John Cochrane

“ The king’s troops having retired, this was effected without difficulty; and this remnant of an army being dispersed by common consent, every man sought his own safety in the best manner he could. Sir John Cochrane took refuge in the house of an uncle, by whom, or by whose wife, it is said, he was betrayed. He was, however, pardoned; and from this circumstance, coupled with the constant and seemingly peevish opposition which he gave to almost all Argyle’s plans, a suspicion has arisen that he had been treacherous throughout. ”

“ While this well-meaning but weak nobleman committed himself to a low disguise, in the vain hope of effecting his escape, Sir John Cochrane, after a gallant fight against overwhelming numbers, finding his enemies were gathering large reinforcements, retired with his troops to a neighbouring wilderness or morass, where he dismissed them, with the request that each man would provide the best way he could for his own safety. For himself, having received two severe wounds in the body during the engagement, and being worn out with fatigue, he sought refuge in the house of his uncle, Mr. ”

“ COCHRANE-BAILLIE, ALEXANDER DUNDAS ROSS WISHART, first Baron Lamington (1816–1890) , politician and author, was eldest son of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Thomas John Cochrane [q. v.] and Matilda, daughter of Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Ross, seventh baronet of Balnagowan, by his first wife (daughter and heiress of General Count James Lockhart of Carnwath) . Lady Cochrane, Cochrane-Baillie's mother, was heiress of the lands of Old Listen in the county of Edinburgh. ”

“ Gentlemen, is Lord Cochrane to be believed or not? have you any ground for saying, that this noble Lord has been guilty, not of perjury in the common sense of the word, but of perjury of a much higher kind, in my view, for which he must be accountable, for which he knows he [Pg 299] must be accountable, if he has sworn that which he knows to be false, and which he cannot have done without being one of the most worthless men in the world. Gentlemen, what has he said? and I beg your particular attention to it, because the evidence of the brokers will not tally with the statement at all ”

“ Is a man so circumstanced likely to commit so sordid a crime as that with which he is charged? No prospect of gain could hold out any temptation to Lord Cochrane to put in hazard what he now possesses. ”

“ I believe no man would say of Lord Cochrane, that he had so utterly thrown off all regard to religion, to the sanction of an oath, properly so called, and to the responsibility he stands under in conscience, as that he would go before a magistrate and make an affidavit, because he could not be prosecuted. ”

“ Gentlemen, I ask you what evidence you have upon which you are to find this noble person, not only guilty of a foul conspiracy, but also of the still higher crime of wilful and corrupt perjury? Gentlemen, I am quite satisfied, you will not feel that there is any evidence in this cause, which can weigh down the testimony which my learned friend has thought proper to put in. I say the oath of Lord Cochrane makes the evidence offered on the other side kick the beam; that there is nothing to put in competition with the affidavit which my learned friend has himself given in evidence. ”

“ The great disparity of force, however, rendered it necessary to adopt some measure that might prove more decisive than cannonading, and Lord Cochrane therefore resolved to run his little brig alongside the polacre, which was no sooner effected than he sprang on board sword in hand, and, being bravely seconded by the whole of his officers and crew, compelled the enemy instantly to strike their colours. ”

“ That Lord Cochrane is a brave man, that he has served his country well, no man will deny. Does Mr. Baily then, do the three other brokers, who demurred to the question put to them as to time bargains; do all this mass of people, constituting the Stock Exchange, now standing within the sound of my voice, mean to say, that because Lord Cochrane has acted so improperly (for I so consider it) as to enter into a time-bargain, therefore he is not to be believed upon his oath? If so, Gentlemen, the Stock Exchange and its doors must be shut up for ever ”

“ I cannot speak in sufficient terras of admiration and applause of the vigorous and gallant attack made by Lord Cochrane upon the French line-of-battle ships which were on shore, as well as of his judicious manner of approaching them, and placing his ship in the position most advantageous to annoy the enemy, and preserve his own ship, which could not be exceeded by any feat of valour hitherto achieved by the British navy. ”

