The six defendants, whose names have been now called, are to receive the
judgment of the court, in consequence of a conviction upon an indictment
for a conspiracy; that indictment, and the evidence which had been given
upon the trial, on which trial the jury pronounced the several
defendants guilty, was more particularly stated to the court yesterday,
in the course of the discussion which took place. The sum of the offence
charged in the indictment was, that these six defendants, together with
two other persons, who do not now appear to abide the judgment of the
law, had conspired together, by spreading false rumours and reports in
different places, to occasion a rise in the price of the public funds of
this country, on a particular day, and thereby to injure all those
subjects who might purchase stock on that particular day; that was the
sum of the charge contained in the several counts of the indictment on
which the defendants were found guilty.
I will shortly advert to the circumstances of the case as they appeared
in evidence. From that evidence it appeared, that some of the defendants
had been, for a short time previous to the time when this conspiracy was
put into execution, (namely the 21st of February,) largely speculating
in the public funds of the country, and that at that time three of the
defendants who now appear before the court, together with one of the
defendants who does not appear, were either holders of stock, or persons
who had contracted for the purchase of stock, to a very considerable
amount. It appears, that on the 19th of February, which was on a
Saturday, a person, not expressly spoken to by the witness, had
purchased of a military accoutrement-maker in this town the dress, or at
least part of the dress, and accoutrements, of a foreign officer,
stating at that time, that it was designed for a person who was to
appear in the character of a foreign officer, and that on the same day
another person who was concerned in another part of the plot, had
produced a small parcel at home which had been given to his wife, and
the next morning (Sunday) had brought home two coats and two hats,
evidently intended to fit out two persons with the appearance of foreign
officers. Those are the first circumstances that appear previous to the
day when this plan was to be put in execution.
The next period to be adverted to was the morning of Monday, the 21st of
February, and on that morning, about a quarter after one o'clock in the
morning, one of the defendants, Charles Random de Berenger, makes his
appearance at the door of the Ship Inn at Dover, wearing the dress of a
foreign officer, as described by four witnesses, who saw him at Dover
with the scarlet uniform of a military officer under a grey great coat,
and a military cap, the cap worn by military officers, applying to be
furnished immediately with a chaise and four to proceed on his journey
to town, holding himself out as a person who had just landed from a
vessel come from the coast of France, and bringing very important
intelligence of the success of engagements in that country, in which the
Ruler of France had been defeated, with other circumstances not
particularly necessary to be adverted to, and that the consequences
would be in a very short time a peace between that country and this. He
is expressly recognized and pointed out as being one of the defendants,
Charles Random De Berenger, by four different persons who saw him at
that time in the morning at the Ship Inn, where he continued for some
time, while horses were preparing, having called for pen, ink and paper,
to write a letter, as he professed, to be sent off to Admiral Foley, the
Admiral commanding the ships stationed in the Downs, and while there
actually dispatching a messenger with such letter to Admiral Foley,
which is proved to be afterwards received by the Admiral, affecting to
communicate this intelligence, and signing this by the affected name of
De Bourg, as aid-de-camp, to what appears to be intended for Lord
Cathcart.
From thence he is traced distinctly through the various stages where he
changed horses, at Canterbury, Sittingbourn and Rochester, where he
stopped and took some refreshment, and had some conversation with the
landlord of the Crown Inn, who speaks to his dress at the time of the
communication which he there made, similar to that which I have adverted
to as having been made upon his first application for a chaise and
horses at Dover. From thence he proceeds to Dartford, and from Dartford
in like manner, the last stage, into London. The post-boy who drove him
the last stage into town, besides speaking to his person, and all of
them having picked out and fixed upon Charles Random De Berenger, whom
they afterwards saw in court, as the person who had so travelled from
Dover to London, having had opportunities, during the last stage, of
seeing him while he was out of the carriage and walking up a hill, and
while he conversed with them directing them to the place to which he
should be driven. He inquired where he could first be set down, and
could meet with a hackney coach; one place proposed by the postboy did
not meet his approbation, he stating that it was attended with too much
publicity, and he then directed himself to be driven to Lambeth where a
hackney coach might be procured, and at the Marsh-gate turnpike at
Lambeth he was ultimately set down, and stepped from the post-chaise
into a hackney coach, and at that period he is spoken to positively, not
only by the postboy who had driven him to that spot, but by the waterman
who opened the door and put down the step of the hackney coach; he
swears distinctly to his person and to his dress, that he had then a
scarlet coat under a grey great-coat, with a military cap. From thence
he directs himself to be driven to Grosvenor-square. Those are the
orders given to the coachman when he gets into the coach, and then he
directs the coachman to a particular house and number in Green-street,
which was the house of one of the other defendants, Lord Cochrane, and
into which house the coachman proves his having seen him enter in that
dress first described by the witnesses at Dover, and confirmed by all
the witnesses on his passage during his journey, namely, a red uniform
coat under a grey great-coat. So much for that part of the transaction
which relates to the spreading of false rumours and reports respecting
what had happened in France, and the prospect of peace in the way from
Dover to the place where he was last set down, the house of Lord
Cochrane in Green-street on that same morning.
