The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane Part 135

Tahourdin wished to see it, and Mr. Musgrave opened it for him; the seals had been opened before that time. I was absent about a week or ten days. I was present all the time it was before the Grand Jury; it was locked up with all its contents; when I went out I locked it, and left it upon the jury table; I had the key; I was present when Mr. Lavie and Mr. Wakefield, and another gentleman of the Stock Exchange were with Mr.

De Berenger the day he arrived. I was present the greatest part of the time. Mr. Wakefield went very close to Mr. De Berenger, and I declare I do not recollect any particular words; he put some questions respecting the Stock Exchange. I did not hear any names mentioned. I remember the word information, that they wanted information, but that is all I recollect. Mr. De Berenger said he was unwell, and exhausted by his journey. Mr. Wakefield conversed with him about ten minutes; I put my marks upon these things before I went to Holland." So that his going to Holland is immaterial, for his marks put upon them before he parted with them, identify the bank notes, and the bank clerks say they gave them in exchange for other notes.

Mr. Fearn is shewn a check of the 5th of February; he says, "I gave that check to Mr. b.u.t.t on the day of its date." That was afterwards attempted to be proved, but it came, I think, to nothing.

Mr. Smallbone says, "On the 10th of February I drew that check, which was a check for .470. 19. 4. I drew it for Lord Cochrane; I gave it him on some stock account; I think Mr. b.u.t.t was in the office at the time; I feel satisfied I gave it to Lord Cochrane, and not to Mr. b.u.t.t; I did not see him hand it to Mr. b.u.t.t; I presented it to him on the table, that he might see it." The check is then read, it is upon Messrs. Jones, Loyd & Company, dated the 19th of February, very shortly, that is on the Friday before the Sunday on which this person must have departed from town, it is payable to No. 119 or bearer, and is signed William Smallbone.

Then Edward Wharmby says, "I am a clerk to Jones, Loyd & Company. I paid that check on the 19th of February, in one .200 note, two of .100 each, and a .50.; the .200 note was No. 634, the .100 notes were, one No. 18,468, and the other 16,601, and the .50 note was No. 7,375."

Then to shew that Lord Cochrane dealt with the produce of this check as his own, Thomas Parker, the coal-merchant of Lord Cochrane, says, "I received in payment a bank note of .50 from Lord Cochrane, which is this very note, the number of which is 7,375; I wrote on the back of the note, and that is my hand-writing." Therefore it appears that this check, which was drawn for Lord Cochrane, was in the first instance for his benefit; for .50 of it went to his coal merchant, and the other notes appear to have come to him, or to Mr. b.u.t.t, and the produce is afterwards found at a very critical period in the hands of this person, De Berenger, seized after he had gone from London. The check itself is the 19th of February; the money is found in this desk after he had gone off.

Then the bank notes of .100 each are shewn to Mr. Lance; he says, "On the 24th February I went to the bank to change some bank notes for smaller notes, by the desire of Mr. b.u.t.t;" the notes were shewn to him, and he says, "those are the notes," I received two hundred notes of .1 each for them.

Upon his cross examination, he says, "I remember on the 15th of February Mr. b.u.t.t lending Lord Cochrane .200;" but on examination, it turns out that he only heard it, and did not see it lent. "I went with this check to get the money to Jones and Loyd's, I gave the notes of .100 each to Lord Cochrane, I was not present when Lord Cochrane paid those notes back to Mr. b.u.t.t, I received those notes from Mr. b.u.t.t afterwards, and it was by Mr. b.u.t.t's desire I changed them for small notes at the bank."

Then he says, "I advanced .450 to Lord Cochrane, as clerk to Mr.

Smallbone; when he had got this check for .450 he wanted .200 more; Mr. b.u.t.t was not present. I do not know when Lord Cochrane gave these two .100 notes to Mr. b.u.t.t, which by Mr. b.u.t.t's desire I took to the bank."

John Bilson and Thomas Northover, who are clerks in the bank, are shewn the two notes of .100 each; Bilson says, these two notes were sent for payment in the bank on the 24th of February: I have the book here in my own hand-writing, they were paid in .1 notes, and he specifies the number of each; we have looked over the notes in De Berenger's trunk before the grand jury; here are forty-nine, part of the two hundred.

Thomas Christmas says, "I am clerk to Mr. Fearn; I remember being sent on the 24th of February to change a note for .200; I went to Messrs.

