 Chapter 4 of The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochran, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Volume 1 by Henry Richard Fox Bourne. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Timothy Ferguson. Chapter 4, 1815-1816. Released from imprisonment on Monday 3 July, Lord Cochran resumed his seat in the House of Commons on the evening of the same day, just in time to secure the defeat of a measure which was especially obnoxious to his radical friends. The Duke of Cumberland, having lately married a daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, it was proposed to augment his income of about twenty thousand pounds a year by a further pension of six thousand pounds. A bill to that effect was brought in by Lord Castleray, and after much solemn opposition from independent members, allowed a first reading by a majority of seventeen. On the second division the majority was reduced to twelve. The bill was brought on for the third reading on the third of July, and would have passed through the House of Commons by the speaker's casting vote, but for Lord Cochran sudden appearance. His vote secured a majority against it, and thereby it was finally overthrown. Great on the morrow were the rejoicings of his supporters. What a triumph, it was said in a friendly newspaper, is this to innocence. After being sentenced to the scandalous and disgraceful punishment of the pillory, after being confined in a loothsome dungeon, fined a thousand pounds in money to the king, disgracefully removed from that service in which he had attained such high honours, and rendered to his country such essential service, his astuchin kicked out of Westminster Abbey, his order of night would taken from him in short, after having every possible indignity which the most malignant imagination could invent heaped upon him in every way, his single vote On the very first day of his returning to his parliamentary duties has been the means of obtaining a signal victory over those under whose persecution he had been so long suffering. The one victory upon which Lord Cochran set his heart, however, the reversal of the unjust sentence passed upon him, and the consequent restoration of the honours and officers that were now doubly dear to him he was not able to obtain. On the 6th of July, just before the prorogation of Parliament, he gave notice that early in the next session he should move for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the conduct of Lord Ellonbrough and others towards him during the stock exchange trial. In arranging for this new effort at self-justification he was partly occupied during the ensuing autumn and winter, and the question was brought prominently before the House of Commons in the spring of 1816, only to issue, however, in further injustice and disappointment. His purpose from the first was, of course, virtually the impeachment of Lord Ellonbrough, and that object was yet more apparent from the altered shape which the question assumed when introduced in the new session. During the recess Lord Cochran, with the help of advisers, some of whom were more zealous than wise, William Cobbett, being the Chief, had prepared an elaborate series of charges of partiality and misrepresentation in justice and oppression against the Lord Chief Justice, and these were formally introduced to the House of Commons on the 5th of March. When I recollect, says Lord Cochran, on that occasion, the imputations cast upon my character and circulated industriously, previous to any legal proceedings, the conduct pursued at my trial, the verdict obtained, the ineffectual endeavours to procure a revision of my case in the Court of King's bench, and the infamous sentence there pronounced, together with my expulsion from this house, without being suffered to expose its injustice. When I call to mind my dismissal from a service in which I have spent the fairest portion of my life, at least without reproach, and my illegal and unmerited deprivation of the order of the bath, it is impossible to speak without emotion. I have but one course now left to pursue, namely, to show that the charge of the Lord Chief Justice, on which he directed the jury to decide, was not only unsupported by but was in direct contradiction to, the evidence on which it professed to be founded. This is the best course to pursue both injustice to the learner judge and to myself. Either I am unfit to sit in this house, or the judge has no right to his place on the bench. I have courted investigation in every shape, and I trust that the learned Lord will not shrink from it, or suffer his friends on the opposite side to evade the consideration of these charges, by the previous question. Lord Cochran thereupon tended to the house 13 charges against Lord Ellenborough, in which every point of importance in the Stock Exchange trial was minutely detailed and discussed, and these charges being read therein occupying nearly three hours were ordered to be printed. A 14th charge, bearing upon Lord Ellenborough's conduct subsequent to the trial, was introduced on the 29th of March, but this as it included aspersions upon the character of another judge, Sir Simon Leblanc, was objected to and withdrawn. There was further discussion on the subject on the 1st and on the 29th of April, but not much was done until the 30th of April. On that evening, Lord Cochran formally moved that his charges against Lord Ellenborough should be referred to a committee of the whole house, and that evidence in support of them should be heard at the bar. A lengthy discussion then ensued, the most notable speech is being made by the Solicitor General, Sir Francis Burdette, and the Attorney General. The Solicitor General of course opposed the motion, quote, as the house on the one hand, he said, should jealously watch over the conduct of judges, so on the other it should protect them when deserving of protection, not only as a debt of justice due to the judges, but as a debt due to justice herself, in order that the public confidence in the purity of the administration of our laws may not be disappointed, and that the course of that administration may continue the admiration of the world. For unless the judges are protected in the exercise of their functions, the public opinion of the excellence of our laws will be inevitably weakened, and to weaken public opinion is to weaken justice herself, end quote. That sort of argument, too frivolous and faulty it might be supposed to influence any one, had wait with the House of Commons to which it was addressed, and the Solicitor General adduced much more of it. To him the spotless character of Lord Ellenborough appeared to be an ample defense against Lord Cochran's charges, quote, never, he said, with the truthfulness that posterity can appreciate, never was there an individual at the bar or on the bench less liable to the imputation of corrupt motives, never was there one more remarkable for independence, I will say, sturdy independence of character than the noble and learned Lord. For twelve years he has presided on the bench with unsullied honour, displaying a perfect knowledge of the law, evincing as much legal knowledge as was ever amassed by any individual and now, in the latter part of his life, when he has arrived at the highest dignity to which a man can arrive, by a promotion well earned at the bar, and doubly well earned at the bench, we are told that he has sacrificed all his honours by acting from corrupt motives, end quote. So Francis Baudet replied effectively to the speeches of the Solicitor General and others who sided with him and nobly defended his friend. He showed that the proposal to refuse investigation of this case, because it might weaken the cause of justice by making the conduct of the administrators of justice contemptible, was worse than frivolous. Quote, such language, he averred, would operate against the investigation of any charges, whatever, against any judge, would indeed form a barrier against the exercise of the best privilege of this house, the privilege of inquiring into the conduct of the courts of justice. It would serve equally well to shelter even those judges who have been dragged from the bench for their misconduct. End quote. He then reviewed the incidents of the Stock Exchange trial and urged that Lord Cochran had good reason for bringing forward his charges. Quote, the question for the house to consider is, do these charges, if admitted, contain criminal matter for the consideration of the house? I conceive that they do. No doubt the judges who condemned Russell and Sidney were at the time spoken of as men of high character who could not be supposed to suffer any base motives to influence their conduct. Such arguments as these ought to be banished from this house. It is our duty to look with constitutional suspicion and jealousy on the proceedings of the judges. And when a grave charge is solemnly brought forward, justice to the country as well as to the judge demands an inquiry into it. End quote. That, however, was refused. After a long speech from the Attorney General and an eloquent reply by Lord Cochran, the house divided on the motion, 89 members voted against it. Its only supporters were Sir Francis Bedette and Lord Cochran himself. Not only did the house refuse to listen to the allegations against Lord Ellenborough, in the excess of its demotion to such law and such order, as the government of the day appointed, it even resolved that all the entries in its record of proceedings, which referred to this subject, should be expunged from the journals. Lord Cochran made no resistance to this further insult thrown upon him. Quote. It gives me great satisfaction, he said, in the brief and dignified speech, with which he closed the discussion, to think that the vote which has been come to has been come to without any of my charges having been disproved. Whatever may be done with them now, they will find their way to posterity, and posterity will form a different judgment concerning them, than that which has been adopted by this house. So long as I have a seat in this house, however, I will continue to bring them forward, year by year, and time after time, until I am allowed an opportunity of establishing the truth of my allegations. End quote. Other occupations prevented the full realization of that purpose. But to the end of his life, Lord Cochran used every occasion of asserting his innocence, and courting a full investigation of all the incidents on which his assertion was based. Posterity, as he truly prophesied, has learned to endorse his judgment, and therefore, in the ensuring pages, it will not be necessary to reduce from his letters and actions more than occasional illustrations of the temper which animated him throughout, with reference to this heaviest of all his troubles. By these troubles, however, even in the time of their greatest pressure, he was not overcome, and in the midst of them, he found time and heart for active labour in the good work of various sorts that was always dear to him. He used the advantages of his liberty in striving to perfect the invention of improved street lamps and lighting material that had occupied him while in prison, and to procure their general adoption. His place in parliament, moreover, all through the session of 1816, was employed not only in seeking justice for himself, but also in furthering every project advanced for benefiting the community, and checking the pernicious action of the government. A zealous, honest wig before, he was now as zealous and as honest as