Part 21

But, Gentlemen, let us look to Lord Cochrane's situation in this matter. I will suppose that Lord Cochrane knew he was not liable to the pains and penalties of perjury by law; but is Lord Cochrane so reduced in the scale of society by any thing that has yet appeared before you, that you will say he has not only joined in committing the fraud in this conspiracy charged, but that he is a person wholly unworthy of credit, and who, though he may not be subjected to the penalties of perjury, is lost to all sense of duty, so that he would, because he could not be prosecuted at law for the perjury, put his name to a direct and absolute falsehood. I believe no man would say of Lord Cochrane, that he had so utterly thrown off all regard to religion, to the sanction of an oath, properly so called, and to the responsibility he stands under in conscience, as that he would go before a magistrate and make an affidavit, because he could not be prosecuted. I think the supposition is so shocking and so degradatory to him as a man, an officer and a christian, that you will not come to that conclusion. That Lord Cochrane is a brave man, that he has served his country well, no man will deny. Does Mr. Baily then, do the three other brokers, who demurred to the question put to them as to time bargains; do all this mass of people, constituting the Stock Exchange, now standing within the sound of my voice, mean to say, that because Lord Cochrane has acted so improperly (for I so consider it) as to enter into a time-bargain, therefore he is not to be believed upon his oath? If so, Gentlemen, the Stock Exchange and its doors must be shut up for ever; and the great men who stalk about as the self-constituted Committee of the Stock Exchange, must not have any thing to do in future, because time-bargains are their daily bread; they are at that species of traffic daily, conducting themselves in a manner, whether they like it or not, I say, is most highly disgraceful.

Gentlemen, is Lord Cochrane to be believed or not? have you any ground for saying, that this noble Lord has been guilty, not of perjury in the common sense of the word, but of perjury of a much higher kind, in my view, for which he must be accountable, for which he knows he must be accountable, if he has sworn that which he knows to be false, and which he cannot have done without being one of the most worthless men in the world. Gentlemen, what has he said? and I beg your particular attention to it, because the evidence of the brokers will not tally with the statement at all; he has sworn that he breakfasted with his uncle, Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, in Cumberland place, which is at a considerable distance (whatever my learned friend may suppose about it) from Green-street Grosvenor-square; it is on the other side, I believe, of the Oxford Road, and near the top of it. It is proved that he breakfasted with him, for Crain's evidence is, that when he set down Mr. De Berenger at the door, the answer was, that he was gone to Cumberland Place. What does Lord Cochrane state; that he went with his uncle in a hackney coach, which took him into the city at the hour of ten in the morning. I beg his lordship's particular attention to that part of the affidavit. Now, Gentlemen, when is it that these time-bargains are supposed to have been made, in consequence of news which it is alleged Mr. De Berenger brought. It is sworn that they were made before eleven o'clock in the day. Why, Gentlemen, we are forgetting distances. If Lord Cochrane was set down at Snow-hill at ten in the morning, if he afterwards came back, as he did, to Green-street Grosvenor-square, being sent for by his servant or Mr. De Berenger, he could not be back before half-past ten or nearly eleven, and I defy all mankind to state how he could after that have communicated to the Stock Exchange, the news this gentleman was supposed to be dispersing abroad, so as to affect the price of stocks. The whole of the transaction took place before eleven in the day, and he was not sent for from Snow-hill till after ten. Why, if this gentleman had been a conspirator with Lord Cochrane, when he heard that Lord Cochrane was gone to Snow-hill, he would have gone on to Snow-hill, then they would have been near the purlieus of that place where all this infamy is daily transacting; instead of that Lord Cochrane comes back. It is too ridiculous and absurd, says my learned friend, to suppose that Lord Cochrane should be coming back to see an officer. I hope, gentlemen, that will not appear to you to be absurd under the circumstances he has sworn to. I can hardly conceive a motive stronger on the mind of a brave man and a good officer for going back, than that stated by him. He was not acquainted with Mr. De Berenger's hand-writing, though Mr. Cochrane Johnstone was. Having a brother in Spain, he expected that he should receive accounts of him from a brother officer; is that an unnatural sensation? I trust it will never be so in the bosom of any one to whom I am addressing myself; it is one of the most natural that can be stated, and under that impression he goes back, and holds the conversation which has been stated.

