SPECULATIVE COMPANIES. 



407 



Dampier. It originated in 1711, with Harley, the Lord Trea- 

 surer, his object being to improve public credit, and to provide 

 for the payment of the floating debt, amounting to £10,000,000. 

 He allured the nation's creditors by promising them the mono- 

 poly of trade with the Spanish coast in America. They greedily 

 swallowed the glittering bait, and dreamed of El Dorado and 

 Peruvian Golcondas. This spirit spread throughout the nation, 

 and, in 1719, rose to a fever heat of speculation. Sir John 

 Blunt, once a scrivener, now a prominent South Sea Director, 

 conceived the idea of consolidating all the public funds into one, 

 and made the proposal to the Government. The Bank of Eng- 

 land and the South Sea Company displayed the utmost eagerness 

 to outbid each other in the offers made for this magnificent pri- 

 vilege. The South Sea Company finally bid seven millions and 

 a half, and the bill then passed the two houses of Parliament 

 triumphantly. The Directors immediately opened a subscription 

 of a million, and then a second, both of which were eagerly filled. 

 Every engine was set at work to delude the public : mysterious 

 rumors were rife of secret treasures in America, of overtures 

 made to Stanhope to exchange Gibraltar for a diamond-mine in 

 Peru, and of inexhaustible piles of wealth which were only 

 waiting to be snatched up by the fortunate subscribers to the 

 South Sea stock. The Directors began to quote dividends of 

 twenty, thirty, fifty per cent. They claimed that, being the only 

 national creditor, they could soon dictate to Parliament and rule 

 the country. The stock rose from one hundred and twenty-six 

 to one thousand. The mania was universal, — statesmen, washer- 

 women, Churchmen, Dissenters, ladies of high and low degree, 

 being all smitten alike. 



Other bubbles were started by other companies, some of them 

 for the most extravagant objects, such as The Company to make 

 Salt Water Fresh, to Build Hospitals for Bastards, to Obtain 

 Silver from Lead, to Extract Oil from the Seeds of Sunflowers, 

 to Import Jackasses from Spain and thus improve the Breed of 