ever in all his political conduct, and his devotion to the best interests of the people was yet more apparent in his unflagging labours out of parliament for the public good. His great abilities, rendered all the more prominent by the cruel persecution to which he had been, and still was, subjected, made him a leading champion of the people during the turmoil, to which misgovernment at home, and the distracted state of foreign politics, gave a special stimulus in 1816. A long list might be made of the great meetings which he attended and took part in, both among his own constituents of Westminster and elsewhere, for the consideration of popular grievances and their remedies. One such meeting, attended by Henry Bram and Sir Francis Baudet, among others, was held in Palenciard Westminster on 1 March, for the purpose of petitioning parliament against the renewal of the property tax, and the maintenance of the Standing Army in time of peace. Lord Cochran, the hero of the day, on account of, quote, the spirit of opposition which he had shown to the infringement of the constitution and the grievances of the people, end quote, one for himself new favour by the boldness with which he denounced the policy of the government, which boasting that it was ruining the French nation was, at the same time, bringing misery upon Englishmen by the excessive taxation and the reckless extravagance to which it resorted. A smaller but much more momentous meeting, assembled at the city of London Tavern, on the 29th of July, under the auspices of the association for the relief of the manufacturing and laboring poor, instigated in the spirit of praiseworthy charity by many of the most influential persons of the day, it was used by Lord Cochran for the enforcement of the views as to public right and public duty, and the mutual relations of the rich and the poor, which were forced upon him by his recent troubles, and the relations in which he was at this time placed with some overzealous champions of popular reform, and some unreasonable exponents of popular grievances, that his conduct on this occasion was extravagant and even factious, he afterwards heartily regretted, yet as a memorable illustration of the power and earnestness, with which he fought for what seemed to him to be right, as well as with word, as with sword, its details as reported at the time may be here sit forth at length. Reuters note quote begins, About half past one o'clock the Duke of York entered and took the chair supported on his right by the Duke of Kent and on his left by the Duke of Cambridge. He was accompanied on his entrance by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Duke of Rutland, Lord Manvers, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Wilberforce, and other distinguished individuals. His Royal Highness, the Duke of York, immediately proceeded to open the business of the day by observing that the present meeting had been called to consider, and as far as possible to alleviate the present distress and sufferings of the laboring classes of the community. These distressors were, he feared, too well known to all who heard him to require any description, and all he had to add to the bare statement of them was the expression of his confidence that the liberality which had been so signalling manifested in the course of foreign distress would not be found wanting when the direction of it was to be towards the comfort and relief of our own countrymen at home. The Duke of Kent, after alluding to the exertions of the Committee of 1812, observed that the immediate object was to raise a fund in the subsequent accumulation and management of which many ulterior arrangements might be projected and from which charity might soon emanate in a thousand directions. He doubted not that every county and every town would be quick to imitate the example of the metropolis. The Association of 1812 had at least the merit of producing this effect and had spread throughout the whole land that spirit of active benevolence which he was feebly invoking on this occasion. He trusted that it was necessary for him to say a little more to ensure the adoption of the resolution which he should have the honor to propose. He confessed he felt gratified when he saw so great a concourse of his countrymen assembled together for such a purpose and additional gratification at seeing by whom they were supported. He was sure then that he should not plead in vain to the national liberality but that the remedy would be promptly afforded to an evil which he trusted would be found but temporary. If they should be so happy as to but succeed in discovering new sources of employment to supply the places of those channels which had been suddenly shut up he should indeed despond if we did not soon restore the country to that same flourishing condition which had long made her the envy of the world. The royal duke then moved the first resolution as follows that the transition from a state of extensive warfare to a system of peace has occasioned a stagnation of employment and a revulsion of trade deeply affecting the situation of many parts of the community and producing many instances of great local distress. The resolution was seconded by Mr. Harmon. Lord Cochran offered himself to the attention of the meeting but was for some time unable to proceed his voice being lost in the hazards and hisses which his presence called forth. Silence being at length in some measure obtained his lordship said he would not have addressed the meeting but that having received a circular letter from the committee and filling the importance of the subject he would have thought it a dereliction of his duty if he refrained from attending. He rose thus early because the observations he had to submit would not be suitable if made when the other resolutions were put. The first resolution was in his opinion found it on a gross fallacy and this was his reason for saying so. The existing distresses could not be truly ascribed to any sudden transition from war to peace. Could it be pretended that it was peace which had occasioned the fall in the value of all agricultural produce? Or could any man venture to assert that the difficulties and sufferings of the manufacturing classes had any other cause than a prodigious and enormous burden of taxation? He was much gratified at saying the royal duke so active in promoting a generous and laudable undertaking and he hoped he should not be understood as treating them with disrespect when he repeated that the resolution was founded on an entire fallacy. But not to contend himself with the mere assertion of his own belief he had brought official documents to prove the correctness of his statements and if he should be wrong he saw the chancellor of the Exchequer near him who would have the opportunity of correcting his misrepresentation. This brief statement he believed would be quite sufficient to show the financial situation of the country was such as to render any attempts of that meeting for the purpose of extending general relief utterly ineffectual. The whole revenue of the kingdom was 62,267,450 pounds deducting the property tax and the revenue was thus expanded. The interest of the national debt including the interest of unfunded Exchequer bills was upwards of 40,300,000 pounds leaving to support the expenses of the government only about 22 million pounds. It was this enormous sum which now hung round our necks. It was this which unnecessary extravagance had caused to increase from year to year to its present terrible amount which was the cause of all the evils of the country at this moment. This taxation and extravagance for which the country was now suffering was supported and sanctioned by those who had derived and still derived large emoluments from them. These were truths that people ought to know for they were the source of their burdens and the origin of all the mischief. It was this profuse expenditure of the public money to say no worse of it that occasioned the present calamities. It was the lavish expenditure to meet a compliant list of placement that brought the country to its present state. The deficiency in the revenue occasioned by the enormous interest of the national debt which ministers would have to supply would according to the present disbursements and receipts amount to 11,578,000 pounds unless that expenditure were reduced. Every such attempt as they were at present making would he was convinced prove abortive. It was a mere topical application while a mortal distemper was raging within. He had taken no notice in his estimate of the charges for sinecures or the bounties on exports and imports and yet the returns upon which he went exclusive of these charges showed a deficit for the ensuing year of 3,500,000 pounds were those who heard him prepared to make this good. It was he believed undeniable that nothing could equalize our revenue with our expenditure but the putting down entirely the army and navy or the extinction of one half of the national debt but when he looked to the actual receipt of the last quarter and found a falling off of 2,400,000 pounds which with a corresponding decrease in the three succeeding quarters must create a new deficit of 10,000,000 pounds and added to the 3,500,000 pounds to which he had alluded would form a sum equal to the whole amount of the boasted sinking fund he felt that it was worse than trifling to suppose we could go on upon the present system. Were they prepared to make up this enormous deficiency? A voice in the crowd cried yes. He was happy to hear it. He supposed it was some fund holder who answered and if any class could do so it was the fund holders. They alone had the ability they alone now derived any returns from their property but even if they should be both able and willing still it would only remain a positive deficit made good and no new facility would be derived for alleviating the existing burdens the burdens and distresses must still remain what they were before. He spoke not now upon conjecture or loose calculation. He had brought his authority with him. These were the records from which he derived his statements the official returns of the treasury and if false the chancellor of the Exchequer was present to contradict them. He was glad he confessed to see him. For those who heard him were no doubt aware that it was not always in the House of Commons that a minister could discover the genuine sentiments of the people. If therefore no other person should move an amendment he should feel at his duty to propose an admission of that part of the resolution which ascribed the distress state of the country to the transition from state of war to a state of peace and to state the cause to be an enormous debt and a lavish expenditure. He had come there with the expectation of seeing the Duke of Rutland in the chair and with some hope as he took the lead upon this occasion that it was his intention to surrender that sinecure of £9,000 a year which he was now in the habit of putting in his pocket. He still trusted that all those who were present and were also holders of sinecures had it in their intention to sacrifice them to their liberality and their justice and that they did not come there to aid the distresses of their country by paying half crown percent out of the hundreds which they took from it. If they did not all he could say was that to him their pretended charity was little better than a fraud. Without however taking up any more of their time he should move his amendment with one additional observation that it would be a