ii£l- '' \ ,•», ^T FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY COLLECTED BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY 186, STRAND, I.ONDOM. , ^ or«J.t' "g-uinea pe:,r annum.- Books '«'j;)^nge(l at the Bailway Stations without extii|£^p^ Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030206696 CHROMCLES AND CHARACTERS STOCK EXCHANGE, ET JOHN FRANCIS, AUTriOK OF THE ' histohy of the bank of England, its times and traditions," etc. BTE'W EDITIOBT. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1855. A'-<^- I.OMnoN; A. nii.l a, A SpoTTESWoonE, Neu-.sti-eft-.Sciu«i-e. I u/^yic-jT Cornell University Library HG4577 .F81 1855 i '^''''ii'iiiiiiiiiliiS'i'lS,.,S'?,?.r?,P.!,?''s of the stock olin 3 1924 030 206 696 IBTSCEIBED, BT PERjnSSION, TO SAMUEL GURNET, Esq. THIS TOLUME, KECORDING CITY SCENES, AND RELATING TO CITY TRANS- ACTIONS, IS, TO SAMDEI, GURNET, ONE OE LONDON'S JIOST EMINENT CITIZENS, RESPECTFUIXT BEDIOATED, BY mS JIOST OBEDIENT SERVANT, JOHN FllANCIR PREPACE THE TIIIED EDITION. The present Chancellor's mode of paying tlie expenses of war may be advantageously contrasted with the plans of Mr. Pitt, and other ministers, during previous contests. Various notes, — historical and literary, — have been added since the first edition ; and the writer thanks the press, and the public, for the favour with which they have received his " Clu'onicles and Characters of the Stock Exchange." OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND. IX SPECTATOR. The volumes have a merit of their own : they are readable and inter- esting. The story of the Banls:, so far as charters and accounts "go, may be found tbere, with facts, and facts of value, from being bronght together. The author has also dug up many curious particuki-s of the early state of the Bank and its struggles, when goldsmiths presumed to rival it, and could even contemplate its ruin. ■WEEKLY DISPATCH. We hasten to observe, that the " History of the Bank " is decidedly one of the most important works to which the press has lately given birth, and that its interest is equivalent to its value. It records not only the rise, progress, and transactions of ihe Bank, but likewise gives an account of all the great financial schemes and monetary convulsions which have at any time exorcised an influence on the old lady of Threadneodle-street. ILLCSTKATED LONDON NEWS. Mk. Francis appears to have set about his work in the right spirit of rendering his subject at once amusing and instructive. He has accord- ingly produced two volumes rife with sterling information. Miscella- 'neons as the contents of these volumes are, we feel that it was hard to avoid dryness in one class of details and gossippiug i-n the other. These errors Mr. Francis has eschewed with rare judgment ; hence his book is never tedious, but invariably entertaining, and communicative of acceptable information. We have left ourselves little room to speak of ■the internal economy of the Bank, and the progressive ingenuity by which its management has been reduced to almost unerring certainty. This portion of the work presents very superior claims to our admira- tion, more especially the internal alterations of the Bank between 1839 and 1845 of Mr. Eay Smee. DOUGLAS JEEEOLD'S WEEK-LY HEWSPAPEK. Considering that this establishment has now been in existence for a century and a half, it is curious that its history was not written at an earlier date. Mr. Francis has undertaken to supply this deficiency, and has performed his task with ability. He has collected his materials with great industry, and displayed judgment in their classification. The style is clear and nervous, the narrative runs smoothly, and the com- ments on the events and measures recorded are impartial and discrimi- nating. These volumes have the merit of contaiuiug facts of enduring usefulness, which at any future date may be consulted with advantage. They will be permanently valuable for reference. Whatever relates to the direct or indirect action of the establishment in Threadneedle-street ou the mercantile interest of the community, are recorded in these volumes. A valuable and concise Appendix closes the work. ■ NOTICES OF THE PKESS lis character, as a book of interert, of instrttction and amnsement, ot narrative and adventure, of skilful selection, wide gleaning, and liglit and pleasant chasing after the subjects of which it treats, it seems to us the model of a book on the popular side of a subject which has also its abstract and unpopular side. Mr. Francis has something for everybody's humour ; and we may safely recommend the " History of the Bank of England" as more amusing than most of the novels of the day. LONDON MERCURY. The early history is traced with remarkable care and fidelity. Nor is its middle and later history less faithfully developed. The stirring periods from 1793 to the present time are described with a master hand, graphically, boldly, and impartially, in the true spirit of historical writing, whose aim is the enunciation of truth. LONDON MERCUBTf fseeond notice). Me. Francis, whose "History of the Bank of England "is an indis- pensable acquisition to the library of the banker, merchant, and trades- man, and constitutes a desirable ornament to that of the nobleman and gentleman, will take the lead of those who have successfully cultivated commercial literature. An elaborate and able production, which we honestly recommend as an invaluable contribution to literature. TIMES, CoNSiDEElNG the vast importance of the Bank of Englund, we are surprised that its authenticated history has not been published until now. The task, long desired, has been perfcrmed at last : its execution could not have fallen into better hands. Mr. Francis writes with great ability ; his composition is correct ; his style free, flowing, and forcible. He has produced two volumes replete with facts the most important to the political economist, the merchant, and the statesman, while, by blendino- a vast quantity of illustrative anecdotes with this, he shows that a work may amuse as well as instruct— that the romance of fact often exceeds that of fictifln. We shall not follow Mr. Francis through his historical details. They are of great interest. Those who have read Cobbett's celebrated "paper against gold," in which he vilifies the Bank for its suspension of cash payments in 1797, will be surprised to find how completely the assertions of that clever unscrupulous writer are dis- proved by the plain narrative of facts which Mr. Francis has given The length of our notice will show now highly we estimate this history" It cannot fail to become a standard work. ^ OESEKVEH. Pon one hundred and fifty years and npwards-years the most wo.- perous m the national annal._it has been the maiiistay of the stari, all financial operations, and yot there has been no rcgulJr 1 isfo y of tio OP IHE BANK OF ENGLAND. XI Bank of England. No pnblication could be better timed than tins, therefore, appearing as it does at a moment when all eyes are directed towards that important establishment, some in anxious hopes, others in deep hatred. It is one of the most amusing, and certainly not the least interesting, works that have ever been given to the public. It would be unjust to the author, as well as to the matter of his book, not to recommend it for general perusal. ECONOMIST. We might quote many more anecdotes, but we have taken enough to show the peculiar nature of this History of the Bank. Mr. Francis has made a subject that is generally repulsively dry, a matter of light reading. Instead of long rows of figures, he gives us curious aud interesting stories, gracefully told, and his book will be more extensively read than a mere political economical history. CKITIO. , To Mr. Francis must be given the credit of laborious research. He has spared no exertion to gather from all available sources the facts that relate directly or remotely to the Bank of England and its history. We ask those who may have been misled by the clamours against the currency bill and the Bank parlour, to read his description of the panic of 1825. banker's magazine. This is a most acceptable addition to banking literature. An accurate and impartial narrative of the principal events connected with the most important banking institution in the world, has long been wanted ; and Mr. Francis seems to have produced a book exactly of the kind required. The history he has written is as interesting as a fairy tale ; he has done what Johnson said Goldsmith could do, and he has done it well. He has also brought together into these two volumes an immense amount of reading. Every page contains something curious, or worthy of being remembered, and yet he has never foi-gotten that he was writing a history. Mr. Francis has executed his task in a most satisfactory manner, and has produced a book which must have a place in every gentleman's library in the kingdom. We recommend it to the banking profession, which they will find extremely useful for reference, veiy interesting for reading, and very valuable for the care and ability with ■which it has been prepared. pkasek's magazine. We write now, not for the present moment, but for all time ; and we do not hesitate to assert, that no one who takes an interest in monetary questions can safely dispense with the study of Mr. Francis's volumes, replete as they are with important facts, lucidly arranged and traced to their consequences with a sobriety of logic all too rare in such investi- gations. Xii NOTICES OF THE PHESS OF THE BANK OP ENGLAND. In the skilful hands of Mr. Frauds, this apparently ungrateful topic has yielded two highly amusing, lively, anecdotic, and, at the same time, instructive volumes. The "History of the Bank" has, we suspect, been well thumbed by many of those gentlemen who intend to favour us with their views on the "financial crisis" in the present session. If they can only make their speeches half as readable as Mr. Francis' book, the gain to the public will not be inconsiderable. The style is fresh, sparkling, and flowing. GLOBE. We congratulate Mr. Francis on having, produced one of the most suc- cessful works of its class which has appeared in this country. WEEKLY CHRONICLE. A PEEFECi and interesting account of the greatest company in England. We question if a first-rate romance would more charm the reader's attention. BE.ITISH BANNER. FtriL of interest to the statesman, the banker, and the merchant. It will be read with avidity by intelligent people generally, and by scholars prized as a great chapter in the history of their country's progress. DUBLIN aUARTERLY REVIEW. Me. Francis has shown that there is a romance in the history of the Bank of England, and has given a book that is valuable to the old and charming to the young. He describes events clearly, and pourtrays characters boldly and truly, and justly merits the name of an historian, forcing his readers to think, and compelling them to arrive at just conclusions. ECLECTIC REVIEW. Consists in happy proportions of the agreeable and instructive. The light and the grave are mingled together ; the vivacity of anecdote enlivens the history of finance ; while economical science wears a more than commonly attractive countenance by being associated with the incidents and traditions of the monetary world. Mr. Francis merits the success he has attained. PREFACE THE FIEST EDITION, To gather the many remarkable incidents connected with the National Debt; to present an anecdotical sketch of the causes which necessitated, and the corruptions which increased it; to reproduce its principal characters; to detail the many evils of lotteries; to relate the difJSculties in the early history of railways ; to popularize those loans, of which the Poyais with its melancholy tragedy, and the Greek with its whimsical transactions, were such striking exemplars ; and to group these subjects around the Stock Exchange, is the object of a portion of the present volume. Any work which tends to familiarize the origin and progress of the National Debt, which shows that it was raised for no idle cause, and increased for no trifling- purpose, may be useful in the consideration of that encumbrance which must, sooner or later, be reduced or repudiated. Vlll PREFACE TO THE EIEST EDITIOX. The volume does not profess to be statistical — there are abundant works of a financial kind upon the subject. Mr. Van Sommer's valuable Tables, to which the writer acknowledges his obligations, and which, with Mr. Wil- kinson's Law of the Public Funds, should be possessed by every member of the Stock Exchange ; the works of M°Culloch, of Hamilton, of Grellier, of Fenn, render such a production unnecessary. The present volume is a popular narrative of the money power of England, intended to be at once interesting and suggestive. , Shooter's Hill. CONTENTS. Chapieb I. ..... . 1 Ancient mode of supporting Governments — Ignorance of Political Economy — Mercantile Greatness — Early supplies — Tulip Mania — Accession of 'WOliam. Chaptee II. . . . . . . 14 The earliest National Debt — History of Tontines— Of the Money interest, its origin, extravagance and folly — Eoyal Exchange — Eirst irredeemable debt — Tricks of the Brokers — Jobbing in East India Stock — Ealse reports — Importance of the English Eunds — Picture of the Alley — Systematic Jobbing of Sir Henry Eurnese, Medina, and Marlborough — Thomas Guy, a dealer in the Alley. Ceapiee III. ...... 83 Enormous bribery by "WiOiam — Increased Taxation — Speech of Sir Charles Sedley — "Wrongs of the soldiers — Defence of "William — Moral disorganization of the country — Eirst Exchequer bUl fraud — Eirst foreign loan — Komantio fraud in 1715 — Political fraud of 'Change AUey — Interfe- rence of the House of Peers — Eirst hoax. Chaptee IV. . . . . . . 61 Charitable Corporation Eraud — Its discovery — Appalling effects, and remedy — Marlborough's victories, their history, and the Loans they brought — ^Augmented importance of the Stock Exchange — Dislike to the members — Increased Loans — Difficulties in procuring them — Statement of Sir Kobert "Walpole — Gifts of Contractors to Clothiers — Eirst payment of Dividends by the Bank — South Sea anecdotes. X CONTENTS. Chapieb v. .••••• '^ Life of Thomas Guy — Imposition in Sailors' Tickets — Toreign Loan attempted — Sir John Barnard — Expresses of the Jobbers — Foreign Commissions — Origin of Time Bargains — Attempt to stop them — Its inadequacy — Proposal to reduce the interest on the National Debt — Opposition of Sir Eobert "Walpole — Wew mode of raising Loans — Comparative interest in Land and Funds — Punishment of Manasseh Lopez — The first reduction of Interest — Life of Sir John Barnard. Chapiee VI. ...... 91 Origin of New Loans — Fraud of a Stock-Broker — East India Stock — Sketch of Samson Grideon, the great Jew-broker — East India Company — Eestriction of its dividends — Libe- rality to its clerks — Important decision — Eobbery at Jonathan's — Curious calculation concerning the National Debt. Chapiee YII. . . . . . 114 Crisis of 1772 — Indian adventurers, their ostentation, their character— Failure of Douglas, Heron and Co. — Neale, Fordyce and Co. — Sketch of Mr. Fordyce — His success in the Alley — Alarm of his partners — His artifioe — His failure — General Bankruptcy — Liberality of a Nabob — Eeply of a Quaker Witticism of John "Wilkes — "War of American independence Artifices of Ministers — Anecdote of Mr. Atkinson — Yalue of life on the Stock Exchange— Longevity of a Stock-broker. Chapiee "VIII. . . . _ _ too Invention of Lotteries— The first Lottery— Employed by the State — Great increase— Eagerness to subscribe — Evils of Lotteries— Suicide through them— Superstition— Insurances —Spread of gambling— Promises of Lotteries— Humorous Episode— Legal interference— Parliamentary Eeport— Lot- tery drawing— Picture of Morocco men— Their great evil- Lottery puiflag-Epitaph on a chancellor-Abolition of Lotteries. CONTENTS. XI Chaptek IX. . . . . . 165 Wholesale Jobbing — Insurance on sick men — ^False intel- ligence — Uselessness of Sir Jobn Barnard's act — Origin of the black board — Opposition to Loans — Lord Chatham's opinion of Jobbers — Inviolability of English funds — Parisian Banking Houses — Proposition to pay off the National Debt — Extravagance of the Contractors — Lord George Gordon's opiaion of them — Members' contracts — llew system adopted — Abraham Goldsmid — Bankers' coalition broken by him — His munificence — His death — Sensation in the city. Chapiek X. . . . . . . 187 Curious forgery — Its discovery — Loan of 1 79 6 — Its manage- ment — ^French Eevolution and its effect — List of subsidies to foreign powers — Eemoval of business from 'Change Alley — ^Erection of the present Stock Exchange — Loyalty Loan — Preliminaries of Peace — ^Its effect — Hoax on the Stock Exchange — ^War renewed — Great fraud on the Jobbers — Its discovery — Eights of Stock Brokers. Chapiek XL . . , • • 216 Unfounded charge — Joint Stock Companies — Speculators — Mark Sprot — Sketch of the house of Baring— Policies on the , life of Buonaparte — Kumours of his death — David Eioardo — Porgery of Benjamin "Walsh — Excitement of the nation — Increase of the National Debt — Sinking Fund — Unclaimed Dividends — Eranois Baily. CnAPiEB XII. ..... 243 Eeview of the National Debt — Opinions — Bolingbroke — Financial Eeform Association — Extravagance of Govern- jnent — Schemes for paying off the National Debt — Eeview of them — Proposals for debentures. xii CONTENTS. CflAPiEE XIII. 259 Monetary exoitemeat — Approaches to tlie Stock Exchange —Gold Company — Equitable Loan Company — ^Frauds in companies— Loan to foreign States — Poyais Bubble. Chapter XIV. ..... 280 Foreign Loan — Greek Loan — Its mismanagement — As- serted Jobbing — Mr. Hume — Dr. IBowring — Quarterly Eeview — Proposed Tax on Transfers. CiiAPiEE XT. ..... 293 Sketch of the life of Eothsohild — Comes to England — Introduction of Foreign Loans — Large Purchases — Anecdotes concerning Eothsohild — His diiBoulties and annoyances — His death and burial — Last crisis on the Stock Exchange. Ceapieb XYL . . . . . 318 Legends of the Stock Exchange — Mr. Dunbar — Duke of Is'ewcastle — ^French Amhassador — Extraordinary incident — Fortunate adventure — Morals and manners of the Stock Exchange — Its constitution and arrangements. CuAPiER XVII. ..... 338 Life Assurance — Its benefit — Its commencement — Suicide of an insurer — Insurance of invalid lives — The Gresham — Sketch of the West Middlesex delusion. Appeedix. ...... 355 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEES STOCK EXCHANGE. CHAPTER I. AlfOIENT MODE OF SUPPOETINQ GOTBTENMENTS — IGNOEAUCE OF POMTICAl ECONOMY — MEHOAimLE GKEATNESS — EAELT SUPPLIES — TULIP MABIA — • ACCESSION OF WILLIAM. The national debt has been designated by some a national nuisance : by others it has been termed a national necessity. In the earher history of the world, when war was a war for dominion, and spohation followed conquest, the victor returned rich with the trea- sures of conquered states, and his captive paid trebly the expenses of the war. It was thus that the mistress of the world became an emporium for the gathered wealth of temples, for the gorgeous ornaments of a subdued B xll CONTENTS. CflAMBR XIII. 259 Monetary excitement — Approaches to tte Stock Exchange —Gold Company— Equitable Loan Company— Erauds in companies— Loan to foreign States — Poyais Bubble. Chaptee XIV. . . . • • 280 Eoreign Loan — Greek Loan — Its mismanagement — As- serted Jobbing — Mr. Hume — Dr. IBowring — Quarterly Ee view — Proposed Tax on Transfers. CiiiPTEB XV. ..... 293 Sketch of the life of Eothsohild — Comes to England — Introduction of Eoreign Loans — Large Purchases — Anecdotes concerning Eothsohild — His difficulties and annoyances — His death and burial — Last crisis on the Stock Exchange. CnAPTEE XVL ..... 318 Legends of the Stock Exchange — Mr. Dunbar — Duke of Newcastle — ^French Ambassador — Extraordinary incident — Eortunate adventure — Morals and manners of the Stock Exchange — Its constitution and arrangements. CiiAPiEK XVII. ..... 338 Life Assurance — Its benefit — Its commencement — Suicide of an insurer — Insurance of invalid lives — The Gresham — Sketch of the "West Middlesex delusion. Ari'EKDix. ...... 355 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS STOCK EXCHANGE. CHAPTER I. AXSCTEST MODE OE STJPPOHTINO QOTEENMENTS — IGNOBAITOE OF POLITIOAIi EOONOMT — MEBCAHTILE GKEAIKE3S — EAKLY SUPPLIES — TULIP MAHIA — ACCESSION OE "WILLIAja. The national debt has been designated by some a national nuisance: by others it has been termed a national necessity. In the earher history of the world, when war was a war for dominion, and spohation followed conquest, the victor returned rich with the trea- sittes of conquered states, and his captive paid trebly the expenses of the war. It was thus that the mistress of the world became an emporium for the gathered wealth of temples, for the gorgeous ornaments of a subdued B 2 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTERS aristocracy, and for the gold which had Med the treasmes of barbarous but luxurious nations. These accumulations, together with annual tributes, prevented the formation of a public debt. The Goth, when he poured from his barren recesses upon the cultivated plains of Italy, ignorant of political economy as a science, felt it as a principle, and more than repaid the expenses of his foray by exacting the riches of imperial Rome. Modern Europe teaches us to similar purport; and Napoleon, in those wars which to some a memory, are to others history, acted upon the same plan, and made Paris a receptacle for the spoil of many nations. In the early annals of England, the feudal system prevented the creation of a national debt. The Saxon serf was compelled to follow the banner of his Norman master. The Norman Baron, at the command of his Sovereign, called his followers to the field, and having enriched himself, retraced his path to his mountain fastness and his island home. In these rude ages the art of levying money was unknown; and victorious armies were often dispersed for want of funds. The conqueror of Pavia was compelled to disband 24,000 men because he could not raise taxes to support them; and it is a suggestive fact, that, when daring OV THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 3 the reign of the third Henry, it was necessary to pro- cure £50,000, and a tax of £1 2s. 4d. was levied on each parish in England, it only produced about £9,500, there being but 8,500 parishes; so ignorant were the authorities of the machinery of the state they governed. From a very early period the mercantile capacity of England has been developed ; and her insular position, which at once suggested and favoured commerce, was taken advantage of by laymen and churchmen. Bishops entered into speculations in herrings, and abbots did not disdain to unite the smuggling with a more saintly calhng. But there were other and more legitimate followers of that pursuit which has since made the name of an English merchant a symbol of English greatness. Among these William de la Pole stands prominently forward, and the founder of the house of Suffolk is familiar to the student of commercial his- tory. William Canyng — ^that name so intimately con- nected vrith the fortunes of " the marvellous boy who perished in his pride " — and Richard Whittington, the founder of many princely charities, and dear to house- hold memories — were others, whose munificence was only surpassed by their wealth. 4 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS The records of the Exchequer prove that barbaric acts were performed to obtain money ; that justice was openly bought and sold ; that the supreme judicature of the country could only be approached by bribes to the monarch. The county of Norfolk paid a large sum to Henry I. to secure fair dealing. Yarmouth paid heavily, to prevent a king from violating his own charter. Commerce was controlled, and trade was harassed. Corporations and monopolies were created at the monarch's pleasure ; and, as nothing was too small to escape his notice, so nothing was too large to escape his grasp. The wife of Hugh de Neville paid two hundred hens to enjoy the society of her husband twelve hours in prison, and an abbot paid largely for permission to secm-e his wood from being stolen. To mitigate the king's anger, or obtain the king's services, money was equally necessary. Wlien Peer and Prior were sufficiently strong to resist, or sufficiently poor to escape, the Parmer and the Peasant were visited. The approach of the Com't was the approach of a plague; and men ran to conceal their effects and their persons until the royal plimderer had passed. , Extraordinary emergencies caused extraordinary OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE, 5 expenses; and the call to arms which resounded throughout Europe when Peter the Hermit preached dehverance to the captive Sepulchre, was responded to by Richard I. with the vehemence and energy of his character. He mortgaged the customs, and farmed the revenues : he exacted money from his subjects in pro- portion to their wealth ; and declared he would sell London itself rather than forego his cherished object. He feigned the loss of his signet, to procure fees ; and, to crown aU, resumed on his return the property he had previously sold, on the pretence that he had no right to ahenate it. Eang John adopted the notable plan of imprisoning the mistresses of the priests, confident that the money he could not obtain from their cupidity he would from their lust, Henry III. seized the merchandise of his subjects, and borrowed a large sum besides, for which he promised a high interest; a promise the Parliament refased to ratify. Edward I. took the money and plate of monasteries and churches, feigned a voyage to the Holy Land, and when funds were collected to aid him, kept the money, and refused to go. Edward HI. created monopoHes, exacted loans, levied arbitrary fines, imposed arbitrary taxes, and, notwithstanding the determined 6 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS remonstrances of the Commons, claimed the right of doing so at pleasure. Richard II. pawned the jewels of the Crown, sold the furniture of the Palace, went from place to place in the fashion of one soliciting alms, and was deposed partially because he extorted large sums which he never repaid. The reign of Henry V., brilliant as it was, would have proved yet more so, had an authorised mode of raising supplies been then organised. Although he took from all quarters, sold his jewels, and borrowed on the security of his Crown, he was often compelled to stop in a career of the most splendid success for lack of money. Edward IV. was called the handsomest tax-gatherer in his kingdom ; and when he kissed a widow because she gave more than he expected, it is said she doubled the amount, in expectation of a second kiss. Henry VII. adopted all modes and methods ; and, having levied a benevolence, made a large claim on those who lived frugally, because they must have saved by their frugality; while, if they Uved splendidly, they were dealt with as opulent. It must, however, be recorded of this monai'ch that he lent money, without interest, to many merchants whose capital was not sufficient for their commercial operations. When the eighth Henry attempted to raise OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 7 a forced loan of unusual amount, Avitli unusual rigour, the people said, if they were treated thus, " England was bond, and not free." The county of Suffolk rose in arms; and had not even this man's stubborn spuit quailed before it, the resistance would have changed to rebeUion. No sooner had the monarch exhausted aU Parhamentary supplies, than he carried out on a grand scale the robberies he had often achieved on a smaU one, by seizing the accumulated property of the monastic classes. In 1522, he required a general loan of 10 per cent, upon aU property from £20 to £300, and a higher rate on larger sums. By com'tesy, it was termed a loan ; but when, seven years afterwards, a subservient Parha- ment acquitted him of all obligation to pay it, a harsher name was recorded in the minds than the tongues of the people dared to express. To the English sovereign a certain power over com- merce had always been entrusted ; but Ehzabeth stretched her prerogative, and granted monopohes by scores. Prices rose enormously, and the evU was felt by every family in the realm. The House of Commons remonstrated ! When a long list of patents for mono- polies was read, one sturdy member demanded — " Is not bread there?" "Bread!" quoth one; "Bread!" cried 8 CHRONICLES AND CHASACTEES another. "Yea, bread!" said Mr. HackweU; "for, if care be not taken, bread will be tliere before next Parliament." Nor was this all : the coach of the chief minister was surrounded by the populace, menacing murmurs were heard cursing patents, and indignant voices declared that the old liberties of England should not be encroached on by new prerogatives. With admirable sagacity, the Queen saw the necessity of yielding, and did it while she ccmld with grace and dignity. But this sovereign improved upon the plans of her predecessors : she kept the temporahties of bishop- rics in her own hands for years, and appropriated the landed property of sees. Under the name of New Year's gifts, she extorted large sums from the frequenters of the Court ; she ordered companies to lend her money " — ^to borrow, if they did not possess it — and, if she had more than she required, she would return part, provided they would pay her interest for that on which she paid them nothing. To the citizen of the 19th century, this must appear a fable ; but it is a recorded fact, that Elizabeth borrowed money from the citizens, found she had more than she required, and, instead of repaying, re-lent it to them at 7 per cent, on the security of gold and silver plate. OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. Charles I.* seized the money of his merchants ; and his bonds were hawked about the streets, were offered to people as they left church, and sold to the highest bidder. The Commonwealth were debtors, on the security of the forfeited estates. Charles II. took money from IVance, shut up the Exchequer, borrowed from his friends, and did anything rather than run the risk of being again sent on his travels. Thus, it would seem, the exchequer of the earher monarchs was in the pockets of the people ; that of Henry VIII. in the sup- pressed monasteries ; Elizabeth in the corporations ; and Charles II. wherever he could find it. The abdication of James II. and the arrival of Wil- liam. III., form an era in the history of the monetary world. The plans adopted by the latter to crush the power of Erance, and raise the credit of England, were .the commencement of that great accumulation known as the National Debt, and the origin, though remote, of that building celebrated throughout Europe as the Stock Exchange., The rapid sketch now presented of * In Massinger's play of " The King and tlie Subject," the author says :— "Monies! we'll raise supplies what way we please, and force you to subscribe in blanks, to which we'll mulct you as we shall think fit." Charles I., in reading the play at Newmarket, wrote against the passage— "This is too insolent, and to be changed," 10 CHRONICLES AND CIIABACTERS the mode in wMch monies was supplied, confirms the remark of Mr. Macaulay, that "there can be no greater error than to imagine the device of meeting the exigencies of the State by loans was imported into our island by William III. From a period of immemorial antiquity, it had been the practice of every EngKsh Government to contract debts. What the Revolution introduced was, the practice of honestly paying them."* The earUest instance of that fatal love of specula- • The effect of a nation without money, of a state bankrupt, and of a soltliery unpaid, was strangely exemplified in 1626. The Spanish war was difficult to support, the monarch mortgaged his lands to public companies, the tables at court were abolished, the courtiers were put on board wages, it was rumoured that the pension list, at that time yery small, must be revoked. The unhappy descent of Buckingham on the island of Ehe, spread dismay throughout the nation. Army and navy were alike unpaid ; mutinous soldiery thronged the streets ; the palace of the sovereign was not even sacred ; the Duke's apartments were crowded as he sate at dinner ; and though £30,000 would have quieted these disorderly men, the exchequer was unable to supply the amount ; and Buckingham in despair exclaimed : " If money were in the kingdom, it should be had." The system of forced loans was revived. Those who refused to lend were fined. Those who would not pay in purse were made to pay in person. The Common Council consented that an imposition should be laid on the citizens, and the latter travestied Guildhall into Yield-all. If a disti'css were proved, the goods of the recusant were rarely to be found ; or if discovered, no purchasei-s were to be met with ! At Hicks' Hall, the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Dorset sat to receive the loans, mocking and threatening the men who came before them. A wealthy merchant refused to lend two hundred pounds. He was required to do It, or to go to the army and serve it with cheese, he having formerly been a cheesemonger. Pride gave way to pocket, and the old man resumed for a time his former station. The prisons wore crowded with loan recusants. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 11 tion SO ruinous to the cliaracter and credit of all wIlo possess it, occurred ia 1634 j and the history of the Tulip mania in Holland is as instructive as that of any similar period. In the above year, the chief cities of the Netherlands engaged in a traffic winch destroyed commerce and encouraged gambling, which enhsted the greediness of the rich and the desire of the poor, which raised the value of a flower to more than its weight in gold, and which ended, as all such periods have ended, in wild and wretched despair. The many were ruined, the few were emiched; and tulips were as eagerly sought in 1634 as Railway Scrip in 1844. The speculation was conducted on simUar principles. Bargains were made for the dehvery of certam roots, and when, as in one case, there were but two in the market, lordship and land, horses and oxen, were sold to pay the deficiency. Contracts were made, and thousands of florins paid for Tulips, which were never seen by broker, by buyer, or by seUer. For a time, as usual, aU won, and no one lost. Poor persons became wealthy. High and low traded in flowers ; sumptuous entertainments confirmed their bargains ; notaries grew rich ; and even the unimaginative Hollander fancied he saw a sure and certain prosperity before him. People 12 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS of all professions turned their property into cash ; houses and furniture were offered at ruinous prices; the idea spread throughout the country that the passion for Tulips would last for ever ; and when it was known that foreigners were seized with the fever, it was believed that the wealth of the world would concentrate on the shores of the Zuyder Zee, and that poverty would become a tradition in HoUand. That they were honest in their behef is proved by the prices they paid; and the mania must indeed have been deep, when, as recorded by various authorities, goods to the value of 2,500 florins were given for one species; and while another commonly fetched two thousand florins, a thu'd was valued at a new carriage, two grey horses, and a complete harness. Twelve acres of land were paid for a fourth; and 60,000 florins were made by one man in a few weeks. But the panic came at last. Confidence vanished ; contracts were void ; defaulters were announced in every town in HoUand ; di-eams of wealth were dissipated ; and they who, a week before, rejoiced in the possession of a few Tulips which would have xeahzed a princely fortune, looked sad and stupified on the miserable bulbs before them, valueless in themselves, and unsaleable at any price. To pany the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 13 blow, the Tulip merchants held public meetings, and made pompous speeches, in which they proved that their goods were worth as much as ever, and that a panic was absm-d and imjust. The speeches produced great applause, but the bulb continued valueless ; and, though actions for breach of contract were threatened, the law refused to take cognizance of gambling transactions. Even the wisdom of the Deliberate Coimcil at the Hague was at fault, and to find a remedy was beyond the power of the Government. Many years passed before the country recovered from the shock, or com- merce revived from the depression which followed the Tulipomania ; and which, not confined exclusively to Holland, visited London and Paris, and gave a fictitious importance to the Tulip in the two greatest capitals of the world. 14 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEUS CHAPTER 11. XIIB EAELIEST NATIONAL DEUT — HISTOKY OF TONTINES — OP THE MONEY INTEREST, ITS ORIGIN, EXTRAVAGANCE AND POLLY — ROYAL EXCHANGE— PIEST IRREDEEMAELB DEBT — TRICKS OP THE BROKERS JOBBING IN EAST INDIA STOCK. — ^PALSE EEPORTS — IMPORTANCE OP THE ENGLISH PUNDS — PICTURE OP THE ALLEY — SYSTEMATIC JOBBING OP SIR HENBY FURNESE, MEDINA AND MARLBOROUGH— THOMAS GUY, A DEALER IN THE ALLEY. The creation of a national debt has been attributed to the Dutch, but is really due to the Venetians. The immediate treasury of the Doge was exhausted, money was necessary, and the most eminent citizens of that great republic were called upon to redeem the credit of then- country. A Chamber of Loans was estabhshed, the contributors were made creditors, 4 per cent, was allowed as interest, and she " Who once held the gorgeous East in fee, And was the safeguard of the West," resumed her credit, and increased her power. So fruitful a source of wealth was not allowed to OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 15 fall into desuetude. The Florentine republic, ex- periencing a deficiency in its revenue, established a mount, allowed 5 per cent, interest, and, says Sir William Blackstone, these laid the foundation of our National Debt. The Dutch were not long following the example. When the great persecution occurred which forced the Spanish Jew — ^the aristocracy of the chosen race — from the place of his nativity, he brought with him to Holland the craft and the cunning of the people. He taught the Dutch to create an artificial wealth ; and the people of that repubhc, by its aid, maintaiued an attitude of independence, which long rendered them the envy and the hatred of the proud States which surrounded their territory. Their uidustry increased with the claims upon them. They cultivated their country with renewed perseverance ; they brought the spices of the rich and barbarous East to the shores of the cultivated and civihzed West; they opened new sources of profit; their merchant vessels covered the waters ; their navy was the boast of Europe ; their army was the scourge of the great Louis in the height of his pride and power. The markets of Holland evinced a full activity ; the towns of Holland increased in importance ; and the capital of HoUanrl became 16 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS the centre of European money transactions, partly in consequence of the great bigotry which banished the Jew from Spain. When, therefore, the chief of that small yet powerful repiibhc was called to sit upon an Enghsh throne, he brought with him many of those whose brains had contrived, and whose cunning had contributed to produce, these great changes ; and from his reign, whatever evils may have arisen from a reckless waste of money, there commenced that principle which, for a century and a half, has operated on the fortunes of aU Europe — which proclaimed that, under every form and phase of circumstance, in the darkest hour of gloom as in the proudest moment of grandeur, the inviolable faith of England should be preserved towards the pubhc creditor. Up to this period, the only national debt on which interest was acknowledged, was that sum which had been seized on in the Exchequer; and even these dividends were irregularly paid. Many debts had been incurred by our earUer kings, but all the promises and pledges which had been given for their redemption were broken directly the money was gained; and it remained, we repeat, for William, whatever his errors may have been, to establish the principle that faith to the public creditor must be inviolate. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 17 The reign of tMs king was productive of all modes and methods of borrowing. Short and long annuities, annuities for Hves, tontines, and lotteries, alike occupied his attention. The former are stiU in existence, the two latter have fallen to decay. The lotteries have been expunged from the Statute-book, and their evils will be fully developed at a fitting period ; while to the brain of a Neapolitan, and the city of Paris, WUliam was indebted for the knowledge of the tontine. Lorenzo Tonti, in the middle of the seventeenth century, with the hope of making the people of Erance forget their discontents in the excitement of gambling, suggested to Cardinal Mazarin the idea of annuities, vidth the benefit to the survivors of those incomes which fell by death. The idea was approved by the cardinal and allowed by the court. Parliament, however, refused to register the decree, and the scheme failed. Tonti again endeavoured to establish a society on this plan, and to build by its means a bridge over the Seine; but the unfortunate inventor christened it Tontine, and not a man in Paris would trust his money to a project with an Itahan title. A complete enthu.siast, he allowed Paris no rest on his favourite theme, and proposed to raise money for the benefit of the clergy in c 18 CHRONICLES AND CnABACTBUS the same way. The assembly reported on the scheme, and the report contamed all that could flatter the projector's vanity, while it refused permission to act on it; and again it was abandoned. The idea, however, which could not be carried out for the people, which was refused for the benefit of the city, and not allowed for the clergy, was claimed as a right for the crown ; and in 1689, Louis XIV. created the first tontine to meet his great expenses. Prom this period they became frequent; and William was too determined to humble the pride of his rival, not to avail himself of this among other modes of raising funds.* Three years previous to the settlement of the monarch on the thi'one of England, the revocation of that law which was knovra as the Edict of Nantes, sent thousands of refugees to this country. They brought with them skill, capital, and industry. They created a movement in almost every branch of trade. They introduced novelties of which we were previously * The tontine is simply a loan raised on life annuities. In consideration of a certain amount paid by a certain number of persons, goTernment grants to each a life annuity. As the annuitants die, tbeir sbares are divided among the euTTivors, until the annuity granted to the whole becomes centered in the longest liver— at his death the transaction ceases. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 19 ignorant. They taught ns the manufacture of those fine articles for which Erance had long been celebrated. Our sUks, satins, and velvets improved under their dkection. The skilled mechanic taught us the art of making clocks, watches, and cutlery ; and when, in 1689, the Bill of Rights solemnly guaranteed the Hberties and the property of this people, an additional stimulus was given to those industrial arts which have made England pre-eminent among the nations. It gave also an increased importance to a class whicb hitkerto had been scarcely recognised, but which from that period augmented the prosperity of the country, competed witk the conservative party, and assisted in paying tke taxes heaped on the people. They were the origin of tke monied interest — a title which, famUiar to the reader of the present day, was miknown imtil 1692. It was then arrogated by those who saw the great advantage of entermg into transactions in the funds for the aid of government. The title claimed by them in pride, was employed by others in derision : and the pm-se-proud importance of men grown suddenly rich, was a common source of ridicule. Wealth rapidly acquii-ed has been invariably detri- mental to the manners and the morals of the nation, 20 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTEES and in 1692 the I'ule "was as absolute as now. The monicd interest, intoxicated by the possession of wealth which their wildest dreams had never imagined, and incensed by the cold contempt with which the landed interest treated them, endeavoured to rival the latter in that magnificence which was one characteristic of the country families. Their carriages were radiant with gold ; their persons were radiant with gems ; they married the poorer branches of the nobility; they eagerly purchased the princely mansions of the old aristocracy, and " Hemsley, once proud Buckingliam's delight, Slides to a Scriv'ner or a city Knights The brush of Sir Godfrey Kneller, and the chisel of Gains Gibber, were employed in perpetuating then- features. Their wealth was rarely grudged to humble the pride of a Howard or a Gavendish ; and the money gained by the father was spent by the son in acquiring a distinction at the expense of decency. They were seized upon by the satirist and the dramatist as a new object of ridicule ; and under various forms they have become a stage property. The term which they had chosen to distinguish them became a word of contempt ; and the monied class was at once the envy and the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 21 laugt of the toAioi.* Nor was it until that interest became a great and most important one, that the term assumed its right meaning, or that the monied contended witli the landed interest on a more than equal footing. The former have always clung to the house of Brunswick ; the latter have often used their exertions against it. In time, however, the naonied became a landed interest, and vied in taste as well as magnificence with the proudest of England's old nobility. Among these was Sir Robert Clayton, director of the Bank, whose banquetting room was wainscoted with cedar whose viUa was the boast of the Surrey hills, whose entertainments imitated those of kina;s, and whose judicious munificence made him the pride of that great city to the representation of which he was called by acclamation. But there were other and less reputable directors of the great Bank ; and a pampMet pubhshed shortly afterwards, drew public attention to acts which * When Addison's Cato was produced, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, or Sir Gibby — as lie was more familiarly termed — was employed to head the city interest in its favour. His auxiliaries proved more used to tontines than tragedy ; and escited the ridicule of the wits and critics by bestowing their applause where it was least required. Sir Gilbert was governor of the Bank, and the union of commerce with literature is, therefore, gratifying. It was of this gentleman Pope wrote :^ " Heathcote himself and such large acred men, Lords of fat Esham or of Lincoln fen," 23 CHEONICLES AND CHARACTEES either prove that morality in one commercial age is immorality in the next, or that some of the governors of the corporation were wofully deficient in the organ of conscientiousness. In the Royal Exchange, erected for less speculative and more mercantile pursuits, were the early transac- tions of the monied interest in the funds carried on. In 1695, its walls resounded with the din of new projects; nor could a more striking scene be conceived than that presented in the area of this building. The grave Fleming might be seen, making a bargain with the earnest Venetian. The representatives of fkms from every civilized nation — the Erenchman with his vivacious tones, the Spaniard with his dignified bearing, the Italian with his melodious tongue — might be seen in all the variety of national costume ; and the flowing garb of the Turk, the fm'-trunmed coat of the Fleming, the long robe of the Venetian, the short cloak of the Englishman, were sufficiently striking to attract the eye of the painter to a scene so varied. There, too, the sober manner of the citizen formed a strong contrast to the com^tier, who came to refill his emiJty purse: and there, also, as at present, might be seen the broken-down merchant, pale, haggard, acd OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 23 tlireadbare, haunting tlie scene of Ms former glory, passing Ms now vaMeless time among those who scarcely acknowledged his presence, and as he had probaMy dined with Duke Humphrey, supped with Sir Thomas Gresham.* " Trampling the Bourse's marble twice a day, Thougli little coin thy purseless pockets line, Tet with great company thou art taken up, For often with Duke Humphrey dost thou dine, And often with Sir Thomas Gresham sup." A new impulse had been given to trade, and the nation was beginning to feel the effect of the revolution. William had abeady tried Ms power in the creation of a national debt : jobbing in the English funds and East India Stock succeeded ; and the Royal Exchange became — ^what the Stock Exchange has been since 1700 — the rendezvous of those who having money, hoped to increase it, and of that yet more numerous and pretend- ing class, who having none themselves, try to gain it from those who have. The charter granted by WilUam to the Corporation of the Bank of England, is the first instance of a debt bequeathed to posterity. Annuities had hitherto been the mode of raising suppUes, and the day, therefore, * To sup with Sir Thomas Gresham, bore then the same meaning as to dine ■with Duke Humphrey. 24 CHEONICLES AND CHARACTERS whicli witnessed the establishment of the Bank is worthy of notice, as being also the day on which William laid the foundation of an irredeemable national debt. It was soon found that the duties appropriated to the various payments of interest and annuities were insuffi- cient to meet the claims. In 1697, the national debt amounted to twenty millions, and the revenue was deficient five millions. The payment ia consequence grew uncertain, and the monied men of the day, watching the course of events, made large sums out of the distresses of government. " The citizens," says an old writer on the subject, " began to dechne trade, and tm-n usurers." To prevent this, a law was passed against the stock- brokers and jobbers, which hmited the number of the former, enacted some severe regulations, and made some severe remarks upon the entire body. At this period the broker had a walk upon the Royal Exchange, devoted to the funds of the East India and other great corporations ; and many of the terms now in vogue among the initiated, arose from their dealings with the Stock of the East India Company. Jobbing in the great chartered corporations was thoroughly OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 25 understood. Reports and rumours were as plentiful tten as now. No sooner was it known ttat one of the fine vessels of the India Company, laden with gold and jewels from the east, was on its way, than every method was resorted to. Men were employed to whisper of hurricanes which had sunk the well-stored ship ; of quicksands which had swallowed her up ; of war which had commenced when peace was unbroken; or of peace being concluded when the factories were in the utmost danger. Nor were the brains of the speculators less capable than now. If at the present day a banker con- descends to raise a railway bubble 50 per cent., the broker of that period understood his craft sufl&ciently to cause a variation in the price of East India Stock of 263 per cent. ; and complaints became frequent that the Royal Exchange was perverted from its legitimate purpose, and that the jobbers — the term was applied ignominiously — ought to be driven from a spot polluted by their presence. Mines of gold, silver, and copper, were so temptingly promised, that the entire town pursued the deception. Tricks and stratagems were plentiful; the wary made fortunes, and the unwary were ruined. The Million Bank owes its origin to 1695, and it long 26 CHEONICLES AND CHAEACTERS preserved its credit, though without corporate powers. It owed its rise to many of the London Bankers, whn lent out money on pledges. They then bought tickets in King William's Million Lottery in 1695, from which they were called the Company of the Million Bank. The Directors also pm*chased reversions of the 14 per cent. Annuities, and admitted the proprietors to shares in their joint stock of £500,000. They divided 5 per cent, yearly between their proprietors, till 1728, when the interest was reduced to 4 per cent. This Bank, or rather the shadow of it, was in existence to a very late period. In 1698, the dealers and jobbers in the funds and share market, annoyed by the objections made to then* remaining in the Royal Exchange, and finding their numbers seriously increase, deemed it advisable to go to 'Change Alley, as a large and unoccupied space, where they might carry on their extensive operations. " The centre of jobbing is in the kingdom of 'Change Alley and its adjacencies," said a pamphleteer a few years after. " The limits are easily surrounded in about a minute and a-half. Stepping out of Jonathan's into the Alley, you turn your face full south; moving on a few paces, and then turning due east, you advance OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 37 to Garraway's ; from tlience, going out at tlie other door, you go on still east into Birchin Lane ; and then, halting a little at the Sword Blade Bank, you imme- diately face to the north, enter Cornhill, visit tAvo or three petty provinces there on your way to the west ; and thus having boxed your compass, and sailed round the stock-jobbing globe, you turn into Jonathan's again." The English fands were assuming a greatness they have ever since maintained. The Hebrew capitalist, who came over with WUliam, had increased the impor- tance of the jobbers by joining them. The English merchant — even at this early period — found that money might be gained in the new operation ; and 'Change Alley, so well known in parhamentary debates and the correspondence of the time as "the Alley," was for a century the centre of aU dealings in the funds. Here assembled the sharper and the saint ; here jostled one another the Jew and the Gentile ; here met the corn-tier and the citizen; here the calmness of the gainer contrasted with the despair of the loser; and here might be seen the carriage of some minister, into which the head of his broker was anxiously stretched to gain the intelligence which was to raise or depress 28 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS the market. In one comer miglit be witnessed tlie anxious, eager countenance of the occasional gambler, in strong contrast with the calm, cool demeanour of the man whose trade it was to deceive. In another the Hebrew measured his craft with that of the Quaker, and scarcely came off victorious in the contest ; while in one place, appropriated to him, stood the founder of hospitals, impressing with eagerness upon his com- panion the bargain he was about to make in seamen's tickets. It was soon felt practically that the air of England is cold, and its climate variable. The more respectable among the jobbers, therefore, gathered beneath the walls of one of those coffee-houses which formed so marked a feature of London life in the eighteenth century, rnitil the chance became a customary visit, and the coffee- house known as Jonathan's became the regular rendez- vous of all the dealers in Stock, and consequently the scene of transactions as extensive as any the world ever witnessed. In 1701, the character of those who met in 'Change Alley was not very enviable. It was said, and said truly, that they undermined, impoverished, and de- stroyed all with whom they came in contact. " They OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE, 29 can ruin men silently," says a writer of the period, with great vehemence; "undermine and impoverish, fiddle them out of their money, by the strange, unheard-of engines of interest, discount, transfers, tallies, deben- tures, shares, projects, and the devO. and all of figures and hard names." Everything which could inflate the hopes of the schemer, was brought into operation by the brokers. If shares were dull, they jobbed in the funds, or tried exchequer bills ; and if these failed, rather than remain idle, they dealt in bank-notes at 40 per cent, discount. These new modes of gambhng seized upon the town with a violence which sober citizens could scarcely understand. Their first impulse was to laugh at the stories currently circulated, of fortunes lost and won; but when they saw men who were yesterday thread- bare pass them to-day in their carriages ; when they saw wealth which it took then- plodding industry years of patient labour to acquire, won by others in a few weeks, unable to resist the temptation, the greatest of the city merchants deserted their regular vocations, and speculated in the newly-produced stocks. " The ■ poor Enghsh nation," says a writer, "run a madding after new inventions, whims, and projects, and this 30 CHUONICLES AND CHARACTEUS unhappy ingredient my dear countrymen have in their temper ; they are violent, and prosecute their projects eagerly." No sooner had the members of the jobbing com- munity taken their quarters in 'Change AUey, than the City of London was seized with alarm, and tried to keep the brokers at the Royal Exchange. They grew indignant at their deserting so time-honoured a place, and bound them in pains and penalties not to appear in 'Change Alley. Pocket, however, triumphed over prerogative; brokers resorted where bargains were plentiful; 'Change Alley grew famous throughout England, but it was not till nearly a century and a quarter after its first transaction, and a quarter of a century after 'Change Alley ceased to exist as a sphere for, the stock-jobbers, that the ancient and useless pro- vision not to assemble in 'Change Alley, was expunged from the broker's bond. Among those who employed their great fortunes in the manner aUuded to, was Sir Henry Eurnese, a Director of the Bank of England. Throughout Holland, Elanders, France and Germany, he main- tained a complete and perfect train of intelligence. The news of the many battles fought at this period OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 31 was received first by Mm, and the fall of Namur added to his profits, owing to his early intelligence. On another occasion he was presented by William with a diamond ring, as a reward for some important informa- tion, and as a testimony of this monarch's esteem. But the temptation to deceive was too great even for this gentleman. He fabricated news ; he insinuated false intelligence ; he was the originator of some of those plans which, at a later period, were managed vnth so much effect. If Su- Henry wished to buy, his brokers were ordered to look gloomy and mysterious, hint at important news, and after a time sell. His movements were closely watched ; the contagion would spread ; the speculators grew alarmed ; prices be lowered 4 or 5 per cent. — for in those days the loss of a battle might be the loss of a crown — and Sir Henry Purnese would reap the b^efit by employing diflPerent brokers to purchase as much as possible at the reduced price. Large profits were thus made ; but a demoralizing spirit was spread throughout the Stock Exchange. Bankrupts and beggars sought the same pleasure in which the millionaire indulged, and often with similar success. The wealthy Hebrew, Medina, accompanied Marl- borough in all his campaigns ; administered to the 32 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS avarice of the great captain by an annuity of six thousand pounds per annum; repaid himself by expresses con- taining intelligence of those great battles which fire the English blood to hear them named ; and Ramihes, Oudenarde, and Blenheim administered as much to the purse of the Hebrew as they did to the glory of England. In the midst of these excitements arises a name which, to the dwellers in London, is well known. Thomas Guy, the bible contractor, was a frequenter of 'Change AUey, and here, duly and daily, might be seen that figure, which the gratitude of his feUow men has rendered familiar in the statue raised to his memory. 01? THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 83 CHAPTER III. ENOHMOTJS BEIBEIIT BY TVILLIAM — INCKEASED TAXATION — SPEECH 0]? SIU CHARLES SEDLET — -WKONGS OE THE SOLDIERS— DEFENCE OE WILLIAM — MORAL DISOR- GANIZATION OE THE COUNTRY — EIRST EXCHEQUER BILL FRAUD — FIRST FOREIGN LOAN — ROMANTIC FRAUD IN 1715 — POLITICAL FRAUD OF 'CHANGE ALLEY — INTESPERENOB OF THE HOUSE OF PEERS— FIRST HOAX. The parliamentary records of William's reign are curious. The demands which he made for money, the hatred to TVance which he encouraged, and the frequent supplies he received, are remarkable features in his history.. Every art was employed ; at one time a mild remon- strance, at another a haughty menace, at a third the reproach that he had ventured his life for the benefit of the country. The bribery during this reign was the commencement of a system which has been very injurious to the credit and character of England. The support of the members was purchased with places, with con- tracts, with titles, with promises, with portions of loans, and with tickets in the lottery. The famous axiom of 34 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS Sir Robert Walpole was a practice and a principle witli William; he found that custom could not stale the infinite variety of its eflFect, and that so long as bribes continued, so long would supplies be free. Exorbitant premiums were given for money, and so low was public credit, and so great public corruption, that of 5 milhons granted to carry on the war, only 2-| millions reached the exchequer. Long annuities and short annuities, lottery tickets, and irredeemable debts, made their frequent appearance, and the duties, which principally date from this period, were most pernicious. The hearth tax was nearly as obnoxious as the poU tax. The custom and excise duties were doubled. The hawker and the hackney-coach driver, companies and corporations, land and labour, came under supervision. Births, burials, and bachelors were added to the list ; and whether a wife lost a husband, or whether a widow gained one, the effect was alike. Beer and ale, wine and vinegar, coal and culm, aU contributed to the impoverished state ; and although some, who looked back with regret, occasionally indulged their spleen, the general tone of the parliament was submissive. Still there were times when the truth was spoken ; and truths like the following were unpleasant : — ^ OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 35 " We have provided," said Sir Charles Sedley, " for the army ; we have provided for the navy ; and now we must provide for the hst. Truly, Mr. Speaker, 'tis a sad reflection that some men should waUow in wealth and places, while others pay away in taxes the fourth part of their revenue. The com^tiers and great ofiicers feel not the terms, while the country gentleman is shot through and through. His Majesty sees nothing but coaches and six, and great tables, and therefore cannot imagine the want and misery of the rest of his subjects. lie is encompassed by a company of crafty old courtiers." The corrupt transactions which tended so greatly to increase the national debt are very remarkable. The assembled Commons declared in a solemn vote, "it is notorious that many millions are unaccounted for."® Mr. Hungerford was expelled from the lower house for accepting a bribe of £21 ; and the Duke of Leeds • Of a laugh aMe incident which occurred during the reign of William, •when, as a patriot left the Monarch with a bag of guineas, it burst, revealing to the attendant courtiers the colour of his patriotism, our great satirist says ; — " Once, we confess, beneath the patriot's cloak From the cracked bag the drooping guinea spoke ; And, jingling down the back stairs, told the crew, Old Cato is as great a rogue as you." 86 CHKONICLES AND CHARACTERS impeached for taking one of 5,500 guineas. The price of a speaker — Sir John Trevor — was £1,050, and the Secretary to the Treasury was sent to the Tower on suspicion of similar practices. Money receivers lodged great sums of public money with the goldsmiths at the cmrrent interest. Others lent the exchequer its owr, cash in other persons' names ; and out of 46 millions raised in 15 years, 25 millions were unaccounted for. The commissioners of hackney-coaches were accessible, and peculation in the army was discovered by a chance petition of the dAvellers in a country town. By this it appeared, that the inhabitants of Royston in Hertford- shire had large claims made upon them for money by colonels, captains, and cornets, in addition to the food and lodging which was their due. A few independent members took up the question; the public supported them ; and at this juncture a book was delivered at the lobby of the house, which asserted that the public embezzlement was as enormous as it was infamous, and that the vreiter was prepared to make discoveries which would astonish the world. The offer was accepted ; a searching inquiry was made, and defalcations were discovered so great, that all wonder ceased at tho increase of the national debt, and at the decrease of the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 37 national glory. The abuses in clothing the army were plain and palpable. The agents habitually detained the money due to the soldiers, and used it for their own advantage, or compelled them to pay so large a discount that they were in the utmost distress. The subaltern officers were not better off. Colonel Hastings, afterwards cashiered for the offence, made them buy their raiment of him. If they hesitated, he threatened; if they refused, he confined them. In 1693, an iiiquuy was made into the application of the secret service money, when great and deserved animadversion was passed upon those tln-ough whom it circulated. The power possessed by government under such abuses may be imagined. They were sm-e of the votes of those who had places and pensions, and they were sm'e also of the votes of that large class of expectants which always haunts a profuse ministry ; and thus " the courtiers," as the ministerial party was long designated, could baffle any bills, laugh at all grievances, stifle any accounts, and raise any amount of money. These discoveries inflamed the people, and murmurs that corruption had eaten into the nation became general Court and camp, city and senate, were ahke denounced. The pamphleteers spoke in strong language. "Posterity," 38 CHKONICLES AND CHAEACTER3 said the author of one, termed the Price of the Abdica- tion, "will set an eternal brand of infamy upon those members, who, to obtain either offices, profitable places, or quarterly stipends, have combined to vote whatever hath been demanded." It has been the fashion of a certain class to decry William because he founded the national debt. But the war which he waged was almost a war of necessity, and could not be supported without hberal supplies. There was, however, with William a personal pride in the contest. He had been taught from his boyhood hatred to France, and almost in boyhood had checked the universal dominion aimed at by Louis. With him, therefore, opposition to Prance was a passion ; and he who, at the age of twenty-three, bade defiance to the combined power of the two greatest nations of the modern world, remembered, as soon as he reached the English throne, that proud, though bitter moment, when siuTounded by French force, his people determined to let loose the waters which their skiU had confined, to bear from the homes and hearths of their fathers their goods, their fortunes, and their persons, and to erect in a new land the flag they would not see dishonoured in the old. When, therefore, William of Orange became monarch of OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 39 England, his first tliougiit was tlie liumUiation of France. To tliis point lie bent the vast energies of England and his own imconquerable will ; for this only was his crown valuable, and for this purpose was the power of Great Britain strained to the utmost tension. The importance of Erance was then at its height. Louis sought to sway the councils of Europe ; and whoever else might have succumbed, the statesmen of England had been in his power, and a monarch of England in his pay. He saw, therefore, with dislike which was not attempted to be concealed, the throne mounted by one who was resolved not merely to maintain its ancient greatness, but to queU the power of its ancient rival. Louis sheltered the abdicated king, and encouraged his mock court and his mock majesty. This was sufficient proof of his feeling ; nor were other indications wanting; it is, therefore, a complete fallacy to suppose that the debt was unnecessarily incurred ; in it lay the power of Wihiam and the safety of the land. Had the new king employed the arbitrary mode of levying supplies of the earher monarchs ; had he made forced loans, and never repaid them; had he seized upon pubhc money, and wrung the purses of public men. 40 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS the country might as well have been governed by a James as a William, and would, in all probability, have recalled from exile the unfortunate house of Stuart. The evils of William's reign were in the facts that his power was not sufficiently estabhshed to borrow on equitable terms ; that the bribery, abuses, and cor- ruption of men in high places increased with their position J and, above all, that instead of paying his debts by terminable annuities, he made them inter- minable. Lord Bolingbroke declares, that he could have raised funds without mortgaging the resources of the nation in perpetuity, and that it was a pohtical move- ment to strengthen the power of the crown, and to secure the adherence of that large portion of the people by whom the money had been lent. The war was necessary, and the contraction of the debt equally so; for, although William engaged in the contest with something like personal pride, it was essentially a national war. A free people had driven away the Stuarts ; a despotic king would have forced them back. If ever, therefore, a contest diie)ctly interested both subject and sovereign, it was that which created the national encumbrance ; and England was fortunate in the man she had chosen to champion OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 41 her rights. The contest, which dated from 1688 and ended in 1697, which cost us 20 millions in loans, and 16 millions in taxes, was only closed because both nations were fatigued. It produced no great results, no grand achievements, no lasting peace. It did but prove that the strength which had departed from England during the two previous reigns had slumbered, but was not withered. The earlier history was, as many of England's great wars have been, comparatively unsuccessful. The parties into which the nation was divided, prevented the unanimity necessary to great deeds. They agreed only in robbing the people. Public priuciple was with them a pubhc jest. Incapacity and corruption pervaded all branches. By corruption a parhamentary majority was procured, and through incapacity the commerce of the country was decaying. Talent was only employed in devising its own benefit; patriotism was perverted ; national virtue was forgotten ; and the aUies- found that on sea and land the enemy had the advantage. The navy was daring, but divided; the admirals were accused of disaffection. While the foe was intercepting om- merchandize in the channel, the vessels of England were building in the docks. On the sea, our ovm peculiar boast, we were dishonom'ed; 42 CHUONICLES AND CHARACTERS our flag was insulted; and English admirals retreated before the French fleets. Ships of war were burnt; merchant vessels were sunk ; and a million of merchan- dize was destroyed. But the clamour of the people reached the councils of the monarch. It was said our plans were betrayed to the enemy ; treachery was justifiably suspected ; and all who are famUiar with the period wUl join the writer in thinking it not only possible, but probable. During these trials the spirit of William remained unchanged; and, rejecting all overtures from Prance, he exhibited to the world the soldiership for which he was remarkable. At Namur he fought in the trenches, eat his dinner vsdth the soldiers, animated them with his presence, shared their dangers, and won their hearts. Namur capitulated, and the scene changed. The i\-ench power was shaken in Catalonia ; its coasts were assailed ; its people were suffering ; and Louis, whose great general was dead, was sufficiently humbled to renew his proposals for peace, which, after nine years' wai', costing Europe 480 mUlions of money, and 800,000 men, was gained by the pacification of Ryswick. A deep thinker of the present day has said of the war anterior to 1688 — and the argument is supported OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 43 by that school of which Cobbett was chief — " The cost happily fell upon those who lived about the time — it was not transmitted to posterity, according to the clever contrivance devised in a more enhghtened and civihzed age. They spent their own money, and not that of their great grand-children. They did as they liked with their own labour and its results; they did not mortgage the labour of succeeding generations." Men do not argue thus, ordinarily. The case is very similar to that of a land proprietor mortgaging his estate to defend it from a suit which endangers it. His posterity may regret, but they cannot complain ; they know it is better to have the estate partially mortgaged than not to have an estate at all. It seems to the writer similar with the national debts of the reign of Wilham. He was bound to defend the people who had chosen him ; war was then, as now, a popular pastime : and Wilham is no more to be blamed that he was not in advance of the time, than the people of the present day are to blame because they are not a century in advance of the period in which they live. The one great evil was, that the difficulty of getting money tempted WOliam to borrow on irredeemable annuities. Had he borrowed only on annuities termi- 44 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS nable in a century, lie would have attained his money at a little extra cost, but the pressure on the people would have decreased year by year, the credit of the government have increased, and the discontent of the nation been less. If, however, any blame be attached to the government of William, how much greater must be that which is attached to succeeding ministers. They knew, for they felt the evil of perpetual debts. Sir Robert Walpole said, when the nation owed 100 millions, it would be ruined ; but he, and those who preceded with those who followed him, persisted in neglecting the sole principle of action which could save the country. It is the misfortune of governments to abide by that which is only venerable from its antiquity, and persist in following precedents when they should act upon principle. They forgot — and the fact cannot be urged too strongly^that government is a progressive science, and that improvement is a law of nations as wen as of nature. In 1696, whUe the gold was being recoined, exche- quer bills, principally for £5 and £10, were introduced. Being issued on the secmity of government, they supphed the place of coin, and were found a great convenience, acting as state counters, Avhich passed as OF THE STOCK EXCHANGF.. 45 raonev, because the people knew the government would receive them at full value. The Lords of the Treasury- were authorised to contract with monied men to supply cash ; and though these bills were at one time at a discount, their credit rose daily, until they reached 1 per cent, premium. They at first bore no interest ; but when they were re-issued, £7 12s. per cent, per annum was paid, and they became a favourite investment. The genius of Mr. Halifax invented them; and it has required no genius on the part of succeeding ministers to issue a supply whenever the wants of the govern- ment have demanded them. When it is not convenient to pay these securities off, and they have accumulated to an amount which attracts the notice of the Opposition, or is calculated to depress the price, the consent of Parhament is procured, and they are liquidated by being added to the fixed debt of the country. They now form a regular supply to the ministry, and are part of the floating or unfunded debt of England, bearing a premium or discount in proportion to the credit of the nation. The first fraud in Exchequer bills occurred within a year oi their creation ; when receivers-general, members of parliament, and deputy accountants, formed a cou- 46 CHllONICLES A\r) CHARACTERS federacy fraudulently to endorse some of these secui'ities, to whicli their position gave them access i The robbery was discovered; and a Mr. Reginald Marryot, one of the accomplices, saved himself by discovering the plot. The House of Commons expelled from its numbers the men vrhose dishonour was increased by their position ; and, as the estate of Mr. Charles Duncombe, one of the accused, was worth £400,000, they fined him £200,000, being the amount wrongfully circulated. In the House of Lords it fell to the Duke of Leeds to give the casting vote. Mr. Duncombe's estate was saved, but the Duke's credit suffered, for he gave his decision in favour of the defaulter ; and it was said that Mr. Duncombe paid no inconsiderable sum for the benefit he received at the hands of his grace. The charge was never brought home ; but the duke's after conduct gave a sufficient colouring to the suspicion. The first foreign loan was negociated in 'Changs Alley in 1706. The victories of the Duke of Maiibo- rough had raised the pride of the English people j and , even 'Change Alley possessed a somewhat similar feeling. When, therefore, his grace proposed a loan of £500,000 to the emperor, for eight years, at 8 per cent, on the secmity of the Silesian revenues, it was OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 47 received with acclamation, and was filled in a few days by the first commercial names of England. Dnring that period which, now a romantic, was then a terrible reality — ^when it was known in 1715 that the best families in the north of England had assembled in arms, to change the dynasty, no pains were spared by the jobbers to procure correct, and to disseminate false intelligence : and it was with mingled feelings of alarm and pity that the inhabitants of a smaU town between Perth and the seaport of Montrose— where James embarked after his mihappy expedition — saw a carriage and six, travelhng with aU the rapidity which the road wovdd allow. It was known that the rebel army was dispersed ; that its chiefs were scattered ; and that the unfortunate Stuart was wandering through the country, with hfe and liberty alike endangered. It excited, therefore, no sm'prise in the village when the carriage was surrounded, and the apparent prize con- veyed with great ostentation towards London. Letters soon reached the city that the fugitive Stuart was taken ; and the letters were confirmed by the story related, which quickly reached London. The funds of course rose, and the inventors of the trick laughed in their sleeves as they divided the profit. By this time the 48 CHEONICLES AND CHARACTERS jobbers must have reached a somewhat high position, as the same year one Quare, a Quaker, and celebrated watchmaker in 'Change Alley, having successfully speculated in the shares and funds with which it abounded, was of sufficient importance to invite to the marriage feast of his daughter, Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, who, with three hundred guests of distinction, graced the wedding entertainment. But 'Change Alley was notorious for other dealings than those in the funds. When that desperate struggle for power occurred between the Old and New East India Company; when their varying claims were on every man's tongue, and their bribes in every man's hand ; the election of a member of parliament was an affair of moment. The partisans of each Company sided with their friends ; bought boroughs ; shed their money lavishly and largely; used every art that self-interest could devise ; and so extensive was the interference of the brokers, that the only question heard in 'Change Alley was, " Is he for the New or the Old Company ? " It was the touchstone of a principle more sacred than the Hanoverian succession, and more important than England and Hanover united. It was probably found profitable; and it was said in 1720, that elections for OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 49 members of parliament came to market in 'Change AJley as currently as lottery tickets. The first political hoax on record occurred in the reign of Anne. Down the Queen's Road, riding at a furious rate, ordering; turnpikes to be thrown open, and loudly proclaiming the sudden death of the queen, rode a weU-dressed man, sparing neither spur nor steed. From west to east, and from north to south, the news spread. Like wildfire it passed through the desolate fields where palaces now abound, till it reached the city. The train bands desisted from their exercise, furled their colours, and returned home with their arms reversed. The funds fell with a suddenness which marked the importance of the inteUigence; and it was remarked that, while the Christian jobbers stood aloof, almost paralyzed with the information, Manasseh Lopez and the Jew interest bought eagerly at the reduced price. There is no positive information to fix the deception upon any one in particular, but suspicion was pointed at those who gained by the fraud so publicly perpetrated. The invasion of 1715, as it caused extra expenses, demanded extra grants. The House of Commons voted " them ; but the House of Peers, a portion of which possessed a strong Jacobite feehng, attempted to modify 50 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS witLotit mending it. Though they did not reject the bill, the lower House resented the mere interference. At an early hour on the morning of the 13th February, Lord Harcourt went to the House of Peers, and made an anxious search for precedents of amendments to money bills. The search proved unsuccessful, as, since the Restoration, the Commons had defended their right of not allowing the Lords to make any alterations in these acts. A committee was appointed, and the Peers fought bravely for their claim; but though the court was willing to support them, money was so immediately necessary, that, at the request of government, they yielded under protest. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 51 CHAPTER IV. CHAKITABLE COKPORATION FEiUD — ITS DISCOVERT — APPAILING EFFECTS, AND HBMEDY — MAHLEOIIOTJGH'S VICTORIES, THEIR HISTORY, AND THE LOANS THET BROUGHT — AUGMENTED IMPORTANCE OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE — DISLIKE TO THE MEMBERS— mOKEASED LOANS — DIPPIOnLTIES IN PROCURING THEM — STATE- MENT OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE — GIFTS OP CONTRACTORS TO CLOTHIERS — FIUST PAYMENT OF DIVIDENDS BY THE BANK. — SOUTH SEA ANECDOTES. In tlie early part of tlie 18th century, a prospectus was issued to the commercial world and the members of 'Change Alley, in which the wants of the needy and the infamy of the pawnbrokers, the purest philanthropy and a positive 5 per cent., were skilfully blended.* It was shown that then, as now, the poor were compelled * Fielding, in his Farce called "The Lottery," makes Mr. Stocks say, "Why, madam, you know at present public interest is very low, and private security very difficult to get ; and I am sorry to say there are some in the Alley not the honestest men in the kingdom. In short, there is one way to dispose of money with safety and advantage, and that is, to put it into the Charitable Corporation." Chloe — " The Charitable Corporation ! pray, what is that .>"' Stocks — "That is, madam, a method invented by some very wise men, by ■which the rich may be charitable to the poor, and be money in pocket by it." b2 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS to pay a greater interest than the rich; that 30 per cent, was constantly given by the former on a security which the usiu^er took care should be ample ; and it was proposed that the wealthy capitahst should advance for the benefit of the needy a sufficient sum to enable the company to lend money at 5 or 6 per cent. The proposal proved eminently successful ; a capital of £30,000 was immediately subscribed, a charter obtained, and the " Charitable Corporation," the object of whose care was the necessitous and industrious poor, appeared to flourish. For some years the concern answered, the poor received the assistance which they required, and the company was conducted with integrity. In 1719, however, their number was enlarged ; their capital increased to £600,000 ; an augmentation of business was looked for ; cash credits were granted to gentlemen of supposed substance ; and the importance of the cor- poration was unhappily recognised by that numerous class of persons compelled to pay in matmity for the excesses of youth. They acted also as bankers, and received deposits from persons of all classes and con- ditions. Its direction boasted men of rank, its pro- prietary men of substance, and its executive men of more capacity than character. The cashier of , the OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 53 company was a member of tlie senate ; Sir Robert Sutton, a director, was one of his Majesty's Privy Council J and Sir Archibald Grant, who took a pro- minent part in the affairs of the corporation, was also a member of the lower House. Every confidence was reposed in such a body, and it was regarded as a rich and prosperous society. Under these circumstances, the surprise of the public may be conceived when it was first whispered, and then openly announced, that the cashier, with one of the chief officers, had disappeared in company. The alarm spread to the proprietors ; the public participated ; the poor assembled in crowds ; the rich clamoured for informa- tion; a meeting was called to inquire into the case, when a most pernicious, but scarcely comprehensible, piece of villany was unravelled, and a most disgraceful tissue of fraud discovered. £30,000 alone remamed out of half a million. The books were falsified; money was lent to the directors on fictitious pledges ; men of rank and reputation were implicated; suspicion and censm'e followed persons of importance. Some mana- gers were found to have connived at scenes so dis- graceful, that their character was lost for ever. Many had concerted active plans of fraud, which ended alike in 54 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEES their own ruin and the ruin of the corporation ; while others were guUty of personally embezzling tte funds of the company. Petition after petition was presented to the Commons. A bill was brought in to prevent the defaulters from leaving tlie kingdom; and tbe scorn of all England pointed at the men who, under the guise of charity, had enriched themselves. The interest which was taken in the discovery by the entire country attracted the attention of the Jacobites ; and, as one of the party had fled to Rome vdth. the spoils, the Pretender endeavoured to enlist the sympathy of tbe nation, through one Signer BeUoni, who wrote to the committee, stating that the refugee had been seized and placed in the Castle of St. Angelo. The "Whig party, ever jealous of the Pretender, voted that the letter should be burned by the hangman at the Royal Exchange. The distress occasioned by this bankruptcy was appalling, pervading nearly every class of society. Large sums had been borrowed at high interest. The small capitahst was entirely ruined; and tliere was scarcely a class in English life which had not its representative and its sufferer. The poor were unable to get their goods; the rich were robbed of their jewels ; famihes accustomed to affluence were starving ; OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 55 delicate women, hitherto irreproachable, sought the streets for bread. Similar evils have been known to exist during sieges ; and, in the pubhc streets of Lisbon, women of miblemished virtue offered themselves for sale during its occupation by the French ; but the writer believes there is no other parallel in com- mercial history.* All that the wisdom of the senate could devise, was attempted to mitigate the evil. The revenge of the losers was appeased by several members being expelled the House ; their fear of loss was reduced by the confiscation of the estates of the offending parties ; a lottery was granted for the advantage of the sufferers ; and though a dividend of nearly ten shillings was eventually paid, the fraud of the Charitable Corporation * The name of a citizen, known as Vulture Hopkins, is laughably associated ■with this melancholy period. Although in possession of three hundred thousand pounds, this man put down his coach when interest was reduced from 5 to 4 per cent., and to make up for the loss, inyested seventy thousand of it in the funds of the Charitable Corporation. There is little doubt that TheUuson, of whom Mr. Lawson gives so pleasant a sketch in his History of Banking, took his idea of a will from Hopkins, who, leaving behind him nearly half a milUon, willed It to the second generation, omitting-.entirely the first. He was a shrewd calcu- lator, and was in an ecstacy at the thought, that the legatees would be as long in spending, as he had been in getting the money. " When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend The wretch, who living, saved a candle's end." 56 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTEUS was remembered long after the evils caused by it had ceased to exist. The next great increase of debt was through the War of Succession in Spain, to the crown of which ' several princes laid claim. According to the ordinary rule of inheritance, the Dauphin, by virtue of the marriage of Louis XIV. with the eldest sister of the king, should have succeeded; but as all right to the throne had been solemnly renounced on the marriage, it was supposed that the claim was vacated ; and the principal powers of Europe, knowing the necessity that so great an inheritance should not descend to any state possessed of territorial importance, formed the celebrated partition treaty. By this, Erance, England, and Holland agreed that Spain, the Indies, and the Netherlands should descend to the Archduke Charles, and, in return, that Erance should be possessed of the rich province of Lorraine. There is no doubt that governments regard treaties in proportion to the physical, rather than the moral necessity to abide by them ; and Erance under Louis Quatorze was no exception to the rule. A succession of cabals in Spain gave the latter the influence he required. His ambassador won the com't and city, the Archbishop OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 57 of Toledo was of Ms party, and gained the Spanish king, who, sick body and soul, priest-ridden, a prey to mental and physical agony, was, after a succession of intrigues, induced to fix his name to that will which annexed the splendid possession of the empire of Spain to the grandeur of Prance. At once Louis violated the partition treaty, accepted the noble legacy for his grandson, and sent the whole court of Erance to accompany him to the Pyrenees, that frontier which he said in his pride had ceased to exist. When the news reached William, he was at the Hague, but instantly returned to London. Vigorous preparations were made ; but he did not hve to see the declaration of the war, which began in 1782, agitated Europe for thirteen years, and added so much to the great debt of which this volume treats. England, Holland, and the Empire were opposed to Erance, Spain, and Bavaria ; and the war thus commenced was a memorable contest. Marlborough and Peterborough, than whom England boasts none greater, made her name a word of dread for many years. The knight-errantry of Peterborough conceived schemes which only his ardent and fiery imagination could achieve. He took towns by storm, under circum- 58 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS stances little less than marvellous ; he reduced the largest and strongest cities of Europe with a handful of soldiers ; he made forced marches j shared the fatigues of his men- and took entire reinforcements prisoners. With 3,000 troops he harassed a regular army, cut off communications, and raised sieges ; he forced towns with cavalry, and chivalroiisly mortgaged his estates to pay the expenses incurred in the cause of his country. The victories of John ChurchiU, Duke of Marlbo- rough, were more important to the nation than those of the adventm'ous Peterborough; and if his glory be tarnished by the love of gold, yet the name of Marlborough, as a captain, is unsullied. The battle of Blenheim was his first great achievement in the War of Succession, and it made the people content to pay the additional taxes imposed upon them. Innumerable trophies, hundreds of flags and standards, tents, cannon and mortars, casks and barrels filled with the precious metals— evinced the glory of the contest, and added to the pride of the nation. The thanks of the house were voted to the Duke; medals were struck in his honom-; Addison celebrated him in poetry; but dearer far to Marlborough than medal, poetry, or thanks, OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 59 was the rich, manor and the noble mansion of Wood- stock, voted to him by the nation. Scarcely had the people recovered from the joy occasioned by the battle of Blenheim, and from the increased taxation which ensued, than another battle — ^that of RamUies — seized them with delight Porgetful of the con- sequences, men talked of the old days of England — of the ancient victories of her armies — of the time when the great CromweU made the English name terrible — and, in their excitement, they magnified the grandeur, and diminished the cost. The pride of Louis was indeed humbled. He made proposals for a Con- gress; he tampered with the Dutch; he besought the interposition of the head of the church ; he offered to cede Spain, Milan, Naples, or Sicily; and felt bitterly the consequences of having provoked the vengeance of the island he hated. Ambition had, however, seized upon the nation; conquest only was thought of; and, remembering the glory of the past, the Enghsh people deemed themselves entitled to some privilege for the blood which was shed. They forgot that a new campaign would bring new costs ; and they forgot, what their successors yet feel, that every fi'esh victory brought a fresh loan. Oudenarde, the third of that splendid 60 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS series of victories which has made the name of Marlbo- rough renowned in the land, was followed by Malplaquet, the glory of which was superior to its results, and the blood of which was shed to maintain the court influence of the Duke. But a change of ministry brought a change of measures ; and a Tory government refused to maintain a Whig policy. The ministers triumphed, and the treaty of Utrecht was concluded. Then arose that war of words which enhsted the pens of Steele, of Addison, of Swift, and of a host of other and lesser spirits. The Tories said the Whigs had sold us to the Dutch, to fill the pockets of Marlborough. The Whigs said the Tories had sold us to the Erench, to facilitate the return of the Pretender. The waste of hfe, the suspension of trade, the accumulation of debt, without an adequate return, were so terribly evident, that the Conmaons remonstrated, and told her Majesty that £35,302,107 of the supphes were not accounted for. It must be evident that every fresh war, every new loan, and every public peculation, increased the impor- tance of the members of the Stock Exchange : and when men saw the broker and jobber assuming a position the public was unwilling to grant, they mistook the effect OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 61 for the cause ; and a hundred voices were raised, and a hundred essays written, to prove that the brokers of 'Change Alley were the bane of the nation. A member could hardly make a financial speech, a pamphleteer write a pohtical pamphlet, or a dramatist employ his pen for the public, without dragging in the jobber as -an illustration and a cause of the misery of England. Those who had lost their money in the many specula- tions with which the 'Change abounded, deemed also they had earned a right to decry it. The following is a specimen of their opinion : — " It is a complete system of knavery, founded in fraud, born of deceit, and nourished by trick, cheat, wheedle, forgeries, false- hoods, and all sorts of delusions; coining false news, whispering imaginary terrors, and preying upon those they have elevated or depressed." Archibald Hutcheson, whose life was afterwards endangered from the deter- mined manner in which he opposed the South Sea bubble, says that the jobbers vied with the first nobility in the kingdom. Gay, in his " Trivia," says : — ■ "The tricking gamester insolently rides With loves and graces on his chariot sides ; In saucy state the grasping hroier sita, And laughs at honesty and trudging wits." And Pope wrote ;— 62 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEES " Statesmen and patriots ply alike the Stocks, Peeress and butkr share alike the box ; And judges job, and bishops bite the town ; And mighty dukes pack cards for half-a-crowa." At any rate, it is certain that, if the national glory was aggrandized, the national debt increased in proportion. From 16 millions to 54 was fearfully felt — ^thirty-seven millions and a half being raised by loan, besides thirty millions in taxes, during the war of the Spanish succes- sion. In 1716 great difficulty was experienced in procuring a loan of £600,000. The interest offered was 4 per cent. ; and while the propriety of the loan was being debated on the second evening, Mr. Lechmere entered the house hastily, and told them that only £45,000 had been subscribed. Sir Robert Walpole instantly rose, and said, " I know that the members of the Stock Exchange have combined not to advance money on the loan. Every one is aware how the administration of this country has been distressed by stock-jobbers." The interest of 4 per cent, appeared so low to men accustomed to the enormous premiums of a few years previous, that they treated the proposed terms with contempt ; and enlisted the sympathy of the public by reporting that it was the first step towards the reduc- OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 63 tion of tHe interest on the national debt. When the same minister proposed a loan of £1,700,000, to supply a deficiency, the opposition was so great, that had not Sir Robert appealed to an empty exchequer, and declared that the debt had been incurred by a previous government, he would have been refused. The feelings of the House were greatly incensed by the discovery that the money was jobbed away with unequalled recklessness ; and public-spirited men were not wanting to resist, in the name of the country, such shameless expenditure. They protested, because — and the protest drawn ui 1729 would do for 1849 — "the national debt ought not to be increased when the taxes are heavUy felt in aU parts of the country ; when ovoc foreign trade is encumbered and diminished ; when our manufactures decay ; when our popr daily multiply ; and when national calamities surround us." The report of the Commissioners appointed to inquh'e into Pubho Accounts sanctioned the opposition which such men as Sir John Barnard gave to unjust demands. They proved that colonels received large sirais from clothing contractors, as premiums for their favom-, and that £1,400 had been given for a single contract. "The practice," said the report, "is so notorious and universal, 64 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS that it wants no representation." Some barefaced practices were related in the same document; nor can there be any wonder that, with such gross mismanage- ment, it was said, " The army was in the field, no money in the treasury — none of the remitters would contract again. The Bank refused to lend £100,000 on good security. The navy was 11 mUhons in debt; and the yearly income greatly deficient." In 1717, the Bank first undertook the payment of dividends to the national creditors, previous to which they were paid quarterly : when, however, they were undertaken by the Bank this plan was found incon- venient, and since that period they have been paid half-yearly. To improve public credit, then at a very low ebb, Harley established the Soiith Sea Company. He aUm-ed shareholders by a monopoly of trade, he procured a charter, and he secured the interest on ten millions of the floating debts which he gave to their management, by various permanent duties. " Nor were the merchants slow in swallowing this gUded bait," says Lord Mahon, " and the fancied El Dorado, which shone before them, dazzled even their discerning eyes. The exploits of Drake were quoted, the dreams of Raleigh renewed. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE, C5 This spirit spread throughout the whole nation, and many, who scarcely knew whereabouts America hes, felt nevertheless quite certain of its being strewed with gold and gems." When Sir Isaac Newton was asked what would be the result of the people's infatuation which followed in 1720, the philosopher quaintly replied, that "he could calculate the motions of erratic bodies, but not the madness of a multitude." Dr. Arbuthnot, of whom Swift said, " he has more wit than all our race, and his humanity is equal to his wit," wrote a paper, called an Historico-Physical Account of the South Sea Bubble, which is unfortunately lost. There is no record of the first of these gentlemen having been engaged in the speculation. Taut the latter wittily said, although he was one of the many ridiculed, that the money of the people was locked up by government because of the lunacy of the nation, and that it would be returned to them when they returned to their senses. If Sir Isaac Newton did not speculate, he was, perhaps, the only person not seized with that mania, which, originated by Sir John Blunt, a pious scrivener, was entered into by aU England. Of a saintly and sanctified deportment was Sir John, the puritanical promoter of the greatest swindle the world ever saAv ; and his " tearless eyes" are Q6 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS immortalized by Pope in one of those epigrammatic coixplets wMch yet deliglit the world — ■ " God cannot love," says Blunt, with tearless eyes, " The wretch he starves," and piously denies ! His voice ever rose against the corruption and luxury of the age : the partiality of parliament, and the misery of party spirit, was ever on his tongue : whUe his eloquent invectives against avarice were given with an unction aU. but divine. These things procured him the scourging satire of the bard just quoted, when he says : — . "'Twas no Court badge, great Scrivener, fired thy trains ; Nor lordly luxury, nor city gains. No ! 'twas thy righteous end, ashamed to see Senates degenerate, Patriots disagree, And nohly wishing party rage to cease, To iuy hoth sides, and give thy Country peace." Cunning, plausible, and bold, he was the very genius of Stock jobbing ; and when he communicated to the Chancellor the plan which was to make the South Sea Company the agent of the government, and thus super- sede the Bank of England, he convinced aU with whom he had to deal, that it would affect their private as well as the public interest to assist him. "The South Sea Company," says a pamphleteer, "first started the game ; and having very good friends in the city, we were in expectation what proposals they OF THE STOCK BXCHANGE. 67 would make to the parliament, in order to discharge the nation of the heavy load of debts they lay under. The Bank having subsisted so many years, and always been the resource of the Treasury in times of the greatest distress, thought themselves entitled to the management of the pubhc money." "The proposals of the South Sea," says the above writer, " began vdth the prelude of their zeal and readiness to contribute to reducing the national debts. God knows no private interest could induce them." The Bank offered 3 millions more than the South Sea Company, which only named 3 J millions, on which the latter added 4 miUions to their original offer, and outbid the Bank. "The South Sea Company were ravished with joy for their success, wMe the Bank were raving for their ill-fortune." A bin was brought forward, and carried in the House of Commons, dming the progress of which the South Sea Stock varied greatly. It passed through the Lords, although strongly opposed ; and 2 millions of South Sea Stock was apphed for, though only one million could be allotted. The price advanced, the stock reached 1,050. There was scarcely a brain in England but what was cal- culating chances. When the heir to the crown allowed his 68 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS name to be placed at the head of one of the companies, although Walpole told him that the Prince of Wales's bubble would be hawked about 'Change Alley, he would not yield till he had gained £40,000. Tho general cry was " Get money, money still, And then let virtue follow, if she will." This, this the saving doctrine preached to all, From low St. James's up to high St. Paul ; From him whose quill stands quivered at his ear, To him who notches sticks at Westminster. The directors were dealers while the success of the bubble lasted, and nobly did they supply their votaries. Dukes and Duchesses had their hundreds of thousands, and Secretaries of State their tens of thousands. Every- body speculated, everybody rejoiced.* The prices of aU articles rose. Companies of all kinds were started. Prices of the most extravagant description were realized. Ideas of the most extraordinary character were enter- tained. Two persons, a lady and a gentleman, declined to reaUze less than £3,000,000 each, at which price the latter thought he might purchase the crown of Poland. • " Millions of suppliant crowds the shrine attend, And all degrees before the goddess bend; The poor, the rich, the valiant and the sago, And boasting youth, and narrative old age." OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 69 Nor was the lady's vision less regal. It was of tliem the poet wrote — ■ " The crown of Poland, venal twice an age, To just three millions started, modest Gage ; But nohler scenes Maria's dreams unfold, Hereditary realms and worlds of gold." When the bubble of 1720 failed to supply these magnificent wishes, they both sought in the Asturian mines what they could not procure from the South Seas. During the extravagance of this period a haunch of venison cost from 3 to 5 guineas — " What made directors cheat, in South Sea year, To live on venison, when it sold so dear." In other works, the anecdotes of this memorable period have been presented in proportion to their effects upon commerce : in the present, those only will be given which either affect the Stock Exchange or possess a general interest. On 15th May, 1719, the king went abroad, and many who went with him sold aU their funds. The Bank of England was accused of assisting the bubble by lending money for the first time on the secmity of its Stock; "and this," said Mr. Aislabie, "furnished an additional supply of money to gamesters in the 70 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEES Alley." The stories of the period are very Avidely spread, and prove how aU ranks were affected. The Marquis of Chandos embarked £300,000 in it, and the Duke of Newcastle advised him to sell when he could make the tolerable profit of cent, per cent. The marquis was greedy — hoped to make it half a milhon, and the advice was declined. The panic came, and the entire investment went in the shock. Samuel Chandler, the eminent Nonconformist divine, risked Ms whole fortune in the bubble, lost it, and was obhged to serve in a bookseller's shop for two or three years, while he continued to discharge his ministerial duty.* The elder Scraggs gave Gay £1,000 Stock, and as the poet had been a previous pm'chaser, his gain at one time amounted to £20,000. He consulted Dr. Arbuthnot, who strongly advised him to sell out. The bard doubted, hesitated, and lost all. The doctor, who gave such shrewd advice, was too irresolute to act on his own opinion, and lost £2,000; but, with an enviable philosophy, comforted himself by saying, it would be only 2,000 more pairs of stau-s to ascend. Thomas Hudson, a native of Leeds, came to London, and filled the situa- » Cavendish-square, with the adjacent streets, derives its origin from the South Sea excitement. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 71 tion of government clerk. Having been left a large fortune, lie retired to the country, where he hved until, tempted to adventm^e in the scheme, he embarked the whole of his fortune in it. After his loss he came to London, became insane, and Tom of Ten Thousand, as he called himself, wandered through the public streets, a piteous and pitiable object of charity. One tradesman, who had invested his entire resources in the Stock, came to town to dispose of it, when it reached 1,000. On his arrival it had fallen to 900, and as he had decided to seU at 1,000, he determined to wait. The Stock continued to decline ; the tradesman continued to hold ; and became, as he deserved, a ruined man. ; Others were more fortunate. The fine mansion of Sir Gregory Page at Blackheath was built out of the profit made by his guardians ; and two maiden sisters who sold the Stock at 970, reinvested their money in navy-bills, at a discount of 25 per cent., which in a very short time were paid off at par. It was late one evening in 1720, that a carriage drove up to the door of Messrs. liankey and Co.'s banking-house. A demand to see a partner was responded to, and when the visitor had satisfied himseK that he was in the presence of one of the firm^ he handed a packet carefuUy sealed, desiring it 73 CHRONICLES AND CHAE-ACTEKS miglit be placed aside until lie called for it. The request was singular, but it was granted. A few days passed — a few weeks — a few months — but the stranger did not make his appearance ; and after the third year had elapsed, the partners agreed to open the mysterious parcel in each other's presence. To their surprise it con- tained £30,000, with a letter which stated that it was obtained by the South Sea bubble. Directions were added as to its investment, and the interest, the letter said, .was to be devoted to the relief of the poor. The wags of the day were not idle. A pretended office was opened in 'Change Alley to receive subscrip- tions for raising one million. The people flocked in, paid five shillings for every thousand they subscribed, fully believing they would make their fortunes. After a large sum had been subscribed, an advertisement was pubHshed, that the people might have their money without any deduction, as it was only a trial to see ho^v many fools might be caught in one day. The Committee of Secrecy appointed to enquue into the affairs of the Company, disclosed some singular proceedings. False and fictitious entries had been made in the books. Blank spaces were found where names should have been. Erasures and alterations OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 73 were plentiful. Leaves had been torn out from some of the ledgers. Many of the docmnents had been destroyed, and others secreted. The Secretary said "If he should disclose all, it would be such a scene as the world would be surprised at." Twelve millions of money were lent on the security of three millions of stock. Names were torn off the most important documents. Every difficulty was thrown in the way of the enquiry. One clerk was cursed, because he assisted the Committee ; and it was discovered that one of the Company had laid his hand on his, the clerk's, face, squeezed Ids jaws very hard, and said, if he discovered anything, he luould be the death of him. Although, probably, the entire House of Commons was involved in the speculation, they repudiated as a body that which they had done as individuals; asserting that it was corrupt, infamous, and dangerous. The proceedings in both Houses of Parliament were stormy. Some were expelled, some ran away. The Bank of England was called upon to assist the State through the difficulty; the marvellous drama was over; and with the following hst of prices, the sUght sketch of the South Sea bubble is closed. Dui'ine the excitement, the South Sea Stock, it has 74 CimONICLES AND CHAUACTERS been seen, was at £1,050 premum. The East India Stock was at £345. The Bank of England Stock at £164. The Royal African reached £177 premium. The MiUion Bank was at £840, and the York Buildings at £395 premium. The Lustring Company at £115 premium. The English Copper Company rose to £100 premium. The Temple Mills Brass Company fetched £240 before any deposit was paid. Sir Richard Steele's Company for bringing fresh fish to London was at £160 premium. The Orkney Fishery was at £225 premium; and the Globe permits, being merely per- mission to subscribe at some futm'e time to some future sail-cloth factory, reached £70 premium. Everything else was in proportion, forming a specimen of infatuation scarcely to be equalled at a later period. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 75 CHAPTER V. ItFE OP THOMAS GUT — IMPOSITION IN SAILORS' TICKETS — POKEISN lOAK ATTEMPTED — SIK JOHN EAONAKD — EXPRESSES OP THE JOBBEHS — POREIG .•< COMMISSIONS — ORIGIN OP TIME BARGAINS ATTEMPT TO STOP THEM ITS INADEQUACY — PKOPOSAI/ TO REDUCE THE INTEREST ON THE NATIONAL DEBT — OPPOSITION OF SIR ROBERT 'WALPOLE NEW MODE OF RAISING LOANS — COMPARATIVE INTEREST IN LAND AND FUNDS — PUNISHMENT OF MANASSEH LOPEZ — THE PntST REDUCTION OP INTEREST — LIFE OF SIR JOHN BARNARD. In 1724 died the founder of Guy's Hospital, and a sketcli of this remarkable man's career is a curious picture of the period. The son of a lighterman and member of the senate — one year the penurious diner on a shop coimter, with a newspaper for a table-cloth, and the next the founder of the finest hospital in England — at one time an usurious specTilator, and at another the dispenser of princely charities — the wearer of patched garments, but the largest dealer in the Alley — beginning life with hundreds, and ending it with hundreds of thousands — Thomas Guy was one of the many remarkable men, who, tempted from 7(3 CHEONICLES AND CIIx\EACTEllS their legitimate pursuit, entered into competition with the jobbers of the Stock Exchange, and one of the few who devoted their profits to the benefit of a future generation. His principal dealings were in those tickets with which, from the time of the second Charles, the seamen had been remunerated. After years of great endm-ance, and of greater labom*, the defenders of the land were paid with inconvertible paper; and the seamen, too often improvident, were compelled to part with their wages at any discount which the conscience of the usurer would oflfer. Men who had gone the round of the world, like Drake, or had fought hand to hand with Tromp, were unable to compete vnth the keen agent of the usurer, who, decoying them into the low haunts of Rotherhithe, purchased their tickets at the lowest possible prices; and skilled seamen, the glory of England's navy, were thus robbed, and ruined, and compelled to transfer their services to foreign states.* In these tickets did Thomas Guy deal; and on the wrongs of these men was the vast superstructm-e of his fortune reared. But • Pepys relates that a fiicnil of Ins licard English seameu on boai'd the Dutch vessels which entered the Thames, cry out, ''Now, wo do fight for dollars; hereto- fore we did fight for iiajier." OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 77 jobbing in them was as frequent in the high places of England as in 'Change Alley. The seaman was poor and uninfluential, and the orders which were refused payment to him, were paid to the wealthy jobber, who parted with some of his plunder as a premium to the Treasury to disgorge the remainder. By these means, and by fortunate speculations during the South Sea bubble, Mr. Guy realised a fortune of £500,000. It must be borne in mind that, a century and a quarter ago, half a million was almost a fabulous fortune. It was only to be acquired by speculation in the funds, and by ventures which commercial dealings merely failed to produce. In the Literature of the past century, a " plum " is mentioned as the great prize of a life- time, and as the extent of mercantile ambition. The enormous sums lately realised were then almost unknown, or arose from some chivalrous adventure, such as marked the lives of a Uobert Chve or a Warren Hastings; and it was left for the present century to witness the achievement of fortunes which, in the past, would have been beyond credence. In attaining so great a result, Mr. Guy was doubtless assisted by his penm-ious habits; but he did not possess a penurious mind. The endower of a princely 78 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEES charity, the founder of alms-houses, the enricher of Christ's Hospital, the supporter of his relations, and the friend of the poor, must be regarded as one of those contradictory characters which, at all periods, and in all portions of the world, have marked the human race. His dealings in the Stock Exchange were continued to a late period of his existence. In 1720, he speculated largely in the South Sea Stock; and in 1724 he died, at the age of eighty-one, leaving by his vidU £240,000 to the hospital which bears his name. His body lay in state at Mercer's Chapel, was carried with great funereal pomp to St. Thomas's Hospital; and on 13th February, 1734, just ten years after his death, a statue was erected to his memory in the square of that asylum, partially raised by profits from the hard earnings of EngHsh seamen. '•■ It was indeed to this improvidence in siipplying funds to meet the demands for the navy, that the South Sea Company owed its origin. So largely had the unpaid sailors' tickets increased, that nine miUions were unprovided for. Cash was scarce ; the holders were clamorous ; and parliament, as a premium for for- bearance, erected them into that body which ended so disastrously for the commercial interests of England. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 79 In 1730, a loan of £400,000 was attempted for the Emperor of Germany. 'Change Alley was ready to advance it on sufficient interest and sound security, but Sir Robert Walpole brought in a biU to prohibit his Majesty's subjects, and others resident in the kingdom, from advancing money to any foreign state, without hcence from the king under his privy seal. The opposition experienced by the minister was very strong. The great city commoner spoke against the bill, and it required all the power of Sir Robert Walpole to counterbalance the influence of Sir John Barnard in a matter pertaining to business. It was very natural that men's minds should be tm-ned to that portion of the town which, ever and anon, gave signal symptoms of great frauds, great gains, and great gambhng; and Sir John Barnard endeavoured, in 1733, to draw the attention of the House of Commons to the dealings and the doings of the Stock Exchange. It had, even at this early period, a complete and organised system. The expresses of its rich members came from every court in Europe, and beat, as the expresses of jobbers always have, the messengers of the government. Sir Robert Walpole not only declared this, but with great naivete added, 80 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS "It is because they are better paid and better appointed." The very fact that brokers did beat the government despatches was regarded as a crune ; and the pubhc continued, year by year, to pour its male- dictions on the frequenters of 'Change Alley. The funds were said to be the nursery of fraud. In the leading companies the interest of the citizen was sacrificed to the jobber. The whole town was con- verted into a corporation of brokers and usurers, which could lie the government into credit one week, and out of it the next. The magistracy of the city encouraged it, and the aristocracy of the city pursued it. 