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Excepting
Lord Nelson, perhaps no other
officer in the British Navy
during the present century has gained greater distinction by his services
than the late Admiral Thomas Earl of Dundonald, best known as Lord
Cochrane, whose naval career was one of brilliant exploits and deeds of
daring. In 1809 his destruction of the French ships in the Basque Roads
dealt a crushing blow to the great Napoleon's maritime efforts. A few
years later be served under the government of Chili and Peru, which bad
revolted against Spain, and his naval assistance mainly contributed to
those provinces achieving their independence. His great feats in that war
were his capture of Valdivia, and his cutting out the
Spanish frigate Esmeralda from under the fortifications of Callao.
He -vas subsequently employed by the empire of Brazil, and there also he
was completely successful. He was created Marquess of Maranham, in Brazil,
and had conferred upon him the Grand Cross of the Imperial Brazilian Order
of the Cruzers; he was also a knight of the Royal Order of the Savior of
Greece, and of the Order of Merit of Chili, and a Knight Grand Cross of
the Most Noble Order of the Bath. He succeeded his father as tenth Earl of
Dundonald in July, 1831.
It is not, however, of the services which won for his
lordship the proud distinctions above enumerated that I wish to speak in
this paper, but rather of an episode in his life by which he was placed in
a very awkward and unenviable position, namely, a charge of conspiracy and
fraud in connection with the Stock Exchange, which was brought publicly
against him in the year 1814.
Extraordinary panics have, at different times, taken
place at the Stock Exchange, and the prices of stocks have risen and
fallen -with rapidity at the rumors of wars, foreign alliances,
and coalitions. Sometimes these rumors have been proved to be mere
inventions. The most extraordinary conspiracy ever planned and carried out
in order to bring about a panic, however, was that which formed the
subject of the charge above referred to, and which was carried into
execution towards the close of the great struggle between the First
Napoleon and the allied sovereigns of Europe. The 'funds' were then in a
very depressed condition, and great national anxiety prevailed. The best
idea of this conspiracy, perhaps, may be gathered from a narrative of
certain legal transactions which took place some
sixty years ago.
The trial came on for
this conspiracy in the Court of King's Bench, Guildhall, on the 8th of
Jane, 1814, the persons charged, besides Lord Cochrane, being Captain
Randone do Berenger, the Hon.
A. Cochrane-Johnstone, R. Gathorn Butt, Ralph Sandom (a spirit merchant at
Northfleet), Alexander M'Rae, J. Peter Holloway,
and Henry Lyte. They were indicted for conspiring to defraud the Stock
Exchange 'by circulating false news of
Bonaparte's defeat, of his being killed by the Cossacks, etc., in order
to raise the funds to a higher price than they would otherwise have
borne, to the injury- of the public, and the benefit of the conspirators.'
The conspiracy was very dramatically carried out, and the report which was
spread through the city by the principal persons concerned in it was such
as to throw the citizens of London into a state of commotion.
It appears that about
one o'clock, a.m., on the 21st of February in the above year, a person,
who was proved at the trial to be none other than Randono de Beronger,
stopped a watchman in the town of Dover, and inquired the way to the
'Ship Inn,' at that time the principal hotel in
the town. The person, who gave the name of Colonel De Bourg, aide-decamp
of Lord Cathcart, was attired in a scarlet and gold uniform, with a large
star on his breast. Having made his way, as directed, to the
'Ship Inn,' ho knocked violently at the door,
and, on being admitted, pretended that be had been conveyed in an open
boat from France, and landed along the coast about two miles from Dover;
that he was the bearer of important news from the scat of war-being
nothing less than 'that the allies
had gained a great
victory, and had entered Paris; that Bonapart had been overtaken by a
detachment of Sachen' Cossacks, who had slain and cut him into
thousand pieces; that General Platoff had saved
Paris from being reduced to ashes; and that the
white cockade was worn everywhere, and that an
immediate peace was now certain.'
He next wrote a
letter to Admiral Foley the port-admiral at
Deal, conveying to him the above
'important news;' and then immediatelyy;
set off himself in a post-chaise for London, by
way of Canterbury, Sittingbourne, and Rochester The object in sending the
letter to Admiral Foley was that he might have
telegraphed the, intelligence to the Admiralty;
but through the, haziness of the atmosphere the
seinaphores were of no avail. On his arrival at
Rochester 'De Bourgh' made his way to the 'Crown
Inn,' and communicated the news to the landlord
and, taking care that the report should be,
spread at every available point on his journey he hurried on until he came
to the 'Elephant and Castle,' in the Kent Road;
but, finding no hackney-coach there, he ordered
the post-boy to drive him on to
harsh Gate, Lambeth, where he entered a hackney-coach, and was driven off
to a house then recently taken by Lord Cochrane in Green Street, Grosvenor
Square.