disgrace to an enlightened meeting and particularly to a meeting which might be considered as comprising an aggregate mass of the property and intellect of the country to place a fallacy upon the record of their proceedings and to build all their following resolutions upon an assertion which had no foundation in truth. He concluded by moving the following amendment to the first resolution that the enormous load of the national debt together with the large military establishment and the profuse expenditure of public money was the real cause of the present public distress. Mr Wilberforce said he was himself too much of an Englishman and had been too long engaged in political discussions to feel any surprise that those who felt warmly on such a subject as the present should be anxious to give expression to their sentiments but he could not help thinking that upon cool reflection the noble lord would be of the opinion that his own object would be better attained if he can find himself on this occasion to the distinct question under consideration. The noble lord said the country was in a crisis and would they apply amniotopical remedy but he might ask the noble lord if he would refuse to assuage the pain of a temporary distemper because he had it not in his power at once to cure it radically. To him the existing distress appeared to be a distemper which rather called for immediate alleviation than for the speculative discussion of its causes. He thought the most charitable and manly cause to be pursued and that which must be most congenial to what he knew to be the noble lord's own charitable and manly disposition was not to call upon the meeting to give any opinion upon a political question not under consideration so as to divert them from pursuing it with diligence and confidence but to postpone to a better opportunity a discussion of this nature and to unite cordially in the general cause of finding employment and encouragement for our suffering fellow citizens. If the noble lord would reflect upon the best mode of relieving the distress of the people he would find his amendment not likely to have that tendency. Let him reserve all discussion on the question it involved until he could do it without interrupting the stream of charity and until he could enter upon it under fair and proper circumstances. He, Mr Wilberforce, in a proper place would not shirk from meeting the noble lord on that inquiry. He was twice as old in public life as the noble lord could pretend to be and fully as independent yet he would not have easily supposed any man however young in politics could have started such topics there. For his part he should be sorry to take advantage of any credit which might be supposed to belong to him upon such an occasion as this to cast reproaches upon those who were concurring with him in a benevolent design. The meeting must on the present occasion feel how much indebted it stood to the royal personages for their attendance. They had come to listen to a discussion which had for its avowed and direct object the relief of the people and they were in the room suddenly called upon to lay aside the practical part of the inquiry and to enter upon a distinct pursuit. It was such a course fair towards those illustrious individuals was it that which was likely to induce them to listen to proposals for their personal cooperation on occasions of benevolence if they had no security against the occupation of their time for discussions of a different character. In conclusion he entreated the noble Lord of whose real disposition to relieve the people of England he had no doubt and whose motives he could justly appreciate to withdraw his amendment. Lord Cochran thanked the honourable gentleman for his personal civilities towards him and said he would feel no hesitation in withdrawing his amendment if the honourable gentleman would state to the meeting on his own personal veracity and honour that he believed that the original resolution contained the true cause of the public distress and the amendment the false one. If the honourable gentleman would say that if any respectable man present would say it he would be satisfied. Mr Cochran said he was entirely unconnected with the noble Lord and had never even had the honour of speaking to him. He agreed however with him in thinking that this was a moment when the eyes of the public ought to be open to their real situation. The amendment harmonised entirely with all the opinions which he had been able to perform upon the subject. Mr Wilberforster who was humane and benevolent character he was happy to pay his acknowledgements had attempted to get rid of the noble Lord's amendment by a sort of sidewind but to his judgement there was no incompatibility between the object of the meeting and the amendment. There was nothing irrelevant in it. It naturally grew out of the course adopted by the chair and in which a cause of the prevailing distress was distinctly specified. The question was then ought the resolutions go forth to the public with a falsehood upon the face of them ought they not state the true cause since his royal highness by mistake had assigned a fallacious one. Mr Wilberforst with his usual ability but in a manner that still marked its duplicity he meant the word in no offensive sense had asked would he enter into a political discussion when we were called upon to extend relief? He begged to state that this was not the true question. It was whether they found all future proceedings upon error and misstatement or upon incontrovertible facts. Another question was would they be satisfied to patch up the wounds of the country for a short period or seek to remedy the disease in its spring and in its sources before it became still more alarming and incurable? The Duke of Kent said he had offered the resolution as it had been put into his hand and if he had conceived there had been any mention of a cause upon which difference of opinion could exist he hoped they knew him sufficiently to believe that he should have been incapable of requiring their assent to it. He now therefore proposed an omission of all that part of the resolution which had any reference whatever to the cause of the present distress. He knew the noble Lord well enough and he had known him in early life to be assured that he would agree with him at least in a declaration as to the fact the common object he believed was to afford relief and to admit its necessity without assigning either one cause or another. For his own part it had not been his intention to attend a political discussion he would never enter into the arena of politics with the noble Lord but he begged leave to say he considered himself as competent to plead the case of humanity to advocate the interests of the weather-beaten sufferer as the noble Lord could be. There were however other times and places for men to engage in discussion of party politics and he therefore implored the noble Lord not to distract the attention of the meeting by introduction of these and to keep solely in view that they had met as the friends of benevolence not as the advocates of a party. His Royal Highness then proposed to alter the motion as followers resolved that there do at this moment exist a stagnation of employment and a revulsion of trade deeply affecting the situation in many parts of the community and producing many instances of great local distress. Lord Cochran in reply stated that he had no wish to excite a difference of opinion on such an occasion and that after the alteration of the resolution nothing gave him more pleasure than the opportunity of withdrawing his amendment but in justification of what he had done it became necessary for him to say that he never would have thought of his amendment if it had not been for the assertion as to the cause of the existing distress. He had no doubt in his mind as to the nature of that cause and he held it but just and honourable that if a cause must be assigned it should be the true one. After returning thanks to Mr Wilberforce and the Duke of Kent for their expressions of personal civility the noble Lord consented to withdraw his motion as far as he personally was concerned in it. Considerable opposition however from various parts of the hall was manifested to this mode of withdrawing amendment and a great deal of disturbance took place at last the resolution as altered by the Duke of Kent was put and carried. The Duke of Cambridge in his speech which followed returned his warmth thanks to the noble Lord for the handsome manner in which he had withdrawn his amendment. He moved the following resolution which was unanimously agreed to. From the experience generosity of the British nation it may be confidently expected that those who are able to afford the means of relief to their fellow subjects will contribute their utmost endeavours to remedy or alleviate the sufferings of those who are particularly distressed. The Archbishop of Canterbury moved the following resolution which was seconded and carried unanimously that although it is obviously impossible for any association of individuals to attempt general relief of difficulties affecting so larger proportion of the public yet that it has been proved by the experience of this association that the most important and extensive benefits may be derived from the cooperation and correspondence of a society in the metropolis encouraging the efforts of those benevolent individuals who may be disposed to associate themselves in the different districts for the relief of their several neighbourhoods. The Lord of Rutland afterwards addressed the meeting and moved that a subscription be immediately opened and contributions generally solicited for carrying into effect the objects of this association which was seconded and agreed to. The Earl of Manvers after stating that he had opposed the amendment of the noble Lord Lord Cochran solely from his anxiety to preserve the unanimity of the meeting as it was only by becoming unanimous that they could gain their object moved that subscribers of £100 and upwards be added to the committee of the association for the relief of the manufacturing and labouring poor that the committee have full power to dispose of the funds to be collected and to name sub-committees for correspondence. Motion was seconded by T. Bell and unanimously carried. The Bishop of London proposed a vote of thanks to the Duke of York which Mr C. Barclay was about to second but Lord Cochran again stepped forward and gained the attention of the meeting. He repeated the explanation of his motives withdrawing his proposed amendment adding that he had no wish again to press the amendment upon the consideration of the meeting but he could not forbear from observing what would have been the fate of such a proposition if it had been brought forward in another place which he need not name for there instead of being requested to withdraw the proposition it would have been met with a direct negative or by the previous question in support of which no doubt a majority of the assembly miscalled the representatives of the people would have voted yet the manner in which this a meeting of the people would have decided was pretty obvious and hence it might be inferred how far the people concurred in sentiment and feeling that the House of Commons that the proposed or any charitable subscription must be inadequate to relieve the actual distress of the country was a proposition which could not be disputed but yet he did not intend to oppose the subscription on the contrary he should give it every possible