'Change Alley was called a gaming-house publicly set up in the middle of London, towards which the heads of ouv merchants and tradesmen were turned instead of to their legitimate pm'suit; and it was said that £80,000 were paid annually by foreigners in the shape of com- mission to the brokers of the Alley. But it was to the bargains for time that pubhc attention was principally pointed by the city member. The origin of these bargains is obvious, and may be traced to the period of six weeks in eacli quarter, when the Bank books were — as it was then thought — necessarily closed to prepare for the payment ot the dividend. As no OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 81 transfer could be made during this period, it naturally enough became a practice to buy and sell for the opening. The habit grew by what it fed on; and, in time, periodical dates for the payment of funds, purchased or sold when it could not be transferred, were fixed on by the Stock Exchange Committee, at intervals of about six weeks. As in these transactions the possession of Stock was unnecessary, and the payment of the difi'erence in the price was sufficient, bargains for time became common, and not only English, but foreign capitalists, were attracted by the chance of gain, while the Hebrews flocked to 'Change Alley from every quarter under heaven. In consequence of the view which Sir John Barnard took of these facts, he succeeded in carrying that enact- ment which, intended to prevent gambling in the funds, has been utterly and singularly powerless in its effect. It provided that no loss in bargains for time should be recoverable in the courts, and placed without the pale of the law all such speculations. One hundred and sixteen years have passed, the act is still in force, and speculative bargains have not only increased, but form the chief business of the Stock Exchange. The greatest corporation in the world has availed itself of G 82 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS the principle, and the effect of the statute is, not to prevent respectable men from speculating, but to make rogues refuse to pay their losses, knowing that while the law is inefficient, the black board of the Stock Exchange is their only punishment. To such men such a punishment is ridiculous ; they only feel through the purse, and in that they know they are safe, by virtue of an act in which they rejoice. That a feeling of gambling was encouraged is indisputable, and the attempt of Sir John Barnard was, therefore, honourable. But this propensity seems a natui'al principle of humanity. The savage in a state of nature, and the peer at the highest point of civilization, alike indulge in it. Every man who trades beyond his power to pay, every merchant who purchases goods on dehvery, is, strictly speaking, a gambler : and it is well known to be a common practice of the first merchants to buy goods for arrival, without the shghtest intention of receiving them, and directly a profit can be gained, or too great a loss averted, they are re- sold without even the bill of lading being visible to the buyer. It is these things which lead to disgraceful bank- ruptcies. The inteUigent author of "Partnership en OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 83 Commandite " says : — " On the banks of the Danube, the Vistula, the Rhine, and the Tagus ; on the shores of the Baltic and the Mediterranean ; on the plains of Poland — I have met with men who have asked me for charity, because they had been ruined by connexion with some of the first English houses." The first effect of Sir John Barnard's Act was serious ; and bargains for time, or the " race horses of 'Change AUey," as they were termed, were said to have expired. It was soon found, however, that to make the brokers responsible would answer every pur- pose ; and business flourished as gaily as if the father of the city had never had an existence. Though this measure was with difficulty passed, the wonder is that it passed at all, as the reasoning brought in its favour was very slight ; and the following is a fair specimen of the speeches in its behalf : — " The broker comes to the merchant, talks of the many fatigues and dangers, the great trouble and small profits in the way of trade. He then teUs him, if he win allow him to dig in the rich mine of 'Change AUey, he could get more in a day than he could by his trade in twelve months. The merchant is persuaded ; he engages; goes in for some time, and is quite 84 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS undone. His just creditors are surprised: 'What/ say they, ' this man had a good stock to begin with, and he has had a good trade for several years; he never hved extravagantly ; what is become of his effects and his money ? ' They inquire, and find the whole was gamed away in 'Change AUey." The fears of the brokers outran their discretion as soon as the biU passed into law ; and the maledictions poured upon Sir John were loud, deep, and frequent. They thought that the principal and most profitable part of their trade had departed ; and it was declared — ■ how truly, time has since shown — that it would be only possible to get an estate by the slow, daU way of commerce. Every effort was made to ruin his reputation and his character ; but both were too firmly estabhshed to receive any injmy from the malevolent stories which were currently circulated. A proposition was made in 1737 by the same gentle- man to reduce the interest on the national debt from 4 to 3 per cent. Nothing could be more just than this, as the public might either receive their principle in fuU, or 1 per cent, less interest. The House was at first disposed to entertain the proposal with the fau-ness it merited, but the monied men rose in a body, and OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 85 Sir Robert Walpole, fearing to disoblige them, fearing to lose those votes on which he had hitherto rehed, and envying also the popularity Sir John might acquire, determined to crush the scheme. He inte- rested the king and queen ; he employed his ministerial power; he intimidated some; he bribed others; he puzzled and persuaded more ; until, his pm-pose being effected, the bUl — than which nothing could be more reasonable — was rejected. The popular feehng attri- buted this opposition to the royal family, who possessed great funded property ; but to popular feeling, unless it rose to a storm, as with the Excise bill, Sir Robert Walpole was very indifferent. In the same year, an inquiry being instituted into the books of the Bank of England, it was calculated that 10 millions were held by foreigners in the English funds ; a remarkable proportion of the amount at which the national debt then stood. The interest on loans during the reigns of William and of Anne was very uncertain ; in that of George 11. however, a new mode of raising monies was adopted. Instead of varying the interest according to the state of the market, the rate was fixed from 3 to 5 per cent., and the subscribers remunerated by an additional amount of 86 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS stock. It was the first public announcement that the debt was perpetual; and it has made the present principal two-fifths more than the sum originally advanced. In the earlier history of borrowing, the government named its own terms ; and as this generally afforded a profit, the loan was soon filled. If, however, the ministerial pro- posals were not sufficiently liberal, the executive altered the terms to the real value of money; and it is by no means an uninstructive fact, that it was found in 1748, after a close calculation, that for thirty previous years land had produced a higher interest than the funds. The first reduction in the interest of the national debt — from 4 to 3 per cent — was effected^ in 1750, and was received with a similar storm of indignation to that which arose in 1737, on the mere attempt. The name of Sir John Barnard, to whom everything connected with the funds was of importance, is mentioned as having proposed it to Mr. Pelham, who brought it forward in the House of Commons. The best men in the city protested against so bold a measure, and the foes of the minister encom'aged the opposition of the fundholder. His friends overwhelmed him with entreaties to withdraw the motion ; and every engine OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 87 whicli could be brought into operation by the monied interest was employed. Reasons which time has since repudiated, fallacies which almost repudiated them- selves, evils which had no existence save in the brain of the prophet, were freely circulated. It was said, that the landed gentry and the noble families of England would be ruined, and their children would become beggars ; that the interest of younger sons' portions would not enable them to associate with the cooks and coachmen of their elder brothers; and that merchants, shopkeepers, and tradesmen, would be ruined. The farmers would lose their farms ; families would be imdone; and such a deluge of distress be brought upon aU ranks, that the consequences would be fatal to that " free and happy constitution " which has been so often ruined in the brains and in the prophecies of partisans. Its first reception was so lukewarm by the minister's friends, and the opinions of the people so strong, that, coupled vidth the previous failure of a similar measure, its miscarriage was confidently calculated. " Mr. Pelham," says the flippant chronicler of the times, "who has flung himself entirely into Sir John Bar- nard's hands, has just miscarried in a scheme for the 88 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS reduction of interest, by the intrigues of tlie three great companies and other usurers." Horace Walpole mistook the voice of his httle circle for the voice of the country. The scheme did not miscarry ; and it is remarkable that this, the first reduction in the interest of the national debt, was planned in a most masterly manner, and reflected great honour upon Sir John Barnard. A loss of 1 per cent, upon the income of an annuitant is important, and acts prejudicially upon all with limited means. To obviate this evil, if the fund- holder declined receiving his capital, the interest was reduced from 1750 to 1757 only one-half per cent. 3-|- being paid during that period: after 1757 it was reduced the remaining half per cent. The great resources of England have ever been regarded with wonder by foreign nations ; and they looked with asto- nishment on the power of a people which, after a heavy war and an increased debt, enabled the state to repay its creditors or reduce its interest. The name of Su- John Barnard, the father of the city, its honest representative for six sessions, the remodeller of the Stock Exchange, and the reducer of the interest on the national debt, occupies a prominent place in all questions connected with the funds. OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 89 Born of tlie same persuasion as William Penn, he retained during life mucli of the simple honesty of the creed he originally professed, and even Sir Robert Walpole respected him, although he was constant in his opposition to bad measures, and could never be bought nor bribed. " I address myself to you, Mr. Speaker, and not to your chair," he said, when Sir Robert Walpole, secure in a majority, withdrew the attention of the speaker ; " I wUl be heard ; and I call that gentleman to order." Lord Chatham gave him, half in jest and half in earnest, the proud title which was afterwards appropriated to himself, of " the great commoner."* His pride was indo mitable ; the members of the Stock Exchange, who were always spoken of with great contempt by Sir John, thoroughly detested him, and greatly helped to fan the unpopularity which feU upon him when he opposed public feeling, as, with a most unbending integrity, he invariably did if his con- science prompted. " He grew," said Horace Walpole on one occasion, " almost as unpopular as Byng." On commercial subjects his opinion was greatly • "Barnard in spirit, sense, and truth abounds; ' Pray, then, what wants he ? ' Four-score thousand pounds ; A pension or such harness for a slave, As Bug now has, and Dorimant would luivc." 90 CI-IEONICLES AND CHAHACTERS regarded : wlien any remarkable feature in financial politics occurred, the town echoed with — "What does Sir John say to this ? — ^what is Sir John's opinion ? " — ■ and he had the honour of refusing the post of Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, in 1746. It is somewhat at variance with the proud character of the man, that from the time his statue was erected in the Royal Exchange, he never entered the building, but trans- acted his business in the front. The blood of Sir John Barnard yet flows in the veins of some of the best houses in the commercial world, his son having married the daughter of a gentleman known in contemporary history as " the great banker, Sir Thomas Hankey." OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 91 CHAPTER VI. OIUGUr OP ITE'W LOANS — TRA.VD OP A STOCK-BKOKER — EAST INDIA STOCK- SKETCH OE SAMSON GIDEON, THE GKEAT JEW-BROKEK— EAST INDIA COM- PANY — HESTBICTION OE ITS DIVIDENDS — tIEEEAEITY TO ITS CLEKKS— IMPORTANT DECISION — ROBBERY AT JONATHAN'S — CURIOUS CALOUIATIOK CONCERNING THE NATIONAL DEBT. The Spanish War, and the war of theAustrian Succession, were the origin of the next increase of the national debt. It was alleged that the commerce and the merchants of Great Britain were injured by the Spaniards ; that the subjects of England were sent to the Spanish mines ; and though one remonstrance followed another to the court of Madrid, promises were more plentiful than perfor- mances from the haughty Spaniard. The people were excited to believe that their honour was insulted; a ckamatic exhibition was made at the bar of the House of -Commons; and this war, partly to please the populace, partly to heal the wounded national pride, and partly to 92 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS secure British subjects from the right of search in A.merican seas, was openly declared in 1739. The heralds were attended in their progress by the chiefs of the opposition, and the Prince of Wales drank success to England at Temple Bar ; but Sir Robert Walpole, as he heard the merry peal from the city steeples, muttered — " They may ring their bells noAV — they will wring their hands before long." The misfortunes with which the campaign opened justified the minister's prophecy, and the war was violently attacked in the Hoiise; but the majority of Sir Robert was an irresistible argument, and calamity continued to mark the progress of the British arms. An armament, with 15,000 sailors, and as many soldiers, completely equipped, failed disgracefully before Car- thagena. The squadrons of our admirals were dispersed. Eontenoy witnessed a signal defeat, and Tournay was taken. Scotland was entered by a Stuart, under cir- cumstances which promised success. England was threatened with invasion ; the vast armies of the Enghsh allies, paid by Enghsh money, raised by loans through the Stock Exchange, were inactive or defeated ; and it was only when a more promising aspect was shed over our efforts, when the assistance of Russia would have OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 93 assured a supremacy, and British fleets had intercepted the treasures of Prance and Spain, that the ministry, tired of a war which brought so many reverses, and alarmed at the voice of pubUc opinion, consented to treat for peace. But their treaty was as disgraceful as their war. The principal cause of the latter, the right of search, was not even alluded to ; no equivalent was received for forts restored to the enemy ; and for the last time in English history, the nobles of the land were given as pledges for the country's faith. " The whole treaty," says one historian, "is a lasting memorial of precipitate council and English disgrace." It is melancholy, to add, that this unhappy war added £31,333,689 to the permanent debt, took £15,080,000 in taxes, " and," says a pamphleteer of the day, " in- creased the contemptible crew of 'Change Alley." The early mode of raising money was somewhat curious. When a new tax was imposed by parliament, any person might advance any sum not less than £100. For this, a tally was given at the Exchequer, vnth an order for repayment of the principal, and the payment of interest. The sums thus advanced were to be paid off in regular order, as the money arising from the tax was received. But, as this was generally found to be 94 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS insufficient to redeem the loan, it became necessary either to prolong the term, or raise a new loan to pay off the old one. The parliamentary lotteries were arranged in the following manner, and one instance will do for many. In this, 150,000 tickets were delivered at £10 each. The principal of £1,500,000 was to be sunk, the state allow- ing 9 per cent, interest for 32 years. This was divided into 3,750 tickets, with prizes from £1,000 per annum to £5 per annum, during the said 32 years. AU the other tickets were blanks, forming 39 blanks to 1 prize. Each blank, however, was entitled to 14s. a year for 82 years. As early as 1762, a Stock-broker, named John Rice, met the fearful penalty so liberally awarded to crime by the civil code of the 1 8th century. A client of Rice, for whom he was accustomed to receive her dividends, was, under false pretences, induced to grant a power to sell as well as to receive the interest. As the temptation to speculate on the Stock Exchange is great, the temptation to divert property from its legitimate channel is equally so, when confidence or carelessness has granted the power. The Stock-broker sold all his client's money, employed it to meet his losses, and kept up his decep- tion by sending her the dividends as usual. The lady, OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 95 moved by doubt, or by some cogent but unknown cause, intimated to Rice her intention of visiting tlie city. Unable to restore the money, the conscience of Eice took the alarm, and he fled, leaving vpith his wife £5,000 of the misappropriated property. Ignorant of his evil deeds, and anxious to join her husband, she embarked for Holland. The weather proved rough; the vessel was driven back; and the persons sent in search of the husband apprehended the wife, who yielded the money in her possession, leaving herseK entirely destitute; and it is to the credit of the directors of the South Sea Company, that they settled a small pension on the unhappy woman. The search continued for Uice, who was discovered in the old town of Cambray, where he had taken up his residence. The English ambassador at Paris apphed for his delivery; the misguided man found that Cambray was no city of refuge for him ; and the last sad penalty of the law was enacted on the body of John Rice the Stock-broker. In February 1764, the jobbers were taken by sur- prise, and a sudden fall of 14 per cent, in India Stock occurred, owing to an unexpected war in the East. The incident is only remarkable, that from 96 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS this period, marked by a fall in their Stock to so large an extent, commenced the political greatness of the Company. A violent dispute had arisen between Lord Clive and the directors ; but their foreign affau-s assumed so serious an aspect, that the latter were forced to yield. Every vessel brought alarming tidings. The natives, unable to bear the oppressive exactions to which they were subject, arose and defied the government. The directors of the Company grew alarmed. They forgot their feuds, they remembered only their dividends, and called Clive to their rescue. But Clive refused to act so long as one Sullivan, his bitter enemy, occupied the position of chairman ; and as the proprietors would have removed the whole court of directors rather than miss the services of Clive, Sulhvan not only lost his chairmanship, but was within a single vote of losing his seat as director. During this exciting period, so great was the bustle, that CornhUl and Cheapside were filled with the carriages of the voters; and from this dispute, which commenced with so ominous a fall in then- Stock, may the territorial dignity of the East India Company be dated. Samson Gideon, the great Jew broker, as he was OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 07 called ia tlie city, and the founder of the house of Eardley,* as he is known to genealogists, died in 1762. This name, as that of the financial friend of Sir Robert Walpole, the oracle and leader of 'Change Alley, and the determined opponent of Sir John Barnard, was as familiar to city circles in the last century as the names of Goldsmid and Rothschild are to the present. A shrewd, sarcastic man, possessing a rich vein of humour, the anecdotes preserved of him are unhappily few and far between. "Never grant life annuities to old women," he wotdd say ; " they wither, but they never die : " and if the proposed annuitant coughed with a violent asthmatic cough on approaching the room door, Gideon would call out, "Aye, aye, you may cough, but it shan't save you six months' purchase \" In one of his dealings with Mr. Snow, the banker — • immortahsed by Dean Swift — the latter lent Gideon £20,0(10., Shortly afterwards the " forty -five " troubles broke out ; the success of the Pretender seemed certain ; • It was the solitary example bf the elevation of one of the tribe of Judah to the honours of the British peerage. The family name of Gideon was discreetly laid aside by the first Baron, and that of Eardley assumed, the then Sir Samson having married a daughter of Sir John Eardley Wilmot, Lord Chief Justice (of the Common Heas), descended in the female line from the ancient family of Eardley. H 98 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTERS and Mr. Snow, alarmed for his beloved property^ addressed a piteous epistle to the Jew. A run upon Ms house, a stoppage, and a bankruptcy, were the least the banker's imagination pictured ; and the whole con- cluded with an earnest request for his money. Gideon went to the bank, procured twenty notes, sent for a phial of hartshorn, rolled the phial in the notes, and thus grotesquely Mr. Snow received the money he had lent.* The greatest hit Gideon ever made was when the rebel army approached London ; when the king was trembling ; when the prime minister was undetermined, and stocks were sold at any price. Unhesitatingly he went to Jonathan's, bought all in the market, advanced every guinea he possessed, pledged his name and repu- tation for more, and held as much as the remainder of the members held together. When the Pretender retreated, and stocks arose, the Jew experienced the advantage of his foresight. LUce Guy, and most men whose minds are absorbed in one engrossing pm'suit, • "Why did 'Change Alley waste thy precious hours Among the fools who gaped for golden showers ! No wonder if we found some poets there Who live on fancy and can feed on air — ■ No wonder they were caught by South Sea schemes Who ne'er enjoyed a guinea but in dreams." Oay to Mr. Thomas Snow, Goldmiith, near Temple Bar, OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 99 Mr. Gideon was no great regarder of the outward man. In a humorous essay of the period, the author makes his hero say, " Neither he nor Mr. Samson Gideon ever regarded dress." He educated his children in the Christian faith, but said he was too old himself to change. Being desirous to test the proficiency of his son in his new creed, he asked, " Who made him ? " and the boy rephed, " God." He then asked " Who redeemed him ? " to which the fitting reponse was given. Not knowing what else to say, he stammered out, " Who — ^who — ^who gave you that hat ? " when the boy, with parrot-Hke precision, rephed in the third person of the Trinity. The story was related vrith great unction at the period. " Gideon is dead," writes one of his contemporaries, in 1762, "worth more than the whole land of Canaan. He has left the reversion of aU his milk and honey, after his son and daughter, and their children, to the Duke of Devonshu-e, without insisting on the duke taking his name, or being cir^ cumcised." That he was a man of hberal views, may be gathered from his annual donation to the Sons of the Clergy, from his legacy of £2,000 to the same charity, and of £1,000 to the London Hospital. He died in the faith of his fathers, leaving £1,000 to the Jewish 100 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS synagdgue, on condition of being interred in the buxying-place of tlie chosen people. The question of the sinking fund has greatly occupied the attention of financial men, and upon few schemes have so many, and such various opinions, been given. To view the subject by the light of common sense, it seems palpably absurd that more money than was necessary should be borrowed for the sake of paying it again, or that, while a surplus fund remained in the Exchequer, new loans should be raised. Paine afterwards declared it was hke a man with a wooden leg running after a hare — the more he ran, the farther he was off. The first sinking fund is usually called Sir Robert Walpole's, because it was adopted by him; but its author was the Earl of Stanhope. The taxes, which had at &st been for limited periods, being rendered perpetual, proved greater than the charges they were meant to defray. The surpluses, therefore, were united under the name of the Sinking Fund, and appropriated for the discharge of the National Debt. The opinion which Dr. Price has since so strongly urged, was very prevalent; and as much anxiety' concerning the debt existed, it was considered important to apply this surplus invariably to the discharge of OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 101 the great debt, and to borrow by new loans when the pubHc exigencies required it. Thus, although from 1718 to 1731 was a period of peace, the following sums were borrowed : — ^ 1718 .,....£ 505,995 1719 312,737 1720 500,000 1721 1,000,000 1725 ....... 500,000 1726 370,000 1727 . 1,750,000 1728 1,230,000 1729 550,000 1730 1,200,000 1731 500,000 £8,418,732 The money procured by the sinking fund for the discharge of the National Debt, from 1716 to 1728, amounted to £6,648,000, being a trifle more than the debt contracted during the same period. In 1728, it was found that the principle could not be preserved; and the interest of the loan of that and the following year was charged on the fund, while the additional taxes imposed to pay the interest of the loans were applied to increase it. A short time after, the plan of preserving the sinking fund inviolate was abandoned; and in 1733, £500,000 was taken to meet the expenses of the year : in 102 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEKS 1734, £1,200,000 was taken for the same purpose; and in 1735 it was even anticipated, and the principle in effect abandoned. Erom that time its operations grew feeble, its produce was often devoted to other purposes, and it was found necessary to have recourse to it when the expenses exceeded the revenue, and no new taxes were imposed. In the peace which followed the treaty of Utrecht — a period of twenty-six years^ £7,231,508 was the amount of debt discharged by the sinking fund ; and in war the produce was applied to the expenses of the year — ^loans being raised for the additional sums required. This fund produced at its commencement in 1717 . £ 323,439 From 1717 to 1726, both inclusive . 577,614 „ 1727 to 1736 » . 1,132,251 „ 1737 to 1746 U • 1,062,170 „ 1747 to 1756 » • . 1,356,578 „ 1757 to 1766 n ' ' 2,059,406 The further and feeble operations of this fund are unnecessary to trace, as, although it continued nominally in the accounts of the Exchequer untU 1786, when Mr. Pitt's sinking fund was introduced, it did Httle in peace, and nothing in war. From 1717 to 1772 it produced but twenty millions, being about £357,000 annually. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 103 If the increase to the debt last recorded was caused by a disgraceful war and a powerless ministry, that wHcIl followed was no less remarkable for the brOliance of its operations and the greatness of its achievements. Since the treaty of Aix-la-ChapeUe, the English and Erench East India Companies had been fighting for supremacy, and the animosity spread to the colonies. A British force was cut off in America, and some Erench vessels were taken on the West India seas. War seemed necessary, and, when com- menced, proved at first sufiiciently humiliating. Hanover was attacked by France, and petty German princes were subsidised to defend it. Minorca, commanded by Blakeney, a superannuated general, was taken by Richeheu, a superannuated fop. Braddock was defeated in America ; Admkal Byng refused to engage the Erench fleet ; and an outcry arose for his life which appalled the men who governed the councils of the country. Shops were filled with libels ; waUs were covered with satires. The English people, rarely yielding to the thirst for blood, demanded that of the unpopular admiral; and the prime minister trembled for his neck. Our navy could scarcely keep the sea, and the army was commanded by men desirous only 104 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTEES of seeking emolument and avoiding risk. Enterprise and energy were absent. In the West, our power was paralyzed ; in tke East, it was endangered. Prom every county in the kingdom, from every town in the empire, vengeance was demanded. The Duke of Newcastle vacated the place of prime minister; a change was effected ; and from that period a succession of conquests filled the kingdom with pride, and raised the fame of the country. The accession of Mr. Pitt to the post of the Duke was felt in every department. Prance, attacked on some, and menaced on all points, suffered disastrous defeats, retired from Germany, and saw her West and East Indian colonies -wrested from her. In one action, thirty-six sail of the line, fifty frigates, and forty-five sloops were taken or destroyed, and the sea swept clear of the fleets that had insulted our coasts and our colonies. Triumph after triumph, conquest after conquest, and, it must be added, loan after loan, was witnessed. Goree and Guadaloupe were taken. The heights of Abraham beheld the fall of Wolfe and of Quebec; Montreal was subdued; and the total cession of Canada followed. The fleet to which the Prench com't had confided its American possessions was destroyed, and the captured standards OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. lOo were borne througli the streets amidst triumphant ehouts which deadened the roar of the cannon. The accession of George III. did not interfere with the conduct of the war. Nineteen mUhons were voted the first year of his reign; and though Mr. Pitt retired from the councils of his majesty, the contest was carried on with the same energy ; while the system of subsidies was continued with a profusion which has been rarely paralleled. Triumphs such as these produced their effects on the opponents of England. Spain and Portugal were anxious for peace; Prance was impoverished, the plate of her monarch converted into money; and, in 1762, a just and honourable treaty was concluded. It is remarkable also that pubhc distress was never less apparent than during this war ; and the rare picture was presented of a people supporting without murmurs the trials and the taxes of a wide and costly contest. Prosperity and wealth at home hid the price at which the victories were purchased abroad ; London was never more thriving ; and the importance of several manufacturing districts dates from the success of the seven years' war. Dming this period, the whole continent of North America fell into our power. Twenty- 106 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTERS five islands were captured; twelve great battles won; nine fortified cities, and forty forts and castles taken ; one hundred ships of war and twelve millions of specie acquired; sixty millions added to the national debt, and fifty-two millions raised by taxes. To produce the peace which followed this contest, bribery was resorted to, and the public money wasted. "The peace of 1763," said John Ross Mackay, private secretary to the Earl of Bute, and afterwards treasurer to the Ordnance, "was carried through, and approved by a pecuniary distribution. Nothing else could have surmounted the difficulty. I was myself the channel through which the money passed. With my own hand I secured above one hundred and twenty votes on that vital question. Eighty thousand pounds were set apart for the purpose. Eorty members of the House of Commons received from me a thousand pounds each. To eighty others I paid five himdred pounds a-piece." The continued corruptions produced continued irregularity. George II. said he was the only master who did not see his servants remunerated ; adding to Mr. Pelham, that if the civil hst were not paid, he would find another minister. Remonstrances on the injury to the national and individual interest OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 107 were so frequent, that the king declared he would inspect the accounts himself. The Duke of Newcastle, then prime minister, bowed, and promised to send the papers: and the following morning, a cart loaded with official accounts, was paraded in the court yard of the palace. With much violence the monarch de- manded the cause of the display. " They form a portion of the accounts your majesty desired to inspect," was the reply. "There is another wagon-full on the road." One specimen of the accounts his majesty had offered to investigate was, however, quite sufficient ; and the pubhc complaint remained unalleviated. In 1742, £1,384,600 6s. 3d., was under the _ sole direction of the Earl of Orford for secret service-money, of which £50,077 18s. went to the newspapers, and the amount of this supply expended in the six weeks preceding the resignation of the Earl of Orford was more than during the three previous years. In 1766, the House of Commons compelled the East India Company to rescind a vote which the excitement of the time had induced them to pass The success of Lord Clive, the important commercial consequences to vfhich it led, and the plunder which rewarded the victories of the soldier, had fired the 108 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS brains of the East India proprietary. The most extravagant reports were promulgated, and half- yearly dividends of 50 per cent, were confidently promised. The value of the Stock rose enor- mously ; and the directors divided at the rate f 13 per cent, per annum. When it was found that the corporation were enabled to divide thus libe- rally, parliament, under the pretence that it might lead to a dangerous panic, interposed with a strong hand, directed that the annual dividend of the company should be limited to 10 per cent., and that all accumulations beyond should accrue to the state. Great opposition was evinced. The corporation, having paid liberally for their charter, would not quietly submit to an interference with so materially decreased its value ; and, having formerly bribed with success, tried the same process, but without the same result. The changes in the opinion of the "indepen- dent " members, as they were bribed by the company or awed by the minister, were somewhat curious, and the cause of Charles Townshend's tergiversations were probably only a type of many. Having dealt largely - in India Stock, he cried up the company's claims to serve himself. He then sold out at a profit, and OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 109 cried them down to serve Ms friends. It was a complete South Sea year. A third of the House of Commons was deeply engaged in the traiEc ; and jobbing was the thermometer by which patriots were made or marred. "From the Alley to the House," said Walpole, " is like a path of ants." Most of the members were in Mr. Townshend's position, and the East India Company were, therefore, restricted in their dividends. The result was, that this corporation is worthy the study of others in the hberality with which it rewards the labours of its clerks. Acting on the fine Mosaic principle, that the ox shall not be muzzled which treadeth out the corn, the company have made their servants' interest their own — they have made them understand that their old age shall be liberally protected if they faithfully serve — they have made them know that their widows and their orphans shall not be forsaken, and they have, therefore, made them feel that the service of such a company is a pleasure and not a pain — a love and not a labour. It is the curse of English commerce, of Enghsh banking, and of Enghsh trading generally, that while large fortunes are made by the principal, the clerks are often remunerated at a rate inferior to that which 110 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS the merchant pays his favourite domestic. The small number necessary to produce a great income takes away all excuse for this penury ; and as four or five are frequently sufficient to produce annual thousands, it is to be regretted that while the principal seeks the most luxurious abode which wealth can produce, the clerk goes to some cheap submrban home, in which, with his family, he can scarcely unite respectability with life. In corporations and in public ofiices this is pecu- liarly hard. The additional salary would not be felt, and there is a responsibility on the clerks which demands that their payment should be proportioned to it. It is an honour to them that, with the lax notions entertained of corporate and national property, the frauds should be so rare ; but it is a dishonom- to commercial natm'e, that, considering the profits made by merchants, the daily intercourse they hold with their clerks, and the trust they are compelled to place in them, they pay in so small, and work in so great a degree. It is a most suggestive fact that, where the functionaries are remunerated the worst, the frauds are most numerous. But there is another evil felt by the stipendiary. _ OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. Ill His personal treatment is not in accordance witli his claims as an educated man. The coldest look and the haughtiest answer are reserved for him. The smallest amount of intercourse necessary to business is awarded him. The common courtesies of hfe are denied him. The merchant too often enters his counting-house without recognition, and leaves it without an adieu. In similar establishments abroad the clerks are treated with care and kindness. They are not made hourly to feel _ the great gulf between them and their wealthy superiors. They visit the homes of the latter ; they are confidently consulted; they are allowed time to think; they are treated as men, not as animals. And thus it was in England in the olden time. The merchant of that school invited his clerk to his home, took an interest in his affairs, and recognised htm as a friend. They worked the fortunes of the house together, and, if the merchant was repaid by his clerk's fidehty, the latter was often admitted into the firm he had served. This is not so now: but the master is the greatest loser; for there is no service so fruitfd as that which arises from Idndness, or so gTateful as that which has its root in affectionate respect. 112 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS An important point was decided against the presumed privilege of the city in 1767. Two gentlemen, wishing to purchase Stock, employed friends, not brokers, to procure it. The chamberlain deeming tliis an invasion of the civic prerogatives, commenced proceedings against them. In both cases, however, the defendants gained the day, "And," says the authority, "it is now settled that every person is at liberty to employ his friends to buy or sell government securities withou.t employing a broker." * Some of the frequenters of Jonathan's were dexterous manipulators, and, however the speculator might con- gratulate himself on his success in the Alley, it occasionally happened that he found himself lightened of his profit. Thus, in one day in the above year, no fewer than four brokers were robbed of their pocket- books, containing large amounts of property. The thief was taken ; but, in place of expressing contrition. * "At JdHatlian'a, in 'Change AIley,tliere are Servitors, Novices, Pupils, Tutors and Doctors; the latter of whom are easily known by their pride and arrogance. Tutors are those who take Noyioos for their pupils, make bargains with them, and bring them into credit with the house, in which they suffer them to go alone, as soon as they have tricked them out of half their fortunes. Servitors are those who are ready to do all the dirty business their masters order them, such as that Stocks were done at a different price from what they really were, or buying and selling underhand, to raise or depress the market." — Moetiher. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 113 he gave a voluntary and unexpected opinion that one man had as much right to rob as another, and that he was only acting as an honorary magistrate in taking that of which they had cheated their neighbours. A somewhat curious calculation was made of the debt at this period, that if its 130 millions were counted in shillings at the rate of 100 a minute, it would occupy one person 49 years, 158 days, and 7 hours. The same person also declared its weight in the same coin to be 41,935,484 troy pounds; and that it would require 279,570 men to carry it. On July 15th, 1773, a newspaper of the day said: " Yesterday the brokers and others at New Jonathan's came to a resolution, that instead of its being called New Jonathan's it should be called the Stock Exchange, which is to be wrote over the door. The brokers then collected sixpence each, and christened the house with punch." 114 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS CHAPTER VII. CRISIS OP 1772 — INDIAN ADYENrUEEES, THEIE OSTENTATION, THEIE, CHAEAC- TEE — FAILURE OP DOUGLAS, HEHON AND CO. — NEAiE, POEDTOB AND CO. — SKETCH OP ME. POEDTCE — HIS SUCCESS IN THE ALLEY — ALAUM OF HIS PAETNEE3 — HIS AETIFICE — HIS PAILUEE— OENEKAL BANKEUTTOT — LIBEEALITT OP A NABOB — EEPLT OF A OUAKEE — ■WITTICISM OF JOHN WILKES — WAH OP AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE — ^ARTIFICES OF MINISTERS— ANECDOTE OP MR, ATKINSON— VALUE OP LIFE ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE — LONOEYITY OP A BTOCK-BROKEE. The crisis of 1772 lias been entirely overlooked by those who have bestowed their thoughts upon such subjects. It had its origin in a variety of circumstances ; but the exciting cause was the failure of the bank of Douglas, Heron and Co., estabhshed in 1769. It was the period when the success of adventurers in our Indian empire had contributed to the wealth of England. Immense sums were accumulated in a few months. Large purchases of land were made at high prices. AU the early and late symptoms of speculation were apparent. The vast fortunes brought home were ostentatiously displayed. A contempt for the slow gains of trade, a OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 115 feverish excitement, and an ungovernable impatience to be rich, marked the period. The nabobs were not dis- posed to hide their wealth under a bushel. They built magnificent mansions; and mistook ostentation for taste. They raised the prices of aU articles of consumption ; they were bowed to before their faces, and dreaded behind their backs. Dark deeds were told of them; and the shrewd peasant shuddered as the massive carriage rolled by, which held the man whose wealth had been obtained at the expense of his humanity. The epheme- ral literature of the day is filled with the popular opinion of the character; and the nabob is commonly represented as a man with a bad liver and black heart. Scott, with his exquisite conception of the ludicrous, makes one of his characters define a nabob as " One who comes frae foreign parts, with mair siQer than his pouches can hold: as yellow as oranges, and maun hae a' thing his ain gate." Por thirty years the public mind was filled with impressions of their wealth and crimes ; and so late as twenty years ago. Lord Clive was described to the writer as keeping memorials of his guilt in a box beneath his bed, and as having destroyed himself because his past enormities were too great for his conscience to bear. The drama, the story, and the poem, were coloured 116 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS with their eccentricities ; while newspapers occasionally recorded facts which marked that, in some at least, a fine generosity was mingled with their grossness. The effect, however, of these things was to make money plentiful ; to raise a spirit of emulation, and a thirst for gold. In addition to this, the banking-house of Douglas, Heron and Co. circulated its paper with a freedom which had an effect upon the population of Scotland remembered to the present day. Discomits for a time were plentiful. BiUs presented by farmers, and accepted by ploughmen, were readUy cashed. As is usual in these cases, the dashing character attained by the bank attracted those who should have knovra better; and many who boasted of their foresight, paid for their presumption.* In 1772 the result of reckless trading was apparent ; and Douglas, Heron and Co. failed. The shock was felt throughout the empire. The Royal Bank of Scotland tottered to its base; the banking-houses of England shook with a well-grounded fear ; and the great corpora- * Even in 1771 this firm was in a melanclioly condition. "There are now but four of us in town," wi'oto the directors in Edinburgli to the deputation in London, "aniallof «(s tinder the neeesdty of walking the streets to save the Iwnour of the house. The old bank informed us Wednesday last they would discount, no more of our bUls ; the new bank this day gave us the same answer." OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 117 tion of the Bank of England was beset on all sides for assistance ; but from none more vehemently than from Mr. Pordyce, of the house of Neale, Pordyce and Co. — a firm which, from its position, the importance assumed by its partners, and the known success of some of its speculations, was generally supposed to be beyond suspicion. The career of the man who thus craved assistance was somewhat out of the ordinary way of his craft, and may, perhaps, prove interesting as the sketch of an adventurer in whose power it may lay to make or mar the fortunes entrusted to him ; and also as a specimen of the mode in which the Stock Exchange is sometimes resorted to by bankers with the balances of their customers. Bred a hosier at Aberdeen, Alexander Fordyce found the North too confined for any extensive operations ; and, repairing to London, as the only place worthy his genius, obtained employment as clerk to a city banking- house. Here he displayed great facility for figures, with great attention to business, and rose to the post of junior partner in the firm of Roffey, Neale and James. Scarcely was he thus established, ere he began to speculate in the Alley, and generally with marked good fortune. " The devU tempts young sinners with success ;" 118 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS — and Mr. Fordyce, thinking Ms luck would be per- petual, ventured for sums whicli involved his own character and his partners' fortune. The game was vnth him; the fands were constantly on the rise; and; fortunate as daring, he was enabled to purchase a large estate, to support a grand appearance, to surpass nabobs in extravagance, and parvenus in foUy. He marked " the marble with his name," upon a church which he ostentatiously built . His ambition vied with his extra- vagance, and his extravagance kept pace with his ambition. The Aberdeen hosier spent thousands in attempting to become a senator, and openly avowed his hope of dying a peer. He married a lady of title ;* » Lady Margaret Fordyce, nee Barnard, sister of that Lady Anne Barnard whose name is familiar to the literary reader as the writer of " Auld Robin Gray." A most charming description of this lady is to be found in the 2nd volume of the *' Lives of the Lindsays." Sheridan wrote of Lady Fordyce in the most enthusi- astic terms: — "Always sweet, always entertaining, always instructive," said her sister Lady Anne. " Her eloquence was remarkable ; her singing frequently left the whole room in tears." " I may complete," says the author of the above wort, " the portrait of a most pure and noble mind, by inserting a letter written by her at nineteen years of age to her husband, Alexander Fordyce, of Eoehampton, on hearing he had ruined himself and her, and made shipwreck of his character as well as his fortune, though this she could not believe." The letter is worthy to be ilassed with anything iu the English language. It was written shortly after this most unhappy failure, and sadly instances the social unhappiuess which follows speculation. " For the sake of heaven, your own and my repose, my dear husband, let not the unhappy affair affect your mind too much. I have heard all, even the worst, from our over-valued friend, Mr. Atkinson, and I have borne it with a fortitude which OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 119 purchased estates in Scotland at a fancy value ; built a hospital ; and founded charities in the place of which he nothing but a thorough conviction of our sole dependence on Him who gives and Him who takes away, could give me. Do you think in the same way, and by calming your troubled mind, ease me of the greatest part of the misfortune, the idea of your unhappiness. I hope you know me well enough, my dear Fordyce, to be convinced that I can live with as much content on a small fortune as on a large. I think I could even look poverty in the face without shrinking if it was necessary, which, thank heaven, it is not ; and who knows but that when the unfortunate affair is in some measure passed, we may live in a more happy manner than we have yet experienced, trusting more to each other, and to our own minds, forthat content which if not found there will fly us in every situation. Perhaps we may not be able to live in this country ; well, then, my dear husband, we will go to another. We cannot go where all-protecting Providence will not comfort and sustain us, if we submit with resignation to his will. The dread tongue of malice, and the triumph of those who are not our friends, is, I know, hard to bear ; but while you know I am convinced of the rectitude of your intentions in those plans which have turned out so unfortunately, the lenient hand of time, and may I add, the soothing attention of a wife, will get the better of all those misfortunes, and we shall yet be happy. Oh ! my Fordj'ce, had I known your mind had so great a calamity to struggle with, how should I have tried to have soothed, and instead of being hurt or offended at any little starts of temper, would rather have wondered how they could be so few. I have sometimes told you I was a philosopher, and if it were necessary, could be an economist. I come now to the test, and am too proud to be caught shrinking back, like a coward, when I have afSrmed I could face the enemy. I would fain make you smile by painting to you the otherwise timoroua - Margaret, armed at all points, fighting against the foe misfortune, and getting the better of him by the sole armour of contentment, and the hope of better days. I kn'ow him to be a coward and a bully ; appear afraid of him, and he overwhelms you ; face him, and he flies. Yet we have all a vulnerable part, mine is the thought of your unhappiness. Let me find you composed and comfortable. Let me, if possible, see you, that I may pour the balm of consolation into your wounded mind, and I shall then hope, that the time may not be at a great distance when I may sign myself your happy, as well as affectionate Two years afterwards she wrote to her sister, and it should be a lesson to all speculators, ere they risk family as well as self : — "I went on Sunday— oh ! Anne, where? — to Eoehampton, to choose from, .120 CHRONICLES AND CHAE-ACTERS hoped to become tlie representative. But a change came over his fortunes. Some political events first shook him. A sensible blow was given to his career hj the affair of Falkland Island;* and he had recourse to his partners' private funds to supply his deficiencies. Like many who are tempted to appropriate the property of others, he trusted to replace it by some lucky stroke of good fortune; and redoubled his speculations on the Stock Exchange. Reports reached his partners, who grew alarmed. They had •witnessed and partaken of his good fortune, and they had rejoiced in the far ken which had obtained the services of so clever a person ; but when they saw that the chances were going against him, they remonstrated with aU the energy of men whose fortunes hang on the success of their remonstrances. A cool and amongat what was my own, what I wished to pnrchase ! Tes, Anne, I came away satisfied with my own philosophy. I repeated to myself with Solon or Socrates — no matter which — ' How many things are here which I can do mthout !' adding what alone made it a boast, ' though once possessed of them.' I prayed for a little rain to sadden the glories of the prospect to a more suitable gloominess — they were not heard ; the day was delightful ; the place in perfect order and beauty ; all the walls and shrubberies which we had made are now in the greatest perfection ; not one tree we planted that has not grown with the most uncommon luxuriance," * "The Stocks have got wind of this secret," said Horace Walpole ; "and their heart Is fallen into theii' breeches — where the heai-t of the Stoclis i^ apt to lie." OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 121 insolent contempt . for their opinion, coupled with the remark, that he was quite disposed to leave them to manage a concern to which they were utterly incom- petent, startled them; and when, with a cunning which provided for everything, an enormous amount of bank notes, which Fordyce had borrowed for the purpose, was shown them, their faith in his genius ' returned with the possession of the magic paper — and it is doubtful whether the plausibility of his manner, or the rustle of the notes, decided them. But ill fortune continued to pursue Mr. Fordyce. His combinations were as fine, his plans as skilful, ag ever. His mind was as perceptive as when he first began > but unexpected facts upset his theories, and the price of the funds would not yield to his combinations. Every one said he deserved to win; but he still continued -to lose. Speculation succeeded speculation j and it is remarkable that, with aU his great and continued losses, he retained to the last hour a cool and cahn self-possession. After availing himself of every possible resource, his partners were surprised by his absenting himself from the banking-house. This, with other causes, occasioned an immediate stoppage, and a bankruptcy which spread far and wide. But Mr. 122 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS Pordyce was not absent long. He returned at the risk of Ms life ; the public feeling being so violent that it was necessary to guard him from the populace, while he detailed a tissue of unsurpassed fraud and foUy. He manfully took the blame upon himself, and exonerated his partners from aU save an undeserved confidence. It need hardly be added that the assistance earnestly begged by Mr. Fordyce of the Bank of England was refused. Whatever impression might be entertained by others of his house, the corporation to which he applied was equally aware of his speculative propensities as of the sphere in which he indulged them ; and they refused assistance, upon a well-founded principle, to the man who employed his customers' capital and his own energies in incessant speculations on the Stock Exchange. Pordyce, however, only advanced the crash. The Scotch bankers were the cause; and the Bank of England saw the necessity of stopping the dangerous game commenced by the Bank of Ayr. The failures continued in the commercial world. He broke half the people in town. Glyn and Halhfax were gazetted bankrupts;* but resumed business in a * Sir Thomas IluUifax luul not a liigli reputation for liberality. During a severe OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 123 few days, the bankruptcy being voluntary. Drummonds were only saved by General Smith, a Nabob — ^the original of Foote's Sir Matthew Mite — supporting their house with £150,000. When this firm stopped pay- ment at a prior period, they were only induced to resume business by a round-robin being sent to them, with all their customers' names. Two gentlemen, ruined by the extravagance of the city banker, shot themselves. Throughout London the panic, equal to anything of a later date, but of shorter duration, spread with the velocity of wild-fire, and part of the press attributed to the Bank the merit of supporting the credit of the city, whUe part asserted that it caused the panic. The first families were in tears ; nor is the consternation sur-. prising, when it is known that bUls to the amount of four millions were in circulation, with the name of Pordyce attached to them. The attempts of the speculating banker to procure assistance were earnest and incessant. Among those to whom Mr. Pordyce went was a shrewd quaker. " Eriend winter, when requested to join his neighhours in a subscription for the poor, ana told that " He who giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord ; " he replied, " He did not lend on such slight security;" and it is curious that, when" he afterwarda applied to a rich neighbour for assistance, a similar reply, couched in similar language, was given to his application. 