nsent of His
Majesty's Government; that he might go on board ship at Portsmouth; but
in the meantime he must get the permission of His Majesty's Government,
upon which his lordship says, De Berenger said he would go to the noble
Lord, whom I have the honour to see in court, to get that permission;
his affidavit then states, that De Berenger said to his lordship, I must
take a great liberty with you, for it is impossible I can go to the
first Lord of the Admiralty in the dress in which I now am; upon which
he, Lord Cochrane, not suspecting that Mr. De Berenger had been making
an improper use of the dress he had on, or his views in wishing to
change it, furnished him with a coat and hat.

Here my learned friend, Mr. Gurney, makes an observation which I am sure
he will be exceedingly sorry for having made; because he would not
intentionally, in a criminal case, prejudice the case of the defendant
by any argument that is not borne out by the facts of the case; he says,
Did Lord Cochrane think it a right thing for his lordship to do, to
furnish De Berenger with the means of escaping from his creditors?
Gentlemen, there was no such thing thought of at the time, as the
escaping from the King's Bench prison; the cloaths were to enable De
Berenger to go to the Admiralty, and to Lord Yarmouth; and it was for
the purpose of appearing before Lord Yarmouth and Lord Melville, that
this change of dress was asked for, and not for the purpose of escaping
out of the kingdom, and avoiding his creditors; whether Lord Cochrane
was wise or not in acceding to this request, it is not for us to decide
to-day; but I am sure you will feel it was straining the English law too
much, to say of a good-tempered English sailor, that he is guilty of a
conspiracy, because he yields to a request, to which a person more
hacknied in the tricks practised on them, would not have acceded. If my
learned friend could have shewn you, that all that the affidavit states,
respecting De Berenger's going to America, was the invention of Lord
Cochrane since the 21st of February, that nothing of the sort had ever
been thought of before, such proof would have falsified the affidavit.
But so far from offering any such evidence, all the evidence adduced
confirms the statement in the affidavit; and yet my learned friend still
ventures to ask you to disbelieve what Lord Cochrane has sworn, although
his oath is unopposed by any testimony, and supported by all the
testimony gi