The Statesman.
London, England, 1814-07-04 00:00:00

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limetenl.* The dispute betwaen him and 44-Crozern-
molt has been going tin nearly fin years; the divers
papers relating to it hate been submitted to different
men eminent in the law and in commerce ; an. arbi-
tration was-several times proposed by him, and I do
pot now recollect the teams of its not taking place.
I believe that Mr. Johnstone told me, that Mr.
Martiot, the Member of Parliament, had had the
whole case laid before him ; and I dare say, he will
bare the justice publicly to declare his opinion on
fee subject. This, then,. was the situation of Mr..
Cochrane Johnstone, at the moment when a verdict
of " guilty" exposed him to the loss of. his seat in.
NI liament, and to .the endless consequences above!
pointed out. His conduct in Parliament had not
been such as to lead him to expect any very estraore
dietary degree of favour at the hands of those, wh•
would have had the power of pursuing him for the
&ht. lie knew all this well; and, in a word; his
choice lay between quitting the country and the great
probability of a prison for life. Therefore, his
quitting the country ; " his fleeing from justice," as
the Newspapers term it, is perfectly well accounted
for, independent of any dread of the punishment that
he was to receive for the thing for which he had been
to ied. If, indeed, he had fled before the trial, then
might his fleeing have been reasonably supposed to be
a proof of conscious guilt. There may be supposed
eases., in %.hich fleeing even at that stage ought not to
be looked upon as a. proof of conscious guilt. I can
easily suppose such cases. I can suppose motives
ior inducing a Aim perfectly innocent to flee even
.oat trial. Hot -we aro not now speaking of such a
gait.. IVe are speaking of a gentleman, who, so far
koes lieehig from trial, went unnecessarily and arts
feared at the trial in person. This was the stage
salmis 'he would have acted upon tse feeriogs of con-
scious guilt; this was the stage when conscious guilt
would naturally have induced him to flee, if In .any
stage, it was to havo that effect, If consciousness of
guilt induced him to. abscond, why did he not do it
before the.trial I . He made no effort to put off the
trial ; he did not remove the indictment; he, on the
contrary, wished it to come on; he, if guilt induced him
to flee, acted: directly against himself; he foolishly
.threw sway his money upon lawyers and attorelea ; a
guinea laid out in boat hire would have wed' him a
month's toil, anti, perhaps, a thouand pounds in law.!
expenses. So that, if it were " conscious guilt,"
*bids, at last, set him in motion, he acted the part of
tray thing but that of an adroit and enterprising man.
As to the fact of his guilt, he has been found guilty.,
end I shall not attempt to arraign the verdict. But
'though his situation cannot be altered by any thing
. that I say, there is one circumstance which I feel
myself impelled to state. As far as I can collect/
the chief circumstance against him was, that De lia.
, Anger had, in his possession, bank notes, which had
passed through the hands of Mr. Cochrane John.
stone and Mr. Butt. It was alleged, in derelicts/ '1
£bat Mr. Cochrane Johnstone. had paid De Berets.
ger a sum of money for certain drawings and plan'
and that, thus, the transit of the notes was account.'
ed for: Now, I recollect,, that, LONG BEFORE
the indictment was either preferred, or West of, Mr.
Cochrane Jolusstene shooed me some drawings and
plans, very beautifully and most ingeniously ere-
cutod, which he told me were the work of the Baron.
The occasion of his shooing them to me was my tell-
iog him that my .on, who was with me, was learning
te make plans.; and I remember his telling me, that
ie had paid the Baron several hundred pounds for
'his trouble iit executing those plans, and also for
drawings of birds, I think.it was, and some other
things : so that., at any rate, this account of the tran-
sit of' the notes might not be wholly an invention, as
It has been represented to have been. I had forgot-
fepthis conversation, at which,my son• %1 all present,
till I saw that the plans had been produced at the
trial ; or i and my son should certainly have been
witnesses upoir the occasion. This was some time
about the 20440 f March—loog before the indictment-
was even talked .of ; long before De 13tarcoger.."110
laken ; and at 4 time when it was thought by every
one that he had gone out of the country. Now, it
is not only improbable, but it is'ne;t4O impossible,
if not quite impossible, that Mr. coehtsae. John-
atone should have told me this sttery about paying ,
11)e Berenger money with a view to. any future (Bs-
closure ; and, therefore, I am thoroughly convinced,

that he,f-lid pay De Bereit-ger a considerable sum of mo-
neylor those services. The mention of the payment was
drawn forth by an observatbn of mine. For, I-
was so stricken with the ingenuity and beauty of the
performance, that I observed to Mr. Johnstone,.
that be must certainly have paid a great deal of
money for it. He then told me what he had pttid,
and I observed that it was very cheap, and that I
did not believe that there was another man in the
kingdom capable of doing such a thing. There. is
soother circumstance, on which I cannot h'elp ot).

'erring. It has been made matter of suspicions co.';
Incidence, that Mr. Tahourdhs should twi at the!
same time, the attorney of Mr. Johnstone and, of,
Tr. De erenger. Now, I remember seeing
nisourtiin at Mr. Johnstone's ea business in thei
mouth of May or Junef 1813; and 'I believe, that
the latter never had any thing to,de with stock. I
jobbing till a long while After that. tteeer sate
Johnstone, except for an hoar in passing;
through Botley, from ,tone, 1813, to very early lit
Febt nary, 1814, when I saw him at a friend'i house
in Westminster, for about ten minutely, I beintabout
to come home, and not having timete go to hitt house. '
A then, for the first time, learnt, that•he• was engaged in
stock dealings; he, with his usual uorelerve, told
me about his transactions, but never did I hear even
hint from him that he had any other means of
curing profit than those possessed by other well-in-
fpronstl people. way, I know that, at that time,
only about three weeks previously to the hoax, his .
igtention seas to go to Dominions in March or April,
ka.dn.stunething about his property there, which he&
Antlered greatly front tempests. And, therefore, ab
:that time, he could not have had any hoaxing system,
it contemplation, Mto the risk he run in boiiio
top: b aso ait ti ty of stock as was sold out for hie AM
..Vie day, of ,the hoax, and whioh risk has been, Itsi
many, regarded as too great to be rturt by,sgsy
not,sure of his mark, I appeal to aIl-lisOse,,weio.
..liaye ever known him even fora week, ,wlietkorthir
.to any presumption against hint. With hint•risks,
Ire nothing. -Govisegeeiscee make no pertothis
•culesicins. It has been vary ably. contilnde(l4
.
tits coquct, in this idstance) was prudent;

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