124 CHKONICLES AND CHAUACTERS Fordyce," was the reply of the latter, "I have known many men ruined by two dice, but I will not be ruined by Four-dice." The crisis of this period bore a great resemblance to that which agitated 1847. Speculation had been carried to a mischievous extent. Affairs in the East were in a critical position. The news, which varied with the dangers of our Indian arms, caused great fluctuations in India stock. The price rose and fell with the inteUigence, and all the gambling propensities of humanity were called into action. Foreign commerce languished, or was neglected. France undersold us in the Levant. America was more disposed to dispute than to trade. Our gold circulation was reduced, the Jews transported large quantities, and land, in consequence of eastern adventurers desuing to invest their gains in the soil, rose to an unexampled height. The public funds were lower than at any period since the war. Money was easily procured on personal security. Notes and bills of exchange to a large amount were di'awn without any consideration having been given for them. Imaginary capitals were raised. People with the appearance of opulence only, some of whom were insolvent, lived extravagantly, grew careless of their expenses, and flattered themselves that their OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 125 fortune woiild prove lasting. The consequence lias been seen intlie disastrous failures of 1772. In 1774, the number of Hebrew brokers was hmited to twelve ; and the privilege was always purchased by a liberal gratuity to the lord mayor. Dm'ing this year, the mayoralty of Wilks, one of the privileged being at the point of death, Wilks, with characteristic boldness, openly calculated on the advantage to be obtained, and was very particular in his inquiries after the sick man. The rumoLu: that Wilks, had expressed a wish for the death of the Hebrew was spread by the wags of 'Change Alley, and the son of the broker sought his lordship to reproach him with his cupidity. " My dear fellow," replied Wilks, with the readiness peculiar to him, " you are greatly in error. I would sooner have seen aU the Jew-brokers dead than your father." It is greatly to be lamented that the behaviour of England to her American children was not likely to be remembered with kindness when the tie was violently broken. The story of that disastrous war, where men of the same ancestry and the same habits were arrayed in hostnity; when they who spake the same tongue spake it only in unkindness, is pitiable and humihating. "Fiom the time when the inhabitants of Boston refused to 126 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEKS be taxed, to the signing of the treaty with the young republic on terms of equahty, the measures adopted were as severe as they were injudicious j and to the obstinacy of George III. may be traced the cause and the continu- ation of the contest, and the increase of the national debt. The first blow was struck at Boston ! On the evening of 18th December, 1774, a number of citizens, disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded the vessels containing the tea which they would not allow to be taxed, and discharged it into the water, while other cargoes were not only refused landing, but were sent back with contempt. When the news reached London, various restraining measures were passed. The place which had witnessed the outrage was declared closed for all exports and imports ; and though the bold stand of , the provincials astonished the mother country, it was supposed to be but temporary. It was soon found, however, that Boston was not alone ; other provinces joined, and British America called a general congress. Magazines were formed; ammunition was provided; plans were drawn up for the defence of the country ; and a large body enrolled, termed minute men, engaged to turn out at a minute's notice. Every contingency was prepared for ; and an aspect called rebellious by the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 127 mot]ier country was boldly presented. The first blood was sbed at Lexington, where British soldiers fled before American militia. Emboldened by success, they reduced two forts, took Montreal, and attempted Quebec. Nor was England idle in the struggle. An addition to the land and sea force was voted; loans were raised; reinforcements were ordered to Boston; and the military ardour which had seized the Americans, found fuel on which to expend itself. With fire-arms formed by themselves ; with weapons brought from the plough; with artillery so clumsily fashioned, that it burst more often than it discharged ; with men who had only the determination to die free rather than hve bond ; the American generals beat the veteran troops of England. Her forts were taken ; her forces surrounded; her armies destroyed; and her officers made prisoners. The principal powers of Europe looked with delight upon a struggle between the soldiers of the mother country and the raw recruits of the colony ; between discipline on the one side and patriotism on the other ; on the entke power of England baffled by men from the pen and from the plough ; from the shop and from the counting-house. The loans of this disastrous period were most unpopular, and the increased taxation 128 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTERS which followed was drawn with the utmost difficulty from the pockets of the people. Political misfortunes and military disasters made the subjugation of America chimerical. Earl Cornwallis surrendered himself and his army prisoners of war; and when the contest was extended to Europe — ^when England stood alone against Holland, Erance, Spain, and America — ^when our navy was defeated — when the English coast and harbours were insulted — our West India Islands ravaged, and our trade swept away, the discontents of the country increased, and the debates in the House grew violent and acrimonioiis. " You sheathe your sword, not in its scabbard, but in the bowels of your countrymen," said one ; and on some unhappy boast of driving the Americans into the sea — • " I might as well," said Lord Chatham, "think of driving them with my crutch." The people grumbled at defeat following defeat ; at trade crippled ; at taxes augmented, and debts enlarged. Loan succeeded loan ; a cry arose about the corruption of contracts, and the feeling of discontent increased so strongly, that the stubborn obstinacy of the king, who had said he would sooner lose his right arm than his colonies, was compelled to yield to an unanimous resolution of the Commons, that OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 129 tlie House would consider as enemies all those who advised the continuance of the war. Had any other monarch sate upon the throne, the large accumulation of debt would have probably been avoided ; and England would now be spared the painful task of looking back upon a nation convulsed by faction ; a throne assailed by the fiercest invective ; a House of Commons hated and despised ; a rival legislature sitting beyond the Atlantic ; English blood shed by English bayonets ; our arms capitulating ; our conquests wrested from us ; our enemies hastening to take vengeance upon us for past humiliations; and our flag scarcely able to maintain itself in our own seas. Such was the aspect of public affairs during a war which cost thirty-two millions in taxes, and added one hundred and four to the national debt. In 1778 when a new loan was proposed, the usual niuuber of applications were delivered from the bankers, merchants, and members of the Stock Exchange. To their sm-prise the answers were not received so soon as usual, and as political events were threatening, the applicants grew anxious. The funds fell greatly ; and when the replies came, it was found that the whole of this unfortunate loan was fixed upon them, tiad the funds risen, the members and the minister's friends K 130 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS would have had a good portion ; but as the scrip was sure to be at a discount of 3 per cent., the whole was divided amongst those who were either without interest or were opposed to the government. In 1781, on anew loan being proposed, the same houses applied ; but as the scrip went to a premium, it was divided with dae regard to senatorial interests, and many who had lost on the last loan had no opportunity of retrieving on the present. Prior to the allotment, one firm was waited on by a stranger, and told that, if they would add his name to their list, they would be favourably considered. The house declined the proposal, and sent in a tender for two milhons ; when to their surprise they received, with an allotment of £560,000, an intimation that the odd £60,000 was for the gentleman who had waited on them, and of whom they knew nothing. £240,000 was nominally given to another house ; but of this £200,000 was for members whose votes were desirable. Mr. Dent, the head of the house of ChUd, and a senator, received £500,000, being two-thirds of his tender, while Drummonds and other bankers, not members, received only tenths and sixteenths of the sums they requested. Some applicants, without parliamentary interest, though as good as any in the city, were totally OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 131 neglected, while " to a number of mendicants," said Mr. Fox, "obscure persons and nominal people, were given large amounts." The mendicants and obscure people thus politely alluded to by the great gambler, were the Treasury and Bank clerks, to whom a portion of the loan was usually presented as a compliment for their services. It is curious to notice the increase of applications for the loans so constantly required. Thus in 1778, only 240 persons applied : in 1779 the number increased to 600; in 1780, to 1100; and in 1781, it reached 1600. In 1785 Mr. Atkinson, said to be an adventurer from the North, was a great spisculator. That he acted vnth judgment, may be gathered from the fact of his dying possessed of haK a million. A curious but not a parsimonious man, he occasionally performed eccentric actions. Dming one of the pauses in a dinner conversa- tion, he suddenly turned to a lady by whom he sate, and said, " If you, madam, will trust me with £1,000 for three years, I will employ it advantageously." The character of the speaker was known; the offer so frankly made was as frankly accepted ; and in three years, to the very day, Mr. Atkinson waited on the lady with £10,000, 132 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS to wliicli amount the sagacity of the citizen liad increased the sum entrusted to him. It is probable, although the fact is difficult to ascertain, that the lives of the members of the Stock Exchange are, at the present day, less valuable than the ordinary average of human life. The constant thought ; the change from hope to fear; the nights broken by expresses ; the days excited by changes, must necessarily produce an unfavom-able effect upon the frame. In- stances, however, of great longevity are not wanting ; and one John Riva, who, after an active life in 'Change Alley, had retu-ed to Venice, died there at the patriarchal age of one hundred and eighteen. An important decision was obtained from the Com-t of King's Bench in 1780. In that year Mr. Dunning pro- cm'ed a mandamus to transfer stock at the Bank mider the testament of an illegitimate person. The directors of that corporation had previously refused this, on the plea that " bastards could not devise by will." CiV THE STOCK EXCHANGE- 133 CHAPTER VITI. INTENTION OP lOTTEKIES — THE PIKST LOTTEUT — EMPLOYED BY THE STATE- CHEAT TNCBEASE — EAGEENESS TO StIESORIBE — EVILS OP LOTTERIES — SUICIDE through; THEM — ■ SUPERSTITION INSURANCES — SPREAD OP GAMBLING^ PROMISES OP LOTTERIES — HUMOROUS EPISODE— LEGAL INTERPERENCE — ■ PARLIA M ENTARY REPORT — LOTTERY DRAWING PICTURE OP MOROCCO MEN — THEIR GREAT EVIL — LOTTERY PUPPINGS — EPITAPH ON A CHANCELLOR — ABOLI- TION OP LOTTERIES, The history of lotteries is one of those anomalies which it is the duty rather than the pleasure of the annalist to record. A minute picture, however, of the progress of these institutions is as necessary to the financial annals of the Stock Exchange as it is to the development of the social history of a people. Invented by the Romans to enliven their festivities, they were to that luxurious people a new excitement ; and the prizes distributed to their guests were in proportion to the grandeur of the giver. Eine estates, magnificent vases, and beautiful slaves, with other and less expensive luxuries, gratified at once the pride of the founder of the feast and the cupiditj of the guest. 134 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEUS The application, however, of lotteries to the service of a state originated at Genoa, the government of which established the principle for its ■ own benefit. The church was not long in following the example at Rome, where the inhabitants deprived themselves of necessaries to share the chances which their excited imaginations magnified a hundredfold. The first on record in England was dravra in 1569. The harbours and havens of the whole line of coast were out of repair, and the only mode of prociuing money was by lottery. The prizes were partly in money and partly in silver plate, and the profits were to be applied to the above purpose. But the drawing was a very important task; and, as 400,000 lots were to be dravni, night and day, for nearly four months were the people kept in a state of excitement. The time occupied must have been somewhat tedious ; and as this was the first lottery, and there were but three offices in London, it is to be supposed, that the drawing of that period bore the same proportion to the drawing at a later time that the coaches then bore to the railroads now.* In 1613 * "I told your Lordsliipof a lottery set up in Smithfleld for the advancement of fi AVaterwork undertaken by Mr. Gage ; in twelve days it was drawn dry, every l)rizo being gotten by some one or other ; the people were so mad of it, no Lotteries having been in London for these many years past, that they flocked from OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 135 another lottery was allowed for the benefit of the Virginia colonies, in which a tailor gained the largest prize of 4,000 crowns. But thus early was it found that lotteries and demoralisation went hand in hand. Sanctioned by the state as a source of gain, they were found equally profitable to private individuals ; and the town teemed with schemes which brought wretchedness and ruin in their train. In March, 1620, however, they were suspended by an Order in Council ; but it was only a suspension, and the evil was once more revived by Charles I., who, to assist a project of conveying water to London, granted a lottery towards its expenses. That which the first Charles allowed for so great a purpose, the second of the name allowed as a boon to those whom he could reward in no other Way. It was vain for censors to preach, divines to sermonize, the House of Commons to legislate, or the dramatist to satirize. While there was the chance of a great gaiu for a small risk, men ran in crowds to subscribe. Those who could not pay a large sum found plenty of opportunities to gamble for a small all ports of the city ; a broker in long Lano had, in those twelve days it stood there, 360 Clocks pawned to Liin, all which money was thrown into that lottery." Garrard to Lord Strafford, 186 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS amount, and penny lotteries became common.* In 1694 they were again employed by tlie state, William III. having appealed to the propensities of the people, and raised one million by the sale of lottery tickets, the prizes of which were funded at 4 per cent, for sixteen years. The voice of the moralist continued to be raised; and the public papers show that directly the state sanctioned the nuisance, the evil increased tenfold, and that schemes were introduced which were a loss to all save the promoters. " Wliat a run of lotteries we have had ! " says one : " With what haste they aU put in their money! What golden promises they made !"f The anecdotes connected with these abominations, • Mr. Heath says of the early lotteries, in his valuable volume entitled " Some Account of the Grocers' Company : " — " There is not one entry in the accounts to show that the prizes were ever paid;" and quotes various documents to prove that they were very difficult to procure. "Thescience of puffing," adds this gentleman, "which in our times has attained such perfection, was unknown at that period, and in lieu of placards and advertisements, the more direct mode was adopted of personal solicitation." t To prevent a monopoly, it was enacted, that no person charged with the delivery, should sell more than twenty tickets to one person. This was evaded in 1754. More tickets being subscribed than the holders could pay for, there w^as a deficiency in the payment. So long as the state did not suffer, there was no enquiry into tlie matter. But when its own funds were deficient, a Committee was appointed, an inquiry instituted, and a report made, that Peter Lebeup, Esq., had disposed of a great number of tickets before the door was opened to the public ; that be delivered great numbers to particular persons or lists of names which he knew to bo iictitious ; and that in particular, Samson Gideon became proprietor of more than 6000, which he sold at a premium. Lchcup was tried and found guilty ou those charges. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 137 the grim, grotesque despair of the losers, and the eager dehght of the gamers, was for the time the great entertainment of the town. Men ran with eager haste after the lotteries of merchandise ; and " the people were tickled," says a pamphleteer, "with the proposals of prodigious profits, when the proposers intended it only for themselves." The writer concludes somewhat vehemently, — " Indeed, the people have been so damnably cheated, they have no need of dissuading, and their own sufferings are sufficient to convince them it is their interest to forbear." The system of lotteries, sanctioned and employed by the legislature, was a terrible temptation to human nature. The chance, however remote, of gaining a large sum by a small risk, with the feeling of anxious and not unpleasing excitement, rendered lotteries a favourite phase of English gambling ; for the voice of the people had not spoken so peremptorily the great truth, that the state must not pm^chase a nation's wealth at the price of a nation's morals. That which a government employs as an instrument of wealth, is sure to be followed by the people to a lower extent, but in a more mischievous manner. In 1772, lottery magazine proprietors, lottery tailors, lottery staymakers, lottery glovers, lottery hat- 138 CHEONICLES AND CHARACTEES makers, lottery tea merchants, lottery snuff and tobacco merchants, lottery barbers — where a man for being shaved and paying threepence, stood a chance of receiAdng £10 — ^lottery shoe-blacks, lottery eating-houses — where for sixpence, a plate of meat and the chance of 60 guineas was given — ^lottery oyster-stalls — where three-pence gave a supply of oysters and a remote chance of 5 guineas — were plentiful;* and, to complete a catalogue which speaks volumes, at a sausage-staU in a narrow alley was the important intimation wiitten up, that for one farthing's worth of sausages, the fortunate purchaser might realize a capital of five shillings. Quack doctors, a class which formed so peculiar a feature in village life of old, sold medicine at a high price, giving those who purchased it, tickets in a lottery purporting to contain silver and other valuable prizes. The eagerness of the populace grew with the opportunity. The newspapers teemed with proposals ; and the rage for gambling reigned uncon- trolled. Every ravenous adventurer who could collect a * Girls with tattered gowns and cloaks, often without a shift under them ; boys without coats ; men, women, and children with pallid, half-famished counte- nances, may he seen in many of them every evening; to use their own vulgar hut expressive language, " Flinging away their good money after had ;" "Every man his own broker," OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 189 few articles advertised a lottery. Shopkeepers, compelled by tlie decrease of business,* took ttie hint, and dis- posed of their goods in lottery. Ordinary business among the lower tradesmen was greatly suspended. Piu'chasers refused to give the fuU price for that which might be obtained for nothing. Large profits were procured upon worthless articles; and in 1709, so great was the eagerness to subscribe to a state lottery, that Mercers' Hall was Hterally crowded with customers, and the clerks were insufficient to record the influx oi names, t It was, however, from those which were termed "little goes" — which drew the last penny from the pockets of the poor man — which saw the father gambling and the daughter starving, the mother pur- chasing tickets and the child crying for bread — that most evil arose. The magistracy, not always the first to interfere, grew alarmed, and announced its deter- mination to put in practice the penalties which, if earlier enforced, would have been beneficial ; but which, unhappily, were incompetent to put down what they * " The craftsmaa" calculated ttat every £100,000 laid out in a lottery, put a stop to the circulation of at least £300,000, occasioning an almost total suppression of trade. t It was at tiiis period that the clerks of the Bank of England told tho intelligent crowd— "We deliver blanks to day, hut to morrow we deliver prizes;" an assertion which prolueed the desired effect. 1 40 CHUONICLES AND 'CHAIIACTEUS might easily have prevented. It was also found impossible to restrain in private adventurers the wrong that royalty sanctioned in public.* It was known that lotteries were injmious to morals and to manners ; it was known that crime followed in their wake ; it was known that misery and misfortune were their attendants — ^but the knowledge was vain, and remonstrance useless, under the plea of the neces- sities of the state, and they continued to be employed by ministers as an engine to draw money from the pockets of the people, at a price aUke cUsgraceful to the government and demoralising to all. The extent to which the evil had reached may be inferred from the fact that money was lent on shares as on any other marketable security ; that parliament granted an act to raise £100,000, to build Westminster Bridge; that in 1751, upwards of 30,000 tickets were pawned to the metropolitan bankers ; and this, when to have an even chance for any prize, a pm'chaser must have held seven tickets ; being ninety-nine to one that even if a prize were di'awn, it did not exceed £50. * Horace Walpole, -writing of a newly invented instrument, says, "This has lately heen put into a lottery, and all the royal family chose to have a great many tickets rather than huy it, the price heing £1,000 ; infinitely a less sum," he adds, "than some Ijishoprioks have heen sold for." 01? THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 141 Suicide became common.* Men were found in the streets raving mad witli the agony of disappointed hope. The streets swarmed with unhappy wretches, who, while they suffered for the past, were making imaginary combinations for the future. All modes and methods were resorted to. Lucky numbers were foretold by cunning women, who, if their art failed, shrouded themselves in mysticism; and if fortune favom-ed them, paraded their prophecies to the public. The most gross and revolting superstition was practised to procure prizes. Rites which surpassed the dark imagination of a Matmin, and ceremonies which appear like relics of the elder world, were resorted to by the ignorant and uninstructed. It was in vain that the smaller lotteries were put down ; they only gave way to a new evil which preyed • A footman wlio, counting on a prize, received a blant, was one among many who destroyed tliemselves. As the following, discovered in his box, jrcyes the mode in which he intended to spend his gains, the loss was not of much importanco to society. "As soon as I have received the money I will marry Grace Towers; but as she has been cross and coy, I will use her as a servant. Every morning she shall get me a mug of strong beer, with toast, nutmeg, and sugar in it: then I will sleep till ten, after which I will have a large sack posset. My dinner shall be on table by one, never without a good pudding. I will have a stock of wine and brandy laid in. About five in the afternoon I will have tarts and jellies, and a gallon bowl of punch ; at ten a hot supper of two dishes. If I am in a good humour, and Grace behaves herself, she shall sit down with me. To bed about twelve." 142 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS upon the very vitals of society. Insurance, an art by vifMcli hundreds weve enriched while hundreds of tliousands were impoverislied, was commenced with terrible success. Those who were unable to buy tickets, paid a certain sum to receive a certain amount, if a particular number came up a prize, and a plan like this was available for all, as the amount could be varied to the means of the insurer. It is almost impossible to describe the many • iniquities, the household desolation, the pubhc fraud, and the private mischief which resulted from the novel plan. Wives committed domestic treachery; sons and daughters wasted their portions ; merchants risked the gains of honom-able trade. " My whole house," wrote one, "was infected with the lottery mania, from the head of it doAvn to my kitchen-maid and post-boy, who have both pawned some of their rags that they might put themselves in fortune's way." The passions and prejudices of the sex were appealed to. Lovers were to strew their paths with roses ; husbands were plentifully promised ; beautiful children were to adorn their homes through the lottery. And aU these glories were pro- mised, when Adam Smith declared, as an incontro- vertible fact, that the world never had, and never would OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 143 see, a fair lottery.* So great were the charms of insuring while the chances were so smaU, that respect- able tradesmen, in defiance of the law, met for this illegal piu-pose, on the following day to that on which some of their body had been taken hand-cuffed before a magistrate. The agents were spread in every country village, and the possession of a prize was an absolute curse to the community. Its effects were witnessed alike in the shock it gave to industry, and the love of gambling it spread among the people. It is clue to those whose voices were lifted up against these abomi- nations to say, that their appeals to the good feeling of the government were incessant ; but the state replied in that language which is so unanswerable when held by a firm government, that the necessities of the state over- balanced the evils of the lottery. Nor could ignorance be pleaded of its fatal effects. The domestics of the • In tliat of 1751, the chances were ; — ■ 34,999 to 1 against a £10,000 pvize, 11,665 to 1 against a 5000 prize, 6,3fi3 to 1 against a 3,000 prize, 3,6S3 to 1 against a 2,000 pi-ize, 1,794 to 1 against a 1,000 prize, 874 to 1 against a 500 prize, 249 to 1 against a 100 prize, C9 to 1 against a 50 prize, 6 to 1 against a 20 or any prize, the price of a ticket Lcing £10. 144 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS senators themselves purchased shares with their masters' money ; and members of the Lower and Upper House were unable to resist the fascinations of the game they condemned. The most subtle language was not wanting to support the cause. Scripture was used to defend it ; and as the Bible was perverted by the supporters of the slave trade, and lately by the discoverers of the virtues of chloroform, so was it now v\Tested to prove the antiquity and sanctity of lotteries. " By lot," they said, "it was determined which of the goats should be offered to Aaron. By lot the land of Canaan was divided. By lot Saul was marked out for the kingdom. By lot Jonah was discovered to be the cause of the storm." There are many incidents, which, recorded in contemporary annals, have been either overlooked or disregarded as insignificant. There is, however, nothing insignificant connected with so important a topic, and nothing ought to be overlooked in an evil which has eaten to the very heart of society, and which may again be used by some unscrupulous minister for some unscrupulous pm-pose. The declaration of Sir Samuel llomilly, that "whenever the house voted a lottery they voted that the deserving should become depraved," with the additional assertion that "the crimes com- OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 145 mitted would be chiefly hougM off by the paltry gain to the state coffers," was entirely disregarded. Let it be remembered that a Chancellor declared, " he could not see that lotteries led to gambling" — ^that though the corporation of London presented an earnest petition for their abolition, as injurious to commerce and injurious to individuals — ^that though Lord Mansfield said the state exhibited the tempta- tion, and then punished for the crime to which it tempted — that though on one occasion, out of twenty- two convicts who left the country, eighteen commenced their career with insming — ^that though forged notes were encouraged from the carelessness with which lottery-office keepers received and passed them— that though it was iterated and reiterated that no circumstances conduced so much to make bad wives and bad husbands, bad children and bad servants— that though men threw themselves into the river from the infatuation of their wives — though the plate of respectable families was pledged to assist the mania — that though poors' rates were increased, and the consumption of exciseable articles diminished during the drawing — - that though the gambling and lottery transactions of one individual only, were productive 1. 146 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEBS of from ten to fifteen suicides annually — ^that though half a million sterling yearly came from metropo- litan servants — ^that though four hundred fraudulent lottery-offices were in London alone — ^that though no revenue vs^as ever collected at so great an expense to the people — that though famihes pawned everything they, had; sold the duphcates, and were reduced to poverty — that though women forgot the sanctities of their sex — that though the parishes were crowded with applicants who had reduced themselves by insurances — that though perjury was common, and small annuitants squandered their resources — that although aU these pictures were drawn, and statements made so publicly and so prominently that they could not fail to reach even the obtuse ears of a dominant ministry, yet it was not until 1826 that the evil was abohshed. A similar pressure may recal the evil. It is of no importance to argue that lotteries are forbidden, and that the morals and the minds of the people are more regarded. Lotteries have been repeatedly forbidden, but they have been invariably renewed when the cofiers of the state were low ; and the morals of the people axe a minor point compared with the balance-sheet of the nation. 01? THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 147 The melanclioly history was occasionally enlivened by episodes, which sometimes arose from the hmnom-, and sometimes from the sufferings of the populace. It is recorded as a fact, that to procure the aid of the blind deity, a woman to whom a ticket had been presented, caused a petition to be put up in church, in the following words : — " The prayers of the congregation are desired for the success of a person engaged in a new undertaking;" a singular contrast to others, who sought the midnight gloom of a churchyard to secure the good fortune so eagerly craved. Romantic incidents often chequered the history: old bureaux with secret drawers, containing the magic papers which led to an almost magic fortune, were purchased at brokers', or descended as heirlooms. The evils in country places were more vividly impressed on the mind from the smallness of the population. In a village near town, a benefit club for the support of aged and infirm persons existed for many years. Among the members was one who, in trying his luck, gained £3,000. The efiPect was feverish, and fatal to the peace of the little community. The society formed to nourish the sick and clothe the needy, 148 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTEES was converted into a lottery club. The quiet village, wliicli had hitherto vegetated in blessed peacefulness, rang with the sound of prizes, sixteenths and insurances. People carried their furniture to the pawnbrokers, while others took their bed-clothes in the depth of winter to the same source. The money thus procured was thrown away upon lotteries ; and the prize of £3,000 was destructive to the happiness of the place. Up to the year 1780, although these many evils were well-known, insurances and every species of gambling connected with the lottery, were legal. But the malady grew so violent, that after much urging, a step was taken in the right direction. Insurances were declared illegal, and prohibited under very heavy penalties. So many, however, were imprisoned — ■ and perjury was not wanting for the sake of the penalty — that some check was necessary. A law, therefore, was made, preventing any one from sueing save the attorney-general; and some idea may be formed of the extent of the evil from the fact that, between 1793 and 1802, upwards of one thousand were punished with imprisonment. But the determina- tion to insm'e surpassed the determination to punish. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 149 The officers of government were absolutely defied.* Blood, in defence of that which the law declared illegal, was freely shed. So organized was the system, that two thousand clerks, and seven thousand five hundred persons known as " Morocco men," with a numerous stajff of armed ruffians, were attached to the Insurance offices. Committees were held three times a-week; measures were invented to defeat the magistrates; money to an enormous extent was used to bribe the constabulary ; while to those who refused to be bribed, a bold and insolent defiance was offered, with threats which the officers well knew would be executed at the risk, or even the certain sacrifice, of life. In 1805, parHament again took cognizance of the evU. The reiterated declarations of the press, thei repeated assertions of members of the senate, the uni- versal voice of the country, coupled with the notorious fact that crime continued to foUow the system, com- pelled government to appoint a Committee of the House to report upon it. The attendance of aU who could • Nor will this astonish the reader when he is told, that £800,000 in the Irish lottery, and £1,000,000 in the English, were insured at a profit never less than 15, and often 25 per cent. 150 CHRONICLES AND CHAEAGTERS give any information upon the subject was required, and a volume of evidence printed, vp-Mcli, thougli it must have opened the eyes, could not open the hearts of the ministers. Time, instead of softening or subduing the misery, had extended its ramifications into the highest, as it once had been confined to the lovs^est society. The middle class — ordinarily supposed to be the freest from vice — ^liad gradually succumbed. The penniless mis- creant of one day became the opulent gambler of the next ; and the dravping of the lotteries might be marked by the aspect of the pavmbroker's shops, which overflovred vdth the goods of the labourer, with the ornaments of the middle class, and with the jewels of the rich. Servants went to distant places with the purloined property of their masters, pledged it, and, destroying the tickets, insm'ed in the lottery. Manu- facturers discharged those workmen who could not resist the temptation. During the drawing of the prizes less labour was done by the artizans. House- keepers of the lower order were unable to pay their taxes. Money was begged from benevolent societies; and men, pretending they were penniless, were fed and housed by the parish Avhile embarking in these OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 151 chimerical schemes. Felons, on the morning of an ignominions death, named lotteries as the first cause; and often, if a dream pointed to a particular number, crimes were committed to procure it, which led to transportation instead of to fortune. Individuals pre- sented themselves to insure, with such unequivocal marks of poverty in their appearance, that even the office-keepers refused their money; and yet, such was the iadefatigable love of adventure, that many would come in at one door as fast as they were shown out at the other. "When I have caught a great many in a room together," said one vidtness, " I have found most of them poor women, and in their pockets twenty or thirty, and even sixty duplicates on one person. Theit pillows, their bolsters, their very clothes were pledged, tiU they were almost naked." "First," said Mr. Sheridan, "they pavmed orna- ments and superfluities, then their beds, the very clasps of their children's shoes, the very clothes of the cradle. The pawnbroker grew ashamed of his profession." A walk near the spot where the prizes were announced painfully evinced the progress this terrible 152 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS delusion had made, and the classes to whicli it had extended. liundreds of wretched persons, the refuse of society, the very dregs of the people, might be seen waiting with frightful eagerness until their fate was decided. The courtezan was there, forgetting for a time her avowed pursuit; the man who the night before had committed some great crime ; the pale artizan with his attenuated wife; the girl just verging upon woman- hood ; the maid-servant, who had procm-ed a hoHday to watch her fortune ; weary forms and haggard faces, mingling with more robust and ruffianly aspects — yet all bearing one peculiarity, that of intense anxiety — ^marked the purlieus of the place where the lottery was drawn. The oath which shocked the ear ; the act which shocked the eye ; the scurrilous language of the boy ripe in mature iniquity ; the scream of the child dragged from its rest to mingle in scenes it could not comprehend, 'formed a pictorial group which Hogarth alone could have given to posterity as an evidence of civilization in the nineteenth centiuy. But it has been said that the mischief was not confined to the poorer classes. Persons of the first consequence entered into insm'anccs for a great amount. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 153 Instances are not wanting in wMch gentlemen of large landed property, guilty of no other extravagance, lost aU tlieir cash, sold their estates, and died in the poorhonse. The " Morocco men," so called from the red morocco pocket-books which they carried, were remarkable features in the lottery half a century ago. They began their hves as pigeons ; they closed them as rooks. They had lost their own fortunes in their youth, they ruined those of others in their age. Generally educated, and of bland manners, a mixture of the gentleman and the debauchee, they easily penetrated into the society they sought to destroy. They were seen in the deepest alleys of Saint GUes's, and were met in the fahest scenes of England. In the old hall of the country gentleman, in the mansion of the city merchant, in the butlery of the rm'al squire, in the homestead of the farmer, among the reapers as they worked on the hUl-side, with the peasant as he rested from his daily toil, addressing all with specious promises, and telling lies hke truth, was the morocco man found, treading ahke the finest and the foulest scenes of society. They whispered temptation to the innocent J they hinted at fraud to the novice. They Im-ed the youthful ; they excited the aged ; and no place was so pure, and no spot so degraded but, for 154 CHUONICLES AND CHARACTERS love of 7^ per cent., did the morocco man mark it with Ms pestilential presence. No valley was so lonely, but what it found some victim; no hiU so remote, but what it offered some chance ; and so enticing were their manners, that their presence was sought, and their appearance welcomed, with all the eagerness of avarice. And little were they who dealt with these persons aware of the characters with whom they trafficked. Of bland behaviour, but gross habits, the nature of their influence on the unpolluted minds with which they had to deal may be judged from the fact, that some of the morocco men ended their days at Tyburn ; that transportation was the doom of others ; and that the pillory was the frequent punishment of many. To such men as these were the morals of the people exposed through the lottery. Nor, if the opinion of a member of the senate can be trusted, was the lottery- office keeper much better. "1 know of no class of persons in the country," said Mr. Littleton, " exceptmg hangmen and informers, on whom I should be less disposed to bestow one word of commendation."* * "I never was more diverted than at Garraway's a few days before the drawing of the lottery. I not only could read hope, fear, and all the various . OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 155 The wonder is, not tliat the public was tempted so much, but that it was seduced so little. Faffing, by the side of which the power of a Mechi and a Moses wax dim, was employed to assist the contractor. Myriads of advertisements were circulated in the streets. The newspapers, under aU forms and phases, contained stories of wonderful prizes. Horns were sounded j huge placards displayed ; false and seductive lures held out ; houses hired for the sole purpose of displaying bills ; falsehoods fresh every day ; and fortunes to be had for nothing. Puffs, paragraphs, and papers, circu- lated wherever the ingenuity of man could contrive : the pubhc thoroughfares were blazoned by day and lighted by night with advertisements.* passions excited ty the love of gain, strongly pictnred in the faces of those that came to huy ; hut I remarked, -with no less delight, the many little artifices made use of to allure adventurers, as well as the visihle alteration in the looks of the sellers, according as the demand for tickets gave occasion to raise or lower their price. So deeply were the countenances of these bubble brokers impressed with an attention to the main chance, and their minds seemed so dead to all other sensations, that one might almost doubt where money is out of the case, whether a Jew has eyes, hands, organs, dimensions, senses, aflfections, passions." — : * In the Prologue to the " School for Arrogance " is the following : " Here Hazard, Goodluck, Shergold, and a band, Divide their tickets into shares and quarters, And here's a servant maid found hanging in her garters s And !, here's the fifty thousand sold at every shop ! And! — here's the Keicgate Calendar and drop!" 156 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS With such a picture of crime as has been presented to the reader, he may not think the quiet satire of Mr. Parnell on the Chancellor unmerited. He said that the following epitaph ought to be placed on his grave : — " Here lies the Right Honourable Nicholas Vansittart, once Chancellor of the Exchequer, who patronized Bible societies, biult chuj:ches, encouraged savings' banks, and supported lotteries." The attention bestowed on the subject, the mass of intelligence collected, the evidence given by competent parties, produced considerable notice, and the report condemned the evU the committee had examined. " The foundation of the lottery," it said, " is so ^ radically vicious, that under no system can it become an efScient source of gain, and yet be divested of the evils and calamities of which it has proved so baneful a source. Idleness, dissipation, and poverty, are increased; sacred and confidential trusts are betrayed ; domestic comfort is destroyed ; madness often created ; crimes, subjecting the perpetrators to death, are committed. No mode of raising money appears so burthensome, so pernicious, and so unproductive. No species of adventure is known where the chances are so great OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 157 against tlie adventurers ; none where the infatuation is more powerful, lasting, and destructive. In the lower classes of society, the persons engaged are, generally speaking, either immediately or ■ultimately tempted to their ruin ; and there is scarcely any condition of life so destitute and so abandoned that its distresses have not been aggravated by this aUuiement to gaming." Notwithstanding the strong nature of this report, the labours of the Committee were fruitless. Various attempts at amelioration were made, but the evil was not finally abolished until 1826, The last appearance of the last lottery in England was an evidence that the evil had had its day, and required rest. Every effort which cupidity could devise to forward the contractors' views was made. The price of the tickets was raised to induce the people to beheve they were scarce. They were told it was the last chance given Englishmen of obtaining "six £300,000, besides other capital prizes." It is scarcely possible adequately to describe the exertions made to circulate puffs concerning the imposture. BiUs were HteraUy showered about. They were thrust into the pedestrians' hands J they were thrown into the carriage vnndow; they were placed under knockers; they were flung 158 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS -down areas; they fell out of the newspaper; they were folded in books ; they were printed in magazines. StiU the tickets remained on hand. Men in scarlet and gold paraded the streets ; trumpets, clarionets, and horns excited attention ; painted carriages with posti- lions attracted notice. Men on foot and men on horseback, with vehicles so high as to look into first- floor windows — all announced the last lottery. The poetry and pictm'es which attracted the multi- tude, if not of the finest order, appealed to the class it was meant to tempt : and the literature of the lottery in 1825 claims a notice. Its laureates were plentiful. It was difficult to tm-n the eye in any direction without an appeal; nor is the following an unfavourable specimen :— ^ " dear, wliat can the matter be ? To tell, who can be at a loss ? The people are running by dozens to Bish's, To make out their dreams, and fulfil all their wishes, And try to come in for the loaves and the fishes, At 4, Cornhill, and 9, Charing Cross, " dear, what can the matter be ? I'll tell you, good friend, if you wish; The people are trying Dame Fortune to cozen, And the old women's tongues are eternally huzzsnn About lucky numbers, 19 to the dozen, And all they can talk of, is Bish 1 OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 159 " dear, what can the matter be ? I dare say you're crying to know ; The horns blow about, be it rainy or sunny, . The walls they are covered with bills all so fiinuy. To show you the way how to finger the money !" The following must be taken as a specimen of the prose essays scattered profusely about : — ■ "THE AMBULATOR'S GUIDE TO THE LAND OF PLENTY. BY PTTECHASING A TICKET IN THE PE.ESENT LOTTERY You may reap a golden harvest in CornhiU, and pick up the bullion in Silver /Street; have an interest in £anh Buildings; possess a Mansion Souse iu Golden Square, and an estate like a Little Britain ; pour red wine down Gutter Lane ; never be in SungerioxA. Market ; but aU your life continue a May Fair, By PTJBCHASiifa a HALF You need never be confined within London "Wall, but become the proprietor of many & Zong Aere ; represent a Borough ; or an Aldermanbury ; and have, a snug share in ThreadneedU Street. By ptjrchasinq a QUARTER Your aff'airs need never be in Crooked Lane, nor your legs in Fetter Lalie ; you may avoid Paper Buildings ; steer clear of the King's Bench, and defy the Marshalsea ; if your heart is in Love Lane, you may soon get into Sweeting's Alley, obtain your lover's consent for Matrimony Place, and always live in a Sigh Street. By puuohasino an EIGHTH You may ensure plenty of provision for Swallow Street; finger the Cole in Coleman Street ; and may never be troubled with Oha/ncery Lane ; you may cast anchor in Cable Street; set up business in a Fore Street or a Noble Street; and need never be confined within a Narrow Wall. By pxTKOHAsraa A SIXTEENTH You may live frugal in Cheapside ; get merry in Liquorpond Street /, soak your hide in Leather Lane ; be a wet sole in Shoe Lane ; turn maltster in Beer Lane, or 160 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS hammer away in Smithfield. In short, life must indeed be a long Lane if it's without a turning. Therefore, if you are "wise, without mincing the matter, be Fleet and go Fall Mall to Cornhill or Glaring Cross, and enrol your name in the temple of Fortune Bish's," The period was prolonged to enable the ofRce-keepers to get rid of their tickets ; and they embraced the opportunity to continue their incessant puffing. At length the fatal day came, and a morning paper recorded on 19th October, 1826: — "Yesterday afternoon,* at • The following powerful epitaph from a weekly periodical, is a brief but faithful picture of the evil it satirizes. In memory of The State Lottery, the last of a long line, . whose origin in England commenced in the year 1569, which, after a series of tedious complaints. Expired on the 18th day of October, 1826. During a period of 257 years, the family flourished under the powerful protection of tho British Parliament ; the minister of the day continuing to give them his support for the improvement of the revenue. As they increased, it was found that their continuance corrupted the morals, and encouraged a spirit of Speculation and Gambling among the lower classes of the people, thousands of whom fell victims to their insinuating and tempting allurements. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. iCl about haK-past 6 o'clock, that old Servant of the State, the lottery, breathed its last, having for a long period of j^ears, ever since the days of Queen Anne, contributed largely towards the public revenue of the country. This event took place at Cooper's Hall, Basinghall-street ; and such was the anxiety on the part of the public to ^Yitness the last drawing of the lottery, that great Many philanthropic individualg in the Senate, at various times, for a series of years, pointed out their haneful inlluenca without effect, His Majesty's ministers still affording them their countenance and protection. The British parliament being at length convinced of their mischievous tendency, His Majesty Geoege ly, on 9th July, 1S25, pronounced sentence of condemnatioa on the whole race ; from which time they were almost Keglected by the Bbitish Public Very great efforts were made by the Partisans and friends of the family to excite the public feeling in favour of the last of the race, in vain : It continued to linger out the few remaining moments of its existence without attention or sympathy, and finally terminated its career unregretted by any virtuous mind. M 162 CHEONICLES AND CHAUACTERS numbers of persons were attracted to the spot, inde- pendently of those who had an interest in the pro- ceedings. The gallery of Cooper's Hall was crowded to excess long before the period fixed for the drawing, 6 o'clock, and the utmost anxiety was felt by those who had shares in the lottery for the arrival of the appointed hour. The annihilation of lotteries, it will be recollected, was determined on in the session of parliament before last ; and thus a source of revenue bringing into the treasury the sums of £250,000 and £300,000 per annum, will be dried up. This deter- mination on the part of the legislature is haUed by far the greatest portion of the public with joy, as it will put an end to a system which many believe to have fostered and encouraged the late speculations, the effects of which have been and are still severely felt. A deficiency in the public revenue to the extent of £250,000 annually will, however, be the consequence of the annihilation of lotteries, and it must i-emain for those who have strenuously supported the putting a stop to lotteries, to provide for the deficiency. Although that which ended yesterday was the last, if we are informed correctly, the lottery-office keepers have been left with a great number of tickets remaining on their OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 163 liands — a pretty strong proof tliat tlie public in general have now no relish for these schemes. "The concourse of persons in Basinghall-street was very great, and indeed the street was almost impassable, and everybody seemed desirous of ascertaining the fortunate numbers. In the gallery the greatest interest was excited, as the various prizes were drawn from the wheel ; and as soon as a number ticket was drawn from the number wheel, every one looked with anxiety to his share, iq order to ascertain if fortune smiled upon him. Only one instance occurred where a prize was drawn and a number held by any individual present." The writer's feeling upon the evil of lotteries is so strong, that he trusts the reader will pardon the time and space he has devoted to the subject, and with an extract from one of the Essays of Elia, he closes his sketch. "And who, too," says the above delightful writer, " shaU maintain the art and mystery of puffing in all its pristine glory, when the lottery professors shall have abandoned its cultivation ? They were the first, as they will assuredly be the last, who fully developed the resources of that ingenious art ; who cajoled and decoyed the most suspicious and wary reader into a 1C4 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTEKS perusal of their advertisements, by devices of endless variety and cunning ; who baited their lurking schemes with midnight murders, ghost stories, crim. cons, bon- mots, balloons, dreadful catastrophes, and every diversity of joy and sorrow to catch newspaper gudgeons. Ought not such talents to be encouraged? Verily, the aboli- tionists have much to answer for !" OJ;' XHJB STOCK EXCHANGE. 165 CHAPTER IX. WHOLESALE JOBBING — INSUEJlIfOE ON SICK MEN — EALSE INTELLiaENCE — TTSELESSNESS OP SIB JOHN BAKNABD'S AGT— OKIGIN OE THE BLACK BOAItD— OPPOSITION TO LOANS — LOUD CHATHASl'S OPINION OP TOEBEBS — INVIOLAEILITT OP ENGLISH PUNDS — PAEISIAN EANTONG HOUSES — PBOPOSITION TO PAT OFP THE NATIONAL EEBT — EXTBATAGANCE OP THE CONTBACTOES — LOKD GEOEGB GOBDON'S OPINION OP THEM — MEMBEBS' CONTEACTS — NEW SYSTEM ADOPTED — ABEAHAM GOLDSMTTI — ^BANKEES' COALITION BBOKEN BY HIM — HIS MUNIPI- OENCE — HIS DEATH — SENSATION IN THE CITY. The following picture of wholesale jobbing, drawn from public and private documents, from correspon- dence, from newspapers, and from parliamentary history, will show that gambling was equally pursued in higb places as in 'Change Alley. Letters from abroad, containing false intelligence, were forwarded to, or forged by, senators ; names of importance were fraudently used; the news was promulgated, and funds raised or lowered according to the wish of the contriver. But if the jobber was cheated in one way, he took his revenge in another. 166 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS The domestics of public men were bribed by Mm; the secretaries of men in ofEce were paid by him ; the mistresses of ministers were accessible to him ; and it is said, even their wives were not seldom in the pay of members of the Stock Exchange. Nor did many hesitate to declare that men in office not only made profit of the news they really received, but that they promulgated false intelligence, knowing from their position it would be -received as true — at the expense of their own character, and to the ruin of the men who trusted them. Another practice had obtained a notoriety so bad and baleful, that it became necessary to stop its progress. Dhectly it was known that any great man was seriously ill, insurances on his life, at rates in proportion to his chance of recovery, were made. These bargains were reported in the papers; and the effect on an invahd who knew his health to be precarious, may be imagined, when he saw in the Whitehall Evening Post, that " Lord might be considered in great danger, as his life could only be insured in the Alley at 90 per cent." The custom grew so rapidly, and the evil was so serious, that the principal merchants and underwriters refused to OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 167 transact business with brokers who engaged in such practices. Of a less questionable character was the habit of insuring property in any besieged city ;* or the yet more common mode of paying a premium to receive a certain sum should the city be taken by the day named in the contract. The Spanish ambassador was accused of instiring £30,000 on Minorca, dming the seven years' war, when the despatches annoimcing its capture were in his pocket. The newspapers were the vehicles generally em- ployed to spread false intelligence ; and an almost invariable success attended those who made use of the press to promulgate in bold type and inflated language, "bloody engagement," "rumoured invasion," or "great victory," to assist their city operations. Every class, from the maiden who jobbed her lottery ticket, to the minister who jobbed his intelligence, was involved in the pm'suit. All these bargains were for time, and continued to prove that the act by which " * To this branch of johbers also belong the foreign ambassadors, ministers and residents at our court, with their numerous train of secretaries, agents, and other dependents, all honourable spies, who being earlier apprised than the public of any alteration likely to affect our funds, play a sure game, and often retire to their respective countries with comfortable fortunes." Mobtimer, 168 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS Sir Jolin Barnard hoped to abolish gambling was useless; and it is an anomaly in the history of our great debt, that bargains in the very funds which were raised to support the national credit are disallowed by the national legislatm'e. It is a law which has been tried and found wanting. It does not prevent in the smallest or slightest degree the system it was meant to crush ; and it adds to the immorality of the speculator and the risk of the broker, by allowing the former to repudiate his bargain at the expense of the latter. Under the early loan acts, tallies were delivered to the first contractors. When a sale was effected, the name of the purchaser was endorsed upon the tally, and from them entered into the government books for the convenience of paying the dividends to the right person. This clumsy machinery was afterwards abolished; but though in 1717 the transfers and dividends of the national debt were first undertaken by the Bank, it was liot until 1783 that the present method of transfer was adopted. The origin of the black board — that moral pOlory — of the Stock Exchange, occurred in 1787. "There were no less than twenty -five lame ducks," said the TFliiteliall Evening Post, " who waddled out of the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 169 Alley." Their deficiency was estimated at £250,000 1 and it was upon this occasion the above plan was first proposed, and a very full meeting of the members resolved, that those who did not either pay their deficiencies or name their principals, should be publicly exposed on a black board to be ordered for the occasion. Thus the above deficiencies — ^larger than had been previously known — alarmed the gen- tlemen of 'Change AUey, and produced that system which is yet regarded with wholesome awe. During the administration of Mr. Pitt in 1786, a sink- ing fund was again attempted ; the various branches of revenue being united under the title of the Consoh- dated I\ind. One million was annually taken from it, and placed in the hands of the Commissioners for the Uedemption of the National Debt, and was applied in purchasing such funds as might be deemed expedient at the prices of the day. The interest of the debt thus redeemed, the life annuities which fell in, or the annuities which expired, were added to the fund, the interest of which, when the principal amounted to four millions, was no longer to be applied to it, but remain at the disposal of parhament. The difficulties which every minister met in every 170 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTERS new loan, were more in proportion to tte power of the opposition, than to the fairness or necessity of the demand. In unpopular wars, these difficulties were doubly increased. In the American contest, the whole population demanded peace; and nothing but the obstinacy of " the best farmer and worst king ;" nothing but a corrupt parliament, wholesale places, a dominant aristocracy, and large premiums to the monied interest, could have carried Lord North through the session, enlivened by his humour, and the enmity created by the war. The loans, therefore, of this period were fiercely attacked ; Change AUey fiercely denounced ; and the plans of the government hotly contested. The mode of conducting the loans was then, as before, made conducive to the majority of the ministry, at the expense of the- people. Out of 60,000 lottery tickets 22,000 were given to a few members, producing £44,000 profit. When the system was attacked, precedent, the bane of ofScial people, was quoted ; and because it was kno-\vn that, in 1763, Mr. Fox had £100,000, Mr. Calcraft and Mr. Drummond £70,000, the Governor of the Bank £150,000 for the corporation, and £50,000 for himself, and other members similar sums, it was deemed a sufficient and an unanswerable defence. But though OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 171 by such methods the minister got the votes of the House, he found it more diiScult to get the money from the public after it was voted. In 1779, he was greatly troubled to procure it on reasonable terms. Erom bankers he went to contractors, from contractors to Stock-jobbers, and from Stock-jobbers he went back to the bankers, paying a much' higher rate than they at first demanded. "It was but yesterday," writes Horace Walpole, "that Lord North could tell the house he had got the money on the loan, and is happy to get it under 8 per cent." The loan of 1780 brought them again into disrepute. Half was given to members of the House of Commons, more than three miUions was allotted to one person ; and, without regard to the welfare of the nation, the price was determined at a rate so favourable to the contractors, that from no cause save the low terms on which it had been taken, the scrip arose at once to 11 premium. In 1781, it was said that Lord North had made an infamous bargain in a bmigling manner, and that, in 1782, he had made a bungling bargain in an infamous manner ; and this was solemnly protested against as an improvident operation, a corrupt job, and a partial distribution. There cannot be a doubt that the mode of conducting these loans was detrimental 172 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS to the national interest, and conducive to tliat of the Stock Exchange. There were three plans up to this period. The first was in the offers of private individuals stating the sum each would advance; the second was an open subscription at the treasury ; and the third a close subscription with a few. By the first the members of parliament were bribed, and by the third, the bankers, then the principal contractors, were enriched. Their interest, and it was great, with their votes in the House, and they were many, were, therefore, at the disposal of the government. In 1783, out of a loan for 13 millions, £7,700,000 were given to bankers. So disgraceful was the whole afiair, that Lord John Cavendish was com- pelled to apologise for the terms on which it had been granted, because " the former minister had left the treasury without a shilling." By attempting to please men of all parties. Lord John, as usual, pleased none. He was abused by some for dividing it among so small a number ; he was rated by others for allowing so many to have a share. Mr. Smith— of the house of Smith and Payne — made a formal complaint that he had been neglected in the allotment ; that his firm was the only one left out ; and that, in consequence, a stigma of a very disagreeable character was attached to it. By the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 173 explanation, it appeared that another house of the same name had been accnsed of tempting customers from the various bankers, by giving portions of the loan to those who would secede. The meanness had been attributed to Smith, Payne and Co., and Lord John omitted them in consequence from his list. Mr. Smith was very irate on the subject, and although his lordship explained, as the explanation was unaccompanied by a share of the loan, it was, probably, very unacceptable to the indignant banker. Although this gentleman saw no harm in receiving a portion of the loan, other bankers had higher views ; Mr, Martin believing that, as a senator, he ought not to contract, lest it might bias his votes, conscienti- ously refused to accept any portion of loan or contract ; and thus sacrificed his' pocket to his principle. When jobbing occm'red in the senate, who can wonder at the jobbing in the funds, or at the strong feeling which such contemptible squabbling created, and which fell upon the members of the House of 'Change as fiercely as on the members of the House of Commons? " Such gentry," said one, " coin disaster to sink the funds without cause. If gospels mended mankind, there should have been a new sermon preached on the mount, since 'Change Alley was built,, and money changers were 174. CHUONICLES AND CHARACTERS driven out of the temple all over Europe." " Ten thousand lies are propagated every week, not only by both sides, but by Stock-jobbers. Those grave folks, monied citizens, contribute exceedingly to embroil and confound history, v^hich was not very authentic before they were spawned." Lord Chatham was not backward in expressing an opinion of those whom he designated "the cannibals of 'Change AEey." " To me, my lords," he once said, " whether they be miserable jobbers of 'Change Alley, )r the lofty Asiatic plunderers of Leadenhall Street, iiey are equally detestable." The same strong feeling animated' him when he was told that one of his measures had caused a decline in the Stocks. " When the funds are falling, we may be sure the credit of the country is rising." A finer spirit — and that spkit is the principle which has pervaded the whole public transactions of England — ^was evinced when the same nobleman was advised to retaliate on the Dutch merchants — who had committed several outrageous frauds on the English — by seizing their immense property in our funds. "If the devil himself had money there," "he replied, "it must rest secure." To his lordship and OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 175 to tlie political assertion he made, that "not a gun should be fired in Europe without England knowing why," it was of the utmost importance that the integrity of the nation should be maintained. During the American war, many of those in arms had property in the funds; and the provinces as bodies corporate, had money in the same secmities. It is to the credit of the revolutionists that, though they fully expected this property would be confiscated, they persisted in their course ; and it is equally to the credit of England, that their capital was as secure and their interest as regularly paid, as if they were not in open rebelHon. Not only in loans were the people wronged and robbed — the word is harsh, but expressive — the con- tracts for the public service exhibited also the most gross and glaring favomitism. From time to time the evU was exposed ; parliament grew violent, and the public waxed wroth. Every quarter of a century an inquiry was instituted, and the whole ended partly in some influential person being disgraced, and partly in an expression that "the said frauds and abuses were one great occasion of the heavy debt that lies upon the nation." A few specimens may serve to indicate the 176 CHRONICLES AND CnARACTERS wrongs which from time to time have aggrandized an unpopular government, have swollen the pockets of the few, and increased the wants of the many. The borough-monger who for years had been in possession of a pocket borough, found his property disturbed, and his constituents tampered with, by the contractor, who, as a candidate for the honour of the forum, was marked by vice, extravagance, and folly. As a member of the senate, he assumed the pmity of the patriot, complained of the absence of economy, and declared how much cheaper the public business might be accomplished. He teased the minister; he perplexed the parliament ; he puzzled the government ; until, by giving him a job, the patriot was tm-ned into a contractor, and from that hour he marked the public money as his own. If the first lord of the treasmy were indolent, the contractor availed himself of his sloth; if ignorant, he taught him, and made the country pay for the lesson. The very name of a contractor was odious, and their luxuries were bitter in the eyes of the people. Their abodes were like those of princes : their daughters wedded with nobles ; their sons formed princely alliances; they died possessed of fortunes which kings OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 17? might envy; and, as nearly all were members of parliament, attention became pointed at men whose mansions and whose manors bought with pubHc money, challenged public notice; " The minister," remarked Mr. Pox, " said to him, ' I will give you a contract, if you will give me a vote.