The other part of the plot or conspiracy was put in execution at
somewhat a later date, by the efforts of some of the other defendants,
namely, Holloway, M'Rae, Sandom, and Lyte, on that same Monday morning.
The innkeeper at Dartford receives a note from Sandom, ordering a chaise
to be sent to Northfleet, at a particular hour, to bring persons to
Dartford, and to have four horses ready to convey them to London.
Accordingly three persons, two of them, I think, described as wearing a
military dress, and white cockades in their hats, come in that chaise to
Dartford, from whence, with another chaise and four horses, the horses
ornamented with laurel, and the men inside with white cockades in their
hats, they drive at a quick pace to London, through some of the
principal streets of London, over Blackfriars Bridge, and there
directing to be set down at the same place, the Marsh-gate at Lambeth,
they get into a hackney coach, and no more is heard of them. This seems
to have been a counterpart--another branch of the plot, which was put
into execution about two hours after the first chaise had arrived with
the defendant De Berenger, and in that these persons are proved to have
been concerned whom I have stated.
Immediately upon the arrival of De Berenger at the house of Lord
Cochrane in Green-street, dressed as I have described, in the dress in
which he was first observed at Dover, he appears to have dispatched a
note to Lord Cochrane, who was not then at home, and that note is
delivered to my Lord Cochrane at a place somewhere near Snowhill, where
Lord Cochrane was at the time. What the contents of that note were, as
the note has not itself been produced, we have no evidence. Upon that my
Lord Cochrane immediately returns home in a coach. There is no doubt but
the defendant De Berenger was then at the house of my Lord Cochrane, and
there, before he leaves the house, with the privity and in the presence
of my Lord Cochrane, he changes the uniform which he wore at the time,
and in which he is proved to have entered clothed, and puts on a black
coat of Lord Cochrane's; he exchanges his military cap for a round hat
of Lord Cochrane's likewise, in the house, and then he gets into the
hackney coach which had brought Lord Cochrane, and goes away in that
dress, and in that coach, and on that same day, which is Monday the 21st
of February, the whole of this property in the funds, or these contracts
for stock in the funds (of which it is not now necessary to state the
particular sums) which was held by Lord Cochrane, by Mr. Cochrane
Johnstone, by Mr. Butt, and by Mr. Holloway, is sold by those persons at
an advance which advance had been occasioned by that which had taken
place in the course of the early part of that day.
The additional circumstances which are proved in evidence, and which I
will only now shortly advert to, are those stated by the broker Fearn,
who had been the purchaser and the seller of a considerable part of this
stock for particularly three of the persons, Lord Cochrane, Mr. Cochrane
Johnstone, and Mr. Butt; he was introduced by Mr. Butt to my Lord
Cochrane and Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, and had managed, or appears to have
had considerable hand in managing, these speculations in the funds.
In addition to that, it appears, that afterwards, I think, on the 27th
of February, De Berenger disappears, and is some short time afterwards,
the particular day was not, I believe, mentioned in evidence,
apprehended, passing under a feigned name, at a distant part of the
country, with considerable property at that time in his possession,
having been before, up to the 21st of February, living as an insolvent
within the rules of the King's Bench prison.
The question which is next material to be adverted to is, how far any of
these circumstances implicate the defendants who are found guilty on
this record. I have stated the circumstances with respect to the minor
actors in this conspiracy. De Berenger, who was the actor and the
propagator of the false rumours from Dover to London, and the other
persons who were the propagators of these false rumours from Northfleet
to London. It is singular that De Berenger should instantly drive, in
the dress in which he travelled from Dover to London, to the house of my
Lord Cochrane; should instantly send and have an interview with my Lord
Cochrane; and that in the presence and with the knowledge of my Lord
Cochrane, before he left his house, he should change that dress in which
he had arrived, and should go away in a dress of my Lord Cochrane's:
those are things which could not happen by accident; and the court see
that they have not been accounted for in any satisfactory manner; and
they certainly were not accounted for in a satisfactory manner to the
minds of the jury, who have drawn the conclusion of guilt, by any
explanation which was then given, either by word or upon oath. The
manner in which it is attempted to be accounted for is, that De
Berenger, who was but slightly known to my Lord Cochrane, had come at
that time to him upon some other business; that as to the note which he
sent to my Lord Cochrane, and which has not been produced, my Lord
Cochrane at the time did not clearly perceive by whom it was signed, or
from whom it came, and that he went home immediately upon receiving it,
in expectation that it might be from an officer coming from abroad,
bringing him an account of the health of a brother, who at that time, or
shortly before, had been labouring under a dangerous illness; that note
which was sent has not been produced, and no satisfactory evidence has
been stated, either before the jury or since, upon the application which
was made to the court for a new trial, to fix precisely the time when
any account had been received by my Lord Cochrane of the illness of this
brother, or holding out to him any expectation at what time, and by what
means, he was likely to hear further accounts of him. If any such letter
had been received, if it had come by a private hand, the person who
brought it might have been called to show the information which he had
received; if it had been brought by a ship, or by post, the mark on the
direction and the envelope of that letter, would have given some
explanation of it, but no such explanation has been held out either to
the jury at the trial, or to the court since, on the opportunity which
was afforded my Lord Cochrane yesterday of stating the grounds upon
which he wished to have a new trial.