Bond and Co's.; that is the note I gave; I received two notes of .100 each; I then took those two notes to the bank, and changed them for two hundred notes of .1 each; I gave them to Mr. Fearn; I did not see what Mr. Fearn did with them; I put Mr. Fearn's name upon the two .100 notes before I gave them in at the bank." Mr. Miller, a bank clerk, produced the two .100 notes, and Christmas says, "Those are the notes."

Mr. Fearn says, "On the 24th of February I received from Christmas two hundred notes of .1 each; I gave them to Mr. b.u.t.t, and he gave them to Mr. Cochrane Johnstone."

Bilson and Northover, the bank clerks, say, "That on the 24th of February they paid to Fearn two hundred .1 notes, for two notes of .100 each." Then they are shewn sixty-seven of the notes of .1 each, found in De Berenger's writing desk, and they say those are part of the notes they paid to Fearn on the 24th of February.

Then Wood produces a box and two watches.

Bishop Bramley is called; he says, "I am a watchmaker and silversmith living at Hull," (_the watches were shewn to him_); "I never sold this watch or that, but I sold a watch to the gentleman who sits there for .30. 19_s._ 6_d._ on the 4th of March, and he paid me in .1 bank notes; I put my own initials upon them, I should know them again;"

[_Miller having produced some notes to the witness_], "all those seven notes I received of the person I sold the watch to; I put my initials and the date upon them; we took no other Bank of England notes on that day; I received twenty in the forenoon, and the other eleven in the afternoon; and I marked them, and paid them away the same afternoon."

Bilson and Northover are shewn the seven notes; they say those seven notes were part of the two hundred notes we paid to Fearn, on the 24th of February.

Lance says, "On the 26th of February, I gave Mr. b.u.t.t a check on Prescott & Co. for .98. 2_s._ 6_d._ that is the check."

Isherwood, a clerk to Prescott & Co. says, "I paid that check, I think on the date of it, the 26th of February 1814," just before the time when De Berenger went off, "in a .50 bank note, No. 13,396, and a .40 note, No. 6,268." A .40 note and a .50 are shewn to him, to each of them he says, "that is the note."

John Seeks is shewn a cancelled bank note of .50; he says, "I gave change for it, I cannot exactly recollect the day; here are some letters on the back that I know it by; I gave change for it to Mr. De Berenger's servant, Smith."

Now there we stopped last night, upon that note, because it could not be proved that Smith, De Berenger's servant, paid it for his master; this morning it is proved by Smith, that he did pay that .50 bank note to Seeks, by desire of Mr. De Berenger, therefore that .50 is fixed upon him as drawn from the same source, namely, the bank note which had come from Mr. b.u.t.t.

A memorandum in Mr. De Berenger's book, written in pencil, was referred to by the counsel, "W.S. .50." Mr. Lavie says, "I never saw any writing in pencil of Mr. De Berenger's, but I believe this to be his writing, it is exactly the same sort of character as the other."

Benjamin Bray is called, he says, "I live at Sunderland;" he is shewn a .40 note, he says, "I received it from the waiter of the Bridge Inn, at Sunderland; I had seen Mr. De Berenger at Sunderland, previous to that; I gave the waiter six .5 notes, and ten .1 notes for it, of the Durham Bank. Mr. De Berenger came shortly after to my house, to take his leave of me: I am a druggist, and agent to the Durham Bank. From the 17th to the 21st of March, I had known of his being at Sunderland; the waiter had come requesting bank paper. I made an apology to Mr. De Berenger for not sending him more bank paper in change, and he acknowledged having received the whole of the notes I had sent from the waiter; he went by the name of Major Burne."

Then, on cross-examination, he says, "I know that .40. note, by the copy I made of it in my waste-book"--he had not the waste-book here, but he says, "I know it also _from my initials on the back_ of the note, made a day or two afterwards, when it was fresh in my recollection. I did not keep it distinct from my other notes, but I marked it between the 31st of March and the 4th of April; but" (what is more material) "I generally do not put my initials on bank notes, but I did on this; I had no other .40. note at the time, and have had no other since;" so that that .40. bank note is proved likewise.

Mr. Pattesall says, "I am a partner in the house of Bond & Co. I did not pay that check of Mr. Fearn's, it was paid by Mr. Evans, a clerk of ours." That person of the name of Evans never came, and was called on his subpoena.

They then produced two Napoleons, found in the pocket-book of De Berenger, and with that they closed the evidence on the part of the prosecution.