* The contractor replies, 'Now I have given you a vote, give me a contract. I voted that we had forty-two ships when we had but six, and that the French fleet did not consist of thirty-two ships. You must not, therefore, quarrel for twopence a gallon on rum, or a farthing a loaf on bread.' " Lord George Gordon, shortly before his extraor- dinary conduct in 1780, said: "This dunghill of contracts has given an ill air to our whole proceedings. It has got abroad, and proves very offensive to the public nostrils. Our constituents begin to smell a rat. They nose us in the lobby, and call us tailors and shoemakers, cobblers and cabbage-salters, potato fore- stallers, som^-laout makers, and swine contractors. The dignity, reputation, and fair fame of the Com- moners is smothered and sinking in porter and salted cabbage, shoes, sour-krout and potatoes." Lords of trade ordered pewter inkstands by the hundred, sold 178 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS tkem, and purchased silver ones with the money they produced; or ordered green velvet bags for of&cial papers, and employed the velvet of which they were composed to make court dresses. Under the Pelham administration members received . regular stipends in bank notes, from £500 to £800 yearly, varying according to the influence or ability of the senator. "This largess I distributed," added the person who took charge of the delicate department — and the particulars are worth enumerating — "in the court of requests on the day of the prorogation of parliament. I took my stand there; and as the gentlemen passed me, in going to or returning from the House, I conveyed the money in a squeeze of the hand. Whatever person received the ministerial bounty, I entered his name in a book which was preserved in the deepest secrecy, it being never inspected by any one but the king and Mr. Pelham." This book was afterwards demanded of Mr. Roberts, the almoner, but he resolutely refused to yield it except by the king's express command, or to his majesty in person. In consequence of his refusal, the king sent for hitn to St. James's, where he was introduced into the closet. He was then ordered to return the book in OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 179 question, with whicli injunction Mr. Roberts immediately complied. At the same time, talcing the poker in his hand, his majesty put it into the fire, made it red hot, and, while the ministers and Mr. Roberts stood round him, he thrust the book into the flames, where it was immediately reduced to ashes. These evUs were so manifest and manifold, that, after various attempts to pass a measure which should be some check on government, a bill was introduced, by which all contracts were made subject to a species of auction, although the minister was not compelled to accept the lowest offer. During the debates which were held upon the subject, many other facts were ehcited, which confirm all the previous remarks, and prove the iniquity with which the money of the country was disposed of. One member possessed a contract producing £30,000 a year more than the legitimate profit. Mr. Alderman Harley made £37,000 too much by another. On a contract for remitting gold, £35,000 was. paid more than was necessary. At an earlier period it was discovered that, out of 16,000 tuns of beer contracted and paid for, only 7,000 tuns were delivered. The rum contract was granted at 50 per cent, above a remunerating price. The transport 180 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS service paid 20 per cent, too much. Millions were lying for years in the hands of favourite placemen, favourite agents, and favourite contractors, while the country was borrowing at an exorbitant interest; and, after a careful perusal of the evidence, there can be no doubt that the charge of corrupting the House was true; nor was it in the natm-e of a member of parliament in the eighteenth, any more than in the nineteenth centmy, to possess profitable contracts, the continuation of which depended on war, and yet speak honestly and earnestly for peace. The names of Abraham and Benjamin Goldsmid wUl recall to the memory of many of our readers the forms and features of these magnates of the money market. Of singular capacity, and of equally singular good fortune, the firm of which they were the members rose from comparative obscurity to be the head and front of 'Change Alley, Prior to 1792 they were little known — Mr. Gm-ney, the eminent bill-broker, regards them as his prede- cessors- — but by that year they occupied an important position, and became successful competitors for the national loans. They were the first members of the Stock Exchange who competed with the bankers for OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 181 the favours of the Chancellor, and diverted from their purses those profits which were scarcely a legitimate. portion of banking business. The combination of that interest being thus broken, the bargains for public loans became more open; there was no confederation to limit and lower the prices; and the ministry and country reaped the benefit in improved terms. Thc: house of Sir William Curtis, . whose fortunes were founded in this manner — of Dorrien and of Boldero, names which, great in their day, have almost passed from the roU. of city bankers — of Grote, now better known as the, philosophical historian of Greece — were all competitors, three quarters of a century ago, for those loans which the necessities of the country made so frequent. Nor were people wanting who openly accused the entire banking interest of an unfair confe- deration to realise their views. This interest was first attacked by the boldness of Abraham and Benjamin Goldsmid ; and it is easy to imagine the feelings of the bankers when unknown men reaped the prize which they had hitherto gathered. The daily papers bore an almost daily testimony to- their, munificence. Naturally open-handed, the poor of aU creeds found kindly benefactors. On one day 182 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS the grandeur of an entertainment to royalty was recorded, and on the next a few words related a visit of mercy to a condemned cell. At one time, mansions, vieing in architectural beauty with those of our nobility, were described ; at another, some great and gracious act of charity was recorded. Entertaia- ments to princes and ambassadors, reviving the glories of the Arabian Nights, were frequent ; and galleries with worlis of art vt^orthy the magnificence of a Medici, graced their homes. They were awhile Fortune's chief and most especial favourites. When, in 1793, the old aristocracy of England's traders fell, as in 1847, and the Bank in one day discounted £4,400,000, their losses amounted but to £50. Prizes, under circumstances little inferior to romance, followed then- purchases of lottery tickets ; and they knew as if by instinct a biU of exchange with a bad name to it. The brothers had faced the storm of life together in their earlier years. Eortune, which crowned their efforts, proved that prosperity had no power to divide them; and when, in the early part of the nineteenth century, Benjamin Goldsmid destroyed himself, the stirvivor felt the loss so severely that he never recovered the shock. The death of Benjamin caused no abatement 05 THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 183 in tlie benevolence of Abraham, Goldsmid; and one -who knew him well has written with enthusiasm of his "general philanthropy, his ready mimificence, his friendly demeanour, his mild and unassuming manner." Many anecdotes, singularly illustrative of his kindly feeling, are stUl remembered. It is stated that on one occasion, noticing a great depression in the waiter who usually attended him where he dined, he inquired the cause, ascertained that it was pecuniary, gave the astonished man double the amount he required, and refased to listen to the thanks of the recipient. Another story is extant to the same purport. He became acquainted by accident with one of those simple^ and single-minded country curates, whose poverty was the disgrace, and whose piety was the glory, of the Church of England. This was the man for Abraham Goldsmid at once to appreciate and to benefit. He obtained aU necessary particulars, and in a few weeks a letter was received which told the curate he had been allotted a share of a new loan. The letter was a mystery to the country clergyman, who placed it on one side, with a confused notion that a hoax was intended. He had not long to wait. The next day brought a second letter, and witL it 184 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS comfort and consolation in the sliape of a large sum which had been realised on the allotment These things are pleasant to record ; and it is doubtful whether the cheque gave most pleasm'e to the wealthy Hebrew to write, or the country curate to receive. In 1810, the houses of Baring and Goldsmid were f contractors for the ministerial loan of fourteen mUhons. But Sir Prancis Baring dying, the support of the market was left to his companion. The task was difficult, for a formidable opposition had arisen, which required the united energies of both houses to repress. It was the interest of this opposition to reduce the value of scrip, and it succeeded. Day by day it lowered ; and day by day was Mr. Goldsmid's fortune lowered with it. He had about eight millions in his possession ; and with the depression of his fortune his mind grew dispirited and disordered. Another cu- cumstance occurred at this particular moment to increase his embarrassment. Half a million of exche- quer biUs had been placed in his hands to negociate for the East India Company ; and the latter, fearing the result of the contest on the Stock Exchange, claimed the amount. His friends did not rally round him as at such a moment and with such a man his Olf THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 185 Mends should liave done ; and Abraham Goldsmid> dreading a disgrace which his sensitive and honourable nature magnified a hundredfold, after entertaining a large dinner-party, destroyed himself in the garden of his magnificent residence, in Surrey. This sad event created a sensation in the city, unparalleled by the loss of any single individual. The death of the great loan contractor was regarded as of national importance. Expresses were sent with the news to the king and the Prince of Wales. The funds fell 3 per cent. The journals united in eulo- ' gizing the man whose death they recorded. The jobbers of Capel Court crowded in anxious enquiry. The merchants of the Exchange assembled before the accustomed time. The thoroughfares resounded with rapid questions, and hmTied replies. "Little or no business was done ; and it is said^ the great question of peace or war never created a similar confusion. The jury recorded their opinion; and, when the re- mains were carried to their home, the procession was followed by a crowd who, partaking of his charity in life, thronged to honour him in death. Sobs and suppressed moans attested the reahty of their sorrow, and bore a fitting testimony to his worth. The high- priests and elders paid every distinction which the 186 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTERS Mosaic ordinances allowed, but in conformity with tlie commands of the great law-giver, they withheld from him the customary rites ; and unconsecrated ground received the remains of Abraham Goldsmid the Hebrew suicide. In 1792, another sinking fund was established of 1 per cent, on the nominal capital of each loan, to which the interest on the capital redeemed by this fund was to be added. When annuities for lives, or for a longer term than forty-five years, were gxanted, the value which would remain after forty-five years was to be estimated, and 1 per cent, on that value set aside for their redemption. This fund was to be kept separate, and apphed to redeeming debts contracted subsequent to its institution; and this, it was esti- mated, would redeem every loan in forty-five years from its contraction. £400,000 was granted in aid of the previous sinking fund j and £200,000 annu- ally till 1802, when the grant was rendered perpetual. All money saved by the reduction of interest was also to be added; but as no savings occm-red, this clause might as well have been omitted. In 1798, however, the application of 1 per cent, on the capital of the loans was deviated from, as the claims of the war were too pressing to allow of its application. Oi? THE STOCK EXCHANGE. ] 87 CHAPTER X. CUHIOUS rORGEKY — ITS DISOOTERY — LOAU 0]? 1796— ITS MANAraEMENT— PEENCH REVOLUTION AND ITS EFFECT — LIST OF SUBSIDIES TO FOREIGN POWERS — REMOVAL OF BUSINESS FROM 'CHANGE ALLEY — ERECTION OF THE PRESENT STOCEL EXCHANGE — LOYALTY LOAN — PRELIMINARIES OF PEACE — ITS EFFECT —HOAX ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE — ^WAR RENEWED — GREAT FRAUD ON THE JOBBERS — ITS DISCOVERY — RIGHTS OP STOCK-BEOKEES. On the 2nd November, 1793, as Mr. Martin, broker of 'Change Alley, was occupied in his business, he was applied to by a young man of somewhat effeminate appearance and of good address, to sell £16,000 scrip. As Mr. Martin was explaining to the appHcant that an introduction was necessary, a Mr. Lyons, also a member of the Alley, esteemed a reputable person, passed, and the yoimg man, to remove Mr. Martin's doubts, immediately pointed to Mr. Lyons, as thoroughly aware of his respectability. The latter, on being questioned, said he knew the stranger intimately, at the same time expressing his dissatisfaction 188 CHEONICLES AND CHARACTERS at not being employed by him. The introduction was suificient for Mr. Martin, and he sold that day £10,000 out of the £16,000 intrusted to his care. The seller, by some cmious chance, or for some subtle reason, did not make his appearance to receive the proceeds, nor did he leave an address to which it might be sent. On the following morning, however, Mr. Martin received a visit from him at his private residence; but on being informed that the whole of the Stock was not sold, his demand for payment was delayed. The day on which the remainder of the scrip was disposed of was a hoHday at the Bank, and from this simple circumstance arose the discovery of a curious fraud. The business at the Stock Exchange on public holidays is trifling, and the buyer, instead of hurriedly depositing the scrip in his pocket-book, had leisure to remark that there was some irregularity about it. Mr. Martin at once stepped over to the Bank, checked the document, and discovered the forgery. The scheme to which this gentleman had so nearly fallen a prey, was cunningly contrived. The effeminate applicant to Mr. Martin was the sister of Lyons, disguised in male attire — Lyons having placed himself in the way at the proper moment to give the necessary OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 189 identification ; and had it not been for the cliance cir- cumstance alluded to, would have profited largely by the deceit. The scheme faUed; Lyons was appre- hended; and rather than give his sister the afiliction of appearing against him, he pleaded guilty; thus sacrificing the slight chance of life which remained, to spare the feelings of her whom he had betrayed into crime. In 1796 a loan for 18 millions was proposed. The usual inquiries were made by the interested parties, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer positively de- clared that it should be conducted upon principles of free and open competition. The day was appointed to arrange its preliminaries. Mr. Mellish, Mr. James Morgan, and Mr. Boyd were competitors ; and when they had assembled, Mr. Boyd requested a few. words in private with the Chancellor. The request was granted; and the surprise of Messrs. MeUish -and Morgan may be conceived, when the Chancellor, on returning, proposed that, if the latter bid for the loan, Mr. Boyd should be at hberty to supersede them on paying half per cent, above the highest ofier. This was decidedly and indignantly refused ; and the Chan- cellor, without any other proposition, at once agreed 190 CHRONICLES AND OHARACTEES to take the terms offered by Mr. Boyd, althougli it was fully understood by all, that there should be no final settlement on that day.^ The real causes of this extraordinary proceeding are difficult to ascertain; but the excuse offered by the Chancellor was, that Boyd had some claim on government, in consideration of the previous loan not having entirely expired. Allowing this, the state had no right to remunerate Mr. Boyd at the expense of others; and as very little of the previous scrip remained in his possession, it was, whatever partizanship might allege in excuse, a gross dereliction of public duty, and a great misdu'ection of public interest, to allot a loan without competition, at a loss of £499,500 to the public. At any rate the contract was notified as open, the Governor of the Bank was authorized to declare it so, and the Chancellor expressed no doubt upon the subject. There was much comment at the time. There was also a curious story in circulation of bills to the amount of , £700,000 having been draAvn on the treasury in fictitious names, and with fictitious dates ; and it was asserted that, when the loan was contracted, it was absolutely known by the cabinet that the king's speech would inevitably raise the funds, and 01' THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 191 add 5 per cent, to the gains of tlie contractor. Before the fu'st payment, £2,160,000 was the profit on a contract for 18 millions. During the loans so frequently mentioned, it was curious to witness the bidders arising at early dawn ; waiting from two until ten in the morning, and then see them rush with aU the eager impetuosity of gain, to grasp a share of the proffered good. When it became known that on the 12th May, 1789, an insurrection had broken out at Paris, it was but httle imagined that its effects would press upon the resources of England for ever; increase her taxation, and embarrass her councUs : and as news came from time to time of the excesses of the mob, the destruction of the Bastille, and the murder of the monarch, it was received in accordance with the pohtical principles of the listener. The first effect of the revolution shook the state to its foundation. A strong democratic tendency passed through Europe, and England shared the peril. A feeling of public wrong was prevalent. A fierce move- ment convulsed the populace. Debating societies were established, and the misgovernment of the nation was exposed. The pubhc-houses were filled with orators, 192 CHRONICLES AND CnARACTERS and the cry for reform was incessant. The press teemed with warnings and appeals. Societies cor- responding with the Jacobin clubs of Paris were established. Some of the first men in England wel- comed the revolution with enthusiasm, while the masses hailed it with delight. The convention was congra- tulated ; and it is surprising that, with democratic principles, a democratic spuit, and a numerous array of men of rank on the popular side, England should have preserved her constitution. William Pitt — ^the minister of the day — took a bold and determined position. "It is not reform they want," he said, "it is revolution. They wish to re-act the troubles of Prance ; to murder the king ; and establish a republic." The people petitioned, and were neglected. They agitated, and were punished. The youth of England , clamoured for more freedom; and revolutionary prin- ciples spread far and wide. Persons of rank and property were alarmed, and formed associations against anarchists and leveUers. Pai'hament was smnmoned before its time ; the Ahen bill was passed ; the naval and military forces were augmented ; and when the Prench convention declared they would assist the disaffected subjects of all monarchical governments, OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 193 the English ministry demanded a disavowal. The demand was refused; the Prench ambasaador was ordered to leave the kingdom; and in 1793, the war which added so terribly to England's encumbrances, was declared. At this time the position of revolutionary France was remarkable. Erom the commencement of the move- ment the princes of Europe regarded it with dishke ; and the death of Louis was sufficient to decide aU crowned heads against it. So soon, therefore, as war was declared, treaties were formed with the principal continental powers. In six months, seven treaties of aUiance and six subsidies were concluded. Sweden coalesced with Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The German empire followed. Bavaria, Suabia, and the Elector Palatinate joined the hostile league. Naples fol- lowed the example of the Holy See ; and the young republic, menaced from without and divided vdthin, saw her territory invaded by half a milhon of the most warhke troops in Europe. But the danger was met boldly. The combined armies which were to destroy democracy and establish kingly supremacy, were checked at the first onset. The republic resolved to conquer, and the immense waste of life was disregarded. o 194 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTEES Conscriptions were frequent ; reinforcements arrived constantly ; and the army of the allies gave way. But to roll back the tide of war was insufficient for a victorious and a military people. The invasion was car- ried from their soil, and the invaders were dishonoured on their own hearth. A great man had arisen ; and Italy fell before the genius of Napoleon. Holland was conquered; Prussia and Spain sued for peace; the savage Russ and the disciplined Austrian ahke gave way before the fierce enthusiasm of the soldiery, and the greatness of the captain. In the meantime, the aspect of affairs in England was alarming. Ineffectual trials for high treason agitated the people. Every effort to pervert casual discontent into determined rebeUion was made. The price of pro- vision was high ; the system of subsidies impoverisMng ; and taxation saddened the homes and hearts of the people. The emperor had received seven milhons, Prussia a million and a half; and a host of minor powers had coalesced from similar causes. But if the trials of the people were fearful, the difficulties of the government were numerous. Disaffection among the populace, a powerful and organised opposition within the House, a general hatred of the war without, an OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 195 oratory unsurpassed in the senate, an invective unsur- passed ia tlie street, an empty excliequer, a starving people, and quarterly loans — were difficulties wliich. even the fine eloquence of William Pitt, and the large majorities he commanded, found it hard to surmount. Riots which endangered the royal person ensued; hundreds of thousands clamoured against the taxation which oppressed them; and England seemed on the brink of revolt. But a yet more dangerous era awaited the land. The navy, which had saved us from invasion, mutinied ; the gold of the country followed her subsidies ; the bank of England ceased to pay her notes in specie; the power of France increased; Austria only remained to check the republic on the continent ; and Lodi witnessed a defeat which- paralysed the imperial power. The passage of the Alps followed; and within thirty mUes of his capital hurafliating terms were dictated to the Emperor of Austria. ' England now stood alone against France. An invasion was threatened ; but it stirred a spirit of resistance which will long remain a memorable passage in Enghsh history. Every village had its company, every city boasted its corps ; and, whatever their defects may have been in the eyes of 196 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS military science, there was scarcely a man wlio would not have marched to certain death to preserve the freedom inherited from his fathers. Song and sermon alike inspirited them ; night after night watch-fires were prepared on the lonely hills of the country ; and the slightest sound or symptom of invasion would have called forth its devoted sons and servants. These things are greatly to the praise of our coun- trymen; and the following list of subsidies, up to 1801, will prove it was no trifle with which they contended, when they strained every power to meet the financial difficulties of the time-. — £. ». d. Prussia 1794 1,223,891 10 6 Sardinia, 1793 to . 1796 500,000 Emperor, 1795 and . 1796 6,220,000 Ditto .... 1797 700,000 Portugal .... 1797 ...... 247,205 Ditto .... 1798 ...... 120,013 13 Russia 1799 825,000 Emperor and Elector of Bavaria . • , . 500,000 Emperor 1,066,666 13 4 Russia 545,494 Bavaria 601,017 6 Emperor 150,000 £12,599,288 2 10 But though England witnessed the power of the republic aggrandised on the continent — though the blood she had shed and the money she had spent were OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 197 inefFectual on land — she yet retained her ancient supre- macy at sea. The name of Nelson was a v/ord of dread ; and the maritime force of France was crushed by that victory which crowned a series of splendid successes in the bay of Aboukir, and which, known as the Battle of the Nile, went like a trumpet-call throughout Europe. The despondency of the con- tinent passed away ; the system of coalition, so dear to Wniiam Pitt, was again called forth; and Austria, Russia, Turkey and Naples, once more joined the victorious island. Loans were again made : Germany had another million, Russia half that amount, and other sums passed to other powers. But the exertion was vain — the loans were fruitless ; and in 1802 that peace, of which it was said " every man is glad, but no man is proud," was concluded by the Treaty of Amiens. In the same year the sinking funds were united, to assist in discharging the debts then existing ; and 1 per cent, on loans subsequent to 1802 was again appointed, to swell the amount. This fund, at its commencement, was limited to four mUlions ; but this limitation was repealed, and the application of expired annuities, and of saving by the reduction of interest, were also repealed. ] 98 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS In the latter part of the century a beneficial change was made in the provision for the naval expenses. Prior to this period £4 per man per month was the allowance to meet the entire cost of the department: after this time the expenses of the navy were supphed, like other charges, from the loans periodically raised. Though the discontent of the English people was often roused, yet the stories which were occasionally circulated of forced loans in IVance ; of Parisian bank- ing-houses being surrounded by soldiers ; of money- chests violated, and of monied men plundered — had considerable effect in quieting them. It is probable that many of these were inventions — some of them were understood to be so ; but when it is known that entire yearly incomes were often collected, and called income-tax, there are few financial foUies of our neighbours which we should not be inclined to credit. A curious proposition to pay off the national debt was very seriously made in 1798. A profound dis- quisition upon the evils which arose from it, and the ruin to which it was leading, was followed by an intricate array of figures, a close calculation of the population, and an analysis of their incomes. Somewhat excited by the grave beginning, the public OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 199 were not a little disappointed to find tliat, by deduct- ing one day's provision per week for a certain time, and allowing compound interest on it, the great financial difficulty of the day might be overcome. The volume was privately printed, in quarto, at con- siderable expense; but whether it emanated from a lunatic asylum, or whether it sent the writer to one, cannot be ascertained. It must be evident, from the brief record of the war just given, that business in the funds had increased greatly. Prior to 1801 the market of 'Change Alley, in the coffee-house where the brokers met, was, as a public place, open to any one who chose to make it his resort. The jobber who reckoned his transactions by hundreds of thousands, was jostled by the man who was disposed, either morally or materially, to pick pockets ; while the loans which had increased the national debt to 550 millions — the exchequer bills, which were circulated as freely as the government dared — and the companies, which were augmented in proportion — ^formed an amount of business that, in the opinion of the principal persons, demanded a building to bear some proportion to the importance of its transactions. It was resolved, therefore, to 200 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS choose a plot of ground as near the Bank as possible, and to meet the requii-ed expenses by private subscrip- tion. Whatever errors may be indigenous to the Stock Exchange, illiberality can scarcely be classed among them ; and so successful vs^ere the proceedingSj that on the 18th May, 1801, Mr. WiUiam Hammond, chairman of the committee of management, laid the first stone of the first building erected exclusively for the business of the Stock Exchange. Beneath the stone, the following inscription, engraved on copper, was placed : — - " On fhe 18th' of May, in the year 1801, and forty-one of George III., the first stone of this building, erected by private subscription, for the transaction of business in the public funds, "was laid, in the presence of the proprietors, and under the direction of William Hammond, WiUiam Steer, Thomas Eoberts, Griffith Jones, William Grey, Isaac Hensley, Jo. Brackshaw, John Capel, and John Barnes, managers ; James Peacock, architect; At this aera, the first of the tTnion between Great Britain and Ireland, the public funded debt had accumu- lated in five successive reigns to £552,730,924. The inviolate faith of the British nation, and the principles of the constitution, sanction and secure the property embarked in this undertaking. May the blessing of that constitution be secured to the latest posterity ! " To secure respectability in the members, vote by ballot was adopted, and ten guineas per annum fixed on as the subscription. The following picture of the interior of the Stock Exchange at this period, will not be irrelevant, bearing, OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 201 as it unquestionably does, an internal evidence of truth. " ' Tickets — tickets — India Stock for the opening — ^Navy bills — Bank Stock for the account — Long- Annuities.' Here the waiter calls, ' Chance, Chance, Chance.' ' Mr. Chance is not here, sir ; he is over at his office.' ' Here, tickets for August — Omnium for September — Scrip for the third payment — Three per Cent. Consols.' Here the beef-headed Mr. Eye-Tony whispers a friend, but is overheard, ' They are aU bulls, by Jove — but I'U be hanged if they have any of my stock. I'll go out of town, and not come among them till the rescoimter.' ' Here's Long Annuities : Who buys Long Annuities ? — Tickets for the drawing.' ' Well, what have you to do in tickets for the drawing, Mr. Mulberry?' 'I am a seller of five hundred, sir.' ' And I am a buyer, sir ; but pray at what price ? ' 'Why, as you are a friend, Mr. Point Royal, I shall give you the turn ; you shall have them at fourteen.' 'The turn, Mr. Mulberry ! Why, do you think I don't know what I'm about, as well as if I was seUing pins or needles, or drawing patterns for ladies' ruffles ? They are all sellers at thirteen. I wiU take them at twelve, and not otherwise.' 'Well, you shall have them; put them down so — (for the 203 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS drawing, mind). — But, d — it, Tom, where did you get that wig ?' ' Why, you son of a gun, it is as good as your mop — India Stock without the dividend. Have you anything to do in India Stock, Monsieur Sham — ^it?' 'India bonds — India bonds — who buys India bonds? No buyers in the market ?' " The peace of 1801 was a respite welcome to aU save the members of the Stock Exchange; where it was said, "There were not commissions sufficient to pay for summer excursions, nor confidence enough to make a bankrupt." Great efforts had been made to reduce the price, which continued to ascend ; although Goldsmid was said to have stood in the market and sold to any amount at the lowest price of the time. The attempt proved vain ; and the endeavour to control pubhc opinion was paid for by this house to the amount of £180,000. It was difficult to beheve, at first, that war had really ceased. There was a continued excitement until the treaty was signed ; aU places of pubhc resort were thronged with inquirers; betting ran high about the articles ; the chances of exchequer bills and new lotteries were discussed ; and when the truce was announced in the city, it was also announced that OT THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 20S the preliminaries of a new loan would be arranged. Talleyrand was talked of as having employed his information and capacity in gaining large sums ; foreigners generally were busy in making or marring their fortunes; and it was ascertained that, in 1803, they held upwards of eighteen miUions of government securities. When it was known that the preliminaries were signed, the tumultuous joy of the nation was beyond expression ; and Lloyd's was instantly crowded. The people ran about, congratulating one another on the happy event ; the different steeples displayed the union-flag by day, and at night a general illumination took place ; consols rose from 59 to 66^, and there were twenty-one defaulters on the next setthng day. The loan, known as the loyalty loan, attracted much attention in the early part of the century. The period at which it was contracted was a critical one for the empire. Abroad, Prussia and the princes of the empire had withdrawn from the confederacy against Erance ; Austria demanded assistance ; Holland was bound by fear to the IVench republic. Stagnation of trade, scarcity of specie, want of provisions, and discon- tent among the people, marked the period at home. The supplies for the year were difficult to obtain; 204 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS an appeal was made to tlie loyalty of the nation, and that appeal was answered. Some subscribed in the hope of gain ; others to curry favour ; and with all these various interests, eighteen millions were pro- cured in a few days. As an additional inducement, it was promised that the capital, if claimed, should be repaid within two years after a definitive treaty of peace. The peace of Amiens came in 1802, and the holders were, therefore, entitled to demand on 27th March, 1804, £100 sterling for each £100 Stock, although the latter was at a heavy discount. It need hardly be added, that the claim was made : and as money was not sufficiently plentiful, it was arranged that for every £100 of the 3 per cent, loyalty loan, £100 navy 5 per cent, should be given, and for the , difference between the money price of the latter and £100 sterling, the holder should receive the amount in 3 per cents. The whole entailed a heavy loss upon the country, and this was more to be regretted, because upwards of 8 millions of this loan had been gathered by the Jews and by two city banking-houses. A few months evinced the uncertainty of the peace. Jealous and watchful, both powers stood ready to 03? THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 205 renew tte combat. The first consul insulted our ambassadors ; dismantled fortresses ; annexed wbole countries to Prance ; sent armies against the free citizens of Switzerland; demanded the banishment of Prench emigrants, and the abridgment of the liberty of the press ; untU, unable to subdue their passions, the love of peace, which had once swayed men's minds, changed to a fierce desire for war. In May, 1803, the English ambassador demanded an explanation, and was insolently told that Great Britain was unequal to cope with Prance. , During this period, great anxiety prevailed through- out London, concerning the completion of a nego- ciation on which so much depended. The more thoughtful hoped that the peace of the world would not be disturbed ; and great was the pleasm-e, there- fore, of these good citizens when, on 5th May, 1803, in passing the Mansion House, their attention was arrested by the following letter, conspicuously displayed in the place usually allotted to important information. It was short, but to the purpose : — " Lord Hawkesbury presents his compliments to the Lord Mayor, and has the honour to acquaint his lordship, that the negooiation hetweeu this country and the French repuhlio is brought to an amicable conclusion." The glad tidings soon reached the Stock Exchange, 206 CHEONICLES AND CHARACTERS and the funds rose to 70 on the opening of the market. In a short time, however, suspicion was aroused. Men doubted, though they scarcely knew why ; and the price fluctuated, with a downward tendency. Many of the members, as they arrived from their residences at the West, where the news ought to have reached, were utterly ignorant of the intelligence. The faith of the bulls failed them, and the boldness of the bears increased. It soon became confidently asserted that the news was fictitious ; and when the treasury received information of the report and its origin, a letter was sent by the authorities, terming the important document a scandalous forgery. Amid a confusion, an uproar, and a noise, at that period unprecedented, the lord mayor communicated in person the contents of his second letter. Business was immediately suspended; the guilty and the guiltless were alike suspected ; and when a price was named, it was at a reduction of 7 per cent. A subscription was entered into to assist in dis- covering the parties implicated ; all bargains were declared void ; and the only important result was in a number of actions at law, the benefit of the legal profession, and the impunity of the projectors. OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 207 The sixteentli of May was a memorable period for tlie country and for the Stock Exchange. The personal insult offered by the IVench Consul to the representative of his majesty ; the evident deter- mination of the same people to break aU ties and truces, rendered an appeal to arms once more neces- sary ; and on that day the fierce and fatal war which followed the truce of Amiens ; which desolated the fairest fields of Europe; which crushed the ambi- tious man who provoked it ; and which added two hundred and sixty-three millions to the national debt, was proclaimed. - In 1806, Joseph Elkin Daniels, a conspicuous character in the Alley, and known for some time as a dealer in securities, availed himself of the confidence of the members of the Stock Exchange, to perpetrate a fraud as novel as it was notable. As a dealer in the funds for time he was well known ; and his frequent transactions, combined with the trust which his character had achieved, gave his broker a confidence in his proceedings of which he proved utterly un- worthy. The time was an important one. The continent was struggling against the iron yoke of Buonaparte. Austria- was making that last great 208 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTEUS struggle with her enemy which ended at Ansterhtz; rumours were plentiful, and the price of Stock varied greatly — when the man Daniels came to the broker, and desired him to buy omnium on account. The price was high, but his request was complied with. Omnium continued to advance, and Daniels con- tinued to buy, although the price increased from 10 to 13 premium. When the broker had completed his orders to the amount of £30,000 he grew anxious for his money, and applied for payment. Daniels, however, quieted him by saying, he was so sure the price would rise, that his friends would lend him on the security of the stock, to enable him to make the most of his speculation, and that he should, therefore, hold the entire amount. The statement seemed a fair one. Daniels was believed to be honest, and the broker handed him £30,000 omnium, for which Daniels gave him his draught on Smith, Payne, and Smith. The first part of this man's fraudulent scheme was now acted. He knew the cheque would not be presented until the afternoon, and that he was; therefore, free from danger for a few hours. He imme- diately took the omnium to other brokers, represented to them an urgent necessity for 'money, sold it, and OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 209 having been paid cheques for the amount, immediately presented them to the bankers on whom they were drawn, and received the amount in cash. He then went to all whom he knew, or would trust him, borrowed money on the security of his own cheque — a common practice on the Stock Exchange — with remarkable boldness ; remained in London until near the hour when he knew his own draught would be presented and refused, and then left, laden alike with gold and a guilty conscience. The total amount of fraud was estimated at £50,000. Telegraphic notices were transmitted to the principal ports of the United Kingdom ; the lord mayor dispatched officers in all directions ; the chief sufferers went express to various places, on the chance of detaining him; and every exertion was made to bring to justice the man who had violated every principal of common honesty, and so greatly shaken the honourable confidence of the members of the Stock Exchange. Two thousand seven hundred pounds which he had strangely left at his bankers were attached; two hundred guineas were offered for his apprehension; his lodgings were examined, and the property found was seized by the officers of justice. The search was too active not 210 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS to be successful; and Daniels was discovered in tlie Isle of Man. Here a new difficulty arose. The Manx laws protected tlie culprit, the governor's per- mission being required to apprehend him; and, when procured, so numerously was the island peopled with men like Daniels, that the officers, afraid of arresting him in open day, took advantage of night to remove their prisoner. The proceeds of the robbery were found; and when his departure was known, the island rose tumultuously at the violation of a right on which the safety of half the population depended. Great excitement was caused by his arrival in England; but, after a careful legal consultation, it was decided that he could not be convicted on any criminal charge ; and Joseph Elkin Daniels escaped the legal penalty of that fraud which gave so severe a shock to the members of the Stock Exchange. In the same year, it was ascertained that the amount of foreign property in the British funds was twenty -two millions ; and it is scarcely out of place to mention that, by some patient calculator, it was found that one guinea, invested at the Chris- tian era, at 5 per cent, compomid interest, would have increased to a greater sum than could , OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 211 be contained in five hundred millions of earths, all of solid gold. In the early part of the present century an attempt was made to resist tiae tax paid to the city, of forty sliilHngs per annmn, by stoclt-brokers, as unreasonable and unjust. Various members of the body refused to pay ; the corporation and the brokers were at issue ; and, in 1805, a hundred summonses were applied for, though a few only were granted, to test the disputed right. Among these was one to Francis BaUy, who undertook the championship ; and from the conviction that the claim was unjust, refused in the above year to pay the sum demanded. As the justice, though not the law, is yet doubted by some, a brief retrospect of the various acts affecting brokers may not be out of place. The act of 8 and 9 William III., c. 32— aUuded to in an earlier part of the volume — -was the first that could affect stock-brokers, as in that reign they and their misdeeds began to flourish. The foUoAving forms a portion of the preamble to the act : — "Whereas divers brokers and stock-jobbers have lately set up and carried on most unjust practices, in seUiug and discounting tallies, bank stock, bank bills. 212 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEES shares and interest on joint stock, and other matters, and have and do unlawfully combine to raise or fall the value of such secmities, for their own private advantage ; and whereas the numbers of such brokers and stock-brokers are very much increased within these few years, and do daily multiply,— be it enacted, that from and after May, 1697, no person shall act as broker until licensed by the lord mayor and court of aldermen of the said city of London. " That the number of brokers shall not exceed one hundred, and that the admittance fees shall not exceed 40s. " That the names of the brokers shall be publicly affixed on the Royal Exchange, in Gmldhall, and other public places in the city. "That any person acting as broker without being admitted as aforesaid, shall forfeit £500, and persons emplojdng them £50 ; and that any person not being a sworn broker, acting as such, shall forfeit £500, and for every offence stand tlu-ee times in the pillory. " That all brokers shall keep a book, to be called the Broker's-book, to enter contracts, and in cases of omission, forfeit £50 for every offence. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 213 " That they shall not receive more than ten shillings per cent, for brokerage. That if they shall deal in any articles on their own account, they shall forfeit £500, and never act as brokers again. " That no person buying or selling tallies, corn, or any other provision, or coal, shall be esteemed a broker within the meaning of the act." In 1707 this, which was for ten years, expired; and although various petitions, according to the inte- rest of the petitioner, were presented, it was not renewed. A ncAV act was then brought in, by which v yearly tax of forty shillings was levied against ah brokers ; and it is doubtful whether this would have been passed, had not a deficiency been created by the repeal of one concerning specie. In 1711, a committee of the House was appointed to consider the acts relative to brokers ; and a recom- mendation ensued to revive the act of 1697. In comphance with this, a bill was brought in, read a first and second time, but was not passed ; and in the reign of Queen Anne the charge for brokerage of 10s. per cent, was reduced to 2s. 9d. It is now 2s. 6d. In 1746, and in 1756, new bills were brought in, but rejected, which materially aifected stock-jobbers; 214 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS and in 1765 it was ordered that a bill be brought in to restrain the ill practices of brokers ; but this, like the others, was not passed. The ground of defence occupied by Mr. Baily was somewhat subtle. In 1806, this gentleman published a pamphlet, called "The Rights of Stock-jobbers De- fended," in which he explained his principles of action, and detailed the course which had been taken. He says : — " The right of the city of London to call upon stock- brokers to be sworn in before the com-t of aldermen, has long been contested and opposed by that body. It is resisted by them, in the first instance, under the impression that they are merely agents, and ought not to be considered as brokers more " than any other persons, who, under the name of tailors, merchants, and tradesmen, act by commission in the purchase and sale of goods." With these ideas Mr. Baily contested the right — ■ not, as those who knew him will readily credit, from narrow views or confined notions — but because he believed he was supporting a principle founded in justice. These views, however, he found it impossible to maintain. A case was produced by the city, in which it was decided that a person buying and selling Oh' THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 215 stock came within tlie meaning of the act ; and the efforts of Mr. BaUy proved futile. Por those wh.o feel disposed to investigate the sub- ject, a list of acts relating to brokers will be found in the Appendix. In 1807, Lord Henry Petty proposed a new plan for a sinking fund ; which, however, was only a revival of the principle of borrowing with one hand, and spending with the other ; and, as the ministry which planned it were not long in office, it was not continued after tke first year. 216 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTERS CHAPTER XL TWPOUNTIED CHARGE — JOINT STOCK COMPANIES — SPECULATOEa — NA.KK. SPEOT — SEETCH OP THE HOUSE OF BAKING POLICIES ON THE LEFE OP BUONAPAPTE — BXIMOURS OP HIS DEATH— DATLD KICARDO — POEGEET OP BENJAMIN "WALSH EXCITEMENT OP THE NATION — INCREASE OP THE NATIONAL DEBT — SINXINQ PUND — UNCLAIMED DIVIDENDS —PEANOIS BAILT. Although shares in Life Assurance Companies form part of the professed business of the Stock Exchange, yet the better class rarely reach the hands of the brokers. They are held in such high and deserved estimation, that they remain in the possession of families for generations, passing as hen-looms with the same confidence in their value as if they were freehold. As an instance of this, it was noticed in the papers that the first public sale of the stock of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation occm-red in 1813. The charge of employing ofiicial information to spe- culate in the funds has frequently been brought against ■OE THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 217 public men. These accusations have often been made witb cause, but generally with caution. In August, 1805, however, a letter was received by the head of the government, signed by Ambrose Charles, a clerk in the employment of the directors of the Bank of England, in which Lord Moira, a cabinet minister, was accused of availing himseK of his official informa- tion to speculate in the stocks. The name of the broker employed by his lordship was given ; and letters which implicated him were said to have been publicly exhibited on 'Change. The underhngs of newspapers were declared to be in communication with the accused nobleman ; and the document con- cluded with the offer of proving these assertions, should Lord GrenviUe require further information. The letter was too important to be overlooked; and the prime minister gave the required interview to the writer, who, persisting in his assertion, calmly and confidently declared its truth ; and was proceeding with his story, when, with a dramatic effect rarely witnessed off the stage, the door of an adjoining apartment was opened, and the accused confronted his accuser. There appears to be no other evidence of what passed at this interview than that given by Ambrose Charles, which, being entirely 218 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS favourable to himself, cannot be trusted. No proof was tendered of tlie assertion ; but the morning on "which the letter had been sent, the writer remarked to a fellow clerk, " I have done a deed which will immortalise me." The subject was made a matter of legal inquiry: affidavits from all who had been named as having inculpated his lordship, evinced his complete innocence ; and the entire evidence proved the falsehood and foUy of the criminator. The charge was eventually dismissed as untenable ; and the whole affair can only be regarded as one of those morbid cravings after notoriety which arise equally from a diseased brain and an idle vanity. In 1807 and 1808, a general and feverish love of speculation was abroad. Joint-stock companies were the featm-e of the day — canals, bridges, and life assurance, being the great favourites, which, if injurious to the speculator, were beneficial to the country. To this period London owes Waterloo and Vauxhall bridges, with many more of those public works forming, to the foreigner, objects of so much interest. It has lately been the custom to speak with contempt of joint-stock associations, although it is to such bodies that England is indebted for her greatest and her grandest undertakings. The Bank of England, which OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 219 has been called the bank of the world— the railways, which bear comfort and civilisation to the remotest hamlets — the canals, which convey our commerce, and irrigate our lands — our docks, which contain the wealth of the East and of the West — our life assurance companies, which comfort many a desolate hearth and home— are the result of joint-stock companies. The evil is passing ; but the good is permanent. A similar outcry is always raised against projectors and specula- tors. Swift employed his pen in ridiculing them J Scott introduced one to turn him into contempt; Addison employed his fine genius in satirising them ; Steele wrote one of his best essays on them. The smaller herd of wits have swelled the cry; and they, to whom mankind are pre-eminently indebted, are named with contempt, and treated with derision. The projectors of all great works have been disdainfully regarded at one period or another. The men who first planned our bridges have been neglected : the promoters of railways which are now paying well, and rejoicing our rural homesteads with the polish and the luxury of cities, were a bye-word to the mass. And yet the finest minds of the day are employed in projecting. The discoverer of steam-power was a projector ; 220 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTERS Arkwright was only a projector ; Thomas Gray was tlie same. What does not England owe to men who bore the burthen and the heat of the day in the introduction of projects which, once household luxuries, they have made household necessities ! The cottage of the poor is comforted, the mansion of the rich is gladdened with works for which projectors were ridiculed and speculators ruined. We cannot cast our eyes around, without these works meeting our view. They add a grace to our persons, they cheapen our luxmies, they adorn our homes. The mere man of routine thinks it a sacred duty to laugh at those of whose services he is glad to avail himself j while the banker, the merchant, and the monied tradesmen, first treat him as an intruder, and then buy shares in the discovery they disdainfully rejected. The world is rich in the names of those who have benefitted and been neglected by their feUow men. One of the greatest capitalists of the reign of George III. ^died in 1808. Mark Sprot, a name which will recal many a pleasant anecdote to members of the Stock Exchange, born a younger brother, with a jyounger brother's portion, achieved, by his owii exer- tions, one of those fortunes which arose out of the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 221 loans of the Erench. war. In 1780 he settled in London, with moderate means ; and from occasional visits to the Bank and Stock Exchange, formed an intimacy with the members of the monied interest. He soon saw that with small risk he might make great gain, and commenced a career which ended in splendid success. In 1799, he was one of the contractors for the lottery; and, in 1800 and the three following years, he was at the head of those who bid for the loans. Dming the trial of Lord Melville, Mr. Sprot was examined in consequence of having borrowed money from Mr. Trotter. The latter, on a comparatively trifling income, had built a splendid mansion ; and as attention had been drawn to the circumstance, Mr. Sprot's name was involved. When examined by the committee, and asked whether he did not act as banker to members of both houses — "I never do business with privileged persons," was the shrewd but daring reply. This answer originated, probably, from the following anecdote : — On one occasion a broker applied to Mark Sprot, and with great sorrow told him that he was a ruined man. Mr. Sprot was sm-prised, for he knew the 223 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEES speaker was careful, industrious, and not likely to speculate. He asked the cause, and the broker replied that he had been employed largely by a principal, who, the prices having gone against him, had refused to pay his losses. Mr. Sprot immediately inquired his name ; and on being told it was a noble earl, of whose resources he was well aware, could scarcely beheve he heard correctly. He knew him to be in possession of large landed estates; and, when informed that his lordship had refused to give any reason except that it was not convenient, Mr. Sprot told his visitor not to be alarmed, that he would not press his claim, and concluded by making an engagement with him to visit his lordship. Together they went, and were received with patrician dignity. Mr. Sprot deliberately detailed his business, and received the cool reply that it was not convenient to pay. But the energetic jobber was not a man to bow before rank, unless accompanied by worth; and Mr. Sprot unhesitatingly declared that if the account were not settled by a certain hour next day, he would post his lordship as a defaulter. The latter grew alarmed, and attempted to conciliate ; but the con- OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 223 ference closed witli the repeated determination of Mr. Sprot to post Mm. Long before the horn- appointed, however, his lordship's solicitor waited on the broker to arrange the payment ; and thus the honom* of the earl was preserved, and the credit of the broker saved in the money market, through the acuteness and determination of Mark Sprot. In 1810 an application was made to parliament for permission to erect and secure to the public the right of admission to an open market for the sale and purchase of national securities, on the ground that the public ought not to be excluded from the room in which business in the public funds is contracted. The bill was introduced by Sir William Cm-tis, and rejected by the senate. The history of the house of Baring — ^which, though generally regarded as mercantile, is largely connected with the loans — ^has been termed an evidence of the power of a few active young men to advance them- selves to immense fortune, and to distinguished marks of favour from the sovereign. Various origins are attributed to the members of the firm, and the Herald's College has been employed to give the dignity of ancestral honours to the family. In 1793, 224 CHRONICLES AND OHAEACTERS the first baronet of tlie name was created, and the signal services of Sir Prancis to the East India Company, of which he was a director, were greatly appreciated. It has been stated, but as the writer is uncertain of his authority, he gives it with caution, that they were originally German weavers who came over to London; and being successful in business, were, through the interest of William Bingham of Philadelphia, appointed agents to the American government. Con- sidering, therefore, the large resources at their command, it is not surprising that, during the loyalty loan in 1797, the head of the house made one hundred thousand pounds for three consecutive days, — or that in 1806 it was sarcastically said, " Sir Francis Baring is extending his purchases so largely in Hampshire, that he soon expects to be able to enclose the county with his own park paling." In 1805, this gentleman, the first algebraist of the day, retired from business with a princely fortune, and shortly afterwards died, full of years and honora's. A green old age, a career closed at the pinnacle of prosperity, and a death-bed sm-rounded by sons and daughters, whom the descendant of the German OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 225 weaver had lived to place in splendid independence, was Ms enviable lot. The great commercial house which he had raised to so proud a position was continued by his sons, and may be considered the most important mercantile establishment in the empire. Freehold estates to the amount of half a miUion, besides enormous personal property, rewarded his great capacity, and his yet greater integrity. The house of Baring, notwithstanding some periods when doubt and almost dismay hung over it, yet retains the power and position bequeathed by Sir Erancis ; and, as an instance of the fortune and capacity of its members, it may be mentioned that the late Lord Ashburton, when bearing, as Sir Robert Peel , feelingly expressed it, the honoured name of Alexander Baring, reahzed £170,000 in two years by his combina- tions in French Bentes. From 1810 to 1815 the business in every depart- ment of the Stock Exchange increased greatly. Loan after loan came rapidly forward, was as rapidly taken, went to a premium, was merged in the funded debt, and was succeeded by fresh demands for fresh loans. The public feehng was so strong, even during those fearful campaigns which preceded the fatal field of Austerlitz, 226 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTEUS when the futile threat of invasion was frequent, and " the army of England " assembled at Boulogne, that no ministry could have maintained its power unless it had been a war ministry. And when the event of that battle, known as the "battle of the three emperors," was made public ; when the entire powers of the con- tinent were at the feet of Napoleon ; and William Pitt, the soul of the coalition, died from fear of the cala- mities that threatened; the people of England were unchanged in their resolute defiance. Enmity towards the Erench was an article of faith. Hatred to their leader was taken from the mother's breast, and nourished by the stories which day by day en- grossed the public mind, or violated public feeling. At one time, the commercial world was excited with the story that aU the specie in aU the private banks of Erance had been seized. At another, some cruelty which outraged humanity passed current with the vulgar. Stories of the conscription harrowed the feelings of parents ; tales of insurrection, suppressed with heartless cruelty, raised the indignation of the child. The evening fireside derived its great attrac- tion from the talk about Buonaparte ; and it is no exaggeration to say that nm'ses stilled their querulous OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 227 charges, or that motliers hushed their children, with that dreaded name. Pohcies were opened on his hfe ; and, so uncertain was it considered in 1804, that fifty- five guineas per cent, were paid to insure it for one year. No fiction was more favourite or more frequent than that which detailed his death ; and in this the powerful invention of the romancer was often proved. Poison and steel, the dagger of the conspirator and the bullet of the repubhcan, were constantly asserted to have ended his career. On one occasion, it was universally credited that the great Corsican was no more. A despatch had been received by Lord Gren- ville, announcing his death, and circumstantially detaUing its manner. No doubt was entertained; the fands rose, and the news spread. Some very loyal persons set the bells ringing in a suburban village, and the whole affair bore the aspect of truth. The story ch'culated, wore an appearance of romance enthely in keeping with the career of the man whose death was announced. It was stated that Napoleon, having called a council of war, to which he had invited one of the wild chiefs of the Desert, who professed attach- ment till he could procure revenge, had been shot by him in open council. News was not then so frequent. 