Lord Cochrane’s2 case is too long to be discussed in this letter. I will only say that I think he was very properly convicted; but the conduct of the Court was reprehensible, and the sentence unreason-
1 On July 12th the Princess had escaped to her mother’s house in Connaught Place, in order to break off her intended marriage with the Prince of Orange. 2 Thomas Cochrane, tenth Earl of Dundonald, was tried on a charge of complicity with Berenger, a French refugee, of manufacturing false news as to the death of Napoleon and certainty of peace, in order to influence the Stock Market. Cochrane, who knew absolutely nothing of the affair, was mixed up with others (one of whom was an uncle of his own) who were undoubtedly guilty; all were convicted, and Cochrane sentenced to pay £1,000, to stand in the pillory for an hour (this, however, was remitted), and to be imprisoned for a year. He was expelled from the House of Commons, his name taken off the Navy list, and erased from the Order of the Bath, but within a few days of these indignities he was enthusiastically returned by the electors of Westminster, who passed a unanimous resolution that he “was perfectly innocent of the Stock Exchange fraud.” (See “Dictionary of National Biography,” Lord Cochrane.) |
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| “Edinburgh Review” |
