Star. — London, England, 1814-07-06 00:00:00

should be predisposed to find the bill? I ask yoU, Sir, and I ask the House, whether it was ever before known that means like these were resorted to, previ. ous to a man being legally accused ? But, Sir, what Most the world dunk, when they see those to whom the welfare and the honour of the nation are commit. ted covertly cooperating with a Committee of the Stock Exchange? I must confess, that I was not prepared to believe the thing possible. I was aware, indeed, that I had to expect from some of those in power, whom I had' in vain endeavoured to bring to ktstice, every thing that malignity could suggest and cunning perpetrate: I was aware of my endeavours, though humble, to expose the sources of corruption : I was aware of the unquenchable thirst for revenge which I had excited in the breasts of many, by exhi ',siting to the world their frauds upon my ill-treated brethren of the Navy. . . . . . . . So much, Sir, for the steps taken previous to the indictment. The conspiracy against Int being thus matured, the public mind being com pletely prejudiced, and that prejudice kept alive by a series of falsehoods and misrepresentations, the legal proceedings began. The bill of indictment was preferred. There were some persons indicted who had confessed their share in the imposition.— These perions had deviated to my prosecutors that they knew me not ; that they bad never seen me ; that they never had any connexion with me ; and yet, we there all put into* one indictMent, for the manifes t purpose of so confounding innocence with guilt, as to secure a chance, at least, of my conviction, even at the hands of a jury who, in spite of all precaa, tints, might be disposed to act justly. Their object was so to confound and confuse ideas, that a jury of honest enerv,might, be led to give a wrong verdict.— Care, however, was taken, Sir, that the success of this base conspiracy should not be exposed to the chances of failure from the Jwy nor being of the right stamp. The indictment, if left to its fair, regular course, would have he 'dm is called a amson Jury ; that is to say, a jury wizen names are eaten pportiscuously out of a bas containing the names of the whole • of Ike Aron, summoned far the trial of all the cuss brought before the Court during the sessions. I was ready to meet the accusation before such a jury. I mit no steps to put of the trial for a day. The in dramettwas removed from the Court before which iktesulaelvainc, into a Court where the prosecutors Isnrat tliat they could cause me to be tried by a jury of their own ng ; and, which was full as much to their purpose, before a [Here there were con siderable murmurs, as well as cries of —(Creler, order, Chair, chair.] The _SPEAKER said, he hoped the Noble Lord Would see that his defence was not to be made a ve hicle for invective and abuse against persons in high situations. However, the Noble Lord might think fit to avail himself of the privilege of speech, he should be aware that the House would not permit such language to be circulated afterwards out of that House. Lord COCHRANE proceeded N I have said, Sir, that the Jury hefcre whom I was tried, was a Jury chosen by the prosecutors; and who can doubt the fact, when it is notorious that the Jury was appointed, selected, picked our, Johnson, in reference to the happier dates which England had seen, has these verses: " When sterling freedom circled Alfred's throne, " And Spa and Staid Juries were ttasknotsn. V7hen, Sir, I first read these lines, I was wholly ig norant of what Special Jury meant. I now un derstand the thing but too well ; and I am not without hopes that the horrible injustice which has now been practised, and which could not have been practised without the aid of a Special Jury, may, in the end, be the Means of totally extirpating that intolerable evil. A Special Jury is composed of twelve persons taken out of forty-eight persons, the whole of which forty-eight persons are selected by the Master of the Crown Office, lt it nolorious, Sir, that these Special Jurors follow the business as a trade ; that they are paid a guinea each for every trial that it is deemed a favour to be put upon the Special Jury list; that persons pay money to get upon that list ; that if they displease the Jude, care is taken to prevent them from serving again, or, in other words, to cut them Offs or turn them oat from a profitable employment. And, is it this. Sir, which we call a Jury of our country! Have f been tried by a Jury of my country ? No, Sir, I have been tried by twelve men, • • • . . . . The institution of Special Juries, an institution unknown till times of modern date, and repugnant to the laws of England, bad its rise in a pretence, that matters of technical dif fienhy a Common Jitry might not be competent to understand, as in cases- of insurance, shipping of goods, and the like. Bat what was there in this case theta Commits Jury, composed of tradesmt n in the City of Licodon, would not have understood ? A Cowmen Jury would surely have been as competent to decide upon my case as upon the cases cf hundreds who err condemn,* to death upon the decision of such a Jury in abet same Court where, if it had been the intention to do me justice, my case would have been trio what avian principle of justice , or of reason, theoete is m proceed try inflict up, n me a new pttnishment, without themselves hearing and examin ing the evidence, I will not here attempt to