328 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEES information was not so widely diffused ; and the document was credited much longer than it would have been a quarter of a century later. It deserves to be mentioned as a cmiosity that the forgery was not attributed to members of the Stock Exchange, but to a pair of " state speculators," assisted by "members of the lower House." But though it was not caused by them, they felt its effect in the fluctu- ating price, and several were ruined by the ingenious device of these "state speculators" and "members of the lower House." Among the names conspicuous in the city for cha- racter and capacity, stands that of the great pohtical economist, David Ricardo, who at the early age of fourteen, was introduced by his father, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, to the mysteries of the Stock Exchange. The mind of the younger Ricardo was of an inquiring character. He began to study the principles of the creed in which he had been educated. The result was his secession from the faith of the ancient people, and his abandonment to his own resources by his father. Those resources were small ; but his conduct and character had interested the members of Capel Com't, and, to their honour, with a liberality which not OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 229 unfrequently distinguislies thenij tlie oldest and most influential came to his assistance. The extraordinary powers of Mr. Ricardo were soon developed in the acquisition of a considerable fortune; and, having hitherto employed but Httle time in study, he amply and nobly redeemed his lost hours. At twenty-five he commenced mathematics, and with great appHca- tion studied chemistry and mineralogy, fitted up a laboratory, formed a collection of minerals, and be- stirred himself with all the energy of his character. These sciences, however, he soon abandoned; and, having accidentally become acquainted with Adam Smith's " Wealth of Nations," he employed his great thought upon the subject of political economy, in which he soon became distinguished. He led the van in the buOion controversy — his principles were those on which the present Bank charter is founded ; and, in 1817, he published that great work on his favourite science so familiar to the commercial reader. His reputation preceded him to the senate ; and his opinions on the above subjects were deferred to with respect. When Mr. Peel's biU was introduced, in 1819, his name was called for from all sides of the House; and, in 1823, David Ricardo, an acute. 230 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEES patient, and comprehensive tMnker, a firm and faitJiful friend, and an honour to the body of which he was a member, died, at the early age of fifty-two. Few trials, which were not for life, have excited so much interest in the city as that in which Benjamin "Walsh — a member of the senate, a member of the Stock Exchange, and a confessed felon — stood at the bar of the Old BaUey, on the charge of defrauding Sir Thomas Plomer The bench was crowded with the rank and respectability of the city. The melan- choly appearance of the prisoner, his grave bearing and dejected countenance, excited the interest of the spectators, and spoke the regret of the culprit. In 1811, Sir Thomas informed his broker, Mr. Benjamin Walsh, M.P., that, having bought an estate it would be necessary to sell out a large amount of stock to complete the purchase. Mr. "Walsh advised Sir Thomas not to sell directly, as there was every prospect of the funds rising; and, the title of the estate not being complete, this advice was comphed with. About the middle of November, however, Mr. Walsh changed his opinion, and repeatedly urged Sir Thomas to sell his stock, alleging his belief that the price would fall. Again the broker's suggestion was OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 231 complied with; but, as it was sold before the money was required for the estate, it was recommended by the prisoner that, to prevent it from lying idle, ex- chequer bills should be purchased with the proceeds. Sir Thomas again consented, and gave a cheque amount- ing to £22,000 to Mr. Walsh, who promised to lodge the notes at Goslings', the bankers to Sii' Thomas, and hand the latter their receipt. In the evening, however, he presented their acknowledgment for only £6,000, and making some excuse for not having paid in the remaining exchequer bills, promised to dehver them on the following day; adding that, as he had not settled for them, he had repaid the difference to the account of Sir Thomas. The latter on his way home called at his bankers', and found that, though the £6,000 in exchequer bills had been deposited, the cheque of Mr. Walsh for the £16,000 had been received too late for presentation. No suspicion was, however, attached to the transaction until next day, when the cheque was refused payment. Sir Thomas was immediately informed, and an inquiry instituted. It was soon found that the money thus iniquitously gained had been disposed of in paying his brother £1,000, in purchasing £11,000 American Stock, and 232 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS in investing £500 in Portugese doubloons. The pri- soner was found guilty; but certain points, reserved for the judges, being interpreted favourably, lie was discharged from Newgate, and expelled from the House of Commons. In 1813, Mr. Vansittart introduced a modification of Mr. Pitt's sinking fund ; and, among other objects, proposed to rescind the alterations in 1786 and 1792, and to restore them to the position in which they would have stood if no such alteration had taken place. By this Mr. Vansittart designed to provide that relief which the public would have obtained from the original plan, to restrain the excessive increase of the sinking fund, and to secure the redemption of each loan within a period of forty-five years from its commence- ment. Por these purposes, it was proposed — 1st. That, as a sum equ.al to the debt of 1786, bearing an interest nearly equal to the interest of that debt, is now vested in the hands of the commissioners, so soon as the interest of the redeemed debt shall be equal to that of the debt of 1786, that debt shall be declared discharged ; and the sums hitherto appro- priated for the interest and sinking fund shall be appropriated to bear the charge of futm'e wars ; and OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 233 that no new taxes shall be imposed for new loans till the same amount to a smn equal to the interest ol that released. 2nd. That as loans to the extent of £86,796,375 were charged on the consolidated fund in 1803, with- out any sinldng fund attached to them, it is proposed, in order to place the public creditors in a position equal to that they held in 1792, that the 1 per cent, sinking fund on the above sums be replaced to it. 3rd. That, as the amount of exchequer bills has much increased, a sinking fund of 1 per cent, shall be annually provided for any addition to the exchequer biUs in cumulation, for the discharge of which no funds are provided. 4th. That, instead of allotting the sinking fund of 1 per cent, to discharge each separate loan, the whole funds shall be imited, and apphed to discharge the first contracted loan ; and that each successive loan shaU be redeemed, and its charge released, in the order of its contraction, by the united produce of the sinking funds appropriated for the redemption of the loans contracted since 1792 j but the whole sinking fund created by the act of 1786, to be continued, and apphed untU the total redemption of the debt 234 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS During the latter part of Buonaparte's career, the price of the funds varied enormously. In the course of an hour, a difference of 8 and 10 per cent, was not unknown. The loans were as eagerly sought as they were frequently made ; nor is this surprising when it is remembered that 18 and 20 per cent, occasionally rewarded the scrip-holder. The pulse of the people was feverish, and easily excited ; and the papers of the day display the intense anxiety which hung over the public mind during the eventful years of 1814 and 1815. The prices of the funds dropped and rose like a barometer. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say, that they were regarded as an oracle ; and, while the public professed to disbelieve aU Stock Exchange rumours, simply because they were so, they continued to inquire the variations in the price, and almost regarded them as a cause rather than a consequence. The annals of the world contain no more exciting period. Por years, the Enghsh had seen battle after battle won by the great conqueror. They had seen disciphned armies vanquished by raw levies ; veteran troops cut to pieces by young conscripts ; and the prestige of his name had haunted them for the fom'th part of a OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 235 century. To destroy his power, they had submitted to paiufol privations ; they had borne Avith taxation which ahnost amounted to tyranny; they had levied loans which enriched the few and impoverished the many. The national debt had increased to 800 millions ; and now the reward had come, and the people read with undisguised and unlimited pleasure, of field after field yielding to British prowess; of towns stormed; of achievements which made them proud of the name they bore ; until that prophecy which had been derided for years, became a lasting fact ; British troops paraded in triumph through the streets of Paris ; and men felt that their sufferings and their sorrows had not been vain, but that the treasure they had lavished had reaped its reward. So important to our financial department was the close of this war, that the decrease of the expenditure was at once declared to be 2 miUions per month ; and accustomed as the money power of England had been to loan succeeding loan, the Stock Exchange could scarcely understand the declaration of the Chancellor, that he neither intended to ask for money, nor to touch the sinking fund. The immediate effect of 236 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTERS the battle of Waterloo on the funds was only 3 per cent., nor was it until the capture of Napoleon became positively known, that they rose to their previous price. It is not unworthy of remark that, from 1688 to 1814, sixty-three years witnessed bloody and expen- sive wars, while only 61 years were employed in recovering from the effects of so demoralizing a system. The well-known attempt to defraud the Stock Exchange occurred ia 1815; but the features of the hoax were so lilce that of 1806, and its effects so similar on the members, that a brief notice is deemed sufficient. Prior to February, 1814, various brokers were employed by persons, some of whom were not accustomed to speculate in Capel Court, to purchase government securities to the amount of £826,000. Among other and less important individuals, were Lord Cochrane and Mr. Coclu-ane Johnstone, M.P., who, when information arrived that some Erench officers had landed at Dover, with the news of Buonaparte's death, took advantage of the consequent rise, to seU the Stock they had previously pm'chased. In a short time, however, it was discovered that the OE THE STOCK EXCHANGE, 237 "French officers" were fictitious, and that the news was false. Every endeavour was made to discover the inventors of the plot; suspicion was pointed at persons who had bought so largely, and sold so well ; and Lord Cochrane, Mr. Johnstone, M.P., with several more, were tried for conspiracy, and found guilty. The committee of the Stock Exchange, did not, as in the previous case, cancel the bargains made, but left the parties to the remedy which the law provided. Mr. Johnstone fled from the country, and Lord Cochrane was dismissed from the navy. But public opinion has reversed the decree, and reinstated his lordship in that service of which he was the pride and the ornament. In consequence of the above fi:aud, it became necessary to serve certain law processes on many of the members ; and an attorney's clerk, ignorant of the custom of the Stock Exchange, or confident in the sanctity of his mission, ventured boldly in. The solemn character of the law was no defence, and scarcely was his errand known, when he felt as willing to retire as he had been anxious to enter. The disgraceful mode in which a stranger is usually treated by the jobbers and brokers was carried out in 238 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEUS its fullest extent, and it was not until he had received Ms initiation into the manners of the members that he was allowed to leave the mart dedicated to Mammon. In 1815 the first French loan was negociated in London. The fall of Napoleon, the return of Louis le Gros, the personal expenses of the monarch, and the pecuniary concessions of the government, demanded a supply to which Prench capitalists were unequal; and a successful attempt was made to borrow in the Enghsh market. In the following year an act was passed, authorising the transfer of stock upon which no dividend had been claimed for ten years, to the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt. It has been the writer's duty in another work to advocate the cause of the holders of unclaimed dividends. The unfairness with which they axe treated is neither to be palliated nor justified. The eagerness and anxiety of government to obtain money is too often gratified at the expense of moraUty; and it is thus with the unclaimed dividends. Every difii- culty is thrown in the way of the public ; and, though the above act distinctly ordains that immediately after OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 239 tlie transfer, the names, residences, descriptions, and amount shall he kept open for inspection at the Bank, it is useless for tlie public to apply, as they are politely but peremptorily refused all inforraation. It is only fair to conclude that this is at the instance of govern- ment, as the Bank receive no benefit from their violation of the act of parliament. It is not often that the repudiation of a dividend causes a rise in the price of the stock : such, howevei-, was the case in a loan of five millions to Austria, the interest of which was to be remitted by the Emperor. Shortly before it became due, intelligence arrived that Austria was unable to meet the claim. The stock at once rose 2 per cent., as it was known that the faith of England was pledged to the fundholder, and that henceforth the interest must be provided by the English government. A laudable endeavom' was made in 1821 to abolish the system of gambling known as options ; and, after a serious consideration, the committee of the Stock Exchange resolved that any member guUty of the practice should be expelled the house. It was soon found that rules are more easily made than followed ; and a powerful opposition was organised, in which the 240 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTEBS Hebrew party took the lead. Large sums were sub- scribed towards the erection of a new building; and the schism grew so serious, and numbered such important parties in its ranks, that the committee deemed it wise to make an amicable arrangement, and abandon the resolution they had so hastily made. Up to 1832, the Royal Exchange was the theatre in which business in the foreign funds was transacted. When, however, this business became a feature of sufficient importance, a foreign Stock Exchange was formed in connexion with Capel Court. A very important question became mooted conceming these loans. On several occasions, when bargains for time were made, and the loser refused to pay his differences, the broker made them good, beheving his principal was not liable under the act of Sir John Barnard. At last the question was legally argued; and it was ascertained from the decision of several judges, that the provisions of the above act did not extend to loans for foreign countries. Francis Baily — a name as weU known in the scientific as in the monetary world — ^retired from the Stock Exchange in 1835, and the man who, in the midst of the most exciting pursuit in the world, was OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 241 worthily chosen president of the Royal Astronomical Society, sheds an honour on the class to which he belonged, and should have been an exemplar to the men with whom he associated. As a boy, studious beyond his years, he was called — ^half jestingly, half seriously — the philosopher of Newbury j and having left school at fourteen, remained in a mercantile situation until he was twenty-two : when, for the mere love of adventure, he embarked for the New World, travelled through a great part of the far West, and passed eleven months among the aborigines, without once meeting the shelter of a civilized roof. In 1800, he went on the money market, where he soon became conspicuous, publishing within a few years many works, which were justly regarded with great favom-; and, in 1806, defended, though imsuc- cessfuHy, the rights of the brokers. In 1814, he drew up the report of the committee on the great fraud of that year, arranged the evidence against the perpetrators completely and conclusively, and was one of those men of whom the Stock Exchange — from which he retired with a fortune won by uprightness and intelhgence — was not worthy. B 242 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS The triumphs of Mr. Baily in his favourite pursuit are recorded in the minds of all who prize the science which he so dearly loved. A list of his labours would be misplaced in the present volume; but Sir John Herschell has recorded them in Iris memoir of the scientific member of that place which is too much open to the reproach, that it narrows men's minds as much as it enlarges their purses. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 243 CHAPTER XII. KEVIE-W OP THE NATIONAIi DEBT— OPINIONS — BOLINGBEOKE — ^FINANCIAL KEFOBM ASSOCIATION — EXTKAVAeANCE OF aOTEBNMBNT — SCHEMES FOE, PAYING OFF THE NATIONAL DEBT — HETIEW OF THEM — PROPOSALS FOR DEBENTUHE3. The period at which the present narrative has arrived does not appear iH adapted for a prospective and retrospective glance at a debt v^hich, in 121 years, has increased from £660,000 to 800 millions, mtMcIi is the great problem of the day, and the great difSculty of legislators. It has been seen, that the debt was not increased without strenuous opposition j and it need not be said that there were alarmists a centmy ago, as there are alarmists now ; that, as each successive minion was added, men were not wanting to declare the ruin of the country ; or that prophets were plentiful with omens of evil. Bolingbroke wrote : — " It is impossible to look back without grief on the necessary 24.4 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS and unavoidable consequences of this establishment, or without indignation on that mystery and iniquity which hath been raised upon it, and carried on by means of it. Who can answer that a scheme which oppresses the farmer, ruins the manufacturer, breaks the merchant, discourages industry, and reduces fraud to a system, which drains continually a portion of our national wealth away to foreigners, and draM^s most perniciously the rest of that immense property which was diffused among thousands, into the pockets of the few — ^who can answer that such a scheme will always endure ? The whole art of Stock-jobbing, the whole mystery of iniquity mentioned above, rises from this estabhshment, and is employed about the funds : and the main-springs which turn, or may turn, the artificial wheel of credit, and make the paper estates that are fastened to it, rise or faU, lurk behind the veil of the treasury. That luxury which began to spread after the restoration of Charles II. hath increased ever since, from the growth of wealth among the Stock-jobbers, from this system. Nothing can be more cei'tain than this — ^that national luxury and national poverty may in time estabhsh national prostitution. The immense wealth of particular men is a cu'cumstance which always OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 245 attends national poverty, and is, in a great measure, the cause of it. We may already apply to our country what SaUust makes Cato say of Rome — ' Public want and private wealth abound in all declining states.' " A reference to the tracts, pamphlets, and broad- sides which were given to the world in the early part of the centmy, wiU prove that pubHc attention was constantly drawn to the grovdng difficulty; but the writers committed the great error of pointing their darts at the Stock-jobbers. They persisted in regarding the consequence as the cause ; nor was it, Mr. Alison thinks, until after the Peace of Uyswick, that the great evil was regarded with anything like alarm. This gentleman, in his Mihtary Life of Marlborough, draws the following vivid pictm-e, and the writer can confirm it from a careful perusal of contemporary documents : — " The finances of Great Britain," he says, " as they were managed in former times, could never have sustained the cost of such a wax for a tenth part of the time. But expense now seemed no obstacle to the government. A new engine of surpassing strength had been discovered, for extracting capital out of the country : and the able statesmen who had it in their 246 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS hands, felt it to be not less serviceable in consolidating the internal power, than in meeting the external expenses of the new' dynasty. "When this system first began, the nation was not sensible of the important consequences to which it would lead. They thought it could only be a tempoTary expedient ; and that, though it might, perhaps, lead to a few millions being added to the national debt, yet that would be aU. Though from the first, accordingly, its progress was viewed with a jealous eye by the thinking few, it made but httle impression upon the unthinking many, before the Peace of Ryswick. But when the War of the Succession began in 1702, and continued without intermission, attended by daily and increasing expenditure for 10 years, the apprehensions of a large part of the nation became excessive. At the Revolution, the national debt was £661,000; by 1710 it exceeded 50 millions. "The wars in which William was of necessity engaged ; the loans which they rendered unavoidable, and which the commercial wealth of the nation enabled it to advance ; and the great increase in the expen- diture of the Exchequer, aU conspired to place a vast and unprecedented amount of patronage in the hands or THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 247 of government. This was systematically directed to buy off opposition in parliament, and secm^e a majority in tlie constituencies. Corruption, in every possible form, from the highest to the lowest, was employed in all parts of Great Britain, especially among the iu:ban electors, and with such success, that almost every measure of government passed without difficulty through both houses of parhament. The nation had shaken off the prerogatives of the crown, but they had fallen under the domination of its influence. The gold of the Exchequer was found to be more powerful than the penalties of the Star-Chamber." Almost every one professes to consider the debt as a drain upon the resources of the nation ; as a nightmare upon the chests of the people j and as a millstone which will sink England below her proper position. Most of our poHtical writers affect this view. All our alarmists make it their theme. Hume wrote : — - "Either the nation must destroy public credit, or public credit must destroy the nation." Sir Robert Walpole said: — "When the debt reaches 100 millions, the nation will be bankrupt." In 1735, Lord Hervey, in his Memoir of George II., remarked : — " I do not see how it would be possible for the country, on any 248 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEES exigence, or for the support of the most necessary war, to raise one million a year more than it now raises ;" and in 1777, the third earl wrote as a note : — "What would my father have said, had he seen 17 millions raised in a year?" Lord Bolingbroke declared the debt was sinking England into the guK of inevitable bankruptcy. Cobbett was perfectly rabid in his attacks on those whom he invariably classed as Jews and fundholders, predicted the ruin of England in half a century, and proposed in 1833, a plan which would have ceased the interest on the national debt in 27 years, and have classed England among the repudiators. Adam Smith thought that the practice of fund- ing had gradually weakened every state which had adopted it. Paine openly predicted the Bank and the government would perisli together in a few months. Mr. Tierney said, in 1817, such a state of things could not go on. Sir James Graham proposed, in 1827, a reduction of 30 per cent. Mr. Baines thought it might be ultimately necessary to make a general contribution to extinguish a large portion of the debt ; and the late Earl Grey talked in early life of "taking the bull by the horns;" although he failed to fulfil in his age the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 249 promise of his youth. " I boldly assert," wrote Mr. Samuel Gurney in 1849, "that it is my judgment that unless she (England) whoUy alter her course in these respects, bankruptcy will be the result." If prophecies such as these have been plentiful, the following extract, at once a picture and illustration of the period when the nation first commenced to borrow, win prove that other views are entertained by many, and that there is a large class who, however they may deprecate the great evils arising from the debt, consider that it has been beneficial to the interests of England. " The era of the Revolution is chiefly remarkable for the new dynasty having taught the government how to raise taxes in the country, and thus brought England to take the place to which she was entitled in the scale of nations, by bringing the vast national resources to bear upon the national struggles. That which the Stuarts never could effect by appeal to honour, spirit, or patriotism, WiUiam and Anne soon accomphshed by bringing into play and enlisting on their side different and less creditable motives. They no longer bullied the House of Commons — they bribed it ; and, strange to say, it is to the entire success of 250 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS the gigantic system of borrowing, expending, and corrupting which they introduced, and which their successors so faithfully followed, that the subsequent greatness of England is mainly to be ascribed. It was the system of managing the House of Commons by loans, good places, and bribes, which provided the sinews of war, and prepared the triumphs of Blenheim and Ramilies. William tripled the revenue, and gave so much of it to the House of Commons that they cordially agreed to the tripling. He spent largely • he corrupted still more largely, he made the national interest in support of taxation more powerful than those operating to resist it. The memoirs recently come out give details of corruption so barfaced and gross, that they would exceed belief if their frequency, and the testimony to their authenticity from different quarters. Sid not defy disbelief." It is now known that when Walpole's ministerial supporters were invited to his ministerial dinner, each found a £500 note under his napkin It is one great evil of the present age, that it persists in regarding the debt as perpetual. Immediately the expenditure is exceeded by the revenue, there is a demand for the reduction of taxation. We — a com- OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 251 mercial people — ^brought up at tlie feet of Mc Ciilloch ■ — with tlie books of tlie national debt as a constant study, with the interest on the national debt as a constant remembrancer — persist in scofBng at any idea of decreasing the incumbrance : and when a Chancellor of the Exchequer proposes a loan of eight millions, we growl and grumble, call it charitable, trust for better times, and read the opposition papers with re- newed zest. There is no doubt that the resources of the nation are equal to far more than is now imposed ; but it can only be done by an efficient revision of our taxation ; and this wiU never be efPected tUl the wolf is at the door. A war which greatly increased our yearly imposts would, with the present system, crush the artisan, paralyze the middle class, and scarcely leave the landed proprietor unscathed. The convertibility of the note of the Bank of England would cease ; and it would be impossible to preserve the charter of Sir Robert Peel in its entirety, while twenty-eight millions were claimable yearly in specie, and the gold of the country went abroad in subsidies. In an earlier portion of the volume the writer briefly advocated annuities as one mode of treating the national 252 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS debt. There would in this be no breach of faith to the present public; there would be no dread of a general bankruptcy ; there would be no need of loans ; and, had this principle been carried out, the national debt would be yearly diminishing. In ten years, nea;rly two millions of terminable annuities will expire j and it behoves the government to inquire into the effect which the conversion of the interminable debt into terminable annuities would have on the money market. To reduce or pay off the national debt may be gigantic, but it is not impossible ; and the vn-iter closes the present chapter with a review of some of the pro- posals which have been laid before the public. In 1715, a pamphlet was published, entitled "A Method that will enable the Government to pay off that part of the Public Debt which is redeemable by parha- ment," by which 21 millions were to be paid in seventeen years, by bills of credit without interest. Soon after the accession of the present royal family, Mr. Archibald liutcheson presented a plan which excited much attention at the time, and is well entitled to recapitulation ; his principal propositions were — 1. — That the sums severally assessed on the lands OE THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 253 of Great Britain for tlie land-tax of 1713 be made payable as a rent charge in fee for ever, out of the several respective lands, redeemable at any time by the proprietors paying twenty^two years' purchase. 2. — That the said rents, or the money raised by redemption or assignments of the same, be applied to the discharge of the pubhc debt. 3. — ^That one-tenth part of all annuities for Hfe, and all other rents issuing out of the aforesaid lands, and of all sums of money secm^ed by mortgage, and of aU other debts which affect lands, be entirely remitted to their respective proprietors. 4. — ^That the proprietors of such land be empowered to sell so much of them as shall be sufficient to redeem the aforesaid respective rent charges. 5. — That one-tenth part of aU the debts secured by pubhc funds be remitted. 6. — That one-tenth part of aU the other nett personal estates of all the inhabitants of Great Britain, which affect land and public funds, be apphed to the payment of the pubhc debt. 7. — That 2s. in the pound be made payable yearly, out of the salaries and perquisites of all offices and places. 254 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS 8. — That the legal interest be reduced to 4 per cent, per annum. 9. — That for the effectual securing of the payment of such public debts, for which there either is at present no provision, or the provision made by par- liament appears deficient, all funds granted for any term of years be made perpetual, untU the principal and interest of all the said public debts be fully paid off; and that the interest of such pubUc debts as at present have defective or no securities, be paid out of the yearly produce of the said funds; and that the remainder only of such produce, over and above the interest of the said public debts, be apphed towards the sinking of the principal money. 10. — That provisions may be made by an excise on apparel, or some other excise, sufficient to produce one million per annum in lieu of the land tax, till all the public debts are discharged. In 1715, Mr. AsgUl pubhshed his plan for the more speedy redemption of all the perpetual funds; two millions were to be raised in specie, and deposited in a bank, to support the circulation of 20 millions Exchequer bills at 3 per cent., with which all the redeemable debts were to be paid off. As an annual OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 255 interest of £1,182,454 10s. 5d. was then paid for these redeemable debts, and as the interest of the two millions to be borrowed at 6 per cent., and of 20 milhons of exchequer biUs at 3 per cent., amounted only to £720,000, the pubHc would thus have acquired a sinking fund of £462,454 lOs. 5d. In 1719, Stephen Barbier proposed to pay the pubho debt. The plan of this gentleman was to convert 40 millions of the debt into notes, bearing 1 per cent, less interest than the original fund, which was thus to be converted ; the conversion was only to take place at the request of the creditor, who might thus at any time obtain both principal and interest. These notes were to be current in aU pecuniary transactions, and were to be paid in specie, sis months after they were presented for payment. Such were the chief propositions at the commence- ment of the eighteenth century. It would be imprac- ticable to follow the numerous schemes which have since been propounded, but a few of the latter plans may not be uninteresting. In 1819, a proposition was made, which boldly grappled with the immediate difficulty. Estimating the entire private property of the kingdom, on the lowest calculation, at two 256 CHRONICLES AND CHAKACTERS thousand five hundred miUions, it suggested that all such property, including all claims on the government, in respect of money lent and advanced, should be declared liable to a contribution of 1 5 per cent. In 1839, a "practical scheme" appeared, the leading points of which were : — That all the annuities must be consoKdated, viz.. The 3 per cents, at . . .65 3J 73i 4J 81 6 100 That an assessment of 20 per cent, be laid on aU property and funds so consolidated. That an assessment of 5 per cent, be laid on private property, not in the British funds. That fixed property, except buildings, be valued at 20 years' purchase. That this assessment be converted into a redeemable income tax, at the option of the proprietor, at 5 per cent, per annum. That a similar assessment for the term of 10 yeaxs, be levied on nett profits of trade and agriculture. In 1827, it was proposed to pay one half the debt, by an assessment of 12 per cent, upon the entire capital of the country ; and, in 1832, another OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 257 " practical plan " was suggested ; " to impose a loan of 20 per cent, upon all the nett real property, excepting those whose possessions are less than £100; the amount to be paid either at once, or by instalments, within five years. " To impose a tax of 5 per cent, for one year upon all incomes of not less than £100 a year, arising from profits of artists and other professional men." " To abolish all internal taxes excepting the land tax." Other propositions have appeared, but they have been entirely disregarded. The evil day has been deferred, and wHl continue to be so ; but it affects all good citizens to bear in mind that it must eventually arrive: and some future historian wUl record that the ruin of England arose from the greatness of her national debt, because her citizens were deficient in that abnegation of seK which alone could grapple with a great difiiculty, save a great country, and alleviate the sufferings of a patient and enduring people. In 1817, the ministry debated the advisability of altering the mode of registering the accounts of the national debt. Many complaints had been made by bankers and merchants of the long period employed by the Bank of England in preparing for the payment 258 CHEONICLES AND CHARACTERS of the dividends; and they contended that six weeks were unnecessary, or, if necessary, that some new method should be tried by which the annoyance might be remedied. The suggestion was taken into consideration, and the system of debentures very generally debated. After much matm-e thought, it was decided that, though the plan answered very well with foreign securities, the English debt was too gigantic, and the plan would involve too great a risk to be entertained. After much discussion in the journals, and a few questions in the House, the idea was abandoned; nor was it until thirty years from the above time, that the objection of the bankers was met ; and that, by the arrangements of Mr. WUHam Ray Smee, now in operation at the Bank of England, the stock were closed only three instead of six weeks. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 259 CHAPTER XIII. MONETAET EXCITEMENT — APPH0ACH2S TO THE STOCK EXCHANGE — GOLD COM- PANY — EQUITABLE LOAN COMPANY — EEAUDS IN COMPANIES — LOAN TO POBEIGN STATES — POYAIS BUBBLE. The excitement of 1824 and 1825 has usually been considered in reference to banldng and the Bank of England. It is the writer's present purpose to draw attention to the social and moral evils of the period j and, by a simple detail of some curious incidents, and dangerous adventures arising out of it, to draAV attention to the great and crying iniquities which obtained. The readiness with which shares were attainable, first created a class of speculators that has ever since formed a marked feature in periods of excitement, in the dabblers in shares and loans with which the courts and crannies of the parent establishment were 260 CHEONICLES AND CHAEACTEKS crowded. The scene was wortliy the pencil of an artist. With, huge pocket-book containing worthless scrip ; with crafty countenance and cunning eye ; with showy jewellery and thread-bare coatj with well greased locks and unpolished boots; with knavery in every curl of the lip, and villany in every thought of the heart ; the stag, as he was afterwards termed, was a prominent portrait in the foreground. Grouped together in one corner, might be seen a knot of boys eagerly buying and seUing at a profit which bore no comparison to the loss of honesty they each day experienced. Day after day were elderly men with shabby faces and huge umbrellas vsdtnessed in the same spot, doing business with those whose characters might be judged from their company. At another point, the youth, just rising into manhood, conscious of a few guineas in his purse, with a resolute deter- mination to increase them at any price, gathered a group around, while he dehvered his invention to the listening throng, who regarded him as a superior spirit. In every corner, and in every vacant space, might be seen men eagerly discussing the premium of a new company, the rate of a new loan, the rumoured profit of some lucky speculator, the rumoured OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 261 failure of some great financier — or, wrangling with savage eagerness over tlie fate of a shilling. The scene has been appropriated by a novelist as not unworthy his pen. "There I found myself," he writes, " in such company as I had never seen before. Gay sparks, with their hats placed on one side, and their hands in their breeches' pockets, walked up and down with a magnificent strut, whistv ling most harmoniously, or occasionally humming an Italian air. Several grave personages stood in close consultation, scowhng on all who approached, and seeming to reprehend my intrusion. Some lads> whose faces announced their Hebrew origin, and whose miscellaneous finery was finely emblematical of Rag Pair, passed in and out ; and besides these, there attended a strangely varied rabble, exhibiting, in all sorts of forms and ages, du'ty habiliments, calamitous poverty, and grim-visaged viUany. It was curious to me to hear vdth what apparent intelligence they dis- cussed all the concerns of the nation. Every wretch was a statesman, and each could explain, not only all that had been hinted at in parhament, but all that was at that moment passing in the bosom of the Chancellor of the Exchequer." 2G2 CHRONICLES AND CIIAE.ACTEES The entrance to the Stock Exchange became at last So choked up, that nothing but a fine of £5 on those who stopped the way, had any efi'ect in dispersing the nuisance. Among the companies which sprung up daily, was one to make gold; and success was declared to be undoubted. The shares were all greedily taken : and it was then advertised that, as the expense of producing 1 oz. of gold would cost double the value of the produce, the company would be dissolved, and the deposits kept to pay expenses. The capital of a mining company was divided between fifty proprietors, whose advertisements and puffs were disgraceful. The meanest utensils of the peasantry were declared to be silver ; and, although there were but ninety-nine mines in the whole district, the company professed to have purchased 860. In a place con- taining 5,000 inhabitants, it was affirmed the projector possessed 3,000 mines; and, although they had been previously abandoned after a loss of £170,000, they were purchased at a high price, and puffed to an enormous premium. The Equitable Loan Company was another specimen. In paragraphs, calculated to excite the sympathy of OF THE STOCK EXCHA^fGE. 263 the public, the directors denounced the profits of the pawnbroker, arraigned his evO. practices, and dehcately conchided by hinting that a company formed upon the most philanthropic principles, and paying 40 per cent., would soon be formed. The philanthropy might have been proclaimed for centmies, but 40 per cent, was irresistible. The Duke of York good-naturedly lent his name; members of parliament were bribed with shares ; and when it was honestly said by one that "the bUl would never pass the House," the triumphant reply given was, " Oh ! we have so many on the ministerial, and so many on the opposition side, and ive are sure of the saints!" The shares, however, went to a discount; both opposition and ministerial members lost aU interest in the nefarious doings of the pavnibrokers, and the philanthropy of the saints faded with the fading vision of 40 per cent. The Bolivar Mining Company boasted of " mountains, not mines," of metals. A raOroad was projected to cross from Dover to Calais. A loan of £225,000 was proposed for Patagonia; another in derision advertised for the Lilliputian and Houyhnhnms of Swift's political satire ; and, to assist them all, a parliamentary steam 264 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS company was announced to pass more rapidly tlie bills before the House. At tlie formation of another mining company the utmost magnanimity was evinced. Rules were passed that none of the directors should hold more than 200 shares ; that all which remained should be brought honestly into the market ; and that everything should be fair. But this moderation waxed weaker as their power increased. Thousands of shares were allotted among the managers, and locked carefully up. A resolution was passed that no director or officer should be required to pay deposits; and then, employing the most respectable brokers to pm'chase 1,000 shares with the money of the company, they created a sensa- tion in the market, and sent them to a premium. The person who sold the mines to the company was employed to report upon their value. Opinions the most flattering were given of property absolutely worthless; and, as a proof of the greediness of one party and the incapacity of the other, it may be mentioned that a mine, the full value of which was £400, was pm-chased at £11,000; and that £121,000 were paid for some which, in almost eyexy instance, were exhausted. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 265 When tlie Lower Rhine Steam Navigation Company- was announced, it became a great favourite. Large quantities were sold for the account j and as the setthng time approached, the premium rose to 28. The sellers were unable to deliver the shares, and their difficulties became serious. To meet them, new receipts were printed, closely imitating the old, the name only of the banker being changed. The deceit was discovered. A committee sat to elucidate the fraud, and the supposed concoctor was expelled from the Stock Exchange. The ckcmnstance excited great attention at the time ; and many more were said to be impUcated than it was in the power of the committee to reach. Another peculiar feature of the period was to be found in the loans which preceded and accompanied the memorable era when the pubhc was wild to lend its capital to foreign states, and the resources of the borrowers were scarcely regarded. The dividends of the English funds were scoffed at; the general rate of per centage was increased in the eyes of the many ; Patagonian or Lilliputian securities which promised 8 per cent, were eagerly looked for; and sohd loans were followed by visionary dividends. 2G6 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS It is a somewhat curious fact that, directly the Navy 5 per cents, were reduced, the people rushed AvUdly into new securities to retrieve their loss, and missed in the promises of the one the certainty of the other. In 1823 foreign states which, in some cases, had not even attained the freedom for which they fought, became creditors to the Enghsh pubHc to the amount of £10,150,000. Chili, after a protracted resistance to the mother country, found success follow its efforts. Lord Cochrane gave his powerful support to the navy; and, in 1818, a large tract of coast was- declared by him in a state of blockade. The vigour of his lordship proved too much for the royalists ; and in a short period a free constitution with a popular government was appointed. But neither the free constitution nor the popular government could do without money. The ChUian republic, therefore, borrowed one miUion of the English people, at 6 per cent. ; and, having received the cash, thought it unnecessary to pay interest after 1826. Peru, a place so interesting to the historic reader from its early discovery, its connexion with the Spaniards, and the cruelties of Pizarro, exhibited OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 267 anotlier specimen of loan contracting. After years of violent commotion and of resolute resistance, her independence was proclaimed ; but independence did not produce quiet, and the name of Bolivar became known in a sanguinary and protracted war. The Spaniards refused quietly to yield their territory : Lima surrendered to Spanish troops; and though they were dispossessed by Bolivar, and Peru became safe from subjugation, doubt, distrust, and anarchy remained. Durmg this period the opinion of the Enghsh people may be guessed from the fact that they lent, in 1822, £450,000 at 6 per cent., and that it was contracted for at 88 per cent. Colombia, which only dates its hisjtory as a nation from 1819, followed. During the contest which preceded its independence, the insurgents were supplied with implements of war and ammunition from this country, on the secmity of debentures bearing 10 per cent, interest; and when the great battle in which Bohvar, the hero of American independence, obtained a complete victory, and consummated the freedom of Colombia, was fought, the new state borrowed two millions at 84 per cent. Poyais was another instance _ of English liberality. 268 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTERS £200,000 were lent on a security so visionary, that not one dividend vi^as ever paid ; while sadder and more sorrowful effects than this followed. Adventures which commercial history has rarely paralleled marked its progress ; and sufferings which make us shudder at the recital, were the result of the delusion. But little known out of a particular circle, the name of . the Poyais settlement is never mentioned there but with feelings of unmitigated detestation. A Scotchman, named Gregor Mac Gregor, claiming to be chief of the clan which bears his name, formed the idea of creating a settlement on the shores of the Black Biver. The first appearance of this man in a pubHc character^ was in the service of the patriots of Spanish America. Under the florid title of " Ge- neral of brigade of the armies of the united provinces of New Granada and Venesuela, and general-in-chief of the armies destined against the Floridas," he suc- ceeded in seizing a place known as Amelia Island, which he proposed to use for purposes of aggrandizement. liis views proving fallacious, he vacated it; and was next heard of as carrying, with a trifling force, the rich town of Portobello. Here he" addi'essed to his men a manifesto, in which gold and glory, plunder and Ol? THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 369 patriotism, equally occupied its periods. Scarcely was it issued, however, ere the force of Mac Gregor was surrounded, and the great general could only save his life by leaving his followers, leaping out of the window in his shirt, and swimming on board his ship. It is probable that, during these campaigns, the idea of a settlement first occurred to Mac Gregor, as, not long after their conclusion, he proposed the plan of emigration about to be related ; a plan by which colonization was to extend to that part of America known as the Musquito country. The more pleasing title of Poyais was given; the Stock Exchange was employed to circulate some bonds for a loan of £200,000, at 80 per cent., on the security of the country; and a land renowned for its inhospitable climate was puffed into a most undeserving celebrity. Every device of human ingenuity was practised. Books were published in which the climate of Paradise seemed uncongenial by that of Poyais. The air was soft and bahny ; the sun and sky were alike fructifying ; the soil yearned to yield its fruits ; the water ran over sands of gold. Grain was to grow without sowing. Tortoiseshell, diamonds, and pearls, were plentifully promised; and to the least imaginative 270 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTEBS the most glowing realms of the Pacific grew pale in comparison with a region where the sua was ever- bright, and the soU ever yielding. Labour would be superseded, life commenced in hardship would , end in luxury; while gorgeous pictures of "the finest climate and most fertile place in the world," excited the undisciplined imagination of those who had the money necessary to convey them thither, A song, to be paid for by a company of Poyais lancers, was chanted in the streets ; and the attention of the passing crowd was attracted by hhed baUad-singers. The new home was to be graced vdth a knight of the Green Cross, a colonel to command, three legislative houses to guide its afiairs, and a sovereign in the person of Gregor Mac Gregor, under the romantic title of Cacique of Poyais. An agent was employed to make sales of land, and, unhappily, the applicants were numerous. Nor was this aU. An engraving was published in which a chm'ch attracted the religious sympathies of some, and a bank the mercenary thought of others ; while a theatre gave an air of civihzation and luxury to the scene. Tempted by such descriptions, two hundred and OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE, 271 fifty persons embarked for the land of promise ; their lives, their fortunes, and their families, engaged in a scheme which led to destruction. The mere adventurer was drawn by the beauty of the settlement, the fineness of the climate, and the hope of making a fortune. The son of the soil who had amassed a capital, which in Great Britain was unable to save him from the poor-house, but promised in Poyais a sufficiency for life, gathered his family together, sold his little fm'nitm'e, reserving, with Scottish piety, the bible which had often consoled his Scottish hearth, and sought an unknown clime, and a new home for his household deities. Notes, payable at the Bank of Poyais, were given in exchange for notes of the Bank of Scotland, under the plea that the latter would not circulate in the Musquito country. At length the barks which were to conduct the settlers were entered at Leith harbour; and under different auspices, but with similar results to those which marked the Darien expedition from the same port, they left the spot which many were destined to see no more. Their arrival at the Black River was ominous. As their vessel neared the new country, a gun was fired, and colours hoisted to announce the coming of the 272 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTERS emigrants. Every moment they looked anxiously out for some symptoms of the settlement. Every eye was strained to see the spire of the church which, in all their dreams, had decorated their home. Every heart beat with a strange unwonted anxiety as they came near the place which had been pictured ia such vivid colours. No great powers of imagination are necessary to conceive their watchful expectation, as hour after hour passed, and their signals remained disregarded; or with what a bounding joy they must have seen the first boat, conveying three white people, approach the ship. The delusion was brief; and a few words damped their hopes and destroyed their visions, by the information that it was a savage, sterUe, and desolate spot. Greatly dispirited, they commenced a sad and sullen journey up the creek. With a burning sun and sky above, no traces of civilization around, exhausted by the climate and gaUed by insects, which the heat of the air nourished in great size, they proceeded with an almost funereal melancholy to their city of refuge. The young and ardent asked for gold and gems ; the old and cautious looked at the situation, as, with an anxiety they could not conceal, they questioned of the soil, its capa- OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 273 bilitles, and is ctiltivation. " Lo !" wrote one, who suffered greatly in this disastrous expedition. — "Lo! they said, it was all swampy." By the shades of evening they landed, and eagerly looked for their future home. It was too dark to see where the old town of St. Joseph formerly stood, as its site was covered with bushes; and new town there was none, save a couple of huts, scarcely worthy the name. The next day the terrible heat of the climate demanded shelter; but with every possible exertion it occupied three days in clearing sufficient ground for their habitation. Some wept at the sight of the desolate spot; others gnashed their teeth; while many, yielding to despair, threw themselves on the ground, and declared themselves abandoned of God and man. The more hopeful were employed in pitching tents, and had scarcely commenced landing the goods on which their safety depended, when a great gale arose, and the vessel was blown away ; nor did they hear of her until a month had elapsed. Their situation was not only painful and perilous, but almost hopeless, tiardy as they were, and fit to battle with any fate, they bore with- them those for whose safety : they would gladly have perilled their lives. 