In consequence of the unanimous return of his Lordship to fill his
seat in Parliament, as one of the representatives for the City of
Westminster, the following letters passed between his Lordship and Mr.
Brooks, Treasurer of the Westminster Committee. It is a fact, perhaps
not generally known, that, with the exception of one or two
newspapers, the London journals have thought proper to refuse giving
publicity to this correspondence. Such, indeed, is the degraded state
of our press, that the editor of a Sunday paper, in giving his
Lordship’s letter, omitted several of the most striking passages in
it, which, as was done in publishing his defence, he supplied with
stars!
Committee-room, King Street, Covent Garden,
July 16th, 1814.
MY LORD,—I am directed by the Committee of Electors of Westminster,
appointed at the general meeting held in New Palace Yard, on Monday
the 11th instant, to acquaint your Lordship that you were this morning
nominated as a fit and proper person to fill the vacancy in the
representation of the City of Westminster in Parliament, occasioned by
your Lordship’s expulsion; and that you were immediately re-elected,
without opposition, and with the most lively expressions of universal
approbation. The Committee further direct me to convey to your
Lordship their sincere congratulations on an event so happily
demonstrative of the sense which your constituents entertain of the
accusation which has been brought against you, _and of the very
extraordinary proceedings by which it has been followed up_; and to
assure your Lordship that it affords them the highest gratification to
find that you are able to oppose to the envenomed shafts of malice and
party spirit the impenetrable shield of conscious innocence. They
rejoice to see that the prejudices occasioned by gross and shameless
misrepresentation are fast wearing away from the public mind; and they
trust that the time is near when your Lordship’s character will appear
as fair and unblemished in the view of every individual in the British
empire, as it now does in the eyes of the electors of Westminster.
I have the honour to be, my Lord,
Your Lordship’s most faithful and obedient servant,
SAMUEL BROOKS, _Chairman_.
To Lord Cochrane.
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King’s Bench, July 18th, 1814.
SIR,—Amongst all the occurrences of my life, I can call to memory no
one which has produced so great a degree of exultation in my breast as
this, which, through a channel which I so highly esteem, has been
communicated to me, that, after all the machinations of corruption
(bringing into play her choicest agents) have been able to effect
against me, the citizens of Westminster have, with unanimous voice,
pronounced me worthy of continuing to be one of their representatives
in Parliament. Merely to be a member of the House of Commons (as now
made up) is something too meagre to be a gratification to me; but when
I reflect on that love of country, that devotion to freedom, that
soundness of judgment, that unshaken adherence to truth and justice
which have invariably marked the proceedings of the citizens of
Westminster, and when I further reflect that it is of Sir Frances
Burdett whom they have now, for the third time, made me the colleague,
how am I to express, on the one hand, my gratitude towards them, and,
on the other, the contempt which I feel for all the distinctions of
birth, and for all the wealth, and all the decorations which ministers
and kings have it, under the present system, in their power to bestow.
With regard to the case, the agitation of which has been the cause of
this, to me, most gratifying result, I am in no apprehension as to the
opinions and feelings of the world, and especially of the people of
England, who, though they may be occasionally misled, are never
deliberately cruel or unjust. Only let it be said of me:—the
_Stock-Exchange_ have accused; _Lord Ellenborough_ has charged for
guilty; the _Special Jury_ have found that guilt; the _Court_ have
sentenced to the pillory; the _House of Commons_ have expelled; and
the _Citizens of Westminster_ HAVE RE-ELECTED. Only let this be the
record placed against my name, and I shall be proud to stand in the
Calendar of Criminals all the days of my life. In requesting you, sir,
to convey these my sentiments to my constituents at large, I cannot
refrain from begging you, and the other gentlemen of the committee, to
accept my particular and unfeigned thanks.
I am, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
COCHRANE.
To Samuel Brooks, Esq., Chairman of the Committee
of the Electors of Westminster.
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