Gentlemen, it is stated to you by my learned friend, the Serjeant, and he has better means of proving these things than I have, that the grounds upon which this matter rests, as far as Lord Cochrane is concerned, will be fully explained. The gentleman for whom I appear was, at that time, under duress on account of debt; and Mr. Tahourdin, now his attorney, was his security for that debt. He was a distressed man, and was desirous of going out to Sir Alexander Cochrane, who had had conversation with this gentleman, whose bravery and whose character nobody will dispute; and it will be proved to you Sir Alexander Cochrane had made application to the noble lord near his lordship, to enable him to go out to America; but he could not go, because His Majesty's ministers thought (and I dare say most wisely) that it was not fit to give him the rank which he claimed, being a foreigner by birth, though he had been long serving in this country with the approbation of His Majesty's Government. He was a member of the corp of sharp shooters, of which Lord Yarmouth or the Duke of Cumberland was the colonel. He was the adjutant of that regiment, and he had that military garb and dress which might have been sworn to by Lord Cochrane in the way my learned friend supposes, or in consequence of the facts which I have to state. I do not know why I am placed here at all, if I am to take for granted facts because witnesses have sworn them; therefore I say, Lord Cochrane might either mistake, upon the grounds upon which the learned Serjeant has stated it; or the fact might be, as my learned friend has stated, that he was not the man. I know that some of the witnesses have sworn that he was the man whom the hackney coachman took to Lord Cochrane's, but whether he had this uniform on which is stated, I have no means of proving from his declaration; but I have Lord Cochrane's affidavit as to his wearing that which was his proper uniform.

Then, gentlemen, upon my Lord Cochrane's affidavit it stands, and I say that at present there is not evidence enough to meet it. We have not often had the experience of that which has been done to-day; I believe not above twice in my professional life have I seen a prosecutor put in an answer in Chancery of the person who was defendant, and then negative that answer; but I say, there is not that negation of Lord Cochrane's story which can set it aside. You are bound to take all that Lord Cochrane swears upon the subject; and he has sworn to you that Mr. De Berenger did not communicate to him any single fact respecting the stocks, but that all his communication was with respect to his then distresses. Now, gentlemen, where is the inconsistency of that which appears upon the evidence before the Court, and that which will be produced. If this gentleman was desirous of going out with Lord Cochrane in the Tonnant, and if he had done that which I am not commending, though I shall presently shew it is not so culpable as it at first appears. He had no right, I acknowledge, to break the rules of the King's Bench, having the benefit of those rules, but where is the great wickedness of it? He gave bail to the marshal to answer the risk; but if he had come out of that place, dressed as you hear, by my Lord Cochrane, he had done so with a view of going immediately off to Portsmouth; and when my Lord Cochrane could not take him, though there was no inconsistency in his coming in that uniform, which was to be useful to him if he got out to America, there was a great deal of difficulty, at twelve or one in the day, in his returning in that garb or dress into the rules of the King's Bench prison, for he had not only to walk from the place whence those rules began to the house of Davidson, but first of all to where the rules began; and therefore, though it might be imprudent in Lord Cochrane, I shall prove that he did lend clothes to Mr. De Berenger, for that he returned in the black clothes to his lodgings, and that he had in a bundle those clothes which he had taken out on his back. There appears to me nothing so absurd in the story as to induce you to say, that Lord Cochrane has written to the public that which was wholly and absolutely false within his own knowledge, in order to deceive the public.

Gentlemen, when this person found that he could neither go with Lord Cochrane, nor in any other capacity, to Sir Alexander Cochrane, who was then out of the kingdom, you will ask me, why did he then escape from the Rules? Gentlemen, I will tell you:--The fact is, though he was only in duress for £.350; and although this gentleman who sits near him, who is his attorney, and will be called as a witness in the cause, was the principal creditor, who had been his surety for the Rules, he escaped from the Rules, under the apprehension that he should have detainers against him for four thousand pounds more. He asked this gentleman permission to go out of the Rules. I am not prepared to defend the act; but he was the only person who was beneficially interested in his remaining in the Rules; for he and Mr. Cochrane, in Fleet-street, having given this bail, the marshal of the King's Bench could, of course, come upon them for the amount of that sum; and I will prove to you, that he had the leave of this gentleman to go, and that this gentleman took the debt upon himself. He went to Sunderland, and afterwards to Leith; and he went there to avoid that which he was apprehensive of, namely, detention by his other creditors, to this very large amount.

Gentlemen, when we talk of prejudice upon this subject, this very thing has been attempted to-day to be put upon his lordship; and you, as a matter of prejudice against Mr. De Berenger, namely, that Mr. Tahourdin, who was attorney for Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, and Mr. Cochrane (a relation as it was supposed of this family, or there was no sense in it) were his bail. But, gentlemen, Mr. Broochooft has negatived the fact; he states that he did not even know Mr. Cochrane Johnstone. Mr. Tahourdin was a creditor of Mr. De Berenger to the amount of four thousand pounds, but he had so good an opinion of him that he consented to his liberating himself; and as to the other security, Mr. Cochrane the bookseller, he is no more a relation of the family of Dundonald, than I who do not know the persons of any of them; but he is a friend of Mr. Tahourdin, whose sister is married to Mr. White, Mr. Cochrane's partner; that is the history of the transaction on which it is supposed that Mr. Cochrane Johnstone has been putting in bail, because Mr. Tahourdin was his attorney; but it will appear that bail was put in two years ago, and that Mr. Tahourdin did not become acquainted with Mr. Cochrane Johnstone till long after that time.

