“William Crane has been discharged from the hulks _on petition to the
Secretary of State_, and is now again driving the coach No. 781,
belonging to his father! Crane’s discharge took place Thursday before
last.
“13th November, 1830.”
(No signature, but evidently a police memorandum.)
These facts will be sufficient to convince the reader of my innocence as
regarded the evidence of Crane, the hackney coachman. Yet his evidence
was laid before the jury as of the highest reliable kind, whilst the
very facts relative to his character, even to his being under conviction
whilst giving his evidence, Lord Ellenborough and his colleagues refused
to hear, because all the parties convicted were not present in Court. It
is scarcely possible to imagine greater injustice and folly, even in
that day.
So little apparent danger was there of the possibility of my being
declared implicated in this hoax, that even my solicitors had not taken
the precaution of summoning my servants to give evidence as to the kind
of dress worn by De Berenger; though during the period he remained in my
house, previous to my arrival from the lamp-maker’s, where, on receiving
his letter, I was busily engaged, and amidst the busy operations of
packing my clothes, and other effects, to be sent on board the
_Tonnant_, he had been seen by nearly all my servants, the selection of
clothing being carried on in the very room in which he was waiting my
return for nearly two hours.
On my appeal to the Court of King’s Bench, I provided myself with the
following affidavits from such of my servants as had come in contact
with De Berenger, whilst waiting at my house:—
“THOMAS DEWMAN, servant to Lord Cochrane, maketh oath, and saith, that
he, this deponent, has lived with branches of Lord Cochrane’s family
for nearly twenty years; that he attended Lord Cochrane last year to
take letters and go on errands, and that he has been in the habit of
going to Mr. King’s manufactory almost every day; that this deponent
was in Lord Cochrane’s house, in Green Street, Grosvenor Square, on
the 21st day of February last, when an officer came in a
hackney-coach, about ten o’clock in the morning; that this deponent
opened the door and spoke to the officer in the coach, who asked if
Lord Cochrane was at home; that this deponent replied he was not, upon
which the officer asked the deponent, if he knew where Lord Cochrane
was gone to, which deponent answered that he believed his Lordship was
gone to breakfast with his uncle in Cumberland Street; that the
officer then asked him if he could let him have a slip of paper and a
pen and ink, which this deponent said he could; that this deponent
then opened the coach door, and the officer came into the house, and
went into the parlour, where this deponent gave him a small slip of
paper, upon which he wrote a few lines by way of note, and desired
this deponent to take the same to Lord Cochrane in Cumberland Street;
that this deponent went immediately into Cumberland Street, but
finding that Lord Cochrane was gone, he returned with the note to the
officer in Green Street; that on his return the officer asked deponent
if he knew where he could find him, that deponent then told the
officer he had been ordered by Lord Cochrane to follow him to Mr.
King’s manufactory with a glass globe, and thought it probable he
might meet with his Lordship there, and if he did not, he would then
go to the Admiralty, where he understood his Lordship was to go that
day; that the officer then took back the note from this deponent,
opened it, and wrote a line or two more, and then re-sealed it and
gave it to deponent, requesting him to take it immediately to Mr.
King’s manufactory, and that if he did not meet with Lord Cochrane
there, he would take the note to the Admiralty, and if his Lordship
had not been at the Admiralty, to leave it there; that on the
officer’s requesting deponent to go to Mr. King’s manufactory, he told
the deponent that his finding Lord Cochrane was of consequence, and
therefore begged deponent to be as expeditious as he could, and, if
necessary, to take a coach; that this deponent did not take a coach,
but went instantly to Mr. King’s manufactory, where he met Lord
Cochrane, and delivered him the note, which he opened in deponent’s
presence; that upon opening the note, Lord Cochrane asked deponent
several times if he knew who the gentleman was that had written it,
and upon deponent’s informing him that he did not, Lord Cochrane made
several inquiries as to his appearance and dress, observing that he
could not make out the whole of the note, or who it came from; to this
deponent answered, that he was an army officer; upon which Lord
Cochrane having torn the note, threw it down, and then said, ‘Very
well, Thomas, I’ll go back;’ that from Lord Cochrane’s manner and
appearance, and the questions he put to deponent, on his delivering
the note, this deponent verily believes that his Lordship did not know
from whom it came. And this deponent further saith, that when the
officer came into Green Street, as above stated, he _was dressed in a
great grey coat, such as the Guards wear, which was buttoned very
close round the body up to the breast, and that such part of the under
coat as he could see was of a dark-green_ colour; that upon the
officer’s coming out of the coach into Lord Cochrane’s house, he
brought with him a sword, and a small leather clothes-bag or
portmanteau, which deponent believes might have held a change of
clothes. That this deponent further saith, that he was hired by his
Lordship at Christmas last to go into the country, and relieve Richard
Carter, his Lordship’s sea-steward; that this deponent left London
about the 25th day of February, and Richard Carter, the sea-steward,
then came to town, for the purpose of accompanying Lord Cochrane to
his ship.
“THOMAS DEWMAN.
“Sworn in Court, June 14th,
“1814. By the Court.”
“MARY TURPIN, cook-maid to Lord Cochrane, maketh oath and saith, that
she went into his Lordship’s service on the 18th day of February last,
and that she was in the house on the 21st day of February, when an
officer came there, and that she was in the kitchen at the time the
coach drove to the door; that she saw an officer alight from the coach
and come into the house; that he arrived a little before nine o’clock;
that this deponent went twice into the parlour while the officer was
there, and doth most positively swear, _that he wore a great grey
coat, buttoned up, with a dark-green collar or facing under it_. That
the officer had with him a dark military cap with a gold band round
it, and also a sword, and a small portmanteau.
“MARY TURPIN.
“Sworn in Court, June 14th,
“1814. By the Court.”
“SARAH BUST, of No. 4, Great Marylebone Street, in the county of
Middlesex, spinster, maketh oath and saith, that she lived a servant
to Lord Cochrane for nearly twelve months, and that she quitted his
service on the evening of the 21st of February last; that she well
remembers an officer coming to his Lordship’s house in Green Street,
on the morning of that day; that the officer sent the man-servant out;
that the officer _had on a grey great coat, which was buttoned up to
the breast_, and that the neck of his under coat or such part as she
could see, was a _dark green_, and he had also with him a military
cap.
“SARAH BUST.
“Sworn at my Chambers,
“June 13th, 1814. Before me,
“S. LE BLANC.”