"In 1814 Lord Dundonald and Lady X were in love, and though they did not marry, always held each other in great esteem for the rest of their lives. Old Lady X was still alive in 1877, and she sent me a letter through young Cochrane, the grandson, authorising me to use it as I thought best. The letter was yellow with age, but had been carefully preserved. It was written by Lord Dundonald, and was dated from the prison on the night of the committal. It tried to console the lady by the fact that the guilt of a near relative of hers was not suspected, while the innocence of the writer was his support and consolation. "The old lady must have had a terrible trial. It was hard to sacrifice the reputation of her relative; it was harder still to see injustice still resting upon her former lover. Lord Dundonald had loved her and had received much kindness from her relative, so he suffered calumny and the injustice of nearly two generations rather than tell the true story of his wrong. "I had long suspected the truth, but I never heard it from Lord Dundonald. The brave old lady tendered this letter as evidence to the Committee, but I declined to give it in, knowing that had my friend been alive he would not have allowed me to do so. At the same time I showed the letter to the members of the Committee individually, and it had a great effect upon their minds, and no doubt helped to secure the report recommending that the Treasury should pay the grandson the back salary of the admiral. [Illustration: LORD COCHRANE IN CUSTODY. (_From Cruikshank's Etching._)] "The interesting letter itself I recommended should be put in the archives of the Dundonald family, and this I believe has been done." Part III. POLICE--PAST AND PRESENT. CHAPTER V. EARLY POLICE: FRANCE. Origin of Police--Definitions--First Police in France--Charles V.--Louis XIV.--The Lieutenant-General of Police--His Functions and Powers--La Reynie--His Energetic Measures against Crime--As a Censor of the Press--His Steps to check Gambling and Cheating at Games of Chance--La Reynie's Successors: the d'Argensons, Hérault, d'Ombréval, Berryer--The Famous de Sartines--Two Instances of his Omniscience--Lenoir and Espionage--De Crosne, the last and most feeble Lieutenant-General of Police--The Story of the Bookseller Blaizot--Police under the Directory and the Empire--Fouché--His Beginnings and First Chances--A Born Police Officer--His Rise and Fall--General Savary--His Character--How he organised his Service of Spies--His humiliating Failure in the Conspiracy of General Malet--Fouché's return to Power--Some Views of his Character.