The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane - Earl of Dundonald Thomas Barnes Cochrane (guided reading books TXT) 📗

to him and many others to be the hypocrisy of seeming philanthropists, and showing what he deemed the only real cause and the only real remedy of the national distress, he only acted as a brave and honest man, and his work was appreciated by the masses in whose interest it was done. A thrill of satisfaction ran through the land. During the ensuing weeks and months congratulations were heaped upon him from all quarters, and from nearly every class of society. If he had lessened the resources of the Association for the Belief of the Manufacturing and Labouring Poor, he was thanked even for this, since it was believed to be a good thing for shallow charity to be stayed, in order that the cause of real justice might be promoted.

The thanks were all the heartier because of the fresh persecution to which Lord Cochrane was subjected on account of his patriotism. This persecution was in the shape of legal proceedings instituted against him by the Marshal of the King's Bench Prison for his escape therefrom on the 10th of March, 1815. The action had been formally commenced almost immediately after the alleged offence, but on technical grounds, and perhaps from the consciousness that he was already punished enough, it was delayed for more than a year. As the previous punishment, however, had not been enough to silence him, the Government determined to revive the old charge as a further act of vengeance. At the special instigation of Lord Ellenborough, as it was averred, the prosecution had been renewed in May, 1816, almost immediately after the rejection by the House of Commons of Lord Cochrane's charges against the vindictive and unprincipled judge; but the time was too far gone for trial to take place during the summer term. It was again renewed, and at length successfully, directly after Lord Cochrane's fresh exhibition of his hostility to the Government at the London Tavern meeting.

The trial was at Guildford, on the 17th of August. Its history and issue may best be told in the words of an autobiographical fragment, written by Lord Dundonald shortly before his death. "I was accompanied to Guildford," he said, "by Sir Francis Burdett and several other leading inhabitants of Westminster, whose names are forgotten by me. I took neither counsel nor witnesses, having determined to rest my case on the point of law that 'no Member of Parliament can be imprisoned, either for non-payment of a fine to the king, or for any other cause than treason or felony, or refusing to give security to keep the peace,' my inference being that as I was illegally imprisoned, I had committed no illegality in escaping. I read to the jury a general statement, on which they unequivocally expressed their conviction that the trial had better not have been instituted, for that the punishment already sustained was more than adequate to the offence alleged to have been committed. The judge, however, interfered, and told the jury that, as I had admitted the escape in my statement, they had no alternative but to bring in a verdict of guilty, which was reluctantly done, and judgment was deferred.

"After the trial I returned to my house in Hampshire, and not hearing anything more of the affair, naturally concluded that, in the face of the opinion expressed by the jury, the Government would be ashamed to prosecute the matter further. Not liking, however, to trust to their mercy, whilst their malevolence might be exercised at an inconvenient season, or made to depend upon my political conduct, I directed my attorney to inquire whether it was intended to put in execution the sentence at Guildford. The reply was that no steps had been taken, and the impression was, that Government would be against further proceedings, lest they should tend to increase my popularity. Considering that this might be a feint to put me off my guard, I went to London for the purpose of attending a large political meeting, in the conduct of which I participated. Shortly afterwards I received a summons to appear at Westminster Hall and receive judgment on the verdict; the judgment being that I was condemned to pay a fine of 100_l._ to the Crown.

"On my refusal to pay the fine, on the 21st of November, I was again taken into custody, I alleging that the sentence would amount to perpetual imprisonment, for that I would never pay a fine imposed for escaping from an illegal detention.

"On my being taken back to prison, however, a meeting of the electors of Westminster was held, at which it was determined that the amount of the fine should be paid by a penny subscription, no person being allowed to subscribe more. This plan was adopted in order that the public throughout the kingdom might have an opportunity of manifesting their disapprobation of the oppressive way in which I was being treated. Though I knew nothing of the intentions of the committee at the time, it was expected that the subscription would amount to a much larger sum than the fine, and resolved that the surplus should be devoted to the re-imbursement of the former fine of 1000_l._ and of the expenses to which I had been put at the trial. Receiving-houses were accordingly opened in the metropolis and in various other large towns, and the amount of the fine of 100_l._ was speedily collected in London alone.

"Meanwhile meetings were constantly being held to petition Parliament for reform, and at these my name and sufferings formed a prominent topic, so that the Government would have been glad to be rid of me. After one of these meetings in Spafields, for the purpose of requesting Sir Francis Burdett and myself to present a petition to Parliament, a serious riot took place in the city of London, in which a gentleman was shot by the military. The Government, in alarm lest the people should proceed to the King's Bench and liberate me, did me the honour to send a company of infantry to guard me, the officers of the prison being ordered to admit no strangers whatever. The troops were further ordered to continue their attendance till I was released from custody.

"The subscription having been completed in pence, sent from all parts of the kingdom, my secretary, Mr. Jackson, applied to the Master of the Crown Office to receive the amount of the fine in coppers. This was refused, as not being a legal tender. The Master, however, in token of the suffering to which I had so unworthily been subjected, said that, as payment of the fine in such a manner marked the sense of the people on my case, he would not oppose himself to the expression of public sentiment, but would take 10_l._ of the sum in coppers. This was accordingly paid, and the remainder in notes and silver, which were given by various tradesmen in exchange for the coppers of the people, whose money was thus literally appropriated to the payment of the fine.