There is another circumstance in evidence which I have not yet adverted
to, and it is this, it was proved in evidence, and I will not go through
the particulars, that shortly before this 21st of February, namely, on
the 16th of February, a broker, of the name of Smallbone, had drawn a
bill on Jones, Loyd, and Co. in London, for the sum of 470_l._ 19_s._
4_d._ payable to a number, upon which nothing arises, or to bearer; but
that this bill, or check, was given to Lord Cochrane, so that it was in
his hands; the money received for this check at the bankers, was proved
in evidence to consist of particular bank notes; those bank notes were
afterwards changed, and appear to have been changed industriously for
other notes, by a person employed, I think by the defendant Butt, and
part of the produce of this check had been employed by Lord Cochrane
himself in the payment of a bill of a coal merchant of his, and a number
of the small notes that had been produced by the change of some of the
larger notes for which the check was changed, were traced to the hands
of De Berenger himself; and many of them actually found in his
possession, and in his trunk at the time he was shortly afterwards
apprehended in a distant part of this kingdom; now this is a coincidence
of circumstances which requires very satisfactorily to be accounted for,
in order to raise a doubt in the mind of any one that there was a
connection with respect to this transaction, and an intimate connection
between the parties charged upon this indictment, I mean particularly
the defendant, my Lord Cochrane, the defendant Butt, and the defendant
De Berenger. Where we find that it is to the house of my Lord Cochrane
that he comes immediately after having acted this part in spreading this
rumour between Dover and London, and where the very notes that are found
upon the person of De Berenger, before in insolvent circumstances, are
part of the produce of that very draft which had actually been traced to
the hand of Lord Cochrane, and by the intervention of another of the
defendants, Butt, had likewise, I think, been through the hands of Mr.
Cochrane Johnstone paid to this very De Berenger, and found in his
possession when he had absconded, and was going by another name in a
distant part of this country.
With respect to the other part of the transaction, when we find who were
the persons who benefited by this plan, which has been so put into
execution; that the persons who were connected together in speculating
in the funds up to the very period of the 21st, and were then the
holders of very considerable sums, or contracts for those sums, down to
the morning of the 21st, got rid of all of them in the course of the
21st, and when those circumstances of connection which I have adverted
to have been so clearly made out, and no satisfactory account given, nor
any reason given to expect that a satisfactory account would be given,
if a further opportunity of investigating it should have been afforded,
how can the court come to any other conclusion if they have to exercise
their judgment upon the fact, but the conclusion to which the jury have
come, namely, that the defendants are guilty; that it was a conspiracy
ingeniously and cunningly devised, extensive in its operation, most
mischievous in its effect, and contrived for the wicked and the
fraudulent purpose of enriching some few individuals at the expense of
others, who might be induced to sell, and to buy property on that day,
or who might be in a situation to be obliged to do it, which was the
case with the suitors of the court of Chancery.
The offence of conspiracy is in itself always viewed in the eye of the
law as a heinous offence; and where a number of persons connect
themselves together in order to carry into execution a plan which one
alone cannot carry into execution, and where that is done with the
evident intention of fraud, to put money into the pockets of certain
persons, and by that means to defraud others, such an offence is and
always has been considered in the eye of the law as an infamous offence,
and calling upon the court who are to administer the justice of the
country for a punishment, as far as they can inflict it, proportionate
to the infamy of the crime.