On the part of the defendant, they first read the letters of Le Marchant, which, as I have before observed, certainly reflect very much upon himself.

They then call Lord Melville, who says, "I am acquainted with Sir Alexander Cochrane; I recollect Sir Alexander more than once applying to me, that Mr. De Berenger might be allowed to accompany him, and to remain with him on the North American station, to which Sir Alexander Cochrane was appointed; it was shortly before Sir Alexander sailed upon the command; I think it was five or six months ago. Sir Alexander was desirous that he should accompany him, for the purpose of instructing either a corps to be raised in that part of the world, or the Royal Marines, in the rifle exercise; and afterwards, when Sir Alexander wished that an officer of engineers should accompany him, and when I suggested that it would be difficult to give him that a.s.sistance, from the small number of engineer officers that could be procured, Sir Alexander mentioned, that as an engineer officer, he would be quite satisfied with Mr. De Berenger. I think there was some rank necessary to accompany such an appointment. I said I could not agree to the appointment, as far as the naval service was concerned, but I advised him to apply to the Secretary of State, or to the Commander in Chief; stating, that if they agreed to it, I should have no objection to let him accompany Sir Alexander. Lord Cochrane was appointed to the Tonnant, about the time Sir Alexander Cochrane sailed. I have no personal knowledge of Mr. De Berenger."

Colonel Torrens, who is secretary to the Commander in Chief, says, "I remember an application being made on behalf of Captain De Berenger in the latter end of December, or the beginning of January, by Sir Alexander Cochrane, to urge the appointment of De Berenger to go to America, for the purpose of applying his talents in the light infantry drill, that is, the rifle service; he says, there were great difficulties started to this application; and in consequence of those difficulties the appointment did not take place. It was under consideration, however, at the Commander in Chief's office. I do not know personally the character of Mr. De Berenger."

Then Mr. Goulburn, Under Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, says, "there was an application made by Sir Alexander Cochrane, on behalf of De Berenger;" but he gives no further account.

William Robert Wale King says, "I am a tinplate worker. I was employed by Lord Cochrane, in making signal lanthorns and lamps. I made him a new sort of lamp, for which he had a patent. He came frequently, nearly every day, to my manufactory; he was there the 21st of February. He came between ten and eleven in the morning, that was about the time he usually came. I perfectly recollect the circ.u.mstance of a note being brought to him by his servant. I was present when the note was delivered. He immediately opened it, and retired into the pa.s.sage; and he came into the workshop again, and shortly after went away. His Lordship had been about a quarter of an hour there, that is a mile and a half from Grosvenor Square; his Lordship only said 'very well, Thomas,'

not making any observation expressive of anxiety as to his brother."

Mr. Bowering says, "I am clerk in the Adjutant General's Office. Major Cochrane, the brother of Lord Cochrane, was returned as with the army in the South of France, "sick," on the 25th of January. The returns ran from the 24th of December to the 24th of January."

Then Thomas Dewman says, "I am a servant to Lord Cochrane, and have been seventeen years in the family. I carried a note to Lord Cochrane at Mr.

King's manufactory; I remember the gentleman coming to Lord Cochrane's in a hackney coach; I do not know that I have seen him before or since.

He first asked, where Lord Cochrane was gone to? and I told him he was gone to c.u.mberland-street to breakfast, because his Lordship told me he was going there to his uncle's; I went there after him, and not finding him, I returned to the gentleman; his Lordship had told me to follow him with some globe gla.s.s to Mr. King's. I had been there on Sat.u.r.day; I supposed he might be there; I told the gentleman that I most likely should find him there; I should however have gone, if the gentleman had not sent me; he took the note from me, and said, I will add two or three more lines. I took the note to his Lordship at Mr. King's; his Lordship read the note in my presence; I left him at Mr. King's; his Lordship had no man in Green-street but me; the other servant was in the country; he had been there two or three months before that; his Lordship had given Davis warning on his appointment to the Tonnant. Davis was not in his Lordship's service at that time, but he happened to be in the kitchen when the gentleman came; Davis is gone." This, it should seem, is only to account for not calling Davis. "Davis is gone with Admiral Fleming to the West Indies. It was a little past ten when the gentleman arrived. I was engaged to Lord Cochrane since Christmas; I had been in the family of Lord Dundonald; I do not know Holloway or Lyte. When I gave the note to Lord Cochrane, he said, 'Well, Thomas, I will return.'

I waited on Major Cochrane when he first went into the army; I saw Lord Cochrane leave the place, that is Mr. King's."