274 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTERS The young child and the aged grandsire, alike incapable of restraining their wants and wishes, were there. The mother and the infant, the maiden and the matron, had each its representative. " Bushes were around, and the moon above," wrote one of the survivors. Night brought its fearful malaria — day its yet more fearful sun: and who can imagine the first dig of the spade which, as it sunk deeply into a soil, half mud and half water, sunk more deeply into the heart of the unhappy agriculturahst. They sowed corn, and the sun withered it as it rose from the ground. They planted potatoes, and as they sprung up, they perished from the great heat. A further danger appeared to the settlers. They were told by the king of the Musquito nation, that no grant would be recognised by him, and that they must acknow- ledge allegiance or quit his territory. In these circumstances it was deemed advisable for a depu- tation to wait upon his majesty ; and over sandy beaches they took their way. Weak from want of food, weary from want of rest, their journey proved one of toil and trouble. The rainy- season was fast approaching j sickness and death decimated the v/anderers ; and vainly did they make desperate efforts OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 275 to avert their impending fate. One party procured a boat and started in search of aid ; but, unhappily, forgetting to take water, died ere they could attain help. Others bought a canoe, and, with Indians to guide them, were scarcely at sea, ere their treacherous companions plundered and flung them overboard. Those who remained had yet to be acclimatised ; and sickness added to the sufferings they had already endured. Eating salt provisions ; drinking impure water; burning by day, and shivering by night ; on the borders of a creek which bred disease, with a fatal malaria around; they were unable to resist the ague, which in its worst form devastated them. Without help and vsdthout hope ; far from home ; in an inhospitable country, sickness seized upon one and aU. It spared neither age nor sex, neither strength nor decrepitude. The most resolute feU beneath its power ; the weakest felt its fatal influence ; and so fearfully was the colony at one time situated, that not one could hft a finger to assist the other. Death ensued ; and the only portion of the soil gained by many was that which gave a grave. The mortality was two-thirds. But these were not the only evils. In September, 276 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS 1824, it was said, "another thing, in the shape of a Poyais loan, has been brought into the market." Great as the excitement was, there were not many disposed to risk their money; but those who did, were persons who had saved a small amount, which, though insufficient to live upon, was sufficient to excite a desire for more. By this class a considerable sum was advanced ; and the ruin which fell upon them was tremendous. Their despair was loud, but useless. The Poyais loan was an epoch from which many dated for the remainder of their lives ; and the figure of one of these unhappy speculators must still be familiar to some readers, as she wandered daily through the offices of the Bank of England, and the purheus of the Stock Exchange, exposed to aU the annoyances which fall upon those who earn their bread in the public thorough- fares. The Poyais scrip was destined to a lower employment stUl. It was used dming the mania for foreign loans in 1836, as a mode of jobbing, the tm-n in which, suited to the pockets of those who dealt in it, varied from a half-penny to a penny, according to the demand. Emigration received a great shock ; and " to be served lilce the Poyais settlers," was a common OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. , 277 excuse of tlie poor and untMnking. If, however, the Stock Exchange proved indirectly injurious to the great cause in this instance, one of its members has done more towards its assistance than is often effected by individual exertion. The efforts of Mr. Benjamin Boyd wUl form an important chapter in some future history of our Australian colonies ; as, from his determined energy, an impulse has been given to emigration which no future official supine- ness can eradicate. Steam navigation to Australia is greatly desirable, and governments which, as the present volume proves,- often lavish their money unworthily, should at least be ready to assist in achieving so great and beneficial an object. AH local objections are overcome. The difficulty of the "barrier reef" is proved to be an idle dream; and the time will yet arrive when men will wonder that a few thousand pounds should for years have retarded steam navigation to colonies important alike to the commerce, the comfort, and the civUi- zation of England. The writer gives the follovnng to show that the few words he has said are not unsupported : — "We unhesitatingly and confidently reply that, for 278 CHRONICLES AND CHAKACTERS all this, the colony has to thank Mr. Benjamin Boyd. With this gentleman solely the movement originated; by him and his family it has been maintained and supported. To this cause Mr. Boyd has devoted his individual labour ; he has lavished his wealth on it j he has enlisted in it the activity and talent of his own relations, and that of their numerous and influ- ential friends; he has suppHed them with information and advice, and urged on their flagging zeal, when requisite, up to the formation of the* Colonization Society, and the commencement of the Colonization "Crusade now in progress. And in this course he has persevered, in spite of obstacles cast in his way by the colonists themselves, in spite of obloquy and ridi- cule from men who were to benefit by his exertions, but on whose ignorance and supineness his stirring- activity was a bitter and ceaseless censure." The bubbles of 1825 were pleasantly sketched by Horace Smith, in verse. The following is a portion of' his humorous effusion : — ■ Early or late, where'er I rove, In park or square, suburb or grove, In civic lanes or alleys, Riches are hawked, while rivals rush To pour into mine ear a gush Of mouey-making sallies. OT THK STOCK EXCHANGE. 3? 9 "Haste instantly and tuy," cries one, Heal. Del Monte shares, for none -' WiU yield a rioter profit; Anotter cries — "No mining plan Like ours, the Anglo-Mexican ; As for Del Monte, scoff it." This grasps my button, and declares There's nothing like Columbian shares, The capital a million ; That, cries, "La Plata's sure to pay," Or bids me buy, without delay, - Hibernian or Brazflian. 'Scaped from these torments of the mine, Hivals in gas, an endless line, Arrest me as I travel ; Each sure my suffrage to receive, If I will only give him leave His project to unravel. By fire and life insurers next, I'm intercepted, pestered, vexed, Almost beyond endurance ; And though the schemes appear unsound. Their advocates are seldom found Deficient in assxu:ance. Last I am worried shares to buy. In the Canadian Company, The Milk Association ; The laundry men who wash by steam, EaUways, pearl fishing-, or the scheme For inland navigation ! 280 CIIRONICIiES AND CHAliACTJERS CHAPTER XIV. FOKEIGSr LOAUS — GREEK LOAN — ITS MISMANAGEMENT — ^ASSERTED JOBBING — MB. HUME — DB. BO'WIIINQ — atlAIlTEIlLy B.EYIETT — PROPOSED TAX ON TBANSFERS. It is not to be wondered at that this willingness to lend found a corresponding willingness to borrow. It was not alone tlie South, American states that came into the market ; nor was it only republican dictators who were anxious to borrow. Denmark accepted £3,000,000, Portugal took £1,500,000, and Russia £3,500,000. Up to 1825, loans to foreign places — foreign powers they cannot be called — were very frequent. BrazU bor- rowed £3,686,200 in 1824, and in 1825 two miUions more. Buenos Ayres followed the good example, received one million, and then omitted to pay the dividend; while Mexico took £6,400,000. The emancipation of this country from the yoke of Spain was a fair specimen of OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 281 the liberal principles of tlie Liberals of this period. Au- gustine Iturbide matured a plan to emancipate Mexico ; and, having expeUed the Spaniards, established a regency, nominated by himself, formed of his own creatures, and controlled by his own wUl. The army was with him, the usurpation of the throne followed, and the dictator was proclaimed emperor. The crown was made hereditary, his sons were to be princes, a million and a half of dollars were settled on him, and all the accessories of royalty were established. A nulHon and a half of dollars were more easily voted than procm'ed. Money was scarce, and the new emperor exacted it with severity. The people grew disgusted ; the opposition saw its time ; disaffection spread to the troops; and Iturbide tendered his resig-' nation to the senate he had formed. It need scarcely be added that the dividends were as difficult to get from Mexico as they were from Peru. But the Greek loan was the most extraordinary feature of the period ; and with it is concluded the present rapid sketch of the bubbles of 1825. The history of its mismanagement is one of those strange records of which the writer has seen so many dming his search into the byeways of financial history. 282 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS It must be in the memory of many that, for some years previous to 1824, the arm of the Greek was Hftcd in resolute, though almost hopeless, resistance against the Ottoman. When the intelligence reached England that the nation whose tongue was classic, whose statuary was regarded with despairing wonder, whose records formed one of the finest pages of history, was, after centuries of subjugation, striving to obtain freedom, a genuine enthusiasm pervaded Enghsh society. The antique grandeur of Greece was remembered ; the ancient glory of her people brought to mind ; names which had roused the enthusiasm of schoolboys were repeated; the clime which had produced the great men of a great age was in every man's thought ; dreams of renewed glory were in every man's brain ; and on every man's tongue, and in every man's heart, were the virtues of that past world revived. Of this feehng the subtle Greek availed himself, and negotiations were entered into to procure a loan. The proposal was favourably received by the Stock Exchange. In 1824, two agents of the Greek government, or deputies, as they were popularly called, arrived in London; and loans to the amount of £1,602,000 were raised for the service of Greece. This sum was not placed uncontrolled in the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 283 power of the deputies, tlie sanction of Mr. Edward Ellice, Mr. Joseph Hume, and another, being necessary to its appropriation. After much hesitation, 50,000 sovereigns were despatched to aid the cause ; but when they arrived, the government of that unhappy country refused to give any pledge as to their worthy employ- ment. The emissaries declined to part with their treasure without ; - and to the alarm of the Greeks, they saw this large amount saihng from their shore. Any pledge would now have been given; and the English emissaries were followed with protestations and promises, which meant nothing but an earnest desire for the gold. Scarcely had the ill-fated vessel returned, ere the yellow fever attacked the crew. Helpless and dying, they reached the Asiatic coast; and their money was taken by the Greek government with an avidity which did not affect disguise. Mismanagement marked the progress of the cause in Europe as in Asia. Two excellent Swedish vessels were offered for £47,000 : time was success, and, instead of purchasing vessels ready for action, contracts were made with America for two frigates at £160,000. A cavahy oiBcer was appointed to superintend the naval depart ment, and in two months and a-half, five steam-boats 284 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS were to be placed at the disposal of Lord Codu-ane. " Within a few weeks," said Mr. EUice, rather more pompously than to the purpose, " Lord Cochrane wiU be at Constantinople, and burn the Turkish vessels at that port. Cochrane wiU suffice for admiral and general, tie will clear Greece of the Turk." " Give yourselves no further concern about the matter," said Sir Prancis Burdett, speaking as familiarly of war as of reform; " your country shall be saved." But though Sir Erancis Bm'dett and Mr. Ellice said it, the country was not saved. After spending £155,000 on two frigates, £50,000 more were required to finish them. This was not forthcoming, and the vessels were seized. All seemed anarchy and confusion. Schemes of the most extravagant character were propounded. Three very important towns were to be besieged and carried by one thousand men. A free press was to shed light and lustre around. Improvements which were impracticable, and a consti- tution which could not be carried, were promised. During this unhappy period, the news of cities burned to the ground and forts stormed — of besieged places sacked after months of heroic resistance, aroused the public; and a storm of indignation was poured upon projectors, deputies, and proprietors. The flagrant OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 285 enormities of the management were exposed, the jnilitary projects discussed, the financial artifices de- .nounced ; and attention was pointed, through the report of tlie committee, at two, wliose voices, loud in the cause of Greece, were said to be louder in their own. Joseph Hume, a mem.ber of the senate, and John Bowring, a linguist and a scholar, were on the committee. Reports which touched the honom' of both were in free circulation. Pohtical feeling, perhaps, prompted many of the remarks ; and the public press asserted that to which no honom-able man could submit. Mr. Merle, at a public meeting, said, "He had been told that certain portions of the Greek loan had been appropriated to Mr. Hume; that those bonds had not been taken up ; and that they had afterwards been sold at a great loss to the Greek government." " Mr. Hume," wrote a daily paper, " has been publicly accused of fraud and hypocrisy, in throwing upon the Greek nation the loss which attended a speculation of his own, while acting in the assumed character of a friend to the cause." It was proved that one million had been wasted in commissions and military preparations; in Stock Ex- change transactions and Stock Exchange jobbing. The 286 CHKONICLES AND CHAEACTEUS Greek deputies received allowances larger than those paid to the diplomatic agents from great courts. Mr. Hume, in his ardour for Greece, had £10,000 as- signed him of the first loan. The price fell 16 per cent., and his ardour was said to have fallen in proportion. Alarmed at a loss so great, the senator endeavoured to release himself from the burthen; but when he applied to the deputies and contractors, he was met with the reply that had the stock risen, he would not have returned the gain. The argument was sound; but the head is obtuse when the purse is endangered, and Mr. Hume — clear-headed, generally — could not see the fairness of the position. After some correspondence, the deputies agreed to take it off Mr. Hume's hands, at 13 instead of 16 per cent, discount; thereby saving Mr. Hume £300 out of the loss of £1,600, which he first feared. In time, the Greek cause grew prosperous, the stock rose to par, and Mr. Hume, with a singular power of percep- tion compared with his previous notions, claimed the £1,300 which he had lost. The surprise of the deputies may be imagined, and they must have had curious ideas of the way in which the friends of Greece wished to serve her. Mr, Hume, however, was OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 287 powerM; Mr. Hume was a senator; and to Mr. Hume was accorded a privilege for which, others might have looked in vain. But a further question arose. Mr. Hume, remarkable for the closeness of his calculations, discovered that £54 was due for interest. - This he applied for, and this was granted. The defence of Mr. Hume was comprised in the assertion, that some of his actions having been misin- terpreted, because he was a proprietor of stock, he had determined to part with it. The deputies offered to save the friend of the cause so great a loss; and Mr. Hume thought the conclusion at which they had arrived a sound one. After some correspondence, they agreed to take his stock at 13 per cent, discount, the market price of 16 per cent, being but nominal. Mr. Hume wished to be reheved entirely ; but this the deputies dechned. Shortly after, Mr. Hume was informed that these gentlemen would pay him the sum he was deficient ; and as he considered this as fair, and not as a favour, he also considered he was entitled to the interest. " The worst that any one can say of me," concluded Mr. Hume, "is that I may have evinced an over anxiety to avoid a peco- 288 CHRONICLES ATSTD CHABACTERS NiAET LOSS." Mr. Hume probably remembers his over anxiety to the present day. The case of Dr. Bowring was equally memorable. The sum of £25,000 had been allotted to this gentle- man, and his horror and alarm may be conceived when he saw it dechne to a discount of 18 per cent. The Doctor was very vehement in his applications. He represented his great services ; he worried the un- happy deputies; he placed his cause before them in such vivid colours, that the stock, which had fallen to 18 per cent., was taken off his hands at only 10 per cent. loss. When it rose to par, he imitated his illustrious feUow-labourer, and applied to have it returned. He was reminded that he had parted with his stock; but the Doctor, blessed with a short memory, professed to have forgotten the very circum- stance which it had cost him an agony to compass.. The letters of Dr. Bovirring were somewhat naive. "I am stni the holder of a considerable sum, and I hope we shall see the loan rise to a good price for the benefit of everyhody'' "As the difference to me is a serious one, and to the Greek government of little importance, I hope you will oblige me by allowing the return of tJie £25,000 scrip." OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 289 There were statements and counter-statements in the journals ; there were pleadings and special plead- ings in the magazines; there were eloquent papers in the Westminster Eevieio, to prove it was all right ; and there were powerful articles in the Quarterly to prove it was all wrong. " The economical Mr. Hume's over anxiety for scrip," said the latter ; " the erudite Mr. Bowring's various translations of stock ; the ro- mantic partiahty displayed for per cents, by Orlando, have been sufficiently discussed. Public opinion is quite made up in aU these details ; and when the sacred cause of insurrection all over the world shall again need a loan, the suffering patriots may allow such statesmen to plead their cause, to clamoiu* about their wrongs, to weep over their miseries, to dabble in metaphysical, poetical, and periodical departments — provided they do not meddle with the pecuniary." A poem was extensively circulated, in ridicule of the affair, and with an extract, the present account of the Greek loan is concluded :— "Oh ! when the bubble burst, 'twere sweet to mark How cash and cant roared in alternate bark ; Here, " Missolonghi's fall the spirit shocks ;" There, "Were that all — but oh! the price of stocks!" Here, "Brimful now is misery's fatal cup, The Turks have blown another fortress up 1" 292 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEES members of the Stock Exchange, yet dealt in its secu- rities and acted as brokers, employed the Rotunda of the Bank of England for their transactions. The broker who had no counting-house made it his place of business ; and his clients waited there until the transfer was ready, or the business was arranged. As a theatre for jobbing it interfered with the Bank ; but Mr. Curtis, governor of that establishment, turned them out some- what unceremoniously ; and, when he afterwards failed in business, so great was his unpopularity with those he had summarily dismissed, that the news of his bank- ruptcy was received with three cheers by the members of the Stock Exchange. It is impossible to give a fact more suggestive of the manners of the men from whom so disgraceful a token of triumph emanated. The great increase in the business of the foreign funds called for additional space : a room was, therefore, opened for the dealers ; and from this arose the Eoreign Stock Exchange, which for some years maintained a separate committee, chairman, and deputy chairman. It now forms part of the edifice known as the Stock Exchange. The number of members varies. It has reached 1,000 ; it has descended to 400 ; and it now numbers about 800. or THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 293 CHAPTER XV. SKETCH OP THE LIFE OP KOTHSOHILD — COMES TO ENGLAND — INTRO-nUOTION OF FOKEIGN LOANS — LARGE PURCHASES — ^ANECDOTES CONCERNING KOTHSOHILD — HIS DIFFICULTIES AND ANNOYANCES — HIS DEATH AND EUKIAL — LAST CRISIS ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE. The eminent abilities of Nattan Meyer Rothscliild were inlierited from his father, who, educated for the synagogue, distinguished himself as a financier, and, though engaged in the uncongenial sphere of a counting- house, became a learned archaeologist. Erankfort, Berlin, Vienna, London, Naples, and Paris, have alike witnessed the prescience of the money-making Roths- chUds ; and it is reported that the first great success of Meyer ■ Anselm, the father of the house, originated in the possession of the fortune of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, which he saved from the grasp of Na- poleon, and which must have been to a commercial man of the utmost importance.* * "The Prince of Hesse Cassel," said Eotlischild, "gave my father hia moiiey ; there was no time to be lost : he sent it to me. I had £600,000 arrive unexpectedly by post ; and I put it to such good use, that the prince made me a present of all his wine and linen." 294 CIIE.ONICLES AND CHARACTERS By his OAvn leport, Nathan Meyer Rothschild came to Manchestei- because Frankfort was too small for the operations of the brothers, although the immediate cause was some offence to a customer ; and it is charac- teristic of the intrepidity of the man that, with scarcely any hesitation, and with an absolute ignorance of the English language, he came to the country in which he realized such great results. On Tuesday he told his father he would go to England, and on Thursday he started. With £20,000 he commenced his career ; and in a short time his capital was trebled.- At Manchester he soon saw there were three profits to be made, in the raw material, the dyeing, and the manufactm'ing. It need hardly be added, that his great mind had stomach for them all, and that, having secured the three, he sold goods cheaper than any one else. This was the found- ation of that colossal fortune which afterwards passed into a proverb; and, in 1800, finding Manchester too small for the mind which could grapple with three profits, Rothschild came to London. It was the period when such a man was sure to make progress ; as, clear and comprehensive in his commercial views, he was also rapid and decisive in working out the ideas which presented themselves. Business was plentifid ; the OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 395 entire continent formed our customers ; and Rotlischild reaped a rich reward. From bargain to bargain, from profit to profit, the Hebrew financier went on and prospered. Gifted with a fine perception, he never hesitated in action. Having bought some bills of the Duke of Wellington at a dis- count, to the payment of which the faith of the state was pledged, his next operation was to buy the gold which was necessary to pay them, and when he had purchased, was, as he expected, informed that " govern- ment required it." Government had it ; but doubtless paid for the accommodation. " It was the best business I ever did !" he exclaimed, triumphantly; and he added, that when- the government had got it, it was of no service to them until he had undertaken to .^onvey it to Portugal. In 1813, Meyer Anselm, the head of the house, died at Frankfort. A princely inheritance, unbounded credit, and solemn advice never to separate, were left to his four sons. , From this period, Nathan Meyer Rothschild was regarded as the head, though not the elder of the family ; and skilfully did he support and spread the credit of the name. Previous to the advent of Mr. Rothschild, foreign loans were some- 296 CHRONICLES AND CHAKACTEES what unpopular in England, as the interest was received abroad, subject to the rate of exchange, liable to foreign caprice, and payable in foreign coin. He introduced the payment of the dividends in England, and fixed it in sterhng money, one great cause of the success of these loans in 1825. Although Mr. Rothschild was commonly termed a merchant, his most important transactions were in con- nexion with the Stock Exchange. It was here that his great decision, his skilful, combinations, and his unequalled energy, made him remarkable. At a time when the funds were constantly varying, the tempta- tion was too great for a capitalist Hke Mr. Rothschild to withstand. His operations were soon noticed ; and when the money market was left without an acknow- ledged head by the deaths of Sir Erancis Baring and Abraham Goldsmid — for the affairs of the latter were wound up, and the successors of the former did not 'dm at the autocracy of the money market — the name of Nathan Meyer Rothschild was in the mouths of all city men as a prodigy of success. Cautiously, however, did the capitalist proceed, until he had made a fortune as great as his future reputation. He re- vived all the arts of an older period. He employed OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 297 « brokers to depress or raise tlie market for his benefit, and is said in one day to have purchased to the extent of four millions. The name of Rothschild as contractor for an Enghsh loan, made its first pubhc appearance in 1819. But the twelve millions for which he then became respon- sible went to a discount; it was said, however, that Mr. Rothschild had relieved himself from all liability before the calamity could reach him. Trom this year his transactions pervaded the entire globe. The old and the new world alike bore witness to his skUl ; and with the profits on a single loan he pxirchased an estate which cost him £150,000. Minor capitalists, like parasitical plants, clung to him, and were always ready to advance their money in speculations at his bidding. Nothing seemed too gigantic for his grasp ; nothing too minute for his notice. His mind was as capable of contracting a loan for millions as of calculating the lowest possible amount on which a clerk could exist. Like too many great merchants whose profits were counted by thousands, he paid his assistants the smallest amount for which he could procure them. He became the high priest of the temple of Janus, and the coupons raised by the 298 CHRONICLES AND CHAKACTEES capitalist for a despotic state were more tlian a match for the cannon of the revolutionist.* From most of the speculations of 1824 and 1825 Mr. RothschHd kept wisely aloof The Alliance Life and Fire Assu- rance Company, which owes its origin to this period, was, however, produced under his auspices; and its great success is a proof of his forethought. None of the loans with which he was connected were ever repudiated, and when the crash of that sad period came, the great Hebrew looked coolly and calmly on, and congratulated himself on his caution. At his counting-house a fair price might be procured for any amount of stock which, at a critical time, would have depressed the public market ; and it was no uncommon circumstance for brokers to apply at the office of Mr. RothschUd, instead of going on the Stock Exchange. He was, however, occasionally surpassed in cunning ; and, on one occasion, a great banker lent Rothschild a million and a-half on the security of consols, the price of which was then 84. The terms on which the money was lent were simple. If the price reached * In 1824, it was said that public attention was so entirely absorbed by financial operations, that the movements of Mr. Eothschild and a few London capitalists, esoited an intensity of expectation scarcely inferior to the march of urmico. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 299 74, the banker might claim the stock at 70; but Rothschild felt satisfied that, with so large a sum out of the market, the bargain was tolerably safe. Tho banker, however, as much a Jew as Rothschild, had a plan of his own. He immediately began selling the consols received from the latter, together with a similar amount in his own possession. The funds dropped ; the Stock Exchange grew alarmed ; other ckcumstances tended to depress it; the fatal price of 74 was reached; and the Christian banker had the satisfaction of outwitting the Hebrew loan-monger. But, if sometimes outwitted himself, there is little doubt he made others pay for it, and, on one occasion, it is reported, that his finesse proved too great for the authorities of the Bank of England. Mr. Roths- child was in want of bullion, and went to the governor to procure on loan a portion of the superfluous store. His wishes were met ; the terms were agreed on ; the period was named for its return ; and the affair finished for the time. The gold was used by the financier, his end was answered, and the day arrived on which he was to return the borrowed metal. Punctual to the time appointed, Mr. Rothschild entered; and those who remember his personal 308 CHRONICLES AND CHABA.CTERS elaborately carved and gorgeously ornamented, looking like some splendid piece of man's cunning, destined for the boudoir of a lady, rather than the damp of the grave. His children inherit his business; but they do not inherit his position in the stock-market. They are competitors for government loans; but though with the name remains a certain amount of its former power, they do not appear willing to entertain the extensive and complicated business in which their father delighted. The few anecdotes recorded of the gentleman whose life has been so imperfectly sketched, form a portion of many which have' been carefully collected. A good life of Nathan Meyer Rothschild would be to some futm'e Tooke a complete and perfect key to the financial history of the early portion of the 19th century. The last crises in the Stock Exchange, which it is the writer's purpose to record, were those memorable periods in 1836 and 1840, when convulsions — scarcely equalled in degree though limited in their extent — made bears and bulls alike bankrupts. For many years previous, the business of Capel 01? THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 309 Court had been decreasing. The attempts made to excite public feeling were insufficient to produce much result. Consols remained without those great and sudden movements so beneficial to the members; little was done in shares ; and it was remarked that the Stock Exchange had become a monetary dead sea ] that the carriage seemed likely to be exchanged for the wheel-barrow ; the breaking of credit for the breaking of stones ; and that when the eagle eye of the hungry broker and jobber looked round for dupes, all was barren. At length the spell was broken. The attempt of Don Pedro to seize the crown of Portugal afforded the members an opportunity of exercising their voca- tion ; and it has been confidently said that, long before a loan was attempted, their money was employed in assistmg the above expedition. Every art was used to blacken the character of Don Miguel. Every trick was attempted to excite sympathy for Don Pedro. Private memoirs were published, and anecdotes related. Truths were distorted and falsehood not unfrequently perpetrated. Paragraphs made their constant appear- ance, in which "our ancient ally" was represented as suffering from a most intolerable tyranny. Unbearable c5iU CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS torture and insufferable trials were the lot of. the Portuguese people j darkness and dungeons the doom of the aristocracy. The Tagus was red with the blood of the populace, and the " tower of Belem," said a writer in Fraser's Magazine, "emitted more doubtful and indescribable sounds than its prede- cessor of Babel." AH these things tended to prepare the mind of the English capitalist. But a further temptation was offered. The revenues of the kingdom were pourtrayed in glowing colours. It was said that Don Miguel could, but would not, pay the interest of the existing debt, and that Don Pedro could and would. The scheme proved thoroughly successful. The note of expectation being thus sounded, a band of men was engaged, vessels were hired, and, with the aid of English money, Enghsh men, and English ships, Oporto was taken. The public mind was now ripe for a loan. The success was magnified, the achieve- ment enlarged on, and £800,000 were demanded on the security of some port wine. The money was lent ; Don Miguel fled to Rome ; and the young queen was installed in his place. A farther loan of two mUlions followed; the interest was difficult to pay, the divi- OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 311 clends were capitalized, and great excitement pervaded the Stock Exchange at the rumours which were currently circulated. But another important movement was going on in connexion with loans to Spain. The principal powers of Europe had agreed that Spain and Portugal should assist each other in the expulsion from their respective territories of Don Carlos and Don Miguel, and that the other courts should assist the belligerent parties. Erom this treaty arose an auxiliary force raised in England to assist the youthful queen of Spain, and " The British Legion " is yet named with derision. Erom the courts and from the alleys of St. Giles' ; from the town gaol and from the rural workhouse, came half-clad, wretched, and miserable beings, who pre- ferred being shot to being starved. Efforts to gain commissions were made by as motley a crew. Youths from the counting-house and from the shop were assiduous in endeavouring to attain them. Gentlemen with smaU incomes and no knowledge of war put forward their pretensions ; and the officers were, in their way, a match for the men. With all these disadvantages the legion secm'ed the success of the cause for which it fought ; and, after a 312 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTERS series of battles, Don Carlos was compelled to fly from the territory. A loan of com-se became advisable ; and, although the interest on the previous debt could not be paid, it was proposed to advance an additional four millions. It need scarcely be said that, to procure this, promises were as plentiful as ever. The property of the church was to be confiscated, and the church itself to be upset, rather than not remunerate the bond-holder. By means of deferred stocks, active stocks, and passive stocks, bargains were concluded, and, for a time, aU was excitement in the foreign market. Every kind of security became sought for : however worthless, it had a price, however valueless, it found a buyer ; and the debts of states which had never paid one dividend, which were scarcely in existence, and which had not any revenue, advanced in price 100 per cent. But the market became overloaded, and holders began to realize. Every packet from abroad bore foreign securities; and the price drooped. During the fever, Spanish cortes stock, which in 1833 was 16|, was forced to 73. Portugese was done at 10.3, and every foreign stock rose in proportion. By May, 1835, the result was perceptible; all OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 313 were sellers ; the price drooped ; and on tlie 21st the panic commenced. Spanish stock feU at once 16 per cent.; the scrip went to 3 discount j and the lower the price, the more anxious were the holders to sell. Every one grew alarmed; and those who had bought as a permanent investment parted with aU their interest. Private gentlemen, who had been tempted to buy, hurried with heavy hearts to their brokers; and the Stock Exchange may be said to have groaned beneath the burden. To add to the distress, the greatest holder turned bear ; and it is difficult to describe the confusion with which the market closed on the evening of the 31st of May. Some were rejoicing at their deliverance, though suffering a large loss, while others were absolutely ruined. In many panics there had been hope. They were known to be alarms which time would rectify ; but there was no hope for the holder of foreign stock : it was worthless ; and it was known to be worthless. Every one felt assured that no dividend would ever be paid upon it; and when this was remembered, men cursed the fatuity which had led them to buy waste paper ; and execrated the greed which had lured them to ruin. Those who the week before possessed 314 CHUONICLES AND CHARACTBES securities which would have realized hundreds of thousands, were reduced to bankruptcy. Brokers who had kept to their legitimate business were defaulters; most who had bought for time were unable to pay their differences; while respectable men, who had laughed at speculation, and thought themselves too clever to be taken in by companies, had ventured their all on the faith of foreign governments. Prantic confusion once more marked the alleys and the neighbourhood of Capel Court. Consternation reigned paramount; and almost every third man was a defaulter. Foreign securities were without a price ; the bankers refused to advance money; the brokers' cheques were first doubted and then rejected ; nothing but bank notes would be taken ; and, with a desperation which will never be forgotten, the jobbers closed their books, refused to transact any business, and waited the result in almost abject despair. The stocks bore no price ; the brokers ceased to issue their lists ; and the black board was found inadequate to indicate the defaulters. Differences to the amount of ten millions were declared ; and the entu'e wall would have been insufficient to contain the names. The practice was, therefore, dispensed with, and addi- OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 3] 5 tional time allowed to settle the accounts. To mitigate the evil, the principal holders of foreign secmities formed themselves into a society to purchase aU stock below 40 ; but it was found inadequate to meet the catastrophe in the house, while out of it the excitement in Spanish, Portuguese, and other foreign funds created evUs which never met the public eye, but which are yet felt by innumerable private families. Such was the panic of 1836, and when on the 20th September, 1840, the bank known as Messrs. Hammersleys' stopped payment, a similar result appeared inevitable. The case was remarkable. Pounded about fifty years before by Thomas Hammersleyj changing its partners when the latter found they received no benefit from it ; losing £160,000 through the failure of a single bank ; minus £40,000 through a treasury official; deficient £80,000 by a patent soap manufactory; and with one partner only, Mr. Hugh Hammersley, to maintain the fortunes of a firm so deeply engaged, it may be imagined that, when that gentleman suddenly died, great was the surprise among his consti- tuents : and scarcely had the public recovered the 316 01? THE STOCK EXCHANGE. sliock, when the bank of Wright and Co. fol- lowed. The most enthusiastic speculator in England; ex- pecting, the day before, the house failed, to retrieve its fortunes by a patent hearse company : publicly and honourably taking the entire blame of the failure on himself, John Wright was one of those men who are more familiar to us in literature than in life. The effect of his failure was most severe. The money- market was filled with rumours. Four London bankers were currently reported to have stopped payment; and when the Stock Exchange was alarmed by a bankruptcy of one of its members, which the Com- missioner most severely characterized, the little world of Capel Court looked very sadly and seriously around them. The insolvent, a plausible, pleasant man, had, however, only done what Stock Exchange transactions must lead to, where character and position are to be maintained ; and where also by a lucky chance, a single day, or a single gambling transac- tion may retrieve the greatest loss ; but the effect was very melancholy. One lady deposited with him, in 1833 the proceeds of £3,500 consols, with which, according to her dhections, he pm'chased foreign OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 317 stock. The dividends were regularly paidj and in tlie beginning of 1841 lie was directed to resell the stock, and invest it again in the EngUsh securities. More delay occurring than seemed proper, an inquiry was made, and it was discovered that the stock had been sold without her knowledge. In this case no loss was experienced by that client; but various painful instances of misappropriation were brought forward, which it is not necessary to adduce, as the bankruptcy of the firm vsoU long be remembered by those who suffered. With the above, the present chronicle of the Stock Exchange closes. To have brought it to 1850 would have involved Kving men and their actions, and to some future historian must be left the many whose names assume so important a position in English financial history. 318 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEBS CHAPTER XVI. LEGENDS OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE — MB. DUNEAIl — DTTKE OF NEWCASTLE—' FE.ENCH AMBASSADOE — EXTEAOKDINAKT INCIDENT — FOETUNATE ADVENTUEB— MORALS AND MANNEE3 OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE— ITS CONSTITUTION, AND AEEANGEMENTS. The early part of the present chapter is devoted to anecdotes, which, though difficult to prove, yet bear in themselves every appearance of reality. Many legends are thus in the debateable ground between truth and fiction; and those which are selected are chosen from their resemblance to fact rather than from an absolute knowledge of their veracity. In 1761, Mr. Dunbar, a West Indian merchant, finding his affairs were less prosperous than usual, sought " the AUey," as it was then termed, to retrieve his failing fortunes. Erom some private information, he believed that he had good grounds for supposing a peace would soon be effected, and that the funds would rise. He therefore ordered his broker to OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 319 buy £100,000 for the account; told Mm the opinion lie had formed, with the intelUgence on which it was based; and the latter, in violation of his oath, jobbed extensively on his own account as well as for his client. February passed away without the expected peace, and Mr. Dunbar paid the difference. Confident in his views, he continued the operation ; but each account-day proved that the price had been against him, and with great difficulty did he find money to pay the amounts due. In July, unable to pay cash, he gave notes of hand to the broker, who agreed to receive them. No objection being made, the account was continued on for August. In that month the prospect of peace revived; the funds rose; and Mr. Dunbar, seeing a chance of paying the greater part of his losses, went with aU speed to 'Change Alley. His distress may be imagined, when he was coolly told that, since he had given notes of hand, no account had been opened, and no advantage could be reaped from the rise in price. The act of Sir John Barnard ren- dered any appeal to law useless ; but, as Mr. Dunbar became a bankrupt, the members of the Stock Exchange subscribed to pay the amount claimed, in order that so flagrant a case might not become public. 320 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEUS One of the loans raised by the Duke of Newcastle, when prime minister, fell, from some unforeseen acci- dent, to 3 per cent, discount. His grace, thinking he had made an unfair bargain, or fearing the jobbers would not lend to him again, convened a meeting of those who had taken it, who, as well as the Duke, were greatly frightened, not knowing what project to adopt. At length one of them — said to be Samson Gideon — desired the minister to walk with him into another room. There they remained for a few minutes, and then retmnied in high spirits, telling the others to go home and be perfectly easy, as care should be taken of their interest. Gideon went immediately to 'Change Alley ; and, buying up the scrip as fast as it was ofiPered, produced an immediate rise to 1 per cent, above par. Gambhng in the fmids has not been confined to commoners ; and the Erench ambassador at the Com-t of London was guilty of a deception which marks the name of the Count de Guisne with infamy. Availing himself of his political position, he traded in English securities, and, by the aid of his secretaries, made large sums. While success attended the ambassador's operations, he received the profit, and rejoiced in his OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 321 good fortune ; but when a long run of bad luck dissi- pated his gains, and made demands upon his purse, his excellency denied all knowledge of the transaction, refused to pay the balance, retired to Erance, and commenced a prosecution against his subordinates. But this was not sufficient to exonerate -him with thinking people. A memorial was published by his secretaries ; and the evidence they gave satisfied every impartial mind that the ambassador of the Most Christian King had abused his trust, duped his de- pendents, and defrauded the stockbroker. A century ago was the hanging century ; and towards its close a great fraud was committed on the East India Company. The leading witness — the only man who could prove the guilt of the accused — was accustomed to visit a house in the neighbourhood of the Bank, to be dressed and powdered, according to the fashion of the day. Shortly before the trial came on, a note was placed in his hands, informing him that the attorney for the prosecution was desirous of seeing him, at a certain hour, at his private residence, ill or near Portland Place. At the time appointed, the witness proceeded to the house • the door was opened, and the footman, without 322 CI-mONICLES and CnAUACTEUS asking his name, ushered the visitor into a large room, where, discussing some wine upon the table, sat a group of gentlemen, in earnest conversation. "There is a mistake," exclaimed the new comer, thinking he had been shown into the wrong room. "No mistake, sir," interrupted one, in a determined tone, while the remainder sat quietly but sternly by. Unable to com- prehend the scene, and, in some alarm, the visitor prepared to leave the room. " There is no mistake," re- peated the same person, unostentatiously stepping before the door ; " I am," he continued, " brother to that gen- tleman who is to be tried for forgery, and against whom you are the chief witness. Without your evidence he cannot be convicted -. the honour of a noble house is at stake ; and yom' first attempt to escape will lead to a violent death. There is nothing to fear, if you remain quiet; but aU whom you see are sworn to detaia you until the trial be over, or," he added, after a pause, " to slay you." The witness was a sensible man J he saw the determined looks of those around, and thought it best quietly to acquiesce. In the mean time, great surprise was excited in the city. That the missing man had been inveigled away was universally beUeved ; and every endeavour was OF THE STOCK EXCHANG15. 823 made to track him. Whether the calmness with which he bore his confinement deceived his gaolers, is not known; but it is certain that he effected his escape from the house, although not so securely but that his captors were after him before he could get out of sight. A mob collected; his pursuers declared he was an insane nobleman, and that they were his keepers. The mob shouted with delight at the idea of a mad lord ; and the unfortunate man was on the point of being again confined, when a chariot drove up. The inmate, a lady, desued the coachman to stop, and listened to the counter-statements of the pursued and his pursuers. Remembering the current story of a missing witness, she opened the carriage, he sprung in, the door, was closed, and the lady, to whom he told his story, ordered her coachman to drive with all speed to the Old Bailey. It was the last day ; the case, which had beeh postponed, was being tried ; and the missing witness was just in time to place the rope around the neck of the unhappy forger. In the memorable year 1815, a member of the Stock Exchange found that, notwithstanding all his exertions to save his credit, his name stood every chance of gracing that black board on which so many 324 CHKONICLES AND CIIAEACTER3 appeared during the eventful period. Melancholy and meditating he wandered forth, scarcely knowing the direction which he took, until from London bridge he gazed gloomily upon the " dark flowing river," half doubting whether its depths would not be his best abiding place. In this mood he was hastily greeted by a voice he knew, and, turning round, was rapidly mformed of news which at once turned his thoughts back to that world he had felt inchned to quit. The stranger had just arrived from the spot where the great battle of modern history had been fought ; and the ruined jobber became the depositary of a secret which at once restored his spirits. Hastily learning aU the particulars which might affect him, he retraced his steps, found the price unaltered, and the news, therefore, unknown. Without hesitation, he made large purchases of stock. All that was to be procured he bought ; and, as the secret which had that morning sent him gloomily away was not even guessed, he was able to purchase very largely. He availed him- self of his opportunity ; and ere long had cause to con- gratulate himself on his good fortune, as, when the news arrived, the price rose sufficiently to clear all his difficulties, and leave him a orofit of £20,000. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 325 The morals and the manners of the Stock Exchange are difficult to treat. Morals too often fade before money making ; and manners are regarded as mmeces- sary in the same eager pursuit. Nor is Capel Court an exception. Wlien the fate of a jobber depends on the turn which the market may take — when sorrow or success hangs upon a word — when family, friends, and fortune are in the balance, and a rumoured falsehood may sink or save — it is not in humanity to resist the temptation ; and it has, unhappily, become too general a practice to stop at no invention, and to hesitate at no assertion which may assist the inventor. Prom this cause, the Stock Exchange is rarely mentioned with that respect which it merits, as the theatre of the most extensive money transactions in the world. Public opinion punishes the many for the few. The great mass of its members have not power to disseminate an untruth : the brokers, bound not to speculate on their own account, have no interest in doing so ; the small jobber cannot influence the price ; many are too high-minded to avail themselves of dishonourable methods ; and it is, therefore^ to a particular class that the Stock Exchange owes its false report, its flying rumom's, and its unenviable 326 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTERS notoriety. Capel Court is, indeed, a complete ano- maly. There are men of high character and station in its body; there is every endeavour made by its executive to abolish all which tends to render it despicable ; the greatness of its dealings are unequalled ; some of its members are members of the senate; others are honourable in spite of the temptations which surround them; it is consulted by chancellors, and taken into the councils of ministers ; peace and war hang upon its fiat ; and yet the Stock Exchange is seldom named, out of the city, but with contempt ; and a Stock Exchange man is, like the monied man in the early reign of William, despised by the landed, and looked down upon by the mercantile, aristocracy. One reason, perhaps, for this is, that the great mass of their transactions are without the pale of the law. AU their time-bargains — and the Stock Exchange might close to-morrow, if these were abohshed — are illegal. They are, strictly speaking, gambhng dealings, which our judicature refuses to recognise; and the dealers are gamblers, whom the legislature will not acknowledge. The tricks which are resorted to are numerous. The penniless speculator can enter into transactions which OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 327 may retrieve Ms fortunes, or consolidate his ruin. It is said to be a not uncommon trick for two persons to agree together in the following manner: — One buys and the other sells for the account to the largest amount for which each can procure credit. One must lose, and the other must gain. One becomes a millionaire, the other a defaulter. The former receives a large amount, the latter is declared on the black board. A division of the spoils is after- wards privately effected; and the gainer pm'sues his avocation in the funds, while the loser becomes a prosperous gentleman. The public cannot be too decidedly warned against the dangers to which they may be exposed in legiti- mate transactions. On one occasion, a merchant having requested liis broker to purchase a certain amount of stock, and having concluded the business, was surprised in the evening to hear his broker announced as a visitor. . Some remark being made, the latter stated that a dispute had arisen with the jobber about the price which was in the receipt, and he should be glad to take it with him as an evidence of his correctness. Knowing that a stock receipt is iu itself of no value, the buyer readily complied. His 328 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS visitor thanked him, and from that moment was never heard of. The receipt was false, the names were forged ; and, secure in the possession of all evidence against him, the broker sought a foreign land in which to enjoy his unrighteous gains.* If the morals of the Stock Exchange be as described, its manners are as curious. It is not long since the papers reported a limb broken in sport. The vsriter have perused in the journals occasional duels which have arisen from the " fun " of the members ; and the courtesies of life are wanting, if a stranger ventures among them. When this is the case, instead of the bearing of gentlemen, the first discoverer of the intruder cries out " Fourteen hundred fives !" and a hundred voices re-echo the cry. Youth or age is equally disregarded ; and the following description of what occurred to an unhappy visitor, will attest the truth of that which has been asserted : — " Not long ago, a friend of my own, ignorant of the • The Bankers' Magazine, in a kind review of tlie first edition of this work appeared to douht the possibility of a broker acting so nefariously; and scarcely had the writer perused the doubt it expressed, when a circumstance came under his notice which afforded an additional confii'mation of the care the public should use in the employment of brokers. Since then other cases have arisen. The forgery of receipts is easy, and only to bo mot by the buyer accepting his stock at the Bank as Boon as possible. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. -329 rule so rigidly enforced for the expulsion of strangers, chanced to drop in, as he phrased it, to the Stock Exchange. He walked about for nearly a minute without being discovered to be an intruder, indulging in surprise at finding that the greatest uproar and frolic prevailed in a place in which he expected there would be nothing but order and decorum. AU at once, a person who had just concluded a hasty but severe scrutiny of his features, sent out at the full stretch of his voice — "Fourteen hundred." Then a bevy of the gentlemen of the house surrounded him — "WiQ you purchase any new navy five per cent., sir ?" said one, eagerly, looking him in the face. " I am not," — ^the stranger was about to say he was not going. to purchase stock of any kind, but was prevented finishing his sentence by his hat being, through a powerful apphcation of some one's hand to its crown, not only forced over his eyes, but over his mouth also. Before he had time to recover from the stupe- faction into which the suddenness and violence of the eclipse threw him, he was seized by the shoulders and wheeled about as if he had been a revolving machine. He was then pushed about from one person to another, as if he had only been the effigy of some human 330 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTERS being, instead of a human being himself. After tossing and hustling him about in the roughest possible manner, denuding his coat of one of its tails, and tearing into fragments other parts of his wardrobe, they carried him to the door, where, after depositing him on his feet, they left him to recover his lost senses at his leisure." In a graphic picture of the Stock Exchange, drawn by one who had every opportunity of testing its truth, the following will confirm the above description, and affords an interesting evidence of the civihzation of the Stock Exchange in 1828 : — "I tm-ned to the right, and found myself in a spacious apartment, which was nearly filled with per- sons more respectable in appearance than the crew I had left at the door. Curious to see all that was to be seen, I began to scrutinize the place and the society into which I had intruded. But I was prevented from indulging the reflections which began to suggest themselves, by the "conduct of those about me. A curly-haired Jew, with a face as yellow as a guinea, stopped plump before me, fixed his black round leering eyes full on me, and exclaimed, without the shghtest anxiety about my hearing him, ' So OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 331 help me Got, Mo, who is he ?' Instead of replying in a straightforward way. Mo raised his voice as loud as he could, and shouted with might and main — 'Fourteen hundred new fives !' A hundred voices repeated the mysterious exclamation. 'Fourteen hundred nev/ fives !' ' Where, where ? — fourteen hundred new fives ! — ^now for a look ! — where is he? — Go it, go it !" were the cries raised on aU sides by the crowd, which rallied ahout my person like a swarm of bees. And then Mo, by way of proceeding to business, repeating the war cry, staggered sideways against me, so as almost to knock me down. My fall, however, was happily prevented by the kindness of a brawny Scotchman, who humanely calling out, 'Let the mon alone,' was so good as to stay me in my course with his shoulder, and even to send me back towards Mo, with such violence, that had he not been supported by a string of his friends, he must infallibly have fallen before me. Being thus backed, however, he was enabled to withstand the shock, and to give me a new impulse in the direction of the Scotchman, who, awaiting my return, treated me with another hoist as before, and I found these two worthies were hkely to amuse themselves with me as with a shuttlecock, for 332 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEKS the next quarter of an hour. I struggled violently to extricate myself from this unpleasant situation, and by aiming a blow at the Jew, induced Moses to give up his next hit, and to allow me for a mo- ment to regain my feet. " The rash step which I had taken was likely to produce very formidable consequences. All present were highly exasperated. The war became more des- perate than ever. Each individual seemed anxious to contribute to my destruction; and some of their number considerately called out — " ' Spare his hfe, but break his Hmbs.' " My alarm was extreme ; and I looked anxiously round for the means of escape, "'You ought to be ashamed of yourself to use the gentleman in that sort of way,' squeaked a small imp-like person, affecting sympathy, and then trying to renew the sport. " How would you like it yourself,' cried another, ' if you were a stranger ?' shaking his sandy locks with a knowing look, and knocking off my hat as he spoke. " I made a desperate blow at this offender. It did not take effect, from the expedition with which he 01? THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 330 retreated, and I had prudence enough to reflect that it would be better to recover my hat than to piu:- sue the enemy. Turning round, I saw my unfortunate beaver, or ' canister,' as it was called by the gentry who had it in their keeping, bounding backwards and forwards between the Caledonian and his clan, and the Jew and his tribe. " Covered with perspiration, foaming with rage, and ahnost expiring from heat and exhaustion, I at last succeeded. I did not dare to reinstate it, but was forced to grasp it with both hands, in order to save what remained of it. I baffled several desperate snatches, one of which carried away the hning, and. was now trying to keep the enemy at bay, afraid again to attack the host opposed to me, but not knowing how to retreat, when a person who had not previously made himself conspicuous, approached and interfered : ' ReaUy, you had better go Out ;' at the same time pointing to a door I had not seen before." Comment is unnecessary ; and, however, the prac- tice may be repudiated by the members when out of the house, there are few who would not, in it, act in a similar disreputable mode. 664i CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS The constitution of the Stock Exchange is simple. Governed by a committee of twenty-eight, with a chairman and deputy-chairman, annually elected by the members, their power to expel, suspend, or reprimand is absolute; their decision final: and that decision, adds one of the rules, "must be carried out forthwith." In cases of expulsion, the committee should not consist of less than twelve; and of these, at least two-thirds must concur in the sentence. No bill or discount broker, no clerk in any public or private establishment — excepting those to the mem- bers of the Stock Exchange— no one in business, either in his own name or in that of his v/ife, can be received as member. Every applicant must be recommended by three members of two years' stand- ing, who must each give security for £300 for two years. The committee meets every alternate Monday, at one o'clock ; but a special meeting may at any time by called by the chairman and deputy-chairman, or by any five members. Brokers and jobbers, or dealers, as they are politely termed, are not allowed to enter into partnership ; and, when a defaulter is excluded, his clerk is excluded with him. Directly the books are closed at the Bank of OE THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 335 England, the price of stocks, excepting only Eauk stock, is quoted without the dividend. When a defaulter, or one who cannot or will not pay the just claims on him, is posted, a libel is avoided by the following words : " Any person transacting business with A. B., is requested to communicate with C. D." The rules of the Stock Exchange amount in number to 159, and are calculated to meet every difficulty. The charge to the public for buying and selling English stock is 2s. 6d. per cent. ; and the following, taken from the third edition of Mr. Robinson's valuable "Share Tables," is the commission on shares :— « s. d. TTBder the value of £5 13 AmountiBg in value to £5, and under £20 . • .26 Ditto ditto £20, and under £50 . . . 