1812. My dear Lord,--I trust the acquaintance I
have the satisfaction to possess with your lordship, and the long
and intimate friendship subsisting between myself and your brother,
Lieut.-Colonel Basil Cochrane, will warrant my intruding upon you for
the purpose of seconding the wishes expressed by a young naval protege
of mine, and I cannot help adding my earnest request that when your
distinguished zeal and talents in your profession are again called
into action by Government, you will kindly oblige me by taking
Lieutenant Edgar under your wing and protection; he is a fine young
man, and I think would not disgrace the wardroom of your lordship's
ship. I remain, with my sincere regard, my dear lord, yours
faithfully, EDWARD.

"_The Right Honourable Lord Cochrane_."]

An imprisonment of very different character occurred after an interval
of nearly three years. This was in consequence of the famous Stock
Exchange trial, the episode last treated of by the Earl of Dundonald
in his Autobiography, and not quite recounted to the end before death
stayed his hand.

From 1809 to 1813, Lord Cochrane was allowed to take no active part in
the work of his profession. But at the close of the latter year, his
uncle, Sir Alexander Cochrane, having been selected for the command
of the fleet on the North American station, appointed him his
flag-captain--an appointment resting only with the Commander-in-Chief,
and one with which the Government could not interfere. It was always
Lord Cochrane's belief that the implacable enmity of his foes in the
Admiralty Office--determined to prevent by irregular means, since no
regular course was open to them, his return to naval work--helped
to bring about the cruel persecution by which his whole life was
embittered. But it must be admitted that the dishonesty of one of his
own kinsmen--about which a chivalrous sense of honour caused him to be
reticent during nearly fifty years--conduced to this result.

The chief agent of the fraud practised upon him was a foreigner, named
De Berenger. This man, clever and unscrupulous, had been associated
with Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, an uncle of Lord Cochrane's, in certain
stock-jobbing transactions. In that or in some other way he became
known to Lord Cochrane and to his other uncle, Sir Alexander Cochrane;
and, being a smart chemist and pyrotechnist, it was proposed that he
should accompany Lord Cochrane to North America, and assist him in the
trial of his re