“Sir THOMAS COCHRANE, commonly called Lord Cochrane, one of the
above-named defendants, maketh oath and saith, that the several facts
and circumstances stated in his affidavit, sworn on the 11th day of
March last, before Mr. Graham the Magistrate, are true. And this
deponent further saith, that in addition to the several facts and
circumstances stated in his said affidavit, he deposeth as follows;
that is to say: That he had not, directly or indirectly, any concern
whatever in the formation, or any knowledge of the existence, of an
intention to form the plot charged in the indictment, or any other
scheme or design for affecting the public funds. That the sale of the
pretended omnium, on the 21st day of February, was made in pursuance
of orders given to his broker at the time of the purchase thereof, on
or about the 14th of that month, to sell the same whenever a profit of
one per cent. could be realised: and that those directions were given,
and the sale thereof took place, without any knowledge, information,
hint, or surmise, on the part of this deponent, of any concern or
attempt whatever, to alter the price of the funds; and the said sale
on the 21st took place entirely without this deponent’s knowledge.
That when this deponent returned home from Mr. King’s manufactory on
the 21st of February, which he did directly after the receipt of a
note, he fully expected to have met an officer from abroad, with
intelligence of his brother, who had, by letter to this deponent,
received on the Friday before, communicated his being confined to his
bed, and severely afflicted by a dangerous illness, and about whom
this deponent was extremely anxious; but this deponent found Capt. De
Berenger at his house, in a _grey_ great coat, and a _green_ jacket.
That this deponent never saw the defendants Ralph Sandom, Alex. M’Rae,
John Peter Holloway, and Henry Lyte, or any or either of them, nor
ever had any communication or correspondence with them, or any or
either of them, directly or indirectly. That this deponent, in
pursuance of directions from the Admiralty, proceeded to Chatham, to
join His Majesty’s ship the _Tonnant_, to which he had been appointed
on the 8th day of February last. That the ship was then lying at
Chatham. That, previous to the 8th day of February, this deponent
applied to the Admiralty for leave of absence, which was refused,
until this deponent had joined the said ship, and had removed her down
to Long Reach; that this deponent, in pursuance of those directions,
removed the said ship from Chatham to Long Reach, and after that was
done, viz. on Saturday the 12th day of the said month, this deponent
wrote to the Admiralty to apply for leave of absence for a fortnight,
for the purpose of lodging a specification for a patent, as had been
previously communicated by this deponent to their Lordships; that
leave of absence was accordingly granted for fourteen days, commencing
on the 14th of the said month; that this deponent was engaged in
London, expecting the said specification, till the 28th of the said
month, when the said specification was completed, and this deponent
left town about one o’clock on the morning of the 1st of March, and
arrived at Chatham about daylight on the same morning: that on the 8th
or 9th of the same month of March, this deponent received an
intimation that placards were posted in several of the streets,
stating that a pretended Colonel De Bourg had gone to this deponent’s
house in Green Street; that at the time this deponent received this
intimation, he was on board the said ship at Long Reach, and in
consequence went to Admiral Surridge, the Port Admiral at Chatham, to
obtain leave of absence, which was granted; previous to the receipt of
the leave forwarded by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, this
deponent arrived in London, on the 10th of that month, to the best of
his belief; and that after his trial, he himself, conscious of his own
innocence, and fearing no consequences from a development of his own
conduct, and desiring only to rescue his character from erroneous
impressions, made by misrepresentations in the public prints, he,
without any communication whatever with any other person, and without
any assistance, on the impulse of the moment, prepared the
before-mentioned affidavit, which he swore before Mr. Graham, the
Magistrate, on the 11th; that at the time he made such affidavit, he
had not seen or heard the contents of the Report published by the
Committee of the Stock Exchange, except partial extracts in the
newspapers; that when the deponent understood that the prosecution was
to be instituted against him, he wrote to Admiral Fleming, in whose
service Isaac Davis, formerly this deponent’s servant, then was, under
cover to Admiral Bickerton, at Portsmouth, and that Admiral Bickerton
returned the letter, saying that Admiral Fleming had sailed for
Gibraltar; that this deponent sent his servants, Thomas Dewman, Sarah