enquire. It, Sir, the accusation against me had not brought the whale conduct of say life under animadversion, I should not think it necessary to account for the man ner is which my time has been employed since I was actively engaged in my prokssional duties. The in terval has not been idly spent, nor without a view to the interests of my country. At an expense of nearly t.. 0 thousand pounds, for which I neither sought nor thought of remuneration examined the situations And procured plans of th e various important ports and places in the Mediterranean. I meditated the ma tured plans for the more effectual prosecution of the war. They were approved, pronounce..l practicable, and considered infallible by some of the must distin guished °dicers now living. I offered they to succes sive administrations, and I also offered my services to put them in execution. Subsequently my attention was chiefly directed to the prosecution and perfection of an invention of considerable public convenience and utility, and on the very day of the cffence so unex pectedly laid to my charge, I was solely occupied in tarthering this, at least, inoffensive objett, without the slightest idea of the mischief which that day was to bring forth. 1 had been appointed to the command df his Majesty's ship the Tonnant, and the loss of that command, after expending more than a atousand pounds in fitting for sea, is one of the many misfor tunes in which this groundless accusation has involv ed me. To my duty on board that ship I returned on the Ist of March, And it was not till the Bth day of that month that I found that my name was connect ed with the fraud, from the following paragraph in the public pints : " Stock Exchange Committee Room, March 4. " it Is particularly requested, that all those Members of the Stott Exchange who transacted business, either directly or in• directly, for any of the p e r s on s und e rm en t ione d, on Monday, the Rist of February last, wilt. favour the. Committee with an Interview :—The Hon. Cochrane Johnstone, Mr. G. R. Butt, Lord Cochrane, Mr. Holloway, Mr. Sandon, Mr. M'Rae.* On reading this paragraph, I lost no time (whatever may have been insinuated to the contrary) in apply ing for leave of absence. I gave the necessary orders about the ship, and waited on Admiral Surridge to obtain his permissi.,n to proceed to town. He in formed me he hitd sent me Admiralty leave, and a letter from Ltfrd Melville ; neither of which were forwarded to me for a considerable time after, and Lord Melville's letter remains still unopened. I mention this merely to shew, that I was not induced to return to town, for the pure' :e of clearing my character, by any communication from the Admi ralty. On my return to town, I did what every in nocent man would have done. I made an oath to a true statement of all I knew of the circumstances on which the accusation against . me was founded.•-•• It nas said by the Counsel for the prosecution, that he thought that a Nobleman in my situation. would have pledged his wind and honour. If I understood the difference between the sanctity of such a pledge and that of an oath, I might be able to reply to his observation ;—hut I do not. —But this I understand, that if I had pledged my word and bonott:, it would not have escaped that person's discernment, that I did not dare to make oath to the truth of my statement. 'I he Report of tie St.)ck . Exchange Committee was not pub.i,lied two' days after my affidavit, and the description of the dress of the pretended messenger, as given by them in their hand-bill of the 7th, a brown great coat and a red under coat, being wholly different from that in which De Berenger appeared before me, which was a grey great coat and a green uniform, I firmly believed that he was not the same person ; and so - impressed, I published my affidavit of the 11th ; and shortly after the affidavits of my s• wants, as to the dress in which De Berenget ap peared. Isa,ic Davis, Thomas Dewtnan, and Maly Turisin, made oath that the upper coat wits grey, and the collar and all that they saw of the under coat was green My affidavit of the 11th of March was most unmercifully handled by the Counsel for the prosecu tion, and also by the Chief Justice. They insisted ' that I must hate inown, when I received the note, that lit came from De Berenger. My statement was, that while . I wa- superintending work at Mr. King's ma nufactory, I received a note, but did no know that it came iron; De Berenger, because the name was writ ten so close to the bottom, that I could not read it. It was triump!iantly remarked, that this note was not frirthcoming. It was mentioned as a suspicious cir cumstance, that I could not produce this no:c. The tict is. that I tr.re it and threw ii dawn. I had not the smalkst ides tlyit it was worth iireset ving—a note merely soliciting an interview which I was imme diately going to grant. What conk( it contain th it the writer himself could not inform me of For what purpose should I preserve it? It I had preserved it —it I had brought it lortli-a.what would the Learned Judge have saw ? Why, Sit) he would have said, that thew could not he a more suspicious circumstance.