeves, I think, were amongst the number. I recommended him to use his endeavour to get them, or any other friends, to exert their influence, for I had none, adding that when the Tonnant went to Portsmouth, I should be happy to receive him; and I knew from Sir Alexander Cochrane, that he would be pleased if he accomplished that object. Captain Berenger said, that not antic.i.p.ating any objection on my part from the conversation he had formerly had with me, he had come away with intention to go on board and make himself useful in his military capacity;--he could not go to Lord Yarmouth, or to any other of his friends, in this dress, (alluding to that which he had on) or return to his lodgings where it would excite suspicion (as he was at that time in the rules of the King's Bench) but that if I refused to let him join the s.h.i.+p now, he would do so at Portsmouth. Under present circ.u.mstances, however, he must use a great liberty, and request the favour of me to lend him a hat to wear instead of his military cap. I gave him one which was in a back room with some things that had not been packed up, and having tried it on, his uniform appeared under his great coat; I therefore offered him a black coat that was laying on a chair, and which I did not intend to take with me.

He put up his uniform in a towel, and shortly afterwards went away in great apparent uneasiness of mind; and having asked my leave, he took the coach I came in, and which I had forgotten to discharge in the haste I was in. I do further depose, that the above conversation is the substance of all that pa.s.sed with Captain Berenger, which, from the circ.u.mstances attending it, was strongly impressed upon my mind, that no other person in uniform was seen by me, at my house, on Monday the 21st of February, though possibly other officers may have called (as many have done since my appointment;) of this, however, I cannot speak of my own knowledge, having been almost constantly from home, arranging my private affairs. I have understood that many persons have called under the above circ.u.mstances, and have written notes in the parlour, and others have waited there in expectation of seeing me, and then gone away, but I most positively swear that I never saw any person at my house resembling the description, and in the dress stated in the printed advertis.e.m.e.nt of the members of the Stock Exchange. I further aver that I had no concern, directly or indirectly, in the late imposition, and that the above is all that I know relative to any person who came to my house in uniform on the 21st day of February, before alluded to. Captain Berenger wore a grey great coat, a green uniform and a military cap. From the manner in which my character has been attempted to be defamed, it is indispensibly necessary to state that my connexion in any way with the funds, arose from an impression that in the present favourable aspect of affairs, it was only necessary to hold stock in order to become a gainer without prejudice to anybody; that I did so openly, considering it in no degree improper, far less dishonorable; that I had no secret information of any kind, and that had my expectation of the success of affairs been disappointed, I should have been the only sufferer. Further, I do most solemnly swear that the whole of the Omnium on account, which I possessed on the 21st day of February, 1814, amounted to 139,000 which I bought by Mr. Fearn (I think) on the 12th ultimo at a premium of 28-1/4, that I did not hold on that day any other sum on account in any other stock directly or indirectly, and that I had given orders when it was bought to dispose of it on a rise of one per cent, and it actually was sold on an average at 29-1/2 premium, though on the day of the fraud it might have been disposed of at 33-1/2. I further swear, that the above is the only stock which I sold of any kind on the 21st day of February, except 2000 in money which I had occasion for, the profit of which was about 10.

Further, I do solemnly depose, that I had no connexion of dealing with any one, save the above mentioned, and that I did not at any time, directly or indirectly, by myself or by any other, take or procure any office or apartment for any broker or other person for the transaction of stock affairs."

"COCHRANE."