Gentlemen, there have been other prejudices attempted here; they are prejudices that I think could never have entered into the mind of any liberal man; they must have entered first into the minds of the Stock Exchange Committee, for no gentleman could think of such a thing; that which I refer to is, that which my learned friend the Serjeant has commented upon, the proof of Mr. De Berenger being a friend of Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, from the circumstance of his dining with the family. Gentlemen, is every one who dines there to be considered as a conspirator? they are not a committee sitting over their bottle and hatching this infamy; but it appears that he dined twice at the house of Mr. Basil Cochrane (who is not implicated in this), not alone, but with Sir Alexander Cochrane, and a great number of ladies and gentlemen; and at another time Mr. De Berenger and Mr. Cochrane Johnstone also dined at Mr. Basil Cochrane's.

Gentlemen, I am told, and I believe, after what I have heard in this cause, for I have heard it from Mr. Murray, that Mr. De Berenger is a man of great abilities; his Society and his company were much courted till his misfortunes put him out of the general run of society; was there ever such a thing attempted till this moment, as that you were from such circumstance to prove a conspiracy as against these persons? On what ground can it be said that his connexion with Mr. Cochrane Johnstone is a matter of complaint against him? I have proved what it was; I have proved, out of the mouth of Mr. Murray, and shall prove again if necessary, that the meeting of these gentlemen there was not a meeting of business; was there any thing in the conversation when Mr. De Berenger came in, in the presence of Mr. Harrison, that gives the least suspicion of a connexion with Mr. Cochrane Johnstone? it appears only, that he being an ingenious man, engaged himself in this Ranelagh that was building, from which it was expected (probably it will terminate in nothing) by Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, that he would derive great benefit; this gentleman, being consulted on the plan first proposed, recommended another from which he conceived Mr. Cochrane Johnstone would make a great deal more money; there is nothing in the connexion more than that. Are you from that circumstance to infer that this gentleman was guilty of any conspiracy? as to any negociation on this subject, you hear nothing nor see nothing. You do not find him at any one period of time with Mr. Cochrane Johnstone. You hear of his dining twice in company with him at the house of Mr. Basil Cochrane; you do not hear of him at all there, except about this Ranelagh; but you are desired from that to infer criminality.

But gentlemen, this is a most important transaction; my learned friend has told you he will more satisfactorily explain it by the evidence upon the subject; there is no doubt of the gentleman who sits before me being in distress of circumstances, but at the same time a most ingenious man; and having done various works of art for Mr. Cochrane Johnston, the latter thought himself indebted to him about two hundred pounds, and paid him the money. Gentlemen, all I can say upon this is, that there is no conspiracy amongst us here, for I do assure you, that until I came into this place, and saw my learned friends, except my learned friend Mr. Topping, with whom I had spoken on the subject, I did not know that the others were concerned for the defendants upon this occasion; but I hear my learned friend state that which I trust he has the means of proving, but which my unfortunate client has not, not only because many of his papers have been immediately taken from him by the messenger, in the manner described, but because he is himself a close prisoner in Newgate, under a warrant of the Alien Office, and therefore has not the same means and opportunity of conferring with his Counsel; for I have never placed myself in that situation, and do not mean hastily to go there, for it is not a very agreeable service, and I would take no man's retainer, if I thought that I must do so; there has not therefore been that communication which we should have had, if our client had been a free man. But I shall prove by some witnesses of my own, that which will give a considerable colour to my case, and shall pray in aid all the evidence given by any other witnesses on this side of the question.

Gentlemen, before I leave this part of the case, I would wish also to remind you that we have had another piece of evidence given against my unfortunate client, by a man of the name of Le Marchant. I will venture to say, and I hope you have observed, that a much more extraordinary witness never did present himself in that box. It does not become me (and I am the last man to do it) to arraign any one act of His Majesty's ministers, but I believe that the exhibition made this day in the presence of some of His Majesty's ministers, will have been sufficient to set aside any intention of sending him out under an appointment, if it ever prevailed in their minds; for I do say, I think he would disgrace any country from which he was sent on any public business whatever; I think he would not be long in any situation, before he disgraced himself as a man, and brought disgrace upon those who employed him. But gentlemen, I do not know whether you observed another thing, which is, that he shot out of court as if he had had a sword stuck into him, and appeared no more; I never saw any thing so marked as his conduct was upon that occasion.