Then it is admitted, that Lord Cochrane has a patent for the invention of a lamp, dated the 28th of February last.

Mr. Gabriel Tahourdin says, "I have known Mr. De Berenger five or six years; I introduced him to Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, in May 1813. Mr.

Cochrane Johnstone was in possession of a place at Paddington, named Vittoria, which he was desirous of improving. I introduced De Berenger to Cochrane Johnstone by mere chance; De Berenger afterwards employed himself in preparing a plan, and had nearly completed it. Shortly before Mr. Cochrane Johnstone went to Scotland, in September, he made him one payment on account of it. Besides the plan, De Berenger prepared a prospectus; Mr. Johnstone had got a number of that prospectus printed, early in October, to take to Scotland with him. I conveyed a letter from De Berenger, and I spoke several times to Mr. Johnstone, upon the subject of paying for those plans, but no price was fixed upon till February last; I made repeated applications to Mr. Johnstone, in a delicate way, to pay him, and on the 22d of February." That is a very remarkable time, immediately after the transaction on the 21st; if the gentleman knew any thing of De Berenger's conduct, on the previous day, it may deserve consideration, whether that was the most likely time, in point of delicacy, to have made the application. "Mr. Johnstone sent me a letter on the 22d of February 1814, enclosing a letter from Mr. De Berenger to Mr. Cochrane Johnstone." Now these letters, if you wish them to be read, I will read.

_Foreman of the Jury._ We think there is no necessity, my Lord.

_Lord Ellenborough._ They relate to other work he was doing for him; there was that plan, I should have thought from two to three hundred pounds very excessive compensation for it; but still there was some claim affording a ground for money transactions to pa.s.s between them. As to the dates, there is one circ.u.mstance of Mr. Tahourdin dating the letter of De Berenger to Cochrane Johnstone, enclosed in the letter of Cochrane Johnstone to himself, which appears not very usual in the course of business; the letters shew other transactions between them.

Whether they were pretended or not, or if existing, then artificially brought forward or not, may be a question; but the letters certainly are dated at a most critical time, namely, on the 22d of February. Then he says, "There is a reference in the letter, to an a.s.signment of some property, which De Berenger had, which a.s.signment was prepared at my office: I do not know whether Mr. 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 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. But one cannot help recollecting that Mr.

Tahourdin, towards the close of the case, appears to have been in communication with the two last witnesses, Donithorne and Tragear, on whose evidence I shall have to observe. He says, "I saw a very few days after their date, a receipt for .50. dated 20th September 1813, received of C. Johnstone by hands of G. Tahourdin, on account of large plans;" there is a receipt for .200. dated the 26th of February: "Received .200. on account of plans and prospectus delivered, C. R. De Berenger;" and a note of hand for .200. more, De Berenger to C.

Johnstone, dated the 26th of February; I saw it two or three days afterwards. So that, just after the extraordinary transaction which had such an effect upon the funds, a communication that had taken place between them, and these letters are produced, and which are conceived to be material, with reference to the question now before you. He says, "there were subordinate plans for the details of that same place." Then he says, "I had become security for the Rules for De Berenger, some months before I knew Mr. Cochrane Johnstone." Then he is shewn the letter, which has been described as the Dover letter; he says, "this certainly is not the hand-writing of De Berenger; I have received a thousand letters from him, and this is not his hand-writing; I do not believe it is a disguised hand of Mr. De Berenger; I have always considered De Berenger as a man of strict honour and integrity; I have trusted him to the extent of about .4,000. in money, besides my professional claims on him." Some writing in a road-book found in De Berenger's desk, is then shewn to him; and how any person should have writing by him like that, purporting to be his own, and it should still not be his own hand-writing, one cannot conceive. But he says, "some of it is more like his hand-writing than others, but I do not believe," he says, "that all the writing is his; some of the letters" he says, (on being shewn the pencil-writing in the book found in De Berenger's desk) "look like his writing; the smaller parts look like his hand-writing."

He is asked, "whether he does not believe the whole of it to be his hand-writing?" and he says, "I do not know what to say, this pencil is not like what he writes in general; it being in pencil puzzles me more than any thing else."

Then General Campbell is called, who says, "I know Mr. Cochrane Johnstone; I met him the second week in October last, I think at the Perth meeting; he shewed me a prospectus of a new public building to be erected in the Regent's Park, or in the neighbourhood of it, I think he called it Vittoria." He is shewn the prospectus, and he says, "I believe this is a copy of the same that he communicated to me in his or my own apartment."