By a little
after ten the rumors had reached the Stock Exchange, and the funds rose
sensibly; but, on its being found that no confirmatory news had reached
the Lord Mayor, they soon went down again. But
an important auxiliary to this fraudulent contrivance shortly appeared.
This was the arrival of three apparently military officers in a
post-chaise from Northfleet, having the drivers and horses decorated with
laurel. These were Sandom, M'Rae, and Lyte
in disguise. To spread the news they drove through the City, and over
Blackfiiars Bridge, and were set down near the Marsh Gate, where
they tied up their cocked hats, put on round ones, and walked away.
This last contrivance
was the means of raising 'omnium' to 32 per cent.
The amount of stock in the possession of Lord Cochrane and Messrs.
Johnstone and Butt amounted to nearly one million; and it was proved in
evidence that, but for this plan for raising the funds, they
must have been defaulters to the amount of £160,000, and nearly
ruined by their speculations. Sandom, Holloway, and Lyte were
'jobbers' in the fuds. At the time of the trial,
the two latter had confessed what was their object to the Stock Exchange
Committee, though they denied any participation with the other parties. De
Berenger's handwriting was proved; and the coat, purchased at Solomon's,
at Charing Cross, was identified as having been bought and worn by him,
and then sunk in the Thames, whence it was accidentally dredged
up by a fisherman, M'Rae, who
was in distressed circumstances, and who was proved to have received fifty
pounds for his services.
For the defense it was
contended and proved that Lord Cochrane was acquainted with De Berenger
on honorable grounds, not arising from stock-jobbing transactions, having
exerted himself to get him into the Navy; likewise that he had authorized
his broker to sell his stock whenever he could get a profit of one per
cent.
Lord Ellenborough tools
two hours in summing-up the case, and the jury took another two hours and
a half in arriving at a verdict. They found all the persons guilty; and
the sentence passed upon them was as follows:
'That the defendants, Lord Cochrane and Butt, should each pay a
fine of £1,000; the defendant, Holloway, a fine of £500 ; all the
defendants to be imprisoned for one year in the custody of of the
Marshal of the Marshalsea; and that the
defendants-Lord Cochrane, Butt, and De Bcrenger-should once, during that
period, stand in and upon the pillory for one hour, between the hours of
twelve and two at noon, in the open space facing the Royal Exchange, in
the city of London.'
Lord Cochrane at the time of the trial was
Member of Parliament for the city of Westminster, and in the month of July
he was brought to the Bar of the House of Commons, and called upon to make
his defense. He most solemnly declared his innocence, and imputed great
partiality to Lord Ellenborougb, the ,judge who presided at the trial, and
earnestly implored the House to institute a thorough investigation of the
case. The motion, nevertheless, for his expulsion was carried; but that
part of the sentence condemning him to stand in
the pillory was remitted, the Government being evidently afraid to carry
it into effect, as Sir Francis Burdett had declared that, if it -was
done, he would stand beside his friend on the scaffold of shame.
So little did the
'people' believe in Lord Cochrane's guilt, that,
on the issuing of the new writ for Westminster, he was immediately and
without opposition re-elected as their representative. To crown all,
however, Cochrane's political enemies had him stripped of his knighthood,
and the escutcheon of his Order disgracefully kicked down the steps of St.
George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Lord Cochrane demurred on principle to
the remission of any part of his sentence,
stating that, if innocent, he ought to be publicly proclaimed so; but
that, if guilty, the punishment was certainly not too severe.
For many years Lord Dundonald remained under a cloud,
a branded exile, devoting his courage to the cause of universal liberty,
but lost to the country which he loved so much. In his old age justice, to
some extent, was done to him by the restoration of part of the honours and
dignities of which he had been stripped.
Under one Government, in 1532, Lord Dundonald received the free pardon of
the Crown, and was promoted to that rank in the Navy which he would have
held had he never been dismissed the service. Under a subsequent
Government, in 1847, he was restored to the honours conferred upon him
previous to his expulsion, a course which amounted to nothing less than a
public recognition by the Government of his innocence. At his death in
1560, his remains were honoured with a grave among the nation's heroes in
Westminster Abbey. Finally in 1577, the committee of privileges of the
House of Lords decided that complete reparation would not have been done
to Lord Dundonald unless the claims for I back pay' which had been
instituted by his successor, were recognised; the committee adding that it
should further be borne in mind that the exceptionally brilliant services
of Lord Dundonald rendered to the British Crown as a naval officer, would,
but for his dismissal, probably have earned for him more ample and
adequate reward than any which he received for his services. So tardy
occasionally is the action of justice.
Chapters From the Family Chests, 1887
Chapters From the Family Chest |
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