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Joint Stock - Persons of distinction, of both sexes, were
deeply engaged in all
these bubbles, those of the male sex going to taverns and
coffee-houses to meet their brokers, and the ladies resorting
for the
same purpose to the shops of milliners and haberdashers.
But it did
not follow that all these people believed in the feasibility
of the
schemes to which they subscribed; it was enough for their
purpose that
their shares would, by stock-jobbing arts, be soon raised
to a
premium, when they got rid of them with all expedition to
the really
credulous. So great was the confusion of the crowd in the
alley, that
shares in the same bubble were known to have been sold at
the same
instant ten per cent. higher at one end of the alley than
at the
other. Sensible men beheld the extraordinary infatuation
of the people
with sorrow and alarm. There were some, both in and out
of Parliament,
who foresaw clearly the ruin that was impending. Mr. Walpole
did not
cease his gloomy forebodings. His fears were shared by all
the
thinking few, and impressed most forcibly upon the government.
On the
11th of June, the day the Parliament rose, the King published
a
proclamation, declaring that all these unlawful projects
should be
deemed public nuisances, and prosecuted accordingly, and
forbidding
any broker, under a penalty of five hundred pounds, from
buying or
selling any shares in them. Notwithstanding this proclamation,
roguish
speculators still carried them on, and the deluded people
still
encouraged them. On the 12th of July, an order of the Lords
Justices
assembled in privy council was published, dismissing all
the petitions
that had been presented for patents and charters, and dissolving
all
the bubble companies. The following copy of their lordships'
order,
containing a list of all these nefarious projects, will
not be deemed
uninteresting at the present day, when there is but too
much tendency
in the public mind to indulge in similar practices :-
"At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 12th day of
July, 1720.
Present, their Excellencies the Lords Justices in Council.
"Their Excellencies, the Lords Justices in council,
taking into
consideration the many inconveniences arising to the public
from
several projects set on foot for raising of joint stock
for various
purposes, and that a great many of his Majesty's subjects
have been
drawn in to part with their money on pretence of assurances
that their
petitions for patents and charters, to enable them to carry
on the
same, would be granted: to prevent such impositions, their
Excellencies, this day, ordered the said several petitions,
together
with such reports from the Board of Joint Stock Trade, and
from his Majesty's
Attorney and Solicitor General, as had been obtained thereon,
to be
laid before them, and after mature consideration thereof,
were
pleased, by advice of his Majesty's Privy Council, to order
that the
said petitions be dismissed, which are as follow :--
"1. Petition of several persons, praying letters
patent for
carrying on a fishing trade, by the name of the Grand Fishery
of Great
Britain.
"2. Petition of the Company of the Royal Fishery
of England,
praying letters patent for such further powers as will effectually
contribute to carry on the said fishery.
"3. Petition of George James, on behalf of himself
and divers
persons of distinction concerned in a national fishery;
praying
letters patent of incorporation to enable them to carry
on the same.
"4. Petition of several merchants, traders, and others,
whose
names are thereunto subscribed, praying to be incorporated
for
reviving and carrying on a whale fishery to Greenland and
elsewhere.
"5. Petition of Sir John Lambert, and others thereto
subscribing,
on behalf of themselves and a great number of merchants,
praying to be
incorporated for carrying on a Greenland trade, and particularly
a
whale fishery in Davis's Straits.
"6. Another petition for a Greenland trade.
"7. Petition of several merchants, gentlemen, and
citizens,
praying to be incorporated, for buying and building of ships
to let or
freight.
"8. Petition of Samuel Antrim and others, praying
for letters
patent for sowing hemp and flax.
"9. Petition of several merchants, masters of ships,
sail-makers,
and manufacturers of sail-cloth, praying a charter of incorporation,
to enable them to carry on and promote the said manufactory
by a joint
stock.
"10. Petition of Thomas Boyd, and several hundred
merchants,
owners and masters of ships, sailmakers, weavers, and other
traders,
praying a charter of incorporation, empowering them to borrow
money
for purchasing lands, in order to the manufacturing sail-cloth
and
fine Holland.
"11. Petition on behalf of several persons interested
in a patent
granted by the late King William and Queen Mary, for the
making of
linen and sail-cloth, praying that no charter may be granted
to any
persons whatsoever for making sail-cloth, but that the privilege
now
enjoyed by them may be confirmed, and likewise an additional
power to
carry on the cotton and cotton-silk manufactures.
"12. Petition of several citizens, merchants, and
traders in
London, and others, subscribers to a British stock, for
a general
insurance from fire in any part of England, praying to be
incorporated
for carrying on the said undertaking.
Joint Stock