“ Gentlemen, the only part of the evidence which has the least tendency to connect my Lord Cochrane, by means of the notes, with Mr. De Berenger, is the evidence that was given by a person of the name of Lance; there is not one other witness that attempts to state, that a single note traced from the hands of Lord Cochrane, ever was found in the hands of Mr. De Berenger ”

“ COCHRANE, Sir JOHN (d. 1650?) soldier and diplomatist, was the eldest son of Alexander Blair, who on his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of William Cochrane of Cochrane, assumed the name of Cochrane. ”

“ Wright's evidence, and say if any thing can more strongly evince Lord Cochrane's [Pg 276] consciousness of his innocence, than the publication of this affidavit. Gentlemen, you have been told, and truly told that Lord Cochrane is a public character. From the high station in which he was born, and the still higher place in the eyes of his countrymen to which his public services have raised him, his lordship may, without indulging any blameable vanity, one day expect to fill one of the proudest situations in the country. ”

“ Gentlemen, that Lord Cochrane would have been incapable of deliberately engaging in any thing so wicked some time ago, I am [Pg 440] sure I as earnestly hope as I am desirous to believe; but you must see in what circumstances men are placed, when they do these things; Lord Cochrane had first found his way to the Stock Exchange, he had dealt largely in these speculations, which my learned friends have so liberally branded with the appellation of infamous; he had involved himself so deeply, that there was no way, but by this fraud of getting out of them ”

“ It is sworn that they were made before eleven o'clock in the day. Why, Gentlemen, we are forgetting distances. If Lord Cochrane was set down at Snow-hill at ten in the morning, if he afterwards came back, as he did, to Green-street Grosvenor-square, being sent for by his servant or Mr. De Berenger, he could not be back before half-past ten or nearly eleven, and I defy all mankind to state how he could after that have communicated to the Stock Exchange, the news this gentleman was supposed to be dispersing abroad, so as to affect the price of stocks. ”

“ Early in February 1809 Cochrane received permission to return to England. His health was beginning to suffer; he wished to call attention in parliament to the iniquitous jobbery of the Maltese prize court; and hoped to carry on a war of harassing attacks on the west coast of France. He was always of opinion that had he been entrusted with the command of a small squadron for this purpose, 'neither the Peninsular war nor its enormous cost to the nation from 1809 onwards would ever have been heard of. ”

“ Gentlemen, when this correspondence comes to be read by his lordship's officer, is it possible you can believe one word of that; he in this letter, which is the last my learned friend stated, and the only one on which I will comment, stated that he believed every thing that De Berenger had told him respecting Lord Cochrane, was false. If it was all false, as it respected Lord Cochrane, it was all false as it respected himself, for this man had no time-bargains as the other gentlemen had, he was to derive no immediate benefit, except as you believe that man. ”

“ Gentlemen, what now becomes of these affidavits and of those who made them? what becomes of this alibi for Mr. De Berenger? what becomes of the affidavits of his servants Smith and his wife? what becomes of Lord Cochrane swearing as he does to his green coat? why do persons resort to falsehood, but because truth convicts them? ”

“ He applied for permission to rejoin his ship, then with the fleet in the North Sea; that also was curtly refused; but several months afterwards, when his speeches in parliament had proved offensive to the admiralty, he was directed to join the Impérieuse without delay and proceed to the Mediterranean. Cochrane declined the service, was therefore placed on half-pay, and for the next three years devoted himself to the exposure of gross abuses in the admiralty. Cochrane's well-justified attack, though it indirectly led to great reforms, created in the first instance much ill-feeling. ”

“ There is no doubt that they disliked each other; that Cochrane considered Gambier as a canting and hypocritical methodist, while Gambier looked on Cochrane as a rash and insolent youngster, and though obliged, by the orders of the admiralty, to give him nominal support, steadily refused to make that support effective. The success was, therefore, very partial, and Gambier, on learning from the first lord of the admiralty that Cochrane would oppose the vote of thanks for the destruction of the French ships, at once applied for a court-martial. ”

