Perhaps it is not the least curious particular attending this case, that his lordship’s mother, the Dowager Marchioness of Sligo, soon after her son’s trial, was married to Sir William Scott, the judge who passed sentence on the youthful marquis.
JOHN BELLINGHAM.
EXECUTED FOR THE MURDER OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SPENCER PERCEVAL.
ON the 11th of May, in the year 1812, an event occurred which excited universal dismay and regret in the minds of the whole of the British public—the death of the Right Honourable Spencer Perceval, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, by the hand of an assassin.
John Bellingham, the author of this crime, was brought up in a counting-house in London, and afterwards went to Archangel, where he lived during a period of three years in the service of a Russian merchant. Having returned to England, he was married to a Miss Nevill, the daughter of a respectable merchant and ship-broker, who at that time resided at Newry, but who subsequently removed to Dublin. Bellingham, being a person of active habits and of considerable intelligence, was subsequently employed by some merchants in the Russian trade, by whom he was induced again to visit Archangel, and he in consequence proceeded thither, accompanied by his wife, in the year 1804. His principal dealings were with the firm of Dorbecker and Co.; but before twelve months had expired, a misunderstanding arose between them, and each party made pecuniary claims upon the other. The subject was referred by the Governor-General to the decision of four merchants, two of whom Bellingham was allowed to select from his countrymen resident on the spot, and by the award of these arbitrators Bellingham was found to be indebted to the house of Dorbecker and Co. in the sum of two thousand roubles; but this sum he refused to pay, and appealed to the senate against the decision.
In the mean time, a criminal suit had been instituted against him by the owners of a Russian ship which had been lost in the White Sea. They accused him of having written an anonymous letter to the underwriters in London, stating that the insurances of that ship were fraudulent transactions; in consequence of which the payment for her loss was resisted. No satisfactory proof being adduced, Bellingham was acquitted: but before the termination of the suit, he attempted to quit Archangel, and being stopped by the police, whom he resisted, he was taken to prison, but was soon after liberated, through the influence of the British consul, Sir Stephen Shairp, to whom he had made application, requesting to be protected from what he considered the injustice of the Russian authorities.
Soon after this the senate confirmed the award of the arbitrators, and Bellingham was delivered over to the College of Commerce, a tribunal established, and acknowledged by treaty, for taking cognizance of commercial matters relating to British subjects. He was to remain in custody till he discharged the debt of the two thousand roubles; but his confinement was by no means severe; for he had permission to walk wherever he pleased, attended by an officer belonging to the college. Lord Granville Leveson Gower being at this time ambassador at the Russian Court, Bellingham made frequent application, and, at various times, received from his secretary small sums of money to support him during his confinement. One night, in particular, he rushed into his lordship’s house at St. Petersburgh, and requested permission to remain all night, to avoid being secured by the police, whom he had escaped. This was granted, although Lord Gower had no authority to protect him from a legal arrest; but it appears he was afterwards retaken, and being confined by the authorities of the country, the British ambassador could have no pretence to solicit his release. His lordship, however, in a conversation with the minister for foreign affairs, expressed a personal wish that the Russian Government, seeing no prospect of recovering the money from Bellingham, would liberate him on condition of his immediately returning to England; but we are not told what effect was produced, as Lord Gower soon after quitted the Russian Court.
The foregoing is taken from the statement published by Lord Granville Leveson Gower, in his own justification, against the charge made against him by Bellingham on his trial; and we hope, for the honour of our country, that it is correct; and we must confess that a review of all the circumstances tends to confirm its accuracy. Our ambassador, it is admitted, had the case investigated; and as his refusal to interfere was subsequently confirmed by that of the English Government, it is evident that Bellingham could have had no just cause of complaint, or, at least, none of a nature to call for diplomatic negotiation or pecuniary recompense. In justice to the unfortunate man, we shall, when we come to his trial, give his own statement, and leave the reader to draw his own conclusion.
Bellingham having, by some means or other, procured his liberation, in the year 1809 returned to England, and at Liverpool commenced the business of an insurance broker. It appears, however, that from a constant recital of the circumstances which had occurred in Russia, his complaints were aggravated in his own mind into grievances, and he at length began to talk of demanding redress from the Government for what he termed and appeared to consider the culpable misconduct of their officer, Lord Gower, and his secretary, in omitting to defend his rights as a British subject; and he eventually wrote to the Marquis Wellesley, setting forth the nature of his case, and the grounds upon which he expected that some compensation would be made. By the noble marquis he was referred to the Privy Council, and by that body to the Treasury; but his efforts being unattended with success in either quarter, he determined to proceed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Perceval), with a view to obtain his sanction and support for his demand. Mr. Perceval, however, having made himself master of the case submitted to him, declined to interfere, and Mr. Bellingham was then advised by his friends that the only resource left to him was a petition to parliament. As an inhabitant of Liverpool, he applied to General Gascoyne, then member for that city, to present a petition to the house of commons; but that honourable gentleman having ascertained upon inquiry that the case was unsupported by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he refused to have anything to do with it. Driven now to pursue a course quite unusual in such cases, he petitioned the Prince Regent, but from him he was referred again to the Treasury, and he again received an intimation that all applications from him must be futile. Three years had now been spent in these constant and fruitless attacks upon the government, but the unfortunate and misguided gentleman appeared even yet to cherish hopes that his case would be attended to. On one occasion, it is reported that he carried his wife, who had in vain striven to wean him from what she considered to be his malady, and another lady, to the secretary of state’s office for the purpose of showing them the success with which his exertions were attended; and although he then, as he had before, received a flat denial of his claims, yet he continued to assure them that he did not in the least doubt that ere long all his hopes would be made good, and he would receive compensation for his sufferings.
He now adopted a new and certainly an unprecedented mode of attack. He wrote to the police magistrates of Bow-street in the following terms:—