— I have to lament that l was not more particular as to the important tact of my going away front the lamp.maket's, under the impression that 1 was about to meet an Officer with distressing intelli gence relative to my brother, the Honourable Major 'Cochrane. I can now only supply the defici, racy by offering the same statement and the s,ime evidLnce, which I tesdered to the Court of King's Bench when I made my second application Icr a new trial. I then observed, 6 that I was in apprehension of fatal news' respecting my brother then in France,' from whom I had nceived a letter but three days before, with the intelligence of his being dangerously ill ; and I now tendtr you his affidavit, with the surgeon's certificate, dated the 13th of Febreary, which he brought home with him. And, therefore, on receiving the note front Berenger, whose name 1 was unable to decipher, and as that note announced that the writer; whom I learnt from my servant had the appearance of an officer in the army, was desirous of seeing me, I hastened to , learn intelligence so anxiously expected ; nor had I the least doubt that it related to my brother. When, however, I found that the person was De Berenger, and that he had only to speak of his own private affairs, the apparent distress he was in, and the relief it gave my mind to know that he was not the bearer of the news I dreaded, prevented me from feeling that displeasure which I might otherwise have felt at the liberty he had taken, or the interrup tion it had occasioned. Comments have been made on my saying so bele to tl.:e servant 1. ho brought me that note : the fact is, I did ask him several questions aeappears by his affidavit. My acquaintance with De 'Berenger was extremely slight, and till that day I had never received more than one cr two notes from him u hich related to the drawingola lamp. All that lcould afterwards recollect of thenote, more than what isstated in my affidavit is, that he bad something to contain nicate which would affect my feelii:g mind, or words to that effect, which confirmed my apprehensions that. 1 : 1 ^ either was the messenger of fatal news of my brother.—[Here Lord Cochrane read an affidavit from his brother in corroboration of his statement, and also the certificate of a surgeon, proving that 111 ajar Cochrane had been in a dangeions state of ill. n e s s.]—The affidavit of my brother as well as the certificate of the surgeon, were treated as fabrlcations ; and ti ith respect to my brother's letter, the Judge would not believe that I had received it, unless 1 could produce it, and thew him the post mark. It is known to all my friends that I seldom preserve such letters as are not likely to be of future impor-1 tance —but it was also known to many of my friends that I had received such a letter. And since my brother Colonel Cochrane't return from Ireland, 1 have learnt that he did actually receive the letter enclosed front me ; and he is ready to prove it ; and my other brother, Major Cochrane, has sworn to the fact of having sent it. The Learnied Judges would not believe there Was time for the arrival of such letter between the 12th and. 18th of February ; but I did not speak to the ague ofl the letter, I only said, that I received on the 18th ; and my brother did not swear that it was written on the 12th, but early in February With respect to my account of the conversation which passed between de Bereager and myself, I submit to the House, that it is not only true but perfectly pro bable. It was not necessary th a t I should know the business which de Berenger had been transacting, in order to believe that he had reasons for wishing to quit the kingdom. His wish to go to America, and iSir Alexander Cochrane's application in his behalf, were known to me, and clearly proved on the trial. Within these few days, a letter from de Berenger to his Solicitor, Mr. Gab riel Tahourdin, has come into my possession, which clearly proves the distressed state of his mind, and his anxiety to get out of thel country. The letter is dated the 17th of February, four days previous to the fraud of the 21 sr. The letter is long, and, to me, perfectly unintelligible.— [Here his Lordship read a pa sage from the letter, in order to show the rim bed state of de Be renger's mind.] After the apprehension of Mr. De Berenger, I did, by the advice of Mr. Johnstone, address to him a letter, through the Office of Lord Sidmouth, calling upon him to state to the public his reasons for coming to my house on the 21st of Feb ruary : and he answered, that " his object was cor rectly detailed in my affidavit." I hold his original letter in my hand. Relying upon the difference of the dress in which De Berenger appeared before me from that described by the Stock Exchange Commit tee, and on the assurance of Mr. Johnstone, that De Bet enger had informed him that he could unequivo cally prove aft alibi by at least a dozen credible wit nesses;, and believing that atall events my own in nocence would prove my protection, I telt so per fectly secure as to the issue of the trial, that I gave no instructions to Counsel, attended no consultation, and never even read my own brief, into which a fa tal error was introduced; but, leaving the whole business in the hands of my Solicitor, I retired to my house in the country, and did not return till two days previous to the trial. While in the country, I recei ved a letter from my Solicitor, informing me, that at a consultation it had been resolved to defend my case jointly with that r,f Mr. Butt ; and that it wis not determined, whether it might not also be advis able to unite it with that of Mr. Johnstone. I had ordered that my case should be defended separately: notwithstanding this, my case was defended con jointly t and it deserves particulat