support in his power and it was he felt a consolation to them that there was still some persons in this country who could afford something to relieve the poor but he was afraid that neither the landowner nor the mercantile interest had the means of doing so for the former could obtain no rent and the latter no trade the only persons in fact who were able to assist the poor under present circumstances with the placement the sinicurists and the fund holders who must give up at least half of their ill-gotten gains in order to affect the object with this impression fixed upon his mind it felt at his duty to propose an additional resolution that the ministers of the crown that the government of the country who wielded the power of parliament were alone competent to remove and to alleviate the national distress this indeed was evident from the statement of our financial situation which he had already made he called upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer who was present to contradict the statement if he could but the right honourable gentleman had felt at expedient not utter one word as the meeting had witnessed yet from that statement it must be obvious as he had already observed that the military and naval situation of the country must be abandoned or at least half the national debt must be extinguished for the resources of the empire could not endure such burdens the noble lord concluded expressing his intention when the present resolutions were got over to move another stating the real cause of the present distress and that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his Majesty's ministers were alone capable of affording serious relief to the present distress Mr Barclay seconded the motion of the right reverend the Bishop of London to which Lord Cochran assured the meeting he entertained no objection great confusion prevailed in the meeting some crying for Lord Cochran's motion while others were equally loud in testifying their anxiety for the vote of thanks the Duke of Kent then put the motion Lord Cochran said his sole object was to have an opportunity of moving his resolution after the present was disposed of a person from a distant part of the room exclaimed that resolution shall not be put for it is a libel on the parliament several other remarks were made but they were generally unintelligible from the violent uproar and confusion that prevailed loud cries of put Lord Cochran's motion first were mixed with the cry of chair chair the Duke of Kent said that he had attended this meeting with a view to assist in promoting an objective charity and he had no doubt that such was the intention of the noble lord Cochran of this he was sure from the noble lord's own declaration as well as from his knowledge of the noble lord's feelings the noble lord had indeed himself stated that he had no wish to introduce any political or to press any measure likely to interfere with the object of the meeting therefore he called upon the noble lord in consistency in politeness and urbanity not to urge any political principle and the noble lord must be aware that his proposition had a strong political tendency the proposition was indeed such that the noble lord must be aware that it was calculated to injure the subscription for those who were not of the noble lord's opinion in politics were about too likely to leave the room if that proposition were pressed to a vote and thus a material objective charity would suffer through a desire to urge a declaration of a mere political opinion Lord Cochran disclaimed any wish to provoke political discussion he expressed his desire merely to declare a truth which no man could venture to dispute in any popular assembly in order that the chancellor of the Exchequer and others present might have an opportunity of reporting to the government the decided sentiment and real feelings of the people the Archbishop of Canterbury begged leave to call back the attention of the meeting to the motion before it and which he had no doubt would be unanimously adopted this motion the noble prelate added was not intended in any degree to interfere with the motion of the noble lord amid loud cries have put Lord Cochran's motion first for if the motion of thanks be disposed of the Duke of York will leave the chair and the noble lord's motion will not be put at all the Duke of Kent declared that there could be no intention to get rid of the noble lord's motion by any sidewind the motion of thanks was then passed while Lord Cochran was engaged in writing his motion and the Duke of York having bowed to the meeting immediately withdrew amidst loud hissings and cries of shame shame a trick a trick the Duke of Kent whose head was turned towards Lord Cochran was much surprised and disappointed discovering the absence of the chairman his royal highness addressing the meeting having he said pledged himself on proposing the last resolution that there was no intention of getting rid of Lord Cochran's motion by any sidewind felt himself on a very awkward predicament but he added I hope that as liberal Englishmen you will consider my situation and who I am and that after my illustrious relatives have retired from the meeting you will not insist upon my taking the chair for the purpose of pressing the declaration of a political opinion but that you will commend my motives and do justice to those feelings which determine the propriety of my immediate departure his royal highness accordingly withdrew the majority of the meeting still remain calling for the nomination of another chairman and pressing the adoption of Lord Cochran's motion but the noble lord also withdrew and the meeting separated rid his note excerpt ends that meeting was memorable if Lord Cochran's bearing at it was factious it must be remembered how greatly he had suffered and how earnestly he desired to save the people at large from the sufferings entailed upon them by the government which he and they had learned to regard with the common dislike by exposing what appeared 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 relief of the manufacturing laboring 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 heart here because of the fresh prosecution to which Lord Cochrum was subjected on account of his patriotism this persecution was in the shape of legal proceedings instituted against him by the Marshall of the King's bench prison for his escape there from on the 10th of March 1815 the action had been formally commenced almost immediately after the alleged defense 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 avert the prosecution had been renewed in May 1816 almost immediately after the rejection by the House of Commons of Lord Cochrum'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 Cochrum's fresh exhibition of his hostility to the government at the London Talon meeting the trial was at Guilford on the 17th of August its history and issue may best be told in the words of an autobiographical fragment written by Lord Dundonal shortly before his death quote I was accompanied to Guilford he said by Sir Francis Burdett and several other leading inhabitants of Westminster whose names are forgotten to me I took neither council nor witness having determined to arrest 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 Guilford the reply was that no steps had been taken and the impression was that the government would be against further proceedings lest they should tend to increase my popularity considering that this might be a faint to put me off 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 received judgment on the verdict the judgment being that I was condemned to pay a fine of £100 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 the subscription would amount to a much larger sum than the fine and resolved that the surplus should be devoted to the reimbursement of the former fine of £1,000 and of the expenses to which I had been put at the trial receiving houses were accordingly opened in the metropolis and various other large towns and the amount of the fine of £100 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 spaffields 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 pounds of the sum in coppers this was accordingly paid and the remainder in notes in 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 until the amount of the fine of a thousand pounds 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 pounds paid in pence this alone showed that 2,640,000 persons composing a very large portion of the adult population of the kingdom sympathized with me not one of my persecutors could have elicited such an expression of public sympathy which is not quite ends the fine being thus paid Lord Cochran was released from the King's bench prison on the 7th of December after a confinement of 16 days which was attended by all the wanton severity shown to him during the previous incarceration having been apprehended on a Thursday he was on his arrival at the King's bench placed in a healthy 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 steadfastly 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 Cochran upon his release we, your lordship's constituents it was stated in an address adopted by the 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 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 sinicures pensions and grants which so useful enlightened the public you never would have been persecuted 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 where they to neglect this occasion to tender you the most solemn assurances of their unabated attachment in 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 or it is not in quote to that honourable address an honourable reply was penned by Lord Cochran 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 End of Chapter 4 Recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast, Australia Chapter 5 of The Life of Thomas Lord Cochran 10th Earl of Dundonald Volume 1 by Henry Richard Fox Bourne This LibriVox Recording is in the public domain Recording by Timothy Ferguson Chapter 5 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 million to £860 million thus causing a taxation which amounted in the average to £25 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 they denied that any fault attached to them and fiercely reprobated every complaint as sedition every opponent as a lawless and unpatriotic demagogue hence the government and the people came to be a deadly feud most right was with the people and their bold assertion of that right albeit sometimes in wrong ways has secured memorable benefits in later times but power was still with the government and it was used even more roughly than in former years That Lord Cochrane having suffered so much from the vindictive persecution of the Tories should have thrown in his lot with its most extreme opponents is not to be wondered at during 1817 he was intimately associated with the popular party in all its efforts for the redress of grievances and in all the assertions of its real and fancied rights in and out of parliament he was like active and outspoken the history of his public conduct at this time forms no small section of the history of the radical movement during the period it resulted naturally from the circumstances in which he had lately been placed energetic in thought and action a ready writer and enable speaker his recent sufferings helped to place him in the foremost rank of patriots as they were called by friends demagogues as they were called by enemies with the exception of Sir Francis