Bust, and Mary Turpin, on the trial of his indictment, to prove that
an officer came to this deponent’s house on the morning of the said
21st of February, and to prove the dress that he came in; but that the
said Thomas Dewman only was called, and, as this deponent has been
informed, he was not interrogated as to the dress in which the said
officer came to his house; and this deponent further saith, that had
the said witnesses been examined according to the directions of this
deponent, and who were in attendance on the Court for that express
purpose, they would, as he verily believes, have removed every
unfavourable conclusion respecting this deponent’s conduct, drawn from
the supposed dress in which the said De Berenger appeared before the
deponent on the 21st of February, and on which circumstances much
stress was laid in the charge to the jury, the said De Berenger’s
dress being exactly as stated in this said deponent’s former affidavit
hereinbefore mentioned: and this deponent solemnly and positively
denies, that he ever saw the said De Berenger in a scarlet uniform,
decorated by medals, or other insignia; and he had not the least
suspicion of the said De Berenger being engaged in any plot respecting
the funds, but merely believed he wished, for the reasons stated in
deponent’s former affidavit, to go on board this deponent’s ship, with
a view to obtain some military employment in America; and this
deponent declined complying with his request to send him on board his
ship without permission, or an order from the Admiralty: and this
deponent further saith, that he was in no degree intimate with the
said De Berenger; that he had no personal knowledge of his private or
public character; that he never asked the said De Berenger to his
house, nor did he ever breakfast or dine with this deponent therein,
on any occasion whatsoever; and further, this deponent saith, that he
had been informed, and verily believes, that the jury who tried the
said indictment, and the counsel for the defence, were so completely
exhausted and worn out by extreme fatigue, owing to the Court having
continued the trial without intermission for many hours beyond that
time which nature is capable of sustaining herself without refection
and repose, that justice could not be done to this deponent.”
“COCHRANE.
“Sworn in Court, June 14, 1814.
By the Court.”
With such documents in my hand I was refused a new trial, for reasons
hereafter to be adduced. Of the vindictiveness with which I was pursued,
there can be no better proof than that the other parties convicted on
clear evidence were let off with imprisonment and half the fine
inflicted on myself and Mr. Butt; whilst we, who had nothing to do with
the matter, were fined 1,000_l._ and in addition sentenced to the
barbarous punishment of the pillory. I advisedly say “we,” for I will
here put on record my conscientious belief that Mr. Butt had no more to
do with the hoax than myself. I give this testimony to the memory of a
truly excellent man, whose misfortune it was to have become the dupe of
others, without the least hope of benefit to himself.
It is impossible in an autobiography like the present to go into the
entire case _seriatim_, as it would be easy to bring forward other
proofs as clear as those now adduced. The evidence of Crane was,
however, the important point. I have now laid before the reader the
documents which the Court of King’s Bench declined to entertain, and
have no doubt as to what his decision must be. Whether was it the more
probable, that a man in my position, with nothing to gain by it, should,
in order to commit a fraud, conspire with several other persons of whose
names he had never before heard, and then swear that I did not commit
it—or, that such a man as Crane, at the moment of giving his evidence,
himself under conviction and sentence for a heinous offence, should
swear falsely to the colour of a coat for a pecuniary reward? I, to whom
the public voice, and the rewards of my sovereign, had elevated to an
honourable rank in my profession, or a hackney coachman, under
conviction at the moment of giving his evidence, and known in his own
line of life to have been the most depraved of one of the most depraved
classes of society?
My conviction was followed by expulsion from the House of Commons, and
was voted by a majority of 140 to 44. But that in a House like the one
with which the reader is now well acquainted, _forty-four_ independent
gentlemen should be found to believe in my innocence, in the teeth of
the ministers of the day, of whom Lord Ellenborough was one, the same
ministry being, as personified in Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Croker, is
perhaps as good proof of innocence as could be desired,—certainly as
great as could be expected.
It is with no small pride that I publish the names of the minority.
There are those amongst them whose testimony will weigh with posterity:—
“LIST OF THE MINORITY