LORD COCH RA N E'S RESTORATION.
IN the evening of his days, the Earl of Dundonald, most famous as " Lord Cochrane," sees the Gazette record the final retractation of the charge formerly made against him, and followed by penal- ties cruelly enforced. His naval rank was given back to him by King William the Fourth : Queen Victoria now restores him to his rank in chivalry, by readmission to the Order of the Bath. The old condemnation is annulled and cancelled. When Lord Coch- rane was condemned, on evidence never deemed conclusive, and now avowed to have been false, he was adjudged, inter alia, to pay a fine of 1,000/. It was paid in a note, which is or was pre- served in the Bank of England among the curiosities of that es- tablishment. It was superscribed in his handwriting with a pro- test against the. justice of his condemnation ; a protest now countersigned by the Government of the country. We have an impression that the fine, as a mere pecuniary loss, was made good to Lord Cochrane, by a public subscription : but will the British Government retain money extorted under a wrongous award ? It should be paid back to the veteran, also in a 1,000/. note ; which might be inscribed with a statement of the use to which it is put, and lodged with its fellow in the archives of the Bank. The country would then have set itself right in those monetary records.
Previous page
