1721. But, after ́endeavouring to preserve the public credit. A series of expresses were despatched to the king to inform him of the state of affairs, and, filled with consternation, in which the boldest of his advisers participated, he hastened back to England on the 11th of November. Upon his arrival, the stock of the SouthSea Company had already fallen to 200; and upon the prorogation of parliament to the 8th of December a measure which in such an extraordinary emergency was extremely hazardous it sunk to 135. A report, however, was circulated that the ministry had entered into an arrangement with the company, together with the Bank and the East India Company, which would greatly conduce to the restoration of public confidence, and the stock was again brought up to 210. In the debate on the address, an attempt was made by Shippen to fasten the criminality of the public misfortunes upon the ministers; but the country at large was too much agitated by recent events to take any interest in a party contest. The great object was to *Parl. Hist. vol. vii. 1721. PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY. 105 restore the public credit, and to Walpole all eyes were turned for the salvation of the kingdom. He had at first considerable difficulty in obtaining the consent of the commons to the acknowledgment of the validity of the subscriptions which were made by the proprietors of the debt; but having gained that essential point he proceeded to unfold his plan, which was to engraft nine millions of stock into the Bank of England, and a like sum into the East India Company, leaving the remaining twenty millions in the hands of the South-Sea Company. In the management of this scheme, he carefully avoided all speculative or irritating topics, and conducted the discussion throughout with such admirable