Burdette then whom he went even further the people had outside their own ranks no sturdier champion if there had been any doubt before as to his line of action there could be no doubt after the reassembling of parliament in January 1817 during the recess monster meetings had been held in all parts of the country to consider the popular troubles and to insist upon popular reforms Lord Cochran agreed to present to the House of Commons many of the petitions that resulted from these meetings and this he did on the 29th of January the very day of the reopening of parliament in anticipation of this measure there was a great assembling of reform delegates from all parts of England and of others favorable to their purpose in front of Lord Cochran's residence at number seven palace yard Westminster shortly before two o'clock Lord Cochran showed himself at the window and announced that he was now on his way to the House there to watch over the rights and liberties of the people and that he would shortly return and let them know what was passing this he did at four o'clock part of the interval being occupied with a fervid address from Henry Hunt on his reappearance Lord Cochran stated that the speech with which the Prince Regent had opened parliament had not disappointed his expectations for it was wholly disappointing to the people the Regent had complained of the disaffection pervading the country and had announced his intention of using all the power given him by the Constitution for its suppression Lord Cochran expressed his confident hope that the people having the right on their side would so demean themselves as to give their enemies no ground of charge against them for those enemies desired nothing so much as riot and disorder thereupon an immense bundle of petitions was handed to him and he himself was placed in a chair and so conveyed on men's shoulders to the door of Westminster Hall where the crowd dispersed in an orderly way in the House before the motion for an address in answer to the Prince Regent's speech Lord Cochran rose to present a petition signed by more than 20,000 inhabitants of Bristol setting forth the present distress of the country the increase of paupers and beggars the grievous lack of employment for industrious persons and the misery that resulted from this state of things in these circumstances the petitioners urged it was in vain to pretend to relieve the sufferers by giving them soup while for the support of sinecure placement pensioners without number and an insatiable civilist half their earnings were taken from them by the enormous taxation under which the country groaned after considerable opposition the petition was allowed to lie on the table Lord Cochran then presented a smaller but much more outspoken petition from the inhabitants of Quirk in Yorkshire quote the petitioners it was urged have a full and immovable conviction a conviction which they believe to be universal throughout the kingdom that the house does not in any constitutional or rational sense represent the nation that when the people have ceased to be represented the constitution is subverted the taxation without representation is a state of slavery and that the scourge of taxation without representation has now reached a severity too harassing and vexatious too intolerable and degrading to be longer endured without resistance by all possible means warranted by the constitution and that such a condition of affairs has now been reached that contending factors are like guilty of their country's wrongs are like forgetful of their rights mocking the public patience with repeated protracted and disgusting debates on questions of refinement in the complicated and abstruse science of taxation as if in such refinement and not in a reformed representation as if in a consolidated corruption and not in a renovated constitution relief was to be found and thus there are left no human means of redressing the people's wrongs or composing their distracted minds or of preventing the subversion of liberty and the establishment of despotism unless by calling the collected wisdom and virtue of the community into council by the election of a free parliament and therefore considering that through the usurpation of borough factions and other courses the people have been put even out of a condition to consent to taxes and considering also that until their sacred right of election shall be restored no free parliament can have existence it is necessary that the house shall without delay pass a law for putting the aggrieved and much aroused people in possession of their undoubted right of representation co-extensive with taxation to an equal distribution of such representation throughout the community and to the parliaments of a continuance according to the constitution namely not exceeding one year readers note end quote a long discussion ensued as to whether this petition should be accepted by the house or rejected as an insulting libel several members of the house denounced it other members while objecting to its terms urged its acceptance among them the most notable was Mr. Bram the petition he said was rudely worded and its recommendations were such as no wise lover of the English constitution could wholly subscribe to but it pointed to real grievances and recommended improvements which were necessary to the well-being of the state and therefore it ought to be admitted Mr. Canning was one of those who insisted upon its rejection and this was ultimately done by a majority of 87 48 being in favour of the petition and 135 against it four other petitions presented by Lord Cochran being to the same effect were also rejected and two more moderate in their language were accepted Lord Cochran thus succeeded at any rate enforcing the house during several hours to take into consideration the troubled state of the country and the pressing need as it seemed to great masses of the people of thorough parliamentary reform quote you will see by the debates he wrote next day to a friend that I presented a number of petitions last night and had a hard battle to fight today I am quite indisposed by reason of the corruption of the honourable house it is impossible to support a bad cause by honest means God knows where all these base projects will end readers note in quote that his own cause was a good one and that the means used by him were honest he had no doubt in the same letter he referred to the opposition offered to him even by some of his own relatives on account of his conduct quote Mr. Cochran has thought it proper to disavow through the public papers any connection with my politics the consciousness that I am acting as I ought makes that light which I should otherwise feel as a heavy clog in following that cause which I think honour and justice require in quote therefore he persevered in his herculean task having presented and spoken upon others in the interval he presented another monster petition to the house on the 5th of February it was signed he said by 24,000 inhabitants of London and the neighbourhood it complained of the unbearable weight of taxation and the distresses of the country and of the squandering of the money extracted from the pockets of the oppressed and impoverished people to support sinecure placement and pensioners quote it appears to me he said surprising that there should be any set of men so cruel and unjust as to wallow in wealth at the public expense while poor breaches are starving at every corner of the streets in quote he represented that the petition was drawn up in temperate respectful language more temperate indeed than he should have employed had he dictated its phrases he urged that the people had good cause for complaint as to the way in which parliament neglected their interests and good ground for asserting that the system of parliamentary representation then afforded them was no real representation at all members entered the house only in pursuit of their own selfish ends and the government encouraged this state of things by fostering a system of wholesale bribery and corruption degrading itself and fraught with terrible mischief to the community what wonder then that the people should pray as they did in this petition for a thorough reform and should point to annual parliaments and universal suffrage as the only efficient remedies it is needless to recapitulate all the arguments offered again and again by Lord Cochran with ever fresh force and cogency in presenting massive petitions to the house and introducing into the occasional debates on reform with which the house amused itself a vigor and practicalness in which few other members cared to sympathize nor need we enumerate all the meetings in London and the provinces in which he took prominent part it is enough to say that in parliament he always spoke with exceeding boldness and that upon the people notwithstanding the contrary assertions of his detractors he always enjoined if not conciliation and forbearance at any rate such action as was within the strict letter of the law and most likely in the end to obtain the realization of their wishes on all occasions he defended them from the charges of sedition and conspiracy bought against them by their opponents and proved to all who were open to prove that their objects were patriotic and were being sought in patriotic ways of this however the government did not choose to be convinced taking advantage of some intemperate speeches of demagogues making much of some violent handbills circulated by police officers under secret instructions mightily exaggerating a few lawless acts such as when a drunken old sailor summoned the keepers of the Tower of London to surrender they procured on the 25th of February the suspension of the habeas corpus act their from at any rate resulted some good the wigs who had hitherto mainly supported the Tory government were now turned against it and with them the wiser radicals like Lord Cochran sought to effect a coalition quote you will perceive by the papers he said in a letter dated February the 28th that I have resolved to steer another political course seeing the only means of averting military despotism from the country is to unite the people and the wigs so far as they can be induced to cooperate which they must do if they wish to preserve their remainder of the constitution the times of yesterday contains the fullest account for the late debates on the suspension of the habeas corpus act and by that report you will perceive that the wigs really made a good stand readers note quote ends in that temple Lord Cochran spoke at a Westminster meeting held on the 11th of March quote to take into consideration the propriety of agreeing to an address to his royal highness the prince regent beseeching that he will in his well-known solicitude for the freedom and happiness of his Majesty's subjects removed from his royal councils those ministers who appear resolved to adopt no effectual measures of economy and retrenchment but on the contrary to persevere in measures calculated to drive a suffering people to despair end quote there was some flattery or some mockery or something of both in that announcement and both with much earnest annunciation of popular grievances were in Lord Cochran's speech on the subject he said that the regent had as much cause as the people to complain of his present ministers seeing how shamelessly they sought to hide from him the real state of the country it was to be expected from the early habits and character of the regent that he would anxiously pursue the interests of the nation