"Finding, on my liberation, whole chests filled with penny pieces, I wrote to the committee, stating that sufficient had been collected. The reply was that the subscription should go on till the amount of the fine of 1000_l._ was paid in addition. The whole of the amount of the fine was thus realized, with something beyond—I do not recollect how much—towards my law expenses, which had necessarily been excessive. Taking, however, the 1100_l._ paid in pence, this alone showed that two million six hundred and forty thousand persons—composing a very large portion of the adult population of the kingdom—sympathised with me. Not one of my persecutors could have elicited such an expression of public sympathy."

The fine being thus paid, Lord Cochrane was released from the King's Bench Prison on the 7th of December, after a confinement of sixteen days, which was attended by all the wanton severity shown to him during his previous incarceration. Having been apprehended on a Thursday, he was, on his arrival at the King's Bench, placed in an unhealthy room protected by an iron grating. In the evening, having complained of such unusual treatment, he was informed that it was under the express directions of the Marshal. Next day, being seriously unwell, a physician was sent to him, who reported that he was suffering from palpitation of the heart and other symptoms of dangerous excitement, which made it necessary that he should be removed to better quarters. Accordingly, worse quarters were found for him, in a damp, dark, and very imperfectly-ventilated room, entirely devoid of furniture, in the middle of the building. Stedfastly refusing to go there, he was allowed to remain for that night in the room, first assigned to him. On Saturday morning, just as he was sitting down to breakfast, he was ordered to proceed to his new dungeon. Again refusing, his untasted breakfast was forcibly taken from him until he consented to eat it in the appointed place. Thither he accordingly went, and there he was detained for the fortnight that passed before his liberation.

On the 17th of December an enthusiastic meeting of the citizens of Westminster was held to congratulate Lord Cochrane upon his release. "We, your lordship's constituents," it was stated in an address adopted by that meeting, "beg leave, on the present occasion, to declare that, after having had long and ample means for inquiry and reflection, we remain in the full and entire conviction of the perfect innocence of your lordship of every part of the offence laid to your charge at the outset of that series of persecutions by which, during the last three years of your life, you have been incessantly harassed. But, indeed, those persons must have very little knowledge of public affairs, and particularly of your distinguished naval and political career, who do not clearly perceive that all those persecutions have arisen from your public virtues, and who are not well convinced that, if you had not served the people by your exposure of the abuses in the prize courts, by your endeavours to restore to the right owners the immense sums unjustly alienated under the names of Droits of Admiralty, by your honest explanation of the causes which prevented the naval renown of your country being complete at Basque Roads, and by having caused to be produced in Parliament, and published to the nation, that memorable account of sinecures, pensions, and grants which so usefully enlightened the public, you never would have been prosecuted for a pretended fraud on the funds. Your lordship's constituents, being thus fully sensible that you have suffered and are still suffering solely for their and their country's sake, would deem themselves amongst the most ungrateful of mankind were they to neglect this occasion to tender you the most solemn assurances of their unabated attachment and their most resolute support, and, whilst they are endeavouring to discharge their duty towards your lordship, they entertain the consoling reflection that the day is not distant when you will mainly assist in carrying forward that measure of radical parliamentary reform which alone can be a safeguard against all sorts of oppressions, and especially oppressions under which your lordship has so long and so severely suffered."

To that honourable address an honourable reply was penned by Lord
Cochrane on the 24th of December, and presented to the electors of
Westminster at another meeting assembled for the purpose on the 1st of
January ensuing.

The direct persecution which began with the Stock Exchange trial and its antecedents was now at an end, after three years of gross and untiring vindictiveness. Indirect persecution was to continue for more than thirty years.

CHAPTER V.

THE STATE OF POLITICS IN ENGLAND IN 1817 AND 1818, AND LORD COCHRANE's
SHARE IN THEM.—HIS WORK AS A RADICAL IN AND OUT OF PARLIAMENT.—HIS
FUTILE ATTEMPTS TO OBTAIN THE PRIZE MONEY DUE FOR HIS SERVICES
AT BASQUE ROADS.—THE HOLLY HILL BATTLE.—THE PREPARATIONS FOR HIS
ENTERPRISE IN SOUTH AMERICA.—HIS LAST SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT.

[1817-1818.]

The years 1817 and 1818 were years of great political turmoil. The English people, weary of the European wars, which in two-and-twenty years had raised the national debt from 230,000,000_l._ to 860,000,000_l._, thus causing a taxation which amounted, in the average, to 25_l._ a year upon every family of five persons, were in no mood to be made happy even by the restitution of peace. Partly by necessity, partly by the bad management of the Government and its officials, the war-burdens were continued, and to the starving multitudes they were more burdensome than ever. Angry complaints were uttered openly, and repeated again and again with steadily-increasing vehemence, in all parts of the country. That the ministers and agents of the Crown were grievously at fault was patent to all; and it is not strange that, in the excitement and the misery that prevailed, they should be blamed even more than was their due. But the men in power did not choose to be blamed at all;