My learned friend has called your attention to his letter, which I never saw till he read it; my client was protesting against his testimony; but I cannot call him as a witness against this man's evidence, which Mr. Richardson endeavoured by his cross-examination to alter, because it was our duty to endeavour to get some alteration of that evidence, not knowing how he had conducted himself. I do earnestly beg of you to recall to your attention, the answers he gave to my learned friend, the Serjeant; did he not positively say upon that examination, that he was only kept by His Majesty's ministers in this country to give evidence, and that he had not given his evidence at all from a feeling of resentment, because Lord Cochrane had not complied with his request in giving him money. Gentlemen, when this correspondence comes to be read by his lordship's officer, is it possible you can believe one word of that; he in this letter, which is the last my learned friend stated, and the only one on which I will comment, stated that he believed every thing that De Berenger had told him respecting Lord Cochrane, was false. If it was all false, as it respected Lord Cochrane, it was all false as it respected himself, for this man had no time-bargains as the other gentlemen had, he was to derive no immediate benefit, except as you believe that man. I beg your particular attention to that, that he is the only person who swears to his having a per centage in this matter. I think I am correct in that statement, that Le Marchant is the only person who says De Berenger told him that he was to have a per centage upon the stock. Now gentlemen, this conversation having been on the 14th of February, seven days before this transaction, he makes the observation in this letter, that he verily believes that every thing De Berenger told him respecting Lord Cochrane was false.

If it was all false, it must be false with respect to De Berenger himself, and according to his own statement he must have invented this story, merely to implicate Lord Cochrane in the transaction; it is absurd gentlemen not to speak to you as men of understandings. Do you believe that this letter has any other sense, than give me so much money, or I will do so and so? After threatening him, he says, "As for my part, I now consider all that man told me to be diabolically false," and then without even a new paragraph in his letter, "If my conduct meets your approbation;" what conduct meets his approbation, that he would say in all places and at all times that this man's statement was diabolically false, as far as respected Lord Cochrane; "Can I ask a reciprocal favour, as a temporary loan, on security being given;" then he goes on to say, "I am just appointed to a situation of about £.1,200 a-year; but for the moment am in the greatest distress, with a large family; you can without risk, and have the means to relieve us, and I believe the will of doing good." And then, because Lord Cochrane most wisely refuses to comply with this request, we have this man set up in the box, to tell you this supposed story of De Berenger, which De Berenger has no means of contradicting; but which I say is so incredible, and so contradicted by the letter under his own hand, that I think jurymen, if it stood upon his testimony alone, or even supported by one or two witnesses to other things, would do most unrighteously if they convicted upon such testimony as that fellow has given, for I never saw a man so disgrace himself as he done.

Now gentlemen, with respect to the proof of Mr. De Berenger's hand writing, as to those things which were found in his box. I put Mr. Lavie's evidence out of the question; at first his lordship put it, that it was slight evidence; but that it was evidence subject to my observations, the thing being found upon him; gentlemen, supposing there was no evidence of his hand-writing, I can only say he must be well clothed in innocence who can escape, if a man is to be convicted, merely because a paper is found upon him; if a man writes to me a paper containing matter of a criminal nature, and I happen not to destroy it, I must immediately be convicted. I do not mean that his Lordship has said so; but if I am to be convicted because a paper is found upon me, then a man may be in danger from every letter he receives from a correspondent; I am sorry to say that I receive a great many letters which I do not answer; but does my possession of the letters give ground for inferring an approval of all contained in those letters. If you were to convict this gentleman on account of any memorandums found in his possession, because they are found there, I do think a great injustice indeed would be worked.

But, gentlemen, Mr. Lavie has proved his hand-writing. I shall call witnesses to contradict Mr. Lavie; but do not misunderstand me, I believe Mr. Lavie to be a very honourable person, and one who would not tell you a falsehood; but I say he has not the means of knowledge. I can only say, gentleman, that a man must be much more attentive to hands-writing than most of the persons of my profession, in which I include Mr. Lavie, if he can swear to a hand-writing, because he has seen that hand-writing once. I have seen my learned friends near me write many times, but I could not swear to their hands-writing; if I saw a very bad hand indeed, I should say it was Mr. Serjeant Best's; but let me caution you; you are trying these defendants for a conspiracy; you are trying them for a crime of the greatest and most enormous magnitude; you are trying them for an offence that will shut these gentlemen, if you find them guilty, out of the pale of all honourable and decent society; and therefore, though this subject is one, which, from the singularity of it, may create a smile, it is a matter which you will not smile upon when you come to pronounce your verdict; because upon your verdict must the happiness of these gentlemen depend. Will you, upon the evidence of Mr. Lavie, honourable as may believe him to be, and just as you may believe him to be, say that he has those means of knowledge which he professes to have.