Then on the part of Mr. De Berenger, Lord Yarmouth is called; he says, "I am lieutenant colonel commandant of the regiment of Sharp-shooters.

Captain De Berenger was acting adjutant, a non-commissioned officer. I have known him since 1811; very early in that year. I cannot recollect the day. I have received letters from him, and have seen him occasionally write, and have seen him frequently on the subject of the contents of those letters, and am acquainted with his character of hand-writing." Then that letter sent to Admiral Foley is shewn to him; he says, "If I had heard none of the circ.u.mstances, I should not have believed it was his hand-writing. He solicited to go out in the month of January last. Some time back he told me, that he had very nearly arranged to go out to drill the men on board the Tonnant."

Upon his cross-examination, he says, "the hand-writing of this is much larger than Mr. De Berenger's; he generally writes a round and neater hand." He is shewn another letter; and he says, "I received that letter on the day it bears date, or the day immediately after." He is then shewn the writing in the road book; and he says, "It is larger than De Berenger's usual writing; some part of it is not larger, it is less round; it is more angular. I am not sufficient conversant with hand-writing, to swear either way to this." Then he looks again at the letter sent from Dover to Admiral Foley; he says, "the letter R looks very much like his hand-writing in the R of Random, before De Berenger, Random being his second name." Then being asked, what he should think of this gentleman coming to him in his bottle-green coat of uniform; he says, "It would have been more military that he should come so, though I never exacted it of him. I should not have been angry at it, but should have thought it the regular dress for him to appear in. If he had appeared before me in an aid-de-camp's scarlet uniform, and with a star, I should have been indeed surprised to see him present himself before me in that dress."

Sir John Beresford is then called; he says, "I have seen Captain De Berenger twice before yesterday. I never saw him write; I know of his application to go to America, as a sharp-shooter. In the beginning of February I paid my ship off, and met Mr. Cochrane Johnstone in town, who told me, Sir Alexander Cochrane was very anxious he should go out in the Tonnant, to teach the marines the rifle exercise. I went to the Horse Guards, to ask whether any thing could be done; I was told it would be useless to apply to the Duke of York, and told Mr. Cochrane Johnstone of it; this was before Sir Alexander Cochrane sailed in January or December. I met him at dinner at Mr. Cochrane Johnstone's. I was there to meet Sir Alexander Cochrane, but he did not come."

Mr. James Stokes says, "I am a clerk of Mr. Tahourdin; I have been so between three and four years, and during that time have frequently seen the hand-writing of De Berenger; he has been a client of my master's, and has been a.s.sisted very much by him. I have seen a great deal of his writing; this is certainly not his writing, not a word of it; and the letter 'R.' (which Lord Yarmouth had spoken to) is not at all like it."

Then they call witnesses, who at last come to swear, that captain De Berenger slept in his own apartments on the Sunday night, the 20th of February; of course, if he did so, he could not have been on the 21st at Dover, at the time sworn to by the witnesses.

William Smith is called; he says, "I was servant to Mr. De Berenger, I was so about three years and a half; I have seen him write frequently."

Then he is shewn the Dover letter, and he says "I do not believe that is his hand-writing; the signature there, Du Bourg, I really believe is not his hand-writing, no part of the letter; I am positively sure it is not.

He has lately lodged with a person of the name of Davidson, in Asylum Buildings. I was with him on Sunday the 27th of February, when he went away; I perfectly remember he was at home on Sunday the 20th; he slept at home on the Sat.u.r.day night the 19th, and went out about nine o'clock on Sunday morning; he came in afterwards at nearly eleven o'clock, and went out again immediately afterwards; he stayed out only about twenty minutes, and returned again when people were gone to Church, and stayed at home till about four o'clock, he then went out again. I was not at home then, I was over the way with my master's dog, leaning with my back against the rail, when he came down on the opposite side of the road facing the door. I went out with my wife soon after, and returned in the evening about eleven or a few minutes afterwards; he was not at home then, he came home afterwards, in five minutes after I got home, that was a few minutes after eleven; he slept at home that night. I and my wife were down in the kitchen taking our suppers, and my master was in the drawing room; before we got to bed, I heard him pa.s.s my room door to go to his bed-room, that might be about half-past eleven. He did not breakfast at home the next morning; I did not see him the next morning; I saw him about three o'clock in the afternoon of Monday; my wife made his bed."