5 Ditto ditto £50, and above . . . . 10 per cent. The terms used on the Stock Exchange have been in vogue for more than a century ; and the origin of many may be traced to the early transactions in the stock of the East India Company. Buying for the account has been described ; but " bull," and " bear," " backardation," and " continuation," are un- derstood only by the initiated. 336 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS "Bull" is a term applied to those who contract to buy any quantity of government securities, without the intention or ability to pay for it; and who are obliged, therefore, to sell it again, either at a profit or loss, before the time at which they have contracted to take it. " Bear " is a term applied to a person who has agreed to sell any quantity of the pubhc funds, of which he is not possessed, being, however, obliged to deliver it against a certain time. " Lame Duck " is applied to those who refuse, or are unable to fulfil the contracts into which they have entered. " Backardation " is a consideration given to keep back the delivery of stock, when the price is lower for time than for money. " Continuation " is a premium given when the price of funds in which a person has a jobbing account open is higher for time than for money, and the settling day is arrived, so that the stock must be taken at a disadvantage. In this case a per centage is paid, to put off the settlement, and continue the account open. " Jobber " is applied to those who accommodate OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 337 buyers and sellers of stock with any quantity they require. The dealer's or jobber's profit is generally one-eighth per cent. The " Broker " is the person employed by the public to sell or purchase stock, at a certain per centage. " Omnium " is a term used to express the aggregate value of the different stocks in which a loan is usually founded. " Scrip " is embryo stock, before the whole of the instalments are paid. 338 CHRONICLES AND CHABACTEES CHAPTER XVII. LIPE ASSXTXIANOE — ITS BENEFITS — ITS COMMENCEMENT — SUICIDE OF AN INSUEER — INSU31AN0E OF INVALID LIVES — THE GBESHAM — SKETCH OE THE "WEST MIDDLESEX DELUSION, The day on which the first life* assurance office was estabhshed is worthy of remembrance by the great mass of the middle class. Faulty in construction, and erroneous in detail, it was the enunciation of a great principle — ^the birth of a great blessing. Innovations were not made in the eighteenth, any more than in the nineteenth century, however, without opposition; and when, in 1706, the Amicable commenced business, prophets were plentiful in declaring it must fail; while * The first fire insurance company was tlie Phojuix in 1682. Its office was the Rainbow Coffee House in Fleet Street. The first for lives was that of the Mercer's Company in 1698. The Hand-in-Hand is the oldest now iu existence. "The Hand-in-IIand the race begun, Then came the Pho3ni5; and the Sun ; The Exchange where old insurers run, The Eagle where the new." OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 839 otters announced that it would open the door to gambhng, and was flying in the face of Providence. But the excellence of the principle triumphed ; and, although one uniform rate prevailed for the sick and for the sound, for the old and for the young, the Amicable succeeded. The pale face of the invalid was no objection; the purple hue of him who fared sumptuously was no preventive. The man on the brink of the grave, and the youth on the verge of manhood, paid the same premium; and for £5 per cent, per annum, and £7 10s. per cent, entrance money, every one was enabled to insure his life. Such was the primitive plan of the first life association. The London Assurance and Royal Exchange corpora- tions followed, in 1720. In 176.2, the Equitable was estabhshed ; and, although a trifling progress was made, the clumsy plan of equal payments, without reference to years, was perpetuated, and 5 per cent, paid by all. When, however, the rates were varied in proportion to age — ^when sick men were rejected, and only the healthy taken — a step was made in the right direction ; and hfe assurance began to flourish with a vigour which astonished even its promoters. It is believed that England is the only state 340 CHRONICLES AND CHAEACTEKs in which the insurance of lives has never been prohibited. The Dutch, a commercial people, refused to legalize it until a recent period ; and in Prance it was long deemed unlawful, "because it is an offence against public decency, to set a price upon the life of a freeman, which is above aU valuation." Another great objection was the fear that individuals might destroy themselves to enrich their families j and though this exaggerated view of the case is provided for in modern policies, yet the following anecdote wUl prove that the fear was not altogether groundless. So early as the middle of the 18th century, the clause which excluded the representatives of suicides from a participation in the amount insm-ed, excited attention ; and an office was established, which, for a corresponding increase of premium, paid the amount to the relatives of the self mm'derer. One man, deeply in debt, wishing to pay his creditors, and not knowing how, went to the office, insm-ed his hfe, and invited the insm-ers to dine with him at a tavern, where several other persons were present. After dinner he rose, and addressing the former, said, " Gentlemen, it is fitting you should know the company you have met. These are my tradesmen. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 341 whom I could not pay without your assistance. I am greatly obliged to you ; and now — " without another word he bowed, puUed out a pistol, and shot himself. The number of insurances was, at first, necessarily very limited ; the mode in which the directors trans- acted business, the premiums they required, the determination to take none but lives which were almost faultless, the pernicious plan of occasionally resisting the payment of policies, the absence of much opposition, all tended to reduce the business. When, however, the capital of the country increased, and men looked earnestly about them for new modes of investment, the profits and the principles of life assm-ance were anxiously investigated, its demands inquired into, its difficulties overcome ; and though from 1706 to 1806 nine offices had been found sufficient, yet from 1806 to 1846 the desire spread so rapidly, that no less than one hundred and eleven were established. In 1820 there were only twenty offices in the United Kingdom j in 1830 their number was exactly doubled; in 1840, they had again doubled; and from 1840 to 1845, they increased in the same proportion. 342 CHEONICLES AND CHARACTERS The success which has attended these companies has induced capitalists to invest their money in similar schemes; and the result has been, that during every period of excitement new associations have been started, with new claims to patronage. Those claims were put prominently forward to benefit themselves; and life assurance companies cannot greatly benefit their promoters without benefitting others. The constant advertisements, the names of their directors, the state- ment of their terms, the peculiarity of their consti- tution, pressed upon general attention, the public mind gradually became possessed with the idea that life insm'ances were for every class, and business increased. Every objection was met, every demand grappled with; and there is now, probably, not a man in London who cannot, in a smaller or greater degree, provide for those he may leave behind. Thus the North British Insm-ance Company, with its capital of a million and its accumulated premium fund of half a miUion — with its table, if desired, of increased rates, and its liberal treatment, has gone on and prospered. Thus, too, the United Kingdom Assurance, with its arrangement enabling people to pay in the futm-e what they cannot pay at once, has interested OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 343 another class. The principal offices were long proprie- tary ; and the entire gain went to the shareholder. But the insurers began to see that the profits made by a corporation might as well be made by themselves ; and companies which joined the proprietary with the participating principle followed. Another movement was that which divided the entire profits among the assured, reducing the premium as the company pros- pered ; and so thoroughly is the value of life imderstood, that a society, commencing on this plan, with fair premiums and fair management, is as safe as a company ■with a capital of half a million. But there were other difficulties to be met, as a pernicious plan obtained of disputing the payment of pohcies when the life fell in, on trivial and often unjustifiable grounds ; the advantages of the system being greatly reduced owing to the desire for gain of the proprietaiy offices. To meet this, a society is now established, termed the Indisputable, which holds the pohcy inviolable when once granted. There still remained one class for whom life assurances were unavailing. The anxiety for profits of the companies, the determination to divide good dividends, the extreme desire to take none but 344 CHEONICLES AND CIIAUACTEHS unexceptionable lives, produced an evU, at first view, irremediable. The stringent regulations, tbe decla- rations required, tbe personal examination, and the private inquiry, produced an unhappy effect. Average lives vi'ere declined, and for him whose health was not perfect, there was no chance. The healthy but nervous man, whose pulse, when examined, beat like a steam engine, was veiy often refused; and stories of rejected applicants, which speak volumes, are prevalent. One gentleman was dechned because he was deaf, as he ran more risk of being run over. Another was refused because he had been three times bankrupt, and his system might have suffered. A third was too full of health, and might die of apoplexy. A fourth was deficient, and might die of decline. The old companies were absolutely determined to take no hfe but what was unexcep- tionable. The consequence was, that men in rude, robust health, if blind in one eye, or deaf with one ear, were often rejected ; and there are innumerable instances of the refused pai'ty living to a good old age; while cases are not wanting, in which, after outliving doctor, actuary, and half the board of directors, the very man who thirty years before was refused at OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 345 any price, was gladly taken by the same company at the ordinary premium. The possessor of sound health, who has provided for his family, cannot comprehend the misery occasioned : to the invahd by the conviction that his application will be rejected; and in a country where men labour long in an impure atmosphere, there are too many whose hves are early damaged. To these, every allusion to life assurance was an agony ; and it is difficult to enter thoroughly into the distress of him, who knew he would die penniless, when a sudden sickness possessed him. Unnerved both mentally and physi- cally, he saw his last hour approach. Loathing the triffing luxuries which sustained him, because they would impoverish his family ; dreading the footsteps of the physician, as he thought of his fee; the love of his wife was no comfort, the voices of his children no pleasure ; for he knew that his death would leave them to public or private charity. Such was the position of the individual rejected by a life office. But even this want has been responded to. Many offices now profess to take invalid lives at an increased premium; and two are reaUy devoted to this parti- cular risk. The Invalid and Medical Life Assm-ance 346 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS Company first began, and was successful; and the Gresham, lately established, has proved that the class for which it is specially intended is numerous. Much may depend upon the judgment of the medical officer; but so great is the anxiety to insure, that the premium is of less importance to the insured than in ordinary cases, and the office is able to protect its interest. The. idea has been supported and approved by actuaries generally, and the success of the Gresham is a proof of its merit. Another society deserves notice, from its admirable plan of uniting a benevolent principle with the benefit derivable from life assurance, and from its addressing a class, to the families of which life assurance is the only barrier against absolute poverty. That class has been hitherto but little thought of, though there is none on whom it would be better bestowed than on the clerks of England. Industrious, faithful, and intelUgent, they are almost compelled, by virtue of thek position, to maintain an appearance beyond their means. With incomes which just enable them to pay their debts, and which provide for no con- tingencies, they are to a great degree incapacitated from iusming then- lives; and solacing themselves, there- OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 847 fore, with the idea that a small insurance would be of no avail, they feel that they cannot afford a great one. To this class a society which specially provides for its wants, is a great benefit, and a kindly feehng between the clerk on the one side, and his superior on the other, is encouraged to the advantage of both, through the Provident Clerks' Mutual Life Assurance Association. Many instances might be given of the value of this society ; and the writer trusts that the few lines in which he has honestly and earnestly indulged, for the sake of pointing attention to those ofiSces which he deems deserving notice, may be regarded in the light in which they are written. The cause of hfe assurance has occasionally received severe blows ; and though, perhaps, less fraud has been attempted in these than in other companies, yet there is one instance of deception, so boldly planned and so successfully executed, as to stand out in strong rehef in the history of hfe assurance. About the year 1837, the provincial papers were filled with advertisements, drawing attention to the peculiar claims of the Independent West Middlesex Life and Fire Assurance Company. Its capital was 348 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS stated to be one million; it was declared to be a legal corporation ; and acts of parliament, dated from 1626, were boldly quoted. Cautiously did the pro- moters proceed in tlie metropolis, where they did not at first advertise, contenting themselves with establishing agencies in various parts of the country, and publishing advertisements in country papers. An imposing array of names as directors, declared to be of the first character and respectability, was promul- gated; and when such names as Drummond and Perkins appeared in the list, the uinitiated believed the one to be the great banker, and the other the rich brewer bearing the same names. To add to the delusion, the Bank of England was advertised as their bankers ; and when they opened handsome premises in London, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, the minds of the many were thoroughly deluded. Some notion may be formed of their intention from the fact that they not only insured fives on smaUer premiums than other offices, but gave larger annuities for smaller sums. According to their tables, a man of thirty, by paying £100, could obtain £8 yearly, and could insure his life at £1 15s. per cent; thus making a clear interest of £6 5s, per annum. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 349 The deed of the company — for, strange to say, it had a deed — was signed by any one who chose; and the law stationer apphed indiscriminately to all who came near him. Any one who asked for a situation was made a governor. A schoolmaster who requested a clerkship was made a director. An erraudman was employed as manager. ^ A boy of sixteen was appointed to a seat at the board. One director had been tapman to a London tavern ; another had been dismissed from his employ as a jom'neyman beU- hanger ; a third had been a gentleman's servant : aU had orders to dress well, to place rings on their fingers, and adorn their persons with jewellery ; fines being instituted if they omitted to wear the ornaments provided. The advertisements which blazoned the pretensions of the company— the puffing to which they resorted — • the declaration that they had taken £40,000 in one year — together with the terms they offered — attracted that numerous class determined to get everything cheap. Premiums to a large amount were procured by them, and they prospered. The attention of the established assurance offices had long been drawn to these transactions; and it 350 CHRONICLES AND CHAUACTERS was known that a great crash must one day come ; but they had not sufficient courage to declare the iniquity. It was left, therefore, to individual energy to expose their doings, and to individual resources to support the consequences. In March, 1839, Mr. Peter Mackenzie, editor and proprietor of the Scotch Reformers Gazette, having investigated the question, and made careful inquiries which satisfied him of the nature of the company, commenced a series of articles in that paper, warning the public against transacting business with them. The task was difiicult and dan- gerous ; but it was boldly met, and skilfully supported. The following extracts from the jom-nal of Mr. Mac- kenzie will show the earnest spirit in which he grappled with his task : — ' In a word, we raise our voice and warn the public to beware of this so-called Independent West Middlesex Insurance Company." " It is a false and fictitious company." "No better than a parcel of tricksters in London, disowned, repudiated, or con- demned by every respectable person." " WiU the mere statement of a parcel of sAvindlers ia then- own favour entitle them to pubHc favom-, or secure public confidence?" "Nor shall we rest contented till we 01 THE STOCK EXCHANGE. B51 chase them out of every town and city in her majesty's dominions, or till they are fairly seized by the strong- arm of justice." " We defy the confederated band of swindlers, from the highest to the lowest." The wild fury of Mr. Mackenzie's opponents may be conceived. They declared him to be a false and malicious calumniator. They published counter-state- ments ; assumed the aspect of injured and of innocent men, and instituted separate actions against him for £12,000 damages. One of the agents had been in London, and had the audacity to state, on his return, that the deputy-governor of the Bank of England had personally assured him of the respectabOity of the association. Mr. Mackenzie, however, procured and pubhshed a denial from that gentleman; and this increased the hatred of the accomplices. Two thousand pounds were placed at the disposal of their law agents, to destroy Mr. Mackenzie, who appears to have been one of those not easily moved from a righteous purpose. He continued his articles — he continued to warn the public ; and though, when the actions brought agains him in 1839 were dis- missed in 1840, they raised new suits, he persisted in his bold defiance, and did not hesitate one moment In 852 CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS the task he had undertaken. They could not, however, long conceal their practices ; and one fine morning, the entire gang absconded, taking with them from the premises every article of furniture, after having realized in four years, a booty of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. The distress which pervaded the middle and the lower ■ classes of society was great. Applications to magistrates were frequent. Aged men who had invested their all, went to the workhouse; servants who had bought annuities with the savings of a life were obliged to commence anew. Parents who imagined they had provided for then' children were half broken-hearted. Day by day brought some new case, and day by day evinced the importance of being contented with a fair and legitimate per centage. There is no knowing to what extent the evil might have reached had not the boldness of ]\Ir. Mackenzie induced him to attack the Independent West Middle- sex Company. The longer such an association lasts, the more numerous are its constituents; and to the above gentleman the thanks of the entire country are due, for performing at a personal risk, and at a personal sacrifice of £1,800 a great public service. DP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 353 The following extract from a letter, evincing the amenity of disposition and choice of language of the person who conducted the delusion, may prove an interesting close to the above narrative : — ' ' Thou art a scoundrel and thy son no better. I give you and your lying rascal ot a notice that if you or he should dare to publish any slander relative to my character, I shall instruct my solicitor to prosecute you — perjured scoundrel. iTou base wretch, swear against your own hand-writing ! What ! swear you never borrowed any money of me for the office. Oh, wicked wretch ! I have your signature, and my solicitor has seen it. Base — base — base — base. Hang thyself with thy friend ! P.S. I have heard you have again plundered the office. Oh ! how many times, you wretch 1 TILE END. A A A P P E ]^ D I X. APPENDIX. 357 HIGHEST AND LOWEST PRICE OF 3 PEE CENTS. IN EACH YEAR, FROM 1731 TO 1848. 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 .1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 HiailEST 99 LOWEST — 94 101 — 96 103 — 92 94 — 90 98 — 92 113 — 100 107 — 105 106 — 102 105 — 97 101 — 98 101 -- 98 102 — 98 103 — 100 99 — 90 92 — 85 89 — 75 86 — 81 91 — 76 102 — 91 101 — 98 103 — 97 106 — 101 106 — 104 104 — 102 101 — 90 90 — 88 91 — 86 98 — 89 88 — 79 83 — 76 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1787 1789 1790 1791 1792 GHEST 88 LOWEST. — 66 87 — 63 96 — 82 86 — 80 91 — 85 90 — 87 91 — 87 93 — 88 89 — 84 87 — 78 88 — 81 95 — 87 87 — 86 89 — 86 90 — 87 90 — 81 80 — 76 72 — 61 64 — 59 63 — 60 59 — 56 61 — 53 68 — 58 57 — 54 71 — 55 78 — 69 m -^ 71g 70i 89f 971 .^ 75f 72J 358 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 . 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 lOANS EAISED FEOM 1793 TO 1815, WITH THE EATE8 APPENDIX. HIUIiifittT. LOWEST. 81 — 701 1822 . 72i — 62f 1823 . 701 _ 61 1824 . 70g — 531 1825 . 561- 47i 1826 68 — 47^ 1827 . 69 — 52g 1828 . m- 60 1829 . 70 — 541 1830 . 79 — 66 1831 . 73 — 501 1832 . 68g — 53f 1833 . 62 — 57 1834 . 641 — 581 1835 . . 64 g — 57i 1836 . m — 62i 1837 . . 70g - 63g 1838 71. — 631 1839 . . 6.6| — 61f 1840 '. 63 — 551 1841 . . 671- 541 1842 . 721- 611 1843 . . 65f - 53g 1844 . 64i - 591 1845 . . 84|- 62 1846 . 82 — 73 1847 . . 79 — 64g 1848 . 701- 65g 1849 . . 78f — 68f 1850 HIGHEST. LOWKST. 83 — 75 f 85f — 72 96i — 84f 941 — 75 841 — 73| 891 — 76| 88i — 80| 941 — 851 94i — 771 84f — 74| 85f — 811 91i — 841 93 — 871 92| — 891 921 — 86§ 93| — 87J 951 — 901 93g — 891 931 — 85| 901 — 871 951 — 881 971 — 921 oi-i — 961 oog — 911 97f — 931 94 — 78f 90 — 83 97i — 891 981 — 94f OF INTEEEST. 1793 1794 1795 1796 £ 4,500,000 11,000,000 22,000,000 18,000,000 £4 3 4 4 10 9 4 15 8 4 14 9 359 1796 7,500,000 1797 18,000,000 16,120,000 1798 17,000,000 1799 3,000,000 \, 15,500,000 1800 20,500,000 1801 28,000,000 1802 25,000,000 1803 12,000,000 1804 14,500,000 1805 22,500,000 „ 1,500,000 1806 20,000,000 1807 14,200,000 „ 1,500,000 1808. 10,500,000 1809 14,600,000 1810 13,400,000 1811 12,000,000 1812 22,500,000 1813 27,000,000 22,000,000 1814 24,000,000 1815 36,000,000 £4 12 2 5 12 6 6 6 10 6 4 9 5 12 5 5 5 4 12 2 5 5 6 3 19 2 5 2 5 9 2 5 3 2 5 16 4 4 19 7 4 14 7 4 16 4 4 14 6 4 11 7 4 4 2 4 13 6 5 5 7 5 8 H 5 6 2 4 14 1 5 12 4 A LIST OF ACTS EELATIVE TO BROKERS. 13 Edward I. . . . Statute 5 . . . 1284 Anno 1 James I „ 21 ... 1604 8 and 9 William HI. . „ 32 . . . 1697 expired 1707 Anne „ 16 ... 1707 10 „ „ 19 . . . 1711 6 George I „ 18 ... 1720 3 George II. ... „ 31 . . . 1730— for Brista 7 George II. .... „ 8 ... 1739 360 AWENiaX. SECUKITIES DEALT IN ON THE STOCK EXCHAJSTGE. FrenoL. Eentes " . South Sea Stock' . ' Esohequer Bills East India Bonds East India Stock . Canadian ,; Austrian „ ' . Belgian „ Danish. » • Dutch Greek „ Portuguese „ Eussian „ Spanish „ Brazilian „ Buenos Ayres „ Chilian „ ' Venezuela „ New Granada „ Guatemala „ Mexican „ Peruvian ,, American „ ' . Eailway „ English „ £235,000,000 9,554,000 • Uncertain - Ditto 6,000,000 1,500,000 120,000,000 24,617,500 7,100,000 101,793,215 5,142,750 16,648,000 28,618,000 66,800,000 6,500,000 1,000,000 1,690,000 2,400,000 6,624,000 167,000 10,241,000 3,700,000 . 68,997,351 ' 350,000,000 800,000,000 London : A. and G. A. SpoTTihWooDB, New-street- Square, DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO SAMUEL GURNEY, ESQ; Now ready, in One large Vol,, Price 13s., THE SECOND EDITION OP THE CHRONICLES AND CHARACTEHS • OF THE STOCOimANGE. OPINIONS OP THE PEESS ON THE FIRST EDITION. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBUEGH MAGAZINE. Maevellous indeed are the scenes to which' we are introduced ; whether we read its history in the time of William of Orange, enter it when the South Sea babble had reached its utmost width of disten- sion, or tread its precincts at a more recent date. * * * No romance, whatever, has yet been constructed from materials of deeper interest. ECLECTIC EBVIBW. We tender our best thanks to Mr. Francis for the pleasure its perusal has given ns. Its pages display a wide range of information, grouped together with vivacity and much graphic effect. The attractiveness of the novel is combined with the more enduring interest of matters of fact, and we know of no one, young or old, financier, politician, or lover of history, who will not pursue its narrative to the dose. TAIT'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. We are anxious to draw attention to a volume at once the most inter- esting and the most terrible in modern English literature. The author has struck the richest mine, in powerful narration, yet unexplored, and has treated it most skilfully. banker's magazine. . A YEEY interesting work. It very ably supplies a chapter in the monetary histoi-y of this oountiy, which few persons were better quali- fied to supply than Mr. Francis, who has brought together such a variety of interesting anecdotes and historical facts, as were never before col- lected to illustrate the subject. MORNING CHRONICLE. The chapter on lotteries is remarkably interesting. The terrible evils, the corruptions, the ruin, the appalling demoralization they produced, are powerfully but truly described. * * * The ensuing section is devoted to the wholesale jobbing, gambling, and fraud which pervaded all classes, ijicluding peers, men of ofScial rank, and legislators. The attentive reader may cull enough for a mouth's political moraliaiiig. We now bid farewell to this interesting and suggestive work. NOTICES OP THE PEESS MORNING POST. Who would conceive tliat the Stock Exchange of London would furnish the most amusing and delightful descriptions, the most exciting and stimulating narratives ? Yet are there good poems that are not more poetical, excellent dramas that are not more replete "with impassioned interest, and very popular novels and romances that are far less brilliant and far less entertaining. * * * The production is not only in- comparably amusing and entertaining, but of no mean instructiveness besides. But its fascination is its principal characteristic. There is no fear that the reader will throw the book aside until he has finished the last page. Nor will he throw it aside even then, but will place it oa some accessible shelf. Eead the first chapter and you will read all. MOENING IIEEALD. A VEKY picturesque record of city scenes aud city transactions. Exceedingly curious and interesting. DAILY NEWS. We have often asked when a Walpole or a Saint Simon of city notoriety ■would turn up. Mr. Francis has led the way. Author of an excellent history of the Bank, for which he noted and collected large materials, he has in the present volume worked up those lighter portions which could not find place in his larger and graver work. * * We must conclude our present notice of this highly interesting volume. MOKNING ADVERTISEE. A MOST invaluable book of anecdote and observation. With unfeigned reluctance, we close these Chi'onioles. We have never met with a more entertaining and instructive volume. ATHENJEUM. This is a pleasant volume. * * * The public owe thanks to Mr. Francis for digging out this odd man, Martin, from such a mass of corruption. CEITIC. The matei'ials for this work must have been collected in the course of Mr. Fj'ancis's researches for the composition of his able and successful History of the Bank of England. * * * Mr. Francis frankly tells us that he has here attempted nothing more than a chronicle combined with portraits of remarkable characters. As such his volume is to be judged, and so judged, it is unexceptionable. ECONOMIST. The whole history of lotteries surpasses all we have witnessed of railways. We can only refer any believing reader in the virtues of the good old times to Mr. Francis's instructive pages. We have received great pleasure from the perusal of the book. OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. Mb. Fkancts has fulfilled, and most admirably fulfilled, the title of his book. He has given us one of the most melancholy stories ever written. The whole history is one tissue of fraud, misery, misfortune, and de- pravity. The interest is admirably kept up. The book before us is a terrible sermon. JOHN BULL. A TAsi variety of events, incidents, and personal anecdotes, which are nowhere else to be found in a collected form. But there is more than mere interest contemplated by Mr. Francis. The grandees of the money mai'ket play a prominent part. Nor is this the least iustructis'o portion. OBSEEVEK. A POPiriAE narrative of the money. power of England, at once inter- esting and suggestive. The author has, with great public advantage, and with great individual credit, added another interesting and import- ant chapter to the metaphysical annals of the human mind. It is easy to trace the decline and fall of commercial morality. BRITANNIA. A COMPLETE and very interesting history of our funded debt, composed with skill and knowledge, and made extremely entertaining by nume- rous anecdotes. » * * * "^g content ourselves with expressing our admiration of its spirit and intelligence, and with marking a few anecdotes that we are sure will bespeak for Mr. Francis the favour of all classes of readers. WEEKLY CHEONICLE. Fob the performance of his task, Mr. Francis is eminently qualified. His History of the Bank was well entitled to the approbation with which it was received. It exhibited an acquaintance with financial proceed- ings, ancient and modern, such as few of the practical men on "Change are possessed of. Mr. Francis has made himself master of his subject, and possesses the capacity so to handle the driest details, as to make them productive not less of amusement than of instruction. From the miseries of the Poyais scheme to the humours of the Greek loan, tlie reader is throughout enchained. WEEKLY DISPATCH. To the merchant, the politician and the more erudite historian, it will possess both value and interest. In a style at once clear, concise, and full of well-told anecdote containing many episodes of still greater value, we have a history of the National Debt of England. STANDARD 01? FEEEDOM. Theee is no work that can vie with this in interest. We advise every man in England to sit down at once to this most extraordinary of histories. There is no romance like its foul reality. The gallery of strange characters moving in all these speculations is rich in the extreme. IV NOTICES or THE PEESS OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE. BKITISH BANNER. We were so attracted, so excited, that on our first sitting down to this booli;, we neitlier rose, nor moved, nor did aaght else until we had perused its pages, at the close of which we were so absorbed as almost to forget whether it was night or day, whether we were at home or abroad. * * * As we said of the narrative of the Bank, this is a great, a very great chapter in the history of our country's progress, a marvel- lous illustration of the combined wickedness and folly of mankind. Mr. Francis has performed a great public service, and this he has done with an easy, homely, manly, conversational freedom, which greatly adds to the charm of the facts. SUNDAY TIMES. The very first page cannot fail to attract the reader, and as he proceeds he will be more deeply interested with the strange and gigantic schemes opened to his view. The work might have been properly called the Romance of Mammon. LONDON MERCANTILE JOURNAL. As expressive and entertaining as old Stowe : and centuries after Mr. Francis and we are dead, his Chronicles of the Stock Exchange will be read as recording the habits and manners of perhaps the most peculiar generation in our annals. NONCONFORMIST. The author has produced a varied and amusing volume. His treatise begins with the National Debt, and the reader may judge of his powers by learning that Mr. Francis can make even that dark word agreeable. HERAPATH'S JOURNAL. Op all the works which have come under our notice, none have been found more interesting and few more instructive than the volume of Mr. Francis. It is no compliment to say he has produced a work which in point of interest rivals the novels of Scott or Dickens, for we defy any reader to dip into its pages and not feel the keenest desire toread to the end. In anecdotes and historical sketches it abounds. SCOTCH reformer's GAZETTE. One of those rare works which combine the attractions of light reading with solid and useful instruction. History is given with all a novel's attraction. Mr. Francis makes it a thoroughly entertaining as well as an instructive work. It is written in a flowing, easy, antithetical style, with point, spirit, and significance in every sentence. The Chronicler of the Stock Exchange, if not particularly sentimental, is sometimes almost poetical. He deals in rhetorical as well as arithmetical figures. He can paint a scene as well as narrate a history. In short he has writen a most delightful work, fraught with facts of a novel and striking character, the fruit of extensive research and of intimate acquaintance with the subject. DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO SIR ROBERT PEEL. Wow Ready, Price One Guinea. Third Edition, in Two Volumes, Post Qvo., of the HISTORY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND; ITS TIMES AND TSADITIOHS. BY JOHN EEANCIS. NOTICES or THE PRESS. TIMES. A History of the Bank of England, wbioh has just made its appear- ance, has been executed with considerable skill. From the consecutive way in which (free from the encumbrance of disquisition) it touches upon all the leading financial movements of the past and present century, it will not be without value even to the practical inquirer. To the general reader it will prove as interesting as a novel, for the minor incidents, from the death of the first deputy-governor at Namur, down to the capture of Burgess the forger at Nahant, are numerous, and, in many instances, remarkable. MOKNING CHBONICLE. The present work will require no elaborate recommendation. It offers a carefully compiled view of the rise of our banking system, the causes which necessitated the institution of a national bank, the ' principal operations which it has undertaken at various memorable crises, besides a popular account of the complex and highly curious machinery by which the internal administration of the Bank is regulated. Tracing the progress of the institution, the author touches lightly, but cleai-ly, on the main features of collateral history, and gives popular attraction to his narrative by anecdotes of^remarkable men who have been con- nected with it, from its founder Patersori and its deputy-governor Godfrey, who perished in the trenches before Kamur, to its late governor, Mr. Cotton, the inventor of the weighing machine. MOENING HEEALD, It 13 one of the most amusing and not least interesting works ever given to the public on the same subject. The panic of 1,825 has a due portion of space allotted to it in Mr. Francis's pages : his account of that fearful crisis is as accurate and ample as any ever presented to the public. It would be unjust to the author, as well as to the matter of his- book, not to recommend it for general perusal. vi NOTICES OP THE PRESS MORNING POST. Such a book conid not fail to be valuable and entertaining, if the materials were managed by a man of ordinary tact and dexterity ; but the compiler being a gentleman of great ability, extensive and varied information, literary competency, and considerable taste in the disposi- tion of the relevant matter of his history, the result has been a collection of facts, statistics, and anecdotes, so lucidly stated and arranged, that any one who takes up the volumes for a half-hour's cursory perusal, is likely to be so attracted by the mere interest of the narrative, that, like Edmund Burke with Miss Burney's excellent novel, he would sit up the whole night ; and when surprised by the break of dawn, and the close of the tale, wish that all were to begin over again. MOENING ADVERTISER. It would be an injustice to the well informed author not to say that we passed with so much rapidity from one volume to the other, were it not that the interval is replete with matter which the commercial world should consult for itself. In the second volume, Mr. Francis gives an interesting account of the bubble accompanies, the panic of 1 82, and the causes of the failures of the country and London bankers Many curious anecdotes of the panic accompany this portion of the work. Whatever is of most value to the banking or commercial world, in a monetary point of view, will be found in these pages. The present history of the Bank of England tills up a gap in our literature, in such a manner as to be valuable to all parties who are concerned either in the political or commercial bearing of the establishment. DAILY NEWS. Thet present a useful summary of events in the history of our national and mercantile credit. A preliminary view of the rise and progress of credit in England, serves to recall a few facts that have been too little regarded. DAILY NEWS (second notice). We take leave of this work as a useful chronological essay on a subject of stirring interest; LONDON MEECANTILE JOURNAL. A TEKY comprehensive history of our commercial and monetary system, of which the Bank of England, for upwards of one hundred and fifty years, has been so important a part ; and though we easily gatlier from the general spirit of the work, that the author is not one of those who regard the Bank monopoly as having been detrimental to the interests of the country, he certainly has redeemed his pledge of not deviating from the truth to indulge in any disposition for unseasonable eulogy. With just so much preposossion in its favour as may be due to an earnest conviction of the public benefits to which it has been OP THE BANK OF ENGLAND. 71.1 instrumental, he disonsses the subject in all its parts with candonr and calmness, and we can, therefore, confidently recommend it to the states- man, the political economist, and the merchant, as a valuable addition to the too scanty stock of information which we possess on a subject of eminent importance. LONDON MEECANTILE JODKNAL (secOnd tlOtice). Although Mr. Francis carefully avoids throughout his work ex- pressing an opinion excepting on matters of fact — such, for instance, as whether Sir Robert Peel did or did not originally hold out an expecta- tion that the Bank might, on an emei'gency, he allowed to issue more than £14,000,000 on seonrities under the act of 1844 — and although he carefully eschews all discussion upon controversial points, he frequently elucidates, with considerable effect, those more remarkable epochs in the history of the Bank, by which fundamental principles were first suggested, and antiquated errors are corrected. JOHN BDIL. Mk. Francis has aimed at giving a popular history of the Bank, while the statistical information contained, which has been gathered from sources noe easily accessible, will be regarded as both curious and valuable by those who desire to investigate the more complicated qnes- tions connected with the currency. This portion of the work is relieved by matter of a more entertaining character, respecting cele- brated forgeries and forgers, panics, runs upon the Bank, remarkable bubbles, such as that of the South Sea, disastrous speculations, anecdotes of particular persons, early money lenders and their persecutions, the renewals of the Bank Charter, &c. All these various subjects are handled by Mr. Francis with marked ability, and related in a style at once vigorous and graceful. The industry, judgment, and good taste with which the author has accumulated, selected, and arranged his materials, are entitled to the most unqualified praise. As to a complete financial history of the Bank^ it is obvious that no one could write such a history who had not free access to all the documents of that body, a privilege, we apprehend, which would be sought in vain by any one. In our judgment, Mr. Francis has done much better by giving us his account of its "times and traditions," facts and circumstances, which have never before been brought together. Our limits preclude us from extracting so largely from the work as its various interesting contents would enable us to do, but the following narrative will convey some notion of the talent which Mr. Francis has brought to his task. ATI/AS. The vv'ork is more entertaining than might be expected from its title. It is a capital specimen of light reading on an apparently heavy subject ; and even ladies who know nothing about any promissory notes, except Viii NOTICES OF THE PTtESS those described by Sheridan as " notes of hand," will find some of its chapters more exciting than half the novels of the day. The facts collected are drawn together for the first time. The industry with which Mr. Francis has gathered these scattered particulars, and the skil! -with which he has arranged them, deserve high praise. To have rendered such matter amusing is not its only merit j he also makes it bear directly upon the working of our monetary institutions, showing how they have been affected at various periods by shocks from without, how their vitality has been fed and sustained, and through what perils they have protected and conducted the community. There is a large circle outside the city to whom this work will yield much curious matter for speculation. The Bank is a great mystery to the population at large, and it is well that somebody shodd clear it up. There is scarcely a single circumstance which exercised any influence upon public credit, that it is not chronicled by Mr. Francis. All the runs upon the Bank are set forth in due season. All the bubble and El Dorado schemes, from the Mississippi scheme to the railway mania — all conspicuous forgeries, panics, failures, and riots, alterations in the currency, suspen- sions and resumptions of cash payments, bullion fluctuations, drains and issues, are depicted with royal amplitude. Sometimes we find ourselves engaged in an acute examination of a new charter ; sometimes closeted in the Bank parlour in solemn consultation over the tightness of the market ; and sometimes tracking, wilh stealthy steps and suspended breath, the flight of some great criminal who has just robbed the Bank, or forged a gross of notes. The variety of the contents is as undeniable as the cleverness v?ith which they are served up. EXAMINEE. What more dignified subject for history, than banks and banking operations? So it seemed to Mr. Francis, who has written a very amusing book. He appears to bo connected in some way with tho great corporation, and familiar with all its practical workings and ways. He has treated his subject popularly. He has a clever knack at com- piling, fits in his anecdotes very pleasantly, and writes with considerable ease and freedom of style. His opinions are liberal and intelligent. SUNDAY TIMES. Mr. Feancis has put together in a clear, lucid, and expressive style, a collection of facts, which, intimately connected as they are with the great principles which lie at the root of the science itself, will not fail to set many a-thinking, it may be to aid them very materially, in arriving at sound and proper conclusions on the subject. He appears to have consulted all the authorities from whom any information could be derived in reference to the subject of which he treats. Wo can safely say of this work, that it is tho most interesting and instructive history of a great public institution that has ever yet been published. A CATALOGUE MW W0M8 n GENERAL LITERATUEE, PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS, , PATEEWOSTEE, EOW, LONDON". CLASSIFIED INDEX. Agriculture and Rural Affairs. PageB. Biivldon On valuing Rente, &c, - 4 Caird's Letters on AgricuUure - 5 Cecil's Stud Farm . . - 6 Loudon's Apiculture - - - 13 " Self- Instruction - - 13 " Lady's Country Compam. 14 Low's Rlcments of Agriculture - 14 ** Domesticated Animals - 14 Arts, Manufactures, and Architecture. Bourne's Catechism of the Steam Engine ----- 4 " On the Screw Propeller - 4 Brande's Dictionary ofScience,&c, 4 " Organic Uheniistry- - 4 Chevreul on Colour - - - - 6 Cresy's Civil Engineering - - 6 Eastlake On Oil Painting . . 7 Gwilt's Encyulo. of Architecture - 6 Jameson's Sacred & Legendary Art 30 ^' Commonplace-Boifk - 10 Konig's Pictoiial Lift of Lutlier - 8 Loudon's Rural Architecture - 13 Moseley's Engineering - - - 16 Richardson's Art of horsemanship 18 Steam Engine, by the Artisan Club 4 Tate on Strength of Materials - 21 Ure's Dictionary of Arts, &c. - 22 Biography. Bodenstedt and Wagner's Schamyl 24 Briglitivell's Mem'orials of Ople '- 17 Bunsen's Hippolytus - - - 5 Chesterton's Autobiography ■ Clinton's (Fynes) Autobiography Cockayne's Marshal Tureune 24 Freeman's Life of Kirby Havdon's Autobiography, by Taylor 8 Ho'icrol't'B Memoirs - - _ 24 Holland's (Lord) Memoirs' - - 9 Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopjedia - 12 Maunder's Biographical Treasury - 15 Memoir of the Duke of "Wellington -4 Memoirsof James Montgomery - 15 Merivale'B Memoirs of Cic-ero - 15 Russell's Memoirs of Moore - - 16 " Life of Lord "Wm. Russell 19 Southey's Life of Wesley - - 20 " Life and Correspondence 20 Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography 21 Taylor's Loyola - - - . 21 , , " Wesley - - - - 2J Towiiseod'e Eminent Judges - 22 ■Waterton'BAutobiography&Essays 22 Books of General Utility. Acton's Cookery - - - - 3 Black's Treatise on Breiving - - 4 Cabinet Gazetteer - - - - 6 , " Lawyer - , - - - 5 Ouat's Invalid's Own Book - 6 Hints on Etiquette - - - 9 Hudson's Esecutor' 8 Guide - - 10 " On Making Wills - - 10 Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopeedia - 12 Loudon's Self-Instruction - - 13 " Lady's Companion - 14 " Amateur Gardener - 13 Maunder's Treasury of Knowledge' 15 " Biograpnical Treasury 15 " S.cifiitific Treasury - 15 " 'Treat^ury of History - 15 " Natural History - - 15 Pocket and the Stud - - - s Tycrort'sEn^iisiT Reading- - - 18 Reece'B Medical Guide - • - 18 Pages. Rich's Comp, to Latin Dictionary 18 Richardson's Art of Horsemanship 18 Riddle's Latin Dictionaries - - 18 Roget's English Thesauius - - 19 Rowton's Debater - - - - 19 Sliort Whist ----- 20 Thomson's Interest Tahleii Traveller's Librar^ 23&24 Webster's Domestic Economy Willich's i'opular Tables Wilmot's Abridgment of Black- stone's Commentaries Botany and Gardening. Conversations on Botany - - 6 Hooker's British Flora - - - 9 " Guide to Kew Gardens - 9 Lindley's Introduction to Botany 11 " Theory of Horticulture - 11 Loudon's Hortus Britaunicus - 13 " Amateur Gardener - 13 '* Self-Instruction - - 13 " Trees and Shrubs - - 13 " Gardening - - - 13 " Plants - - - 13 Rivera's Rose Amateur's Guide - 18 Chronology. Blair's Chronological Tables - 4 ■Bunsen's Ancient Egypt - - 5 Haydn's Beatson's Index - - 8 Nicolas's Chronology of History - 12 Coxumerce and IVEercantile Affairs. Atkinson's Shipping Laws - - 3 Francis On Life Assurance - - 8 Loch's Sailor's Guide - - - l3 Lorimer's Letters to a Young Master Mariner - - - - 13 M'CuUoch's Commerce & Navigation 14 Thomson's Interest Tables - - 22 Criticism, History, and Memoirs. Austin's Germany . - - - 3 Balfour's Sketches of Literature - 3 Blair's Chron. and Histor. Tables - - 4 Bunsen's Ancient Egypt - - 5 " Hippolytus - - - 5 Burton's History of Scotland - 5 Chalybaeus's Modern Speculative Philosophy - - - - 6 Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul 6 Eastlake's History of Oil Painting 7 Erskine's History of India - - 7 Francis's Annals of Life Assurance 7 Gleig's Leipsic Campaign - - 24 Gurney's Historical Sketches - 8 Hamilton's Essays from the Edin- burgh Review - - - - 8 Haydon's Autobiography, by Taj'lor 8 Holland's (Lord) Foreign Remi- niscences - . - - 9 " Whig Party - 9 Jeffrey's (Lord) Contributions - 10 Kemble's Anglo-Saxons - - 11 Lardner's Cabinet CyclopEedia - 12 Macaulay's Crit. and Hist. Essays 14 " History of England - 14 " Speeches _- - - 14 Mackintosh's Miscellaneous Works 14 " History of England - 14 M'Culloch'sGeogiaplricalDictionary 14 ". Martineau's Church Histoiy - - 15 Maunder's Treasury of History - 15 Memoir of the Uuke of Wellington 24 Merivale's History of Rome - - 15 " Roman Republic - 16 Milner'8 Church History - - 15 , Moore's (Thomas) Memoirs, &c. - 16 - Mure's Greek Literature - Ifi ; Ranke's Ferdinand & Maximilian 24 [ Rich's Comp. to Latin Dictionary 18 ; Itiddle's Latin Dictionaries - 18 Rogers's EssuyafromtheEdin burgh i Review - - - - - 19 ^ Roget's English Thesaurus - - 19 ] Russell's (Lady Rachel) Letters - 19 ' " Life of Lord W. Russell 19 J St. John's Indian Archipelago - 19 ! Sclimitz's History of Greece - 19 ; Smith's Sacied Annals - - - 20 j SouLliey's The Doctor &c. - - 21 I Slepheu's Ecclesiastical Biography 21 ] " Lectures on French Historv 21 Sydney Smitli's Works - - - 20 " Select Workg - 24 " Lectures - - 20 Taylor's Loyola - - - - 21 " ^PesJey - - - - 21 Thirlwall's History of Greece - 21 Townsend's State Trials - - 22 Turkey and Christendom - - 24 Turner's Anglo Saxons - - 22 " IdiddleAges - - 22 " Sacred Hist, of the World 22 Zumpt's Latin Grammar - - 24 Geography and Atlases. Butler's Geography and Atlases - S Cabinet Gazetteer - - - - 5 Durrieu's Morocco - - - 24 Hall's Large Library Atlas - - 8 Huglies's Australian Colonies - 24 Jesse's Russia and the War - - 10 Johnston's General Gazetteer - 11 M'CuUoch's Geographical Dictionary 14 " Russia and Turkey - 24 Milner's Baltic Sea - - - 15 Murray's Encyclo, of Geography - 17 Sharp's British Gazetteer - - 19 ' Wheeler's Geograpliy of Herodotus 24 Juvenile Books. Amy Herbert - - - - 19 Corner's Children's Sunday Book 6 Earl's Daugiiter (The) - - - 19 Experience of Life- - -- - 20 Gertrude - - - - 19 Howitt's Boy's Country Book - 10 " (Mary) CliUdren's year - 10 Katharine Ashton - - - 20 Lady Una and her Queendom - 11 Laneton Parsonage - - - 19 Mrs. Marcet's Conversations - - 15 Margaret Percival - - - - 20 Pycroft's English Reading - - 18 Medicine and Surgery. Bull's Hints to Mothers - - - 4 " Management of Oliildren - 4 Copland's Dictionary of Medicine - 6 Cult's Invalid's Own Book - - 6 Holland's Mental Physiology - 9 Latham On Diseases of the Heart - 11 Little On Treatment of Deformities 11 Moore On Health, Disease,&Remedy IB Pereira On Food and Diet - - 17 Psycholoeical Inquiries - - 18 Recce's iSedical Guide - - - 18 miscellaneous a,nd General Ifliterattire. Atkinson's Sheriff-Law - - 3 Austin's Sketches of German Life 3 Carlisle's Lectures and Addresses 24 CLASSIFIED INDEX. Chalybaeus'a Modern Speculative PhilOBophy - - , - 6 Betence o\ EcHpse of Faith . - 7 Eclipse of Failh - - - 7 Greg'9 Essays on -Political and Social Science - - - - g Haydn's Book of Dignities - - 8 Hole's Esaay on Mechanics' Insti- tutions - - - - - 9 Holland's Mental Pliysiology - 9 Hooker's Kew Guide - . - 9 Howitt's Rural Life of England - 9 " Visifcsto UemarkablePlacea 9 Jameson's Cominonphice-Book - 10 JeH'rey's (Lord) Contributions - 10 Last oftheOld Sfiuires - - 17 Loudon's Lady's Companion - 14 Macanlay'sCrit.and iliat. Essays 14 " Speeches - - - 14 Mackintos]i's Miscellaneous Works 14 Memoirs of a Maitre-d'Armes - 24 Maitiand's Churchin the Catacombs 14 Pascal's "Works, by Pearce - - 17 Pycroft's English lleaiiing - - 18 Rich's Comp. to Latin Dictionary 18 Riddle's Latin Dictionaries - - 18 RoivLon'a Debater ' - - 19 Seaward's Narrative of his Shipwreckl9 Sir Roger de Coverley - - - 20 Smith's (Rev. Sydney) "Works - 21 Southey's Common-place Books - 21 " The Doctor &c. - - 21 Souvestre's Attic Philosopher - 24 " Confessionsof a Working Man 24 Stephen's Klssays - - - - 21 Stow'3 Training System - - 21 Thomson's Lnws of Thought - 21 Toivnsend's State Trials - - 22 "WiUich's Popular Tables - - 24 Tonga's English-Greek Lexicon - 24 ^'' Latin Gradns - r 24 Zumpt'8 Latin Grammar - - 24 Natural History in g^eneral. Catloiv's Popular Conchology - 6 Epheraeraand Young On the Salmon 7 Gosse's Nat. Hist, of Jamaica - 8 Kemp's Natural Hist, of Creation 24 Kirby and Spence's Entomology - 11 Lee's Elements or>Tatural History 11 Muunder's Natural History - - 15 Turton'.s Shells ofthaBritishTslands 22 Waterton's Essays on Natural Hist. 22 Youatfs Thy Dog - - - 24 " The Horse - - - 24 1-Volume Encyclopsedias and Dictionaries. Blaine'is Rural Sports - . _ 4 Brande's Science, Literature^ & A.rt 4 Copland's Dictionary of Medicine - 6 Cresy's Civil Engineering ~ 6 Gwilt'a Architecture - - - 8 Johnston's Geographical Dictionary 11 Lomlon's Agriculture - - - 13 " Rural Arohitt!cture - 13 " Gardening - - - 13 " Plants - - - . 13 " Trees and Shrubs - - 13 M'C 111 loch's Geographical Dictionary 14 " DictionaryofCommerce 14 Murray's Encyclo. of Geography - 17 Shnip's British Gazetteer - - 19 Ure's Dictionary of Arts, &c. - - 2i Webster's Domestic Economy - 2'i Religious & Moral Works. Amy Herbert - - - - 19 Atkinson On the Church - - 3 Bloomfleld's Greek Testament - 4 " Annotations on do. - 4 Calvert's Wife's Manual - - 6 Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul 6 Corner's Sunday Book . - - G Dale's Domestic Liturgy - - 7 Defence oi Eclipse 0/ Faith - - 7 Disci|)line - - - - - 7 Earl'g Daughter {The) - - - 19 y.cVipae of Faith - - - 7 Englishman's Greek Concordance 7 EngliBhman'sHeb.&Chald. Concord. 7 Experience of Life (The) - 20 Gertrndo ----- 1!) Harrison's Light of the Forfre - 8 Hook's Lectures on Passion week 9 Home's Introduction to Scriptures 9 " Abridgment of ditto - 9 Hulberton Job - - - - 10 Jameson's Saured Legends - - 10 " Monastic Legends- - 10 " Legcndsof theMadonna 10 Pages. Jeremy Taylor's Works - - - 10 Katharine Ashton - - - 20 Kippis's Hymns - - - - 11 Kiinig's Life of Luther - - - 8 Lady Una and her Queendom - 11 Laneton Parsonage - - - 19 Lettersto My Unknown Friends - 11 " on Happiness - - - 11 Litton's Church of Christ - -I'd Maitiand's Church in the Catacombs 14 Margaret Pereiva! - - - - 20 Martineau's Church History - - 15 Milner's Church of Clirist - - 15 Montgomery's Original Hymns - Ifi Moore On the Use of the Body - 16 " " Soul and body - 16 " 'e Man and his Motives - 16 MoriTionism - - - - 24 Neale's Closing Scene - - - 17 *' Ret-tiug Places of the Jupt 1? " Riches that Bring no Sorrow - - - - - 17 " Risen from the Pi-anka - 17 Newman's (J, H,) Discourses - 17 Ranke's t'erdinand & Maximilian 24 Readings for Lent - - - 20 *' Confirmation - - 20 Robinson's Lexicon to the Greek Testament ----- 18 Saints our Example - - - 19 Sclf-Denial - . . - 19 Sermon in the Mount - - 19 Sermon on the Mount illuminated 19 Sinclair''B Journev ofLile - - 20 Smith's (Sydney)' Moral Philosophy 20 " (G.) Sacred Annals - 20 Southey's Life of Wesley - - 20 Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography 21 Taylor's Loyola - - - 21 Wesley - - - - 21 Theologia Germanica - - - 21 Thumb Bible (The) - - 23 Turntr's Sacred History - - - 23 Poetry and tb.e Drama. Arnold's Poems - - - _ Aikin's(Dr.l British Poets - Baillie's (Joanna) Poetical Works Barter's Iliad of Homer Bode's Ballads from Herodotus - Calvert's Wife's Manual Flowers and their kindred Thoughts Goldsmith's Poems, illustrated Kent's Aletheia - - Linwood's Anthologia Oxoniensis- Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome Montgomery's Poetical Works " Original Hymns Moore's Poetical Works " Lalla Rookh - - - " Irish Melodies - - - " Son^s and Ballads - Shakspeare, by Bowdler '* Sentiments & Skniles Southey's Poetical Works *' British Poets - - - Thomson's Seasons, illustrated Thornton's Zohrab - . . 'Watts's Lyrics of the Heart - Political Bconomy and Statistics. Banfield's Statistical Companion - 4 Caird's Letters on Agriculture - 5 Francis On Life Assurance - 7 Greg's Essays on Political and Social Science - - - - 8 Laing's Notes of a Traveller - 11 &; 24 M'Culloch'sGeog.Statist.&c.Dict. 14 " Dictionary of Commerce 14 " London - - - 24 " StatisticsofOtBritain 14 Marcet's Political Economy - - 15 Willich's Popular Tables - - 24 The Sciences in General and Matbematics. Bourne's Catechism of the Steam Engine ----- 4 " On the Screw Propeller - 4 Brande's Dictionary of Science, Ac. 4 " Lectures on OrennicChemistry 4 Cresy's Civil Engineering - - 6 DohiBochc'sGeology olCornwall,&c. 7 " Geological Observer - 7 De la Rive's Electricity - - - 7 Faraday's Non-Metallic Elements 7 Pages. Fullom's Marvels of Scien'co - 7 Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy 9 Holland's Mental Phyi-lolo^y - 9 Humboldt's Aspects of Nature - 10 " Cosmos - - - 10 Hunt On Light - - - 10 Lardner'e Cabinet Cyclopjedia - l2 Marcet's (Mrs.) Conversations - 15 Moscley'sEngineeriug&Architecture 16 Owen's Lectures on Comp, Anatomy 17 Our Coal Fields and our Coal Pits 24 Peschel's Elements of Pliysics - 17 Phillips's KosBils of Cornwall, &e. 18 " Mineralogy - - - 18 " Guide to Geology - - 17 Portlock's Geology of Londonderry 18 Smee's Electro- Metallurgy - - . 20 Steam Engine (The) - - _ 4 Tate On Strength of Materials - 21 Todd's Tables of Circles - - 22 Wilson's Electric Telegraph- - 24 Rural Sports. Baker's Rifle and Hound in Ceylon Berkeley's Reminiscences - Blaine's Dictionary of Sports Cecil's Stable Practice - - - " Records of the Chase - " Stud Farm - - _ _ The Cricket Field - - . _ Ephemera On Angling - - . *' Book of the Salmon The Hunting-Field Loudon's Lady's Country Comp. - Pocket and the Stud - Practical Horsemanship Pulman's Fly Fishing - Richardson's Horsemanship - St, John's Sporting Rambles Stable Talk and Table Talk - Stonehenge On the Greyhound The Stud, for Practical Purposes - Veterinary Medicine, Cecil's Stable Practice " Stud Farm Hunting Field (The) - Morton's Veterinary Pharmacy Pocket and the Stud Practical Horsemanship Richardson's Horsemanship Stable Talk aad Table Talk - Stud (The) ■ - _ _ Youatt's The Dog - - - " The Horse &C. - 24 - 24 Voyages and Travels. Baker's Rifle and Hound in Ceylon 3 Barrow's Continental Tour - - 24 Carhsle's Turkey and Greece - 5 De Custine's Russia - - 24 Eothen ------ 24 Ferguson's Swiss Travels - - 24 Forester and Biddulph's Norway - 7 Gironi6re's Philippines - - - 24 Hill's Trav.ls in Siberia - - 9 Hope's Brittany and the Bible - 24 " Chase in Brittany - - 24 Fowitt's Art-Shident in Munich - 9 Hue's Tartary, Thibet, and China 24 Hughes's Australian Colonies - 24 Humbley's Indian Journal - - 10 Humboldt's Aspects of Nature - 10 Jameson's Canada - - - - 24 Jerrmann's St. Petersburg - - 24 Laing's Norway - - - - 24 " Notes of a Traveller 11&24 Macintosh's Turkey and Black Sea 14 Oldmixon's Piccadilly to Pera - 17 Osborn's Arctic Journal - - 17 Peel's Nubian Desert - - - 17 Pfeiffer's Voyage round the World 24 Power's New Zealand Sketches - 18 Richardson's Arctic Boat Voyage 18 Seaward's Narrative - - - 19 St. John's (H.) Indian Archipelago 19 " (J. A.) Isis - , - - 19 " '* There&Backagain 19 " (Hon. F.) Gambles - 19 Sutherland's Arctic Voyage - - 21 Traveller's Library - - 23 & 24 Werne's African Wanderings - 24 Works of Fiction. Arnold's OakfieM - - - 3 Lady WiUoughby'9 Diary - - 34 Macdonald's villa Verocchio - 14 Sir Roger de Coverley - - - 30 Southey's The Doctor &c. - - 21 ALPHABETICAL CATALOGUE mW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS PUBLISHED BY Messrs. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. Miss Acton's Modem Cookery-Book.— Modern Cookery iu allits Branches, reduced to a System of Easy Pi'actice. Por the use of Prirate Families. In a Series of Receipts, all of whicli have been strictly tested, and are given with the most minute exactness. By BiizA Acton. New Edition ; with various Additions, Plates and "Woodcuts. 3?op. 8to. price 7s. 6d. Aikin. — Select Works of the British Poets, from Ben Jonson to Beattie. With Biographical and Critical Prefaces by Dr. Aikin. 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