XI. 1720. CHAP. of that year the crash had not yet begun, and the rage of speculation spread over from France to England. In fact, from that time downward, it may be noticed that each of the two countries has been more or less moved by the internal movements of the other; and there has been scarcely any impulse at Paris which has failed to thrill and vibrate through every member of the British Empire. As soon as the South Sea Bill had received the Royal Assent in April, the Directors proposed a subscription of one million, which was so eagerly taken, that the sum subscribed exceeded two. A second subscription was quickly opened, and no less quickly filled. The most exaggerated hopes were raised, and the most groundless rumours set afloat; such as that Stanhope had received overtures at Paris to exchange Gibraltar and Port Mahon for some places in Peru! The South Sea trade was again vaunted as the best avenue to wealth; objections were unheard or over-ruled; and the friends of Lord Oxford might exult to see his visions adopted by his opponents.* In August, the stocks, which had been 130 in the winter, rose to 1000! Such general infatuation would have been happy for the Directors, had they not them "You remember when the South Sea was said to be Lord "Oxford's brat. Now the King has adopted it, and calls it his "beloved child: though perhaps you may say, if he loves it no "better than his son, it may not be saying much!" (Duchess of Ormond to Swift, April 18. 1720. 66 XI. 1720. selves partaken of it. They opened a third, and CHAP. even a fourth subscription, larger than the former; they passed a resolution, that from Christmas next their yearly dividend should not be less than fifty per cent.; they assumed an arrogant and overbearing tone. "We have made them Kings," says a Member of Parliament, "and they deal with every body as such!"* But the public delusion was not confined to the South Sea Scheme; a thousand other mushroom projects sprung up in that teeming soil. This evil had been foreseen, and, as they hoped, guarded against by Ministers. On the very day Parliament rose they had issued a Royal Proclamation against "such mischievous and dangerous undertakings, especially the presuming to act as a corporate body, or raising stocks or shares "without legal authority." But how difficult to enforce that prohibition in a free country! How impossible, when almost immediately on the King's departure, the Heir Apparent was induced to publish his name as a Governor of the Welsh Copper Company! In vain did the Speaker and Walpole endeavour to dissuade him, representing that he would be attacked in Parliament, and that "The Prince of Wales's Bubble" would be cried in Change Alley. It was not till the Company was threatened with prosecution, and exposed to risk, that His Royal Highness prudently withdrew, with a profit of 40,000l. * Mr. Brodrick to Lord Midleton, Sept. 13. 1720. CHAP. XI. Such an example was tempting to follow; the Duke of Chandos and the Earl of Westmoreland 1720. appeared likewise at the head of bubbles; and the people at large soon discovered that to speculate is easier than to work. Change Alley became a new edition of the Rue Quincampoix. The crowds were so great within doors, that tables with clerks were set in the streets. In this motley throng were blended all ranks, all professions, and all parties; Churchmen and Dissenters, Whigs and Tories, country gentlemen and brokers. An An eager strife of tongues prevailed in this second Babel; new reports, new subscriptions, new transfers, flew from mouth to mouth; and the voice of ladies (for even many ladies had turned gamblers) rose loud and incessant, above the general din. A foreigner would no longer have complained of the English taciturnity.* Some of the companies hawked about were for the most extravagant objects; we find amongst the number, "Wrecks to be fished for on "the Irish Coast-Insurance of Horses, and other "Cattle (two millions) — Insurance of Losses by "Servants-To make Salt Water Fresh -For building of Hospitals for Bastard Children-For * A French traveller, a few years afterwards, declares that the "Actions du Sud et les Galions d'Espagne" were almost the only subjects on which Englishmen would talk. In general, he says, we are quite silent. "L'on boit et fume sans parler. "Je connais un Anglais, qui, toutes les fois qu'on veut le forcer " à rompre le silence, a coutume de répondre, que parler c'est "gâter la conversation!" (Lettres d'un Français, tom. ii. p. 108. ed. 1745.) XI. 1720. "building of Ships against Pirates - For making CHAP. "of Oil from Sun-flower Seeds - For improving "of Malt Liquors - For recovering of Seamen's "Wages -For extracting of Silver from Lead"For the transmuting of Quicksilver into a mal"leable and fine Metal For making of Iron with For importing a Number of large Jack "Pit-coal For trading in Human Hair "For fatting of Hogs - For a Wheel for a Per"petual Motion.” * But the most strange of all, perhaps, was "For an Undertaking which shall in "due time be revealed." Each subscriber was to pay down two guineas, and hereafter to receive a share of one hundred with a disclosure of the object; and so tempting was the offer, that 1000 of these subscriptions were paid the same morning, with which the projector went off in the afternoon. Amidst these real follies, I can scarcely see any difference or exaggeration in a mock proposal which was circulated at the time in ridicule of the rest,"For the Invention of melting down Saw-dust and "Chips, and casting them into clean Deal Boards "without Cracks or Knots!" Such extravagances might well provoke laughter; but, unhappily, though the farce came first, there * Macpherson's Hist. of Commerce, vol. iii. p. 90. ed. 1805. Mr. Hutcheson observes, "To speak in a gaming style, the "South Sea stock must be allowed the honour of being the "Gold Table; the better sort of bubbles, the Silver Tables; "and the lower sort of these, the Farthing Tables for the "footmen!" (Treatises, p. 87.) XI. 1720. CHAP. was a tragedy behind. When the sums intended to be raised had grown altogether, it is said, to the enormous amount of three hundred millions*, the first check to the public infatuation was given by the same body whence it had first sprung. The South Sea Directors, craving for fresh gains, and jealous of other speculators, obtained an order from the Lords Justices, and writs of SCIRE FACIAS, against several of the new bubble companies. These fell, but in falling drew down the whole fabric with them. As soon as distrust was excited, all men became anxious to convert their bonds into money; and then at once appeared the fearful disproportion between the paper promises and the coin to pay. Early in September, the South Sea Stock began to decline: its fall became more rapid from day to day, and in less than a month it had sunk below 300. In vain was money drained from all the distant counties and brought up to London. In vain were the goldsmiths applied to, with whom large quantities of stock were pawned: most of them broke or fled. In vain was Walpole summoned from Houghton to use his influence with the Bank; for that body, though it entered into negotiations, would not proceed in them, and refused to ratify a contract drawn up and proposed by the Minister.† Once lost, the public confidence * Tindal's Hist. vol. vii. p. 357. +Hutcheson's Second Postscript, Sept. 24. 1720. Treatises, p. 89. See also in my Appendix a letter from Lord Hervey to H. Walpole, Sept. 12. 1735. |