It is with pain that the court in passing sentence upon the defendants
have to advert to those circumstances, which, applying to particular
persons, appear to aggravate the guilt of the offence of which they have
been convicted; it is painful for the court to observe, that among those
who stand for judgment there should be any person whose situation from
rank, connections, education, and every thing held honourable among
mankind, ought to have felt himself so far above being connected with
persons of the description with whom he has been connected, and mixing
in traffic with which he has been mixed, which independently of the
crime of which he has been convicted is disgraceful and disreputable to
any man, I mean gambling in the funds to the amount and to the extent to
which it is proved; it is painful for the court to have to animadvert
upon such an offence in such a subject; and more painful to feel, that
in the exercise of their duty they are bound to say, that the greater
opportunity which a defendant had of knowing his duty, and the higher he
felt in rank and in situation, and the less temptation he ought to have
felt to have offended the laws of his country, in this respect the
heavier falls the weight of guilt upon him.
Another observation which one cannot fail to make in the present
instance, is, that in the course of this inquiry, certainly with respect
to the defence made by the defendant De Berenger, one cannot find any
circumstances of which the court can lay hold, as a ground upon which
they can mitigate the offence which the law calls for to be inflicted
upon that defendant, because after a weight of evidence not depending
upon the testimony of two, three, four or six persons, as to the
identity of the man and his clothes, an attempt was made at the trial to
delude the jury and the court, by inducing them to believe that he was
at another place at the time, and that it was not De Berenger who had
appeared at Dover; that it was not De Berenger who had travelled from
Dover to London in the way described; and that it was not De Berenger
who had been landed at last in the house of Lord Cochrane.
Though the court could not consistently with its rules hear the
application for a new trial made by my Lord Cochrane within the first
four days of the term, yet still it was willing to afford the
opportunity at any time to state circumstances which might operate upon
the mind of the court to show that the verdict had been improperly come
to, and that the evidence did not justify it: but what was the attempt
upon the part of that defendant, my Lord Cochrane, to show that he ought
to have had a new trial?--that certain witnesses who were present at the
time of the trial had not been examined; and that some of those who had
been examined had not been examined to facts which it was wished they
should be examined to; and what were those facts? why they went to show
that at the time De Berenger was at the house of my Lord Cochrane he
appeared, not in a red uniform, as was described by so many witnesses,
and among others, the person who landed him at that house, but that he
had on the green uniform, in which, from the situation he had been in,
in a rifle volunteer corps he had been in the habit of appearing. It was
probably a very prudent exercise of discretion in those who had the
conduct of the case of that defendant at the trial, not to attempt to
call servants at the house for the purpose of disproving a fact which
had been proved by so many witnesses; and it is impossible to conceive
that any change of dress could have taken place during that short
interval, from the time at which he had got out of the coach, to the
period when he had appeared before Lord Cochrane; or what could be the
motive for changing his dress, if he then had on the uniform of any
corps of volunteers in this town.
These are the observations which naturally present themselves as arising
out of the detail of the evidence which has been read. It cannot be
necessary to expatiate at all upon the nature of the offence. It is a
conspiracy of the greatest magnitude, and of the most prejudicial effect
to the community; it is conceived in mischief, and a great deal of
deliberation practised previously to its being put into execution. In
this respect an offence of this description differs from most of the
offences which come under the cognizance of a court of criminal
jurisdiction. In many cases offenders have been led to transgress the
law by a suggestion of the moment; by a temptation, which, as it has
been urged sometimes at the bar, human nature could not resist; but in
the present instance it has been deliberately undertaken; great
contrivance, and great previous consideration, have been used for the
purpose of laying the plan and procuring the actors who were to bear
their different parts of it; and the whole object of it founded in
avarice on the part of some, and the hope of gain for acting that part
which the others took in this transaction, not for their own immediate
emolument, except so far as they were to receive the wages of their
iniquity.
The court has deliberated upon the case, and the court cannot, in this
instance, feel itself justified in measuring out justice to one by a
different measure from that in which justice would be measured out to
others; the sentence therefore of the court upon you, the several
defendants now upon the floor, is, That you, Sir Thomas Cochrane,
otherwise called Lord Cochrane, and you Richard Gathorne Butt, do
severally pay to the King a fine of one thousand pounds each; that you,
John Peter Holloway, the third person who was to be benefited by this
conspiracy, do pay to the King a fine of five hundred pounds; that all
you the six several defendants, Charles Random De Berenger, Sir Thomas
Cochrane, commonly called Lord Cochrane, Richard Gathorne Butt, Ralph
Sandom, John Peter Holloway, and Henry Lyte, be severally imprisoned in
the custody of the Marshal of the Marshalsea of our Lord the King for
twelve calendar months; and that during that period you, Charles Random
Be Berenger, you, Sir Thomas Cochrane, otherwise called Lord Cochrane,
and you, Richard Gathorne Butt, be severally set in and upon the
pillory, opposite the Royal Exchange in the City of London, for one
hour, between the hours of twelve at noon and two in the afternoon; and
that you be now severally committed to the custody of the Marshal of the
Marshalsea, in execution of this sentence, and be further imprisoned
until your several fines be paid.