if instead of being in the hands of an odious oligarchy he could act for himself this at any rate Lord Cochran maintained should be urged upon him that if something were not quickly done for the relief of the nation trade and commerce would soon be utterly ruined and the whole community would share the misery that had so long oppressed the lower orders he again dwelt forcibly on the causes of this misery and again denounced the conduct of the ministers and placement who while squandering the hardly-earned pounds of the people claimed respect for their exemplary charity and dolling out a few farthings for the relief of the poor in the previous year he showed Lord Castle Ray quote the bell weather of the House of Commons end quote and 13 other persons had drawn from the revenue of the country 309,861 pounds and out of that amount had given back in sinecure soup only 1,505 pounds on a hundred other occasions both outside of the House of Commons and within its walls Lord Cochran continued fearlessly to set forth the troubles of the people in the wrongdoing of its governors in parliament petitions without number were presented and a middle sort of contumely defended by him and he took a no less active part in various important discussions of which it will suffice by the way of illustration to name the debates of the third 14th and 28th of March on the famous sedition meetings bill and that on the 13th of March on the depressed condition of English trade and its causes a subject which was referred to by Mr. Bram in his memorable motion of the 11th of July on the state of the nation six weeks before that on the 20th of May Lord Cochran spoken another famous motion that made by his friend Sir Francis Baudet in favor of parliamentary reform once more he complained that the existing House of Commons in no way represented the people and was entirely regardless of its interests nothing better he alleged could be hoped for without a radical change in the system of representation quote but he continued reform we must have whether we will or know the state of the country is such that things cannot much longer be conducted as they are now there is a general call for reform if the call is not obeyed thank god the evil will produce its own remedy the mass of corruption will destroy itself for the maggots it engenders will eat it up the members of this house are the maggots of the constitution they are the locusts that devour it and cause all the evils that are complained of there is nothing wicked which does not emanate from this house in it originate all neighboury perjury and fraud you will know all of this you also know the means by which the great majority of the house is returned is one great cause of the corruption of the whole people it has been said let the people reform themselves but if sums of money are offered for seats within these walls there will always be found men ready to receive them it is impossible to imagine that the profuse expenditure of the late war would have taken place had it not been for a corrupt majority devoted to this selfish interests at least it would have had a shorter duration from being carried on in a more effective manner had it not been conducive to the views of many to prevent its speedy termination much has been said about the glorious result of the war but has not lavish expenditure loaded us with taxation which is impoverishing the people and annihilating commerce are not vessels seen everywhere with brooms at their mastheads are not sailors starving is not agriculture languishing are not our manufacturers in the most distressed state end quote Lord Cochran asserted that the real revolutionists of England were the ministers and their followers quote I am persuaded that no man without doors wishes the subversion of the constitution but within it bribery and corruption stand for the constitution Mr. Pitt himself confessed that no honest man could hold the situation of minister for any length of time there can be no honest minister until measures have been taken to purge and purify the house if this be not done it is in vain to hope for a renewal of successful enterprise in this country the son of the country is set forever it may indeed exist as a petty military German despotism with horsemen parading up and down with large whiskers with sabers ringing by their horses sides with fantastically shaped caps of fantastical colors on their heads but this country cannot thus be made a great military power a previous speaker has instanced juries as one of the benefits of the constitution but I will affirm with respect to the matter in which juries are chosen under the present system that justice is much better administered in a more summary manner with less expense and no chicanery by the day of Algiers if this country were erected at once into a downright honest open despotism the people would be gainers if a judge or desperate then proved a rogue he would at once appear in his true character but now villainy can be artfully concealed under the verdict of a packed jury I'm satisfied that the present system of corruption is more detrimental to the country than a despotism end quote now what that spoke so boldly as Lord Cochran but his eloquent words were substantially endorsed by many by Sir Samuel Romley and Mr Bram in a special and on a division though 265 voted against Francis Burdett's motion it was supported by a minority unusually large for the time the 77 slowly but surely the better principles of government for which Lord Cochran fought so persistently were gaining ground destined ultimately to produce the changes in national temper which made playing the duty and expediency of adopting the changes in political systems in which the years 1832 and 1867 epochs in after years Lord Cochran himself clearly saw that he had been rash in his advocacy of the sweeping reforms which the excited people deemed necessary for their welfare in the years of trouble and misgovernment consequent on the tedious wartime ending with the battle of Waterloo but he never had caused to regret the honest zeal and the generous sympathy with which he strove though in violent ways to lessen the weight of the popular distresses distresses were not wanting to himself during this period the weight of his former trouble still hung heavily upon him he could not forget the terrible disgrace nonetheless terrible because it was unmerited that had befallen him and in pecuniary ways he was a grievous sufferer by them in losing his naval employment he had lost the income on which he had counted his resources were thus seriously crippled and the scientific pursuits in which he still persevered failed to bring to him the profits he had anticipated in one characteristic way only one among many the government persecution still clung to him in the distribution of prize money for the achievement at Basque Roads all the officers and crews of Lord Gambier's fleet have been considered entitled to share to this arrangement Lord Cochrane objected he urged that as the whole triumph was due to the imperial use and the few ships actually engaged with her the reward ought to be limited to them quote i am preparing to proceed in the court of admiralty on the question of head money for Basque Roads he wrote on the 5th of November 1816 my affidavit has reluctantly been admitted though strenuously opposed on the grounds that i was not to be believed on my oath end quote Lord Cochrane's counsel in this case was Dr. Lushington afterwards the eminent judge of the admiralty court Dr. Lushington showed plainly that the greater part of the fleet having taken no share in the action had no right to head money and that therefore all ought to be divided among those who actually shared with Lord Cochrane the danger and the success of the enterprise but Sir William Scott afterwards Lord Stowell the judge at that time was not disposed to sanction this view therefore he thwarted it by delays the case having been postponed from November 1816 was brought up again in the first term of 1817 quote the judge has again delayed his decision wrote Lord Cochrane on the 28th of February the day of the announcement and i believe he has done so until next session he gave a curious reason for this namely that i took part in the Westminster meeting against the suspension of the habeas corpus act in quote the next session it was again postponed all the time available for its consideration being taken up with a frivolous discussionist Lord Cochrane's right to give evidence quote they have gone the length wrote his secretary Mr Jackson on the 3rd of May of denying Lord Cochrane's credibility in a court of justice they had no other way of answering his affidavit which would have gained his cause in the court of admiralty as it proved that the French ships in Basque roads were destroyed by his own exertions in fighting without orders from the admiral the denial of Lord Cochrane's competency to give evidence has excited a great deal of interest in the court of admiralty was quite crowded on Tuesday when the question came on to be discussed i thought that our council had much the best of the argument and i believe the judge Sir William Scott thought so too as he put off his sentence to a future day end quote on the future day the judge admitted as much quote we have gained a bit of a victory in the admiralty court said the same writer in a letter dated on the 9th of June the judge having been compelled to pronounce in favor of his lordship's right to be believed on his oath in quote the time taken by him to arrive at his decision however was so long that the case had to be adjourned to the november term and thereby Lord Cochrane's enemies so far attained their object that it was impossible for him in november term to renew the suit in the interval he had gone to France preparatory to a much longer and more momentous journey to south america in anticipation of which he was winding up his affairs and realising his property during and after the summer of 1817 in the settlement of accounts there was at any rate one amusing incident it will be remembered that on the occasion of his being elected member of parliament for honeyton in 1806 lord Cochrane had refused to follow the almost universal fashion of bribery but after the election was over had thoughtlessly yielded to the proposal of his agent that he should entertain his constituents at a public supper this entertainment either through spite or through wanton extravagance was turned by those to whom the management of it was assigned into a great occasion of feasting for all the inhabitants of the town and for deframing of the expenses thus incurred a claim of more than 1200 pounds was afterwards made upon lord Cochrane through 11 years he had bluntly refused to pay the preposterous demand but his creditors had the law upon their side and in the spring of 1817 an order was granted for putting an execution into his house at holly hill lord Cochrane however having resisted the demand thus far determined to resist to the end for more than six weeks he prevented the agents of the law from entering the house quote i still hold out he said in a letter to his secretary though the castle has several times been threatened in great force the trumpeter is now blowing for a parley but no one appears on the ramparts explosion bags are set in the lower embrasures and all the garrison is under arms in quote in the explosion bags there was nothing more dangerous than powdered charcoal but supposing that they contained gunpowder or some other combustible the sheriff of hamshire