attention, that the able Counsel who pleaded my cause was intended, to defend Mr. Johnstone only ; and that the Counsel whom I did employ had no opportunity of opening their lips. On my return to town, immediately before the trial, the brief of Mr. De Berenger was shewn to me by Mr. Cochrane Johnstone; and the case, as therein stated, appeared to me so perfectly clear, that I most solemnly assure the House, that I then thought it impossible he could be the person who re presented Du Bourg. My description of the dress in which be Berenger appeared before me at my house, on the 21st February, has excited much animadver sion. When I swore that he wore a green coat, the Counsel for the prosecution declared that I had in curred the moral guilt of perjury without subjecting myselt to the legal penalty. When I came into Court, and repeated my assertions upon °Atli, under all the it is or di/ law, and tendered the affidavits of others who saw him as I did, in his green coat, at my house, the same Counsel impudently repeated the Vul and false accusation. I also affirmed, upon my honour, in the Court of King's Bench, and I do affirm, upon my honour in this House, that I only saw him in a green coat. The only witness to the point of De Be. renger's coming to my house in a red coat is Crane, the hackney-c.)achnian. And under what circum stances was his evidence given ? Not one of the Coun sel for the prosecution ventured to question him to the point ; but on his cross-examination, being asked the lollowing question, 6 You do not pretend to be able to recollect every person you carry in your hackney coach every day ?" He replied, " No, but this gentle man, that I took from a post-chaise and four, when he got out at Green street, I saw that he had a red coat underneath his great coat. Does it not appear from this answer, that the witness, having been dis appointed in not being questioned to that point before, speaks to it now as his only chance of securing the re ward cf 0250, by the Stock Exchange, and which, I understand, he haslaid cl tirn to. With respect tothe evi dente ofCrane, it is worthy of notice, that the great coat which I have sworn asgrey, wasdescribed byhim inhis examination before the Stock Exchange Committee to have been a brown one ; but on the trial he meets my description, and calls it a brown grey : he also descri bed De Berenger as a redjaced snay. Shilling also stated before the Committee, chit De Mrenger had a large red nose,' and Vita rather turbid.' Now, it is well known, that De Berenger bars no resem blance to such description. He is pale, marked nit!) the small-pox, and tree from blotches. On the subject of the Bank-notes found in De Berenger's possession, which had been eitcharped for others that had once been mine, I pledge myself to prove in the clearest and most unequivecal manner, that such notes of mine as have been called in q. !stints were given by me to Mr. Butt for tile purpose of discharging just and bona file dtirs ;—namely, a debt et 42U0 to himself for money borrowed, and the payment of my wine merchants, Messrs. Wil kinson and Crosthwaite, s hose bill amounted to 0419. 11s. act payment of which, through the hands of Mr. Butt, had escaped my recollection et the time of tie trial. Having mentioned Mr. Butt, I take this opportunity of stating that my connexion with the funds arose from a conversation wit!! that Gentleman in t;ctober last, when the progress of the Allies, and the favourable aspect of aff tits induced him to re. commend me to place my spate moil-y in Govern ment securities. I told him that I had disposed of it in private securities and land. He then informed me that I might gain e ithout advancing the principal, and offered to conduct the business for me. He algid this proposal, which I then declined, being unwilling' to enter into speculations which I did not understand. However, in the course of a few days, to my very great surprise, he brought me the sum .of £4BO, the profit on a speculation which he said he had made for me. Not wanting the money, I desired him to sporewith it till he had lost it. Between that period and the 19th of February, the sum which he had gained for me and placed to my account, without fee Lir reward, and without my controul, amounted to £4200. I have witnessed many disinterested acts of Mr. it. sad think him incapable of a dishonoured. action."—[ Here Lord Cochrane entered into a review of the conduct of Lord Ellenborough during the trial, whch we do not feel ourselves warranted its detailing.] His Lordship continue I—.. Why did Lord Ellenborough, in his charge to the Jury, take one part of my affidavit as true, and another as false He professes to quote from my affidavit as to the facts of my furnishing De Berenger with a coat tl .ear instead of his uniform, and puts it to the Jury to consider whether a man coming so disguised, and going a ay again with his dis guise in a bundle, was not on a dishonest In all this Lord Ellenboro itda professes to quote, and draw conclusions from my of ; and he re. presents rile as acknowledging De Berenger to have come into my presence dilute:l; and going away again with his disguise in a bundle! It there be os word of this in my affidavit, then /am a perjured man, and Lord Ellenborough speaks truth. I stated that De Berenger, an officer in a rifle cur; s, called upon me in a green uniform ; and this, the liclge sub mits to the Jury, is a disguise, and a proof of his com ing on a dishonest errand."