“ A more prudent letter than that, I defy any man in Lord Cochrane's situation to write. A guilty man catches at any twig, but Lord Cochrane does not answer this gentleman at first, and when pressed by a second letter, he tells him the reason; it is unsafe you and [Pg 290] I should meet, I cannot trust you, I am surrounded by scoundrels who are attempting to charge upon me a crime of which I know I am innocent. ”

“ The following is an extract from Lord Cochrane’s official letter, written on the day of the action. May 6, 1801:–
“I must be permitted to say there could not be greater regularity nor more cool determined courage shewn by men, than by the crew of the Speedy. Lieutenant Parker, whom I beg leave to recommend to their Lordships’ notice, as well as the Hon. Mr. Cochrane, deserve all the approbation that can be bestowed [1] .” ”

“ What must those persons think of Lord Cochrane? who after this can consider him as implicated in the guilt of this conspiracy? the guilty men knowingly and advisedly point out to their prosecutors, the only course by which they can be hunted down; such guilty men must be men of too weak understandings to be answerable for their conduct either to God or their country. In the declaration that Lord Cochrane made to Mr. Wright, he did that justice to Mr. De [Pg 268] Berenger which his knowledge of that gentleman compelled him to do ”

“ Such a man, and foremost among such men, always generous, wise, and earnest, was Sir Francis Burdett, Lord Cochrane's oldest and best political friend, his readiest adviser and stoutest defender all through the weary time of his subjection to unmerited disgrace and heartless contumely. Another leading member of the Greek Committee was Mr. John Cam Hobhouse, afterwards Lord Broughton, Lord Byron's friend and fellow-traveller, now Sir Francis Burdett's colleague in the representation of Westminster as successor to Lord Cochrane. ”

“ In 1 803, when the war again broke out, he was ordered to go to Plymouth, and there found himself appointed to command the Arab, an old collier which had been bought into the service and was being fitted as a ship of war. When ready for sea she was sent to the Downs, and ordered to keep watch on the enemy in Boulogne. Cochrane soon found that for such a service the Arab was useless. He represented this to the admiral in command; his letter was forwarded to the admiralty, and he was ordered to cruise to the N.E. of the Orkneys to protect the fisheries. ”

“ Cochrane Johnstone answered De Berenger's letters." He is shewn a letter, and he says, "That is my answer to the letter of Mr. Cochrane Johnstone; I wrote it on the 23d of February."
There was a business to settle with Lady Mary Crawford Lindsay. There is a great deal of business certainly introduced into these letters, so much almost as to induce one [Pg 518] to think there is an artificial introduction of business, to give the appearance of reality to the letters; however, Mr. Tahourdin certainly swears that there were such transactions at that period. ”

“ It would have been easy ... so to harass the French coast as to find full employment for their troops at home, and thus to render any operations in western Spain, or even in foreign countries, next to impossible.' Towards the end of March the Impérieuse arrived at Plymouth, and Cochrane was immediately summoned to attend at the admiralty. The French had been permitted to collect the whole of their western fleet in Aix roads ; it was now contemplated to attempt an attack on it there, and Cochrane was led to hope for an important command in the projected expedition. ”

“ During the interval of peace that followed the conclusion of the war with the Colonies, Captain Cochrane spent much of his time in retirement; but in 1790? on the appearance of a rupture with Spain, he was appointed to the Hind, a small frigate, and continued to command that ship until some time after the commencement of hostilities against the French republic [2] ; he was then removed into the Thetis, of 42 guns and 261 men, employed on the Halifax station. ”

“ I do not know every person I carry in my hackney-coach; this person, when I got to Green-street, I saw had a red coat underneath; the waterman opened the coach-door [Pg 478] for him to get in." So that he was within view of the waterman. "He had on a brown grey great coat, with brown fur cap."
Now, gentlemen, he is brought to the house of Lord Cochrane; further evidence arises afterwards upon the subject of his being there.
We will at present follow the dress to its conclusion. ”