and 25 officers were held at bay by them until it length one official more daring than the rest jumped in an open window to find lord Cochrane sitting at breakfast and to be complimented by him upon the wonderful bravery which he had shown in coming up to a building defended by charcoal dust that battle with the sheriff and bailiffs of hamshire occupied nearly the whole of april and may 1817 in the latter month if not before lord Cochrane began to think seriously of proceeding to join the battles of a more serious sort in south america under inducements and with issues that will presently be detailed quote his lordship has made up his mind to go to south america or at his secretary on the 31st of may numbers of gentlemen of great respectability are desirous of accompanying him and even so francis per debt has declared that he feels a great temptation to do so but lord Cochrane discourages all they think he is going to immoliate the spaniards by his secret plans but he is not going to do anything of the kind having promised the prince regent not to divulge or use them otherwise than in the service of his country in quote with this expedition in view and proposing to start upon it nearly a year sooner than he found himself able to do lord Cochrane's sold holly hill and his other property in hamshire in july in august he went for a few months to france partly for the benefit of lady Cochrane's health partly as it would seem in the hope of introducing into that country the lamps which he had lately invented and from which he hoped to derive considerable profit to this matter and to his efforts to obtain some share at any rate of his rights from the english government the letters written by him from france chiefly refer but there are in them some notes and illustrations of more general interest i am quite astonished at the state of boulang he wrote thence on the 14th of august neither the town nor the heights are fortified so great was napoleon's confidence in the terror of his name at the knowledge he possessed of the stupidity and ignorance of our government in quote in a letter from paris stated the 23rd of august we read everything is looking much more settled than when i was formerly here and i do really think that the government from their conciliatory measures wisely adopted will stand their ground against the adherence of bonaparte we are to have a great rejoicing tomorrow or paris will be dancing fiddling and singing they are a light-hearted people i wish i could join in their fun i was hopeful that i should but the cursed recollection of the injustice that has been done to me is never out of my mind so that all my pleasures are blasted from whatever source they might be expected to arise in quote that last sentence fairly indicates the state of Lord Cochrane's mind during these painful years weighed down by troubles heavy enough to break the heart of an ordinary man he fought nobly and for the thorough justification of his character and for the protection of others from such persecution as had befallen him in both objects altogether praiseworthy in themselves he may have sometimes been intemperate but an ample excuse for far greater intemperance would have been found in the troubles that oppressed him quote the cursed recollection of the injustice that has been done to me is never out of my mind all my pleasures are blasted any quote in the same temper after a lapse of nine months about which it is only necessary to say that like their forerunners they were employed in private cares and especially after the reassembling of parliament in zealous action for the public good he made his last speech in the house of commons on the 2nd of june 1818 the occasion was a debate on a second motion by Sir Francis Burdette in favour of parliamentary reform more cogent and effective than that of the 20th of may 1817 to Lord Cochrane's share in which we have already referred the former speech was wholly of public interest this has a personal significance very painful and very memorable it brings to a pathetic close the saddest epoch in Lord Cochrane's life so very full of sadness quote I rise sir he said to the second motion of my honourable friend in what I have to say I do not presume to think that I can add to the able arguments that have just been uttered but it is my duty distinctly to declare my opinions on the subject when I recollect all the proceedings of this house I confess that I do not entertain much hope of a favourable result to the present motion to me it seems chiefly serviceable as an exhibition of sound principles and as showing the people for what they ought to petition I shall perhaps be told it is unparliamentary to say there are any representatives of the people in this house who have sold themselves to the purposes and views of any set of men in power but the history of the degenerate senate of that once free people the Romans will serve to show how far corruption may make inroads upon public virtue or patriotism the tyranny inflicted on the roman people and on mankind in general under the form of acts passed by the roman senate will ever prove a useful memento to nations which have any freedom to lose it is not for me to prophesy when our case will be like theirs but this I will say that those who are the slaves of a despotic monarch are far less reprehensible for their actions than those who voluntarily sell themselves when they have the means of remaining free and here he continued in sentences broken by his emotions as it is probably the last time I shall ever have the honour of addressing the house on any subject I'm anxious to tell its members what I think of their conduct it is now nearly 11 years since I have had the honour of a seat in this house and since then there have been very few measures in which I could agree with the opinions of the majority to say that these measures were contrary to justice would not be parliamentary I will not even go into the inquiry whether they tend to the national good or not but I will nearly appeal to the feelings of the landholders present I will appeal to the knowledge of those members who are engaged in commerce and ask them whether the act of the legislative body have not been of a description during the late war that would if not for the timely intervention of the use of machinery have sent this nation to total ruin the country is burdened to a degree which but for this intervention it would have been impossible for the people to bear the cause of these measures having such an effect upon the country has been examined and gone into by my honourable colleagues at Francis Baudet they are to be traced to that patronage and influence which a number of powerful individuals possess over the nomination of a great proportion of the members of this house a power which devolving on a few becomes thereby the more liable to be affected by the influence of the crown and which has in fact been rendered almost entirely subservient to that influence to reform the abuses which arise out of this system is the object of my honourable friend's motion I will not cannot anticipate the success of the motion but I will say as has been said before by the great Chatham the father of Mr Pitt that if the house does not reform itself from within it will be reformed with a vengeance from without the people will take up the subject and a reform will take place which will make many members regret their apathy in now refusing that reform which might have been rendered efficient and permanent but unfortunately in the present formation of the house it appears to me that from within no reform can be expected and for the truth of this I appeal to the experience of the few members less than a hundred who are now present nearly 600 being absent I appeal to their experience to say whether they have ever known of any one instance in which petition of the people for reform has been taken into consideration or any redress afforded in consequence of such a petition this I regret because I foresee the consequence which must necessarily result from it I do trust and hope that before it is too late some measures shall be adopted for redressing the grievances of the people for certain I am that unless some measures are taken to stop the feelings which the people entertain towards this house and to restore their confidence in it your one day have ample cause to repent the line of conduct you have pursued the gentleman who sit now on the benches opposite with such triumphant feelings will one day repent their conduct the commotions to which that conduct will inevitably give rise will shake not only this house but the whole framework of government and society to its foundations I have been actuated by the wish to prevent this and I have no other intention I shall trespass no longer on your time he continued in a few broken sentences uttered painfully and with agitation that aroused much sympathy in the house the situation I have held for eleven years in this house I owe to the favor of the electors of Westminster the feelings of my heart are gratified by the manner in which they have acted towards me they have rescued me from a desperate and wicked conspiracy which has nearly involved me in total ruin I forgive those who have done so and I hope when they depart to their graves they will be equally able to forgive themselves all this is far into the subject before the house but I trust you will forgive me I shall not trespass on your time longer now perhaps never again on any subject I hope his majesty's ministers will take into their serious consideration what I now say I do not utter it with any feelings of hostility such feelings have now left me but I trust they will take my warning and save the country by abandoning the present system before it is too late we just note end quote end of chapter five recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast Australia chapter six of the life of Thomas Lord Cochran 10th Earl of Dundonald volume one by Henry Richard Fox born this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson 1810 to 1817 to an understanding of Lord Cochran's share in the South American wars of independence a brief recapitulation of their antecedents and of the state of affairs at the time of his first connection with them is necessary the Spanish possessions in both North and South America which had reached nearly their full dimensions before the close of the 16th century had been retained with little opposition from without and with still less from within down to the close of the 18th century these possessions including Mexico and Central America New Grenada Venezuela Peru La Plata and Chile covered an area larger than that of Europe more than twice as large as that of the present United States through half a dozen generations they had been governed with all the short-sighted tyranny for which the Spanish government is famous the resources of the countries had been crippled in order that each day's greed might be satisfied and the inhabitants who for the most part were the mixed offspring of Spanish and native parents have been kept in abject dependence and in ignorant ferocity there was plenty of internal hatred and strife but no serious thought of winning their liberty and working out their own regeneration seems to have existed among the people of the several provinces until it was suggested by the triumphant success of the United States in throwing off the stronger but much less oppressive thralldom of Great Britain that success having been achieved however it was soon emulated by the colonial subjects of Spain the first leader of agitation was Francisco Miranda a Venezuelan Creole he visited England in 1790 and received some encouragement in his revolutionary projects from Pitt he went to France in 1792 and there while waiting some years for a fit occasion of prosecuting the work on which his heart was set he helped to fight the battle of the revolution against the Bourbons and the worn out feudalism of which they were representatives during his absence in 1794 conspiracies against Spain arose in Mexico and new Grenada and these continuing he went in 1794 armed by secret promises of assistance from Pitt to help implementing them they prospered for several years and in 1806 Miranda obtained substantial aid from Sir Alexander Cochrane Lord Cochrane's uncle then the admiral in command of the West India station but in 1806 Pitt died the Whigs came into power and with their coming occurred a change in English policy in 1807 General Crawford was ordered to throw obstacles in the way of Miranda then heading a formidable insurrection the result was a temporary check to the work of revolution in 1810 Miranda renewed his enterprise in Venezuela still with poor success and in the same year a fresh revolt was stirred up in Mexico by Miguel Hidalgo of Costilla a priest of Dolores Hidalgo's insurrection was foolish in design and bloodthirsty in execution it was continued in better spirit but with poor success by Morlios and Rayon who sustaining a serious defeat in 1815 left the strife to degenerate into a coarse bandit struggle very disastrous to Spain but hardly beneficial to the cause of Mexican independence in the meanwhile a more prosperous and worthy contest was being waged in South America besides the efforts of Miranda in Venezuela which were renewed between 1810 and 1812 when he was taken prisoner and sent to Spain there to die in a dungeon a separate standard of revolt was raised in Quinto by Narino and his friends in 1809 after fighting desperately in guerrilla fashion for five years Narino was captured and forced to share Miranda's lot a greater man the greatest hero of South American independence Simone Bolivar succeeded them Bolivar a native of Caracas had passed many years in Europe when in 1810 at the age of 27 he went to serve under Miranda in Venezuela Miranda's defeat in 1812 compelled him to retire to New Grenada but there he did good service he improved the fighting ways and extended the fighting arena and in December 1814 was appointed Captain General of Venezuela and New Grenada soon however to be driven back and forced to take shelter in Jamaica by the superior strength of Marillo the Spanish general who arrived with a formidable army in 1815 in 1816 Bolivar again showed himself in the field at the head of his famous liberating army which crossing over from Trinidad and gaining reinforcements at every step planted freedom such as it was all along the northern parts of South America in which the new Republic of Columbia was founded under his presidency in the neighboring district of New Grenada and down to La Plata province where he established the Republic of Bolivia so named in his honor with these patriotic labors he was busy upon land while Lord Cochrane was securing the independence of the Spanish colonies by his brave warfare on the sea as the cause of liberty progressed in South America it became apparent that it had poor chance of permanence while the revolutionists were unable to cope with the Spaniards in naval strife or to rest from Spain her strongholds on the coast this was especially the case with the maritime provinces of Chile and Peru Peru held firmly by the army garrisoned in Lima to which Calao served as an almost impregnable port had been unable to share in the contest waged on the other side of the Andes and Chile though strong enough to declare its independence was too weak to maintain it without foreign aid the Chilean struggle began in 1810 when the Spanish captain general Carrasco was deposed and a native government set up under count de la conquista by this government the sovereignty of Spain was still recognized although various reforms were adopted which Spain could not be expected to endorse accordingly in April 1811 an attempt was made by the Spanish soldiers to overturn the new order of things the result was that after brief fighting the revolutionists triumphed and the oak of Spain was thrown off but the independence of Chile thus easily begun was not easily continued three brothers Jose Miguel Juan Jose and Luis Carreras and their sister styled the end Berlin of Chile determined to provoke the public wheel to their own aggrandizement winning their way into popularity they overturned the national congress that had been established in june and in december set up a new junta with Jose Miguel Carrera at its head a dismal period of misrule ensued which encouraged the Spanish generals Pareja and Sanchez to attempt the reconquest of Chile in 1813 Pareja and Sanchez were successfully resisted and a better man general Bernardo O Higgins the republican son of an Irishman who had been vice-roy of Peru was put at the head of affairs he succeeded to the command of the Chilean army in november 1813 when a fresh attack from the Spaniards was expected at first his good soldier ship was successful the enemy having come almost to the gates of Santiago was forced to retire in may 1814 and the Chilean cause might have continued to prosper under O Higgins had not the Carreras contrived in hopes of reinstating themselves in power to divide the republican interests and so while encouraging renewed invasion by the Spaniards from Lima make their resistance more difficult wisely deeming it right to set aside every other consideration than the necessity of saving Chile from the danger pressing upon it from without O Higgins affected a junction with the Carreras hoping thus to bring the whole force of the republic against the royalist army larger than its predecessors which was marching towards Santiago and Valpariso had his magnanimous proposals been properly acted upon the issue might have been very different but the Carreras even at the most urgent hour of danger could not forget their private ambitions holding aloof for the most part of their army they allowed O Higgins and his force of 900 to be defeated by 4000 royalists under general Osorio in the preliminary fight which took place at the end of September they were guilty of like treachery during the great battle of the 1st of October on that day the royalists entered Rancagua the town in which O Higgins and his little band had taken shelter they were fiercely resisted and the fighting lasted through 36 hours so brave was the conduct of the Patriots that the Spanish general was after some hours contest on the point of retreating he saw that he could have no chance of success had the Carreras bought up their troops as was expected by both sides of the combatants but the Carreras short-sighted in their selfishness and nothing loath that O Higgins should be defeated still held aloof there upon the Spaniards took heart and made one more desperate effort with hatchets and swords they forced their way inch by inch and hour by hour into the center of the town there in an open square O Higgins with 200 men all the remnant of his little army made a last resistance when only a few dozen of his soldiers were left alive and when he himself was seriously wounded he determined not to surrender but to end the battle the residue of the Patriots dashed through the town cutting a road through the astonished crowd of their opponents and affected a retreat in which those opponents though more than 20 times as numerous durced not pursue them that memorable battle of Rancagua caused throughout the American continent and across the Atlantic through Europe a thrill of sympathy for the Chilean War of Independence but its immediate effects were most disastrous the Carreras too selfish to fight before went out too cowardly they and their followers fled O Higgins had barely soldiers enough left to serve as a weak escort to the 1400 old men women and children who crossed the Andes with him on foot to pass two years and a half in voluntary exile at Mendoza during those two years and a half the Spaniards were masters in Santiago and Chile was once more a Spanish province in which the inhabitants were punished terribly in confiscations imprisonments and executions for their recent defection deliverance however was at hand general San Martin through whom chiefly La Plata had achieved its freedom gave assistance to O Higgins and the Chilean Patriots the main body of the Spanish army numbering about 5000 had been stationed on the heights of Chacobuco when Santiago Valpariso and the other leading towns of Chile were overroared on the 12th of February 1817 San Martin and O Higgins with a force nearly as large surprised this garrison and with excellent strategy and very little loss of life to the Patriots at any rate it was entirely subdued Santiago was entered in triumph on the 14th of February and a few weeks served for the entire dispersion of the royalist forces the supreme directorship of the renovated republic was offered to San Martin on his declining the honor was assigned to the satisfaction of all parties to O Higgins the new dictator and the wisest of his counselors however were not satisfied with the temporary advantage that they had achieved they knew that armies would continue to come down from Peru the defeat of which even if it could be relied upon would waste all the resources of the republic they knew too that the Spanish warships which supplied Peru with troops and ammunition from home passing the Chilean coast on their way would seriously hinder the commerce on which the young state had to depend for its development even if they did not destroy that commerce at its starting point by seizing Valpariso and the other ports therefore they resolved to seek for efficient help from Europe with that end Don Jose Alvarez a high-minded patriot who had done much good service to Chile in previous years was immediately sent to Europe commissioned to borrow money to build or borrow warships and in all ways in his power to enlist the sympathies of the English people in the republican cause in the last of these projects at any rate he succeeded beyond all reasonable expectation reaching London in April 1817 Alvarez was welcomed by many friends of South American freedom Sir Francis Burdett Sir James McIntosh Mr Henry Brahm and Mr Edward Ellis among the number Lord Cochran was just then out of London fighting his amusing battle with the sheriffs and bailiffs of Hampshire but as soon as that business was over he took foremost place among the friends of Don Alvarez and the Chilean cause which he represented with a message to him indeed Alvarez was specially commissioned he was invited by the Chilean government to undertake the organization and command of an improved naval force and so by exercise of the prowess which he had displayed in the Mediterranean and elsewhere to render invaluable service to the young republic he promptly accepted the invitation being induced there too by many sufficient reasons sick at heart as we have seen under the cruel treatment to which for so many years he had been subjected by his enemies in power he saw here an opportunity of at the same time escaping from his persecutors returning to active work in a profession very dear to him and giving efficient aid to a noble enterprise end of chapter six recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast Australia