The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane - Part 87
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Part 87

_Q._ What shop do you keep?

_A._ I am a druggist and agent to the Durham bank.

_Mr. Gurney._ How long had Mr. De Berenger been at Sunderland?

_A._ I had known him there from the 7th to the 21st of March. I apologized for not being able to send more Bank of England paper in exchange for the Durham bank notes; the waiter having been to request that I would send him Bank of England paper, I gave him a message to Mr.

De Berenger.

_Q._ You made him an apology for not having sent him more bank paper in exchange?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ In exchange for the note you had at first received; for that note?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ What did Mr. De Berenger say, on your making the apology?

_A._ I apologized for not having sent him more Bank of England paper, and he acknowledged having received the whole of the notes I had sent him from the waiter.

_Q._ By what name did Mr. De Berenger go there.

_A._ Major Burne; he gave me his name.

_Q._ Is that the gentleman you have been speaking of? (_pointing to De Berenger._)

_A._ Yes.

_Cross-examined by Mr. Richardson._

_Q._ How do you know that .40 note to be the note you received?

_A._ By a copy that I made at the time.

_Q._ Have you got that copy with you?

_A._ This is a copy of my waste book--the waste book is at Sunderland.

_Q._ You identify it by means of the copy which you have made from your waste-book, which book you have left at Sunderland.

_A._ Yes; and also from my initials on the back of the note.

_Q._ Made at the time?

_A._ A day or two afterwards.

_Lord Ellenborough._ Before you parted with it?

_A._ Yes.

_Mr. Richardson._ You are the agent of the Durham Bank?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ You have a great many notes pa.s.sing through your hands?

_A._ Yes.

_Lord Ellenborough._ Are you sure that when you made that memorandum, you had perfectly in your recollection from whom you took that note?

_A._ Yes, perfectly.

_Mr. Richardson._ You did not keep this distinct from your other notes?

_A._ No.

_Q._ You mixed it with your other notes?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ You marked it several days afterwards?

_A._ I marked it between the 31st of March and the 4th of April, when I remitted it.

_Q._ You put your name upon every bank note that pa.s.ses through your hands?

_A._ No, I do not.

_Q._ Why did you put your name upon this?

_A._ I cannot give a satisfactory answer why.

_Q._ Do you generally put your initials on notes that pa.s.s through your hands, or not?

_A._ No, I do not.

_Q._ How came you to do so in this particular case?

_A._ I have before answered that I cannot give a satisfactory reason.

_Q._ At Sunderland, which is a place of great business, do not a large number of bank notes pa.s.s through your hands?

_A._ Yes, there do of course.

_Lord Ellenborough._ Did the transaction of your sending Durham notes, and his objecting to not having more bank notes, fix the circ.u.mstance of the .40. note more strongly in your memory?

_A._ I have not had another .40. note since that.