—Lord Cochrane itaain entered into many comments on the conduct of the Judge at the trial, which we forbear stating ;—and then used a variety of aignments to skew that De Berenger could not hive come to his house for the purposes set forth in the charge. He contended V.:a the Judge in his charge had omitted to State many parts of the evidence that would have been favoura ble to his defence.—" Wag-there any thing," conti.. nued he, 4 , so strange in my paying money to Mr. Butt, with whom I had constant pectmiary transac tions? The Judge, in his charge, made me answer able for Mr. Butt's application of his own money, and for the possession of notes by De Berenger which were exchanged for notes that had before ceased to be mine."—[Lord Cochrane next alluded to a cer tain visit which had been made to Lord Melville at the Admiralty, to request that he might be suspend ed from his command, and detained for the purpose of being prosecuted.] Mr. STUART WORTLEY rose to order, and said that the Noble Lord was not authorised in mak ing such statements, unless he was fully prepared to substantiate them before the House. Lord COCHRANE, in resuming, said he could prove them, it allowed, at the bar of the House. He then continued—a 4 I did think, that as the witnesses who could materially have contributed to prove my in nocence of the charge had not been examined, and as I could shew that their not being examined originated in error, and that such error wis not my own, that I had a just claim to a nee trial. I thought too, that the circumstance of my defence having been conducted jointly with' that of ano ther person, contrary to my express injunction ; and of the Counsel for that parson having bees compelled to enter upon the defence when ex hausted and unequal to the task of doing justice to his clients, and of my counsel not having had an opportunity of speaking in my behalf, were additional reasons for a revision of my case. It is notorious that I made two applications fora new trial, ! bn:h weie refused. My first app Leda:in was rejected under the pretext of a Rule of Court - which is, that no person, however innocent, if included with others in an indictment for a conspiracy, and if in the diffi culty tit- separating the cases, or an -aitgerneso foe indiscriminate conviction, unjustly condemned, shall be all twed a re-hearing unless he can catch his supposed associates, and compel them to ace( tn. pany him into Court —a condition which it is .is tn. dispensable as impocsilde to perform —As 1 :mid neither see the wisdom nor the justice of this Rule of Court, I pressed very hard to be heard in behalf of my application, but it so happaied that another person, also convicted of a conspoacy, had that very morning been refused a new trial far a Simi tar reason, which furnished the Court with the plan sible pretence, that to grant to me that which they had refused to Askew, would be to lay d an one law for the poor and another for the rich. 01T•111y second attempt to obtain a new trial, I was indeed permitted to speak : and I have reason to beliese that the statement which I then read convinced many persons in court, and has since convinced many tht u sands out of court, of my entire innocence. Of the different documents on which my motion for a new trial was founded, some were not permitted to be read, and others were only read to be rcj cted.— Among the latter was my affidavit of the 14 , h of June, to which I call the attention of the House.—. [His Lordship then read that paper, with the am davits of his servants, who all swore that De Berenger wore a grey great coat and a grein coat, when he called at his Lordship's house. I trust (said his Lordship) the House will now be satis. Pied, that I lost no time in divulging all that passed, and did, at the earliest possible period : make a full disclosure of all that passed between me and De Berenger on the 21st of February, and that he did not appear before hasme the " costume crime." Somethingn thisHouse, f is as 1 have read, about an application for a mitiga tion of my sentence, in a certain quarter. where, it is observed, that mercy revar failed to flow. It was, I ant informed, his Majesty's Attortey-General, who (I samosa, unit tentii.nally)offered Cis last insult to my feelings. I excuse it, because I am aware that the Learned Gentleman is an utter stranger to the sentiments that inhabit my bosom ; but I can assure him, that an application for pardon, extorted from *e, is one of the things which no one ca h have the power to accomplish. Nil o falrl I will seek for, and j look fee, parchie no when—fur I have committed no crime. I have sought for, I still seek for, and I oolidently expect, jestice, at tht hands of my enligh tened and virtuous constituents!" Lordship having concluded his defence, The SPEAKER intimated to him, that I. wculd be pr p. r he should retire. Lora COCHRANE in the art of retiring, pt and made an appeal to the House, which, from : is own evident emotions and peculiarly impressive iii..nhar of delivery, excited universal and compassionate atter:. lion.—" I am entirely ignorant of the whole transac tion—l call the Acsinsury Goo to witness t: is as st . veratioo I if lam guilty after your inv. stigatios con sign me then to infamy and ruin, but let use be summarily sacrificed with all my weapons on defence thatunpro ju d r u y ct.4l ktie at iv id th re e j sc ete . ~a„ g f a ff e r woid , Ara d r.l ot h ll ave sv re. en turned such a verdict." Vara mgr. I