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 recently-discovered method of attacking forts and fleets
in a secret and irresistible manner. With that object--of course
clandestine--Sir Alexander Cochrane sought the permission of the
Admiralty to employ De Berenger as a teacher of sharp-shooting, in
which he was a well-known adept. This was not granted, and near the
end of 1813, Sir Alexander set sail for Halifax, leaving Lord Cochrane
to follow in the _Tonnant_, in charge of a convoy, and in getting
the _Tonnant_ ready for sea his lordship was busy during January and
February, 1814. In the former month De Berenger sought him out and
earnestly requested that, his official appointment being refused, he
might be taken on board in a private capacity and allowed to rely
upon the success of his work for recompense. Lord Cochrane declined
to employ him without some sort of sanction from the Admiralty, and
De Berenger left him with the avowed intention of doing his utmost to
procure this sanction.