The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane, commonly called Lord Cochrane, the Ho | Page 9

crossed Saint George's Fields, the post
boy, who every now and then turned round for the gratification of
looking at this generous bearer of good news, observed that he pulled
up the blind, and seemed to avoid observation. He did not know what
his reason might be for that, and it did not strike him till afterwards.
They tried to get a hackney coach at the Three Stags, they could not,
and they went on to the Marsh Gate, there they found one coach, and
one coach only; Colonel Du Bourg stepped out of the post chaise into
the hackney coach. He gave each of the boys a gold Napoleon; he
drove off, and away they went, as happy as they could be, to spread
every where this very glorious news. This you will find to have been at
about nine o'clock in the morning.
Gentlemen, you may very readily suppose that very soon after ten

o'clock, this news reached the Stock Exchange; whether through the
post boys or by the expresses sent up from Dover, it did reach the Stock
Exchange at a little after ten o'clock. Probably you know that business
commences at ten. At ten business commenced as it had left off on
Saturday; the price of Omnium for some time was 27-1/2. It began
extremely flat at 27-1/2--it went on 27-1/2--but in about a quarter of an
hour, accounts came that an officer from Paris had arrived at Dover,
and had come up in a post chaise and four to Government with this
news, which was recited in detail. The Funds immediately rose to
28--28-1/2--29 and 30, and on it went till about twelve o'clock, when
no letter coming from the Secretary of State to the Lord Mayor, people
began to doubt its truth, and from 30 Omnium fell to 29, and was
getting down, when between twelve and one o'clock there came the
amplest confirmation. This, Gentlemen, you will find to be auxiliary to
the main plot, and a very important auxiliary. In itself it would have
been absolutely nothing. There drove through the City, a post chaise
and four, with three persons in it, two of them dressed like French
Officers, in blue great coats, with white linings; they wore white
cockades, and their horses were decorated with laurel. As they went
along they dispersed little billets announcing this news. After a kind of
triumphal progress through the City, they turned to the left at Bridge
Street, went over Blackfriars Bridge, quitted the main road for the New
Cut, and when they had arrived near the Marsh Gate, within a hundred
yards of the spot at which Colonel Du Bourg had alighted, these three
gentlemen got out of their chaise, folded up their cocked hats, put on
round hats, and walked off.
Gentlemen, this you may suppose, indeed we all know, produced an
emotion in the City not to be described. There is nothing so contagious
as popular feeling, especially on a subject of great public interest. This
stamped certainty upon the news; this reached the Stock Exchange, and
the funds, which had begun to droop, revived; Omnium rose to 30, 31,
32 and 32-1/2. Thus it went on for a short time, till persons having been
sent to the West End of the Town, and it being found that no
Messenger had arrived at the Office of the Secretary of State with this
intelligence, it was discovered that this had been a gross and wicked
deception; and the Funds returned to very nearly their former level. But

there were very large sales made, and of course there were many
persons defrauded. The members of the Stock Exchange felt it, and felt
it deeply; and they appointed a Committee to investigate this business,
and to ascertain who were the parties to this fraud. That Committee
pursued the investigation with great industry, and they discovered that
which I shall lay before you in evidence. As the underplot is the
shortest, I may as well dispose of that first.--They ascertained that this
second post chaise had come from Northfleet, which is, you know, near
Gravesend. That Mr. Ralph Sandom, who is a Spirit Merchant, living at
Northfleet, but who was at that time also like Mr. De Berenger, a
prisoner within the rules of the King's Bench, and who kept within the
rules just as faithfully as Mr. De Berenger did, had sent, early in the
morning, to Dartford, for a post chaise and four, to be sent to him at
Northfleet, and for four horses to be ready to take him on to town; and
that Mr. Sandom; a Mr. Alexander M'Rae, a person in most desperate
circumstances; and Mr. Lyte, who is, I believe, a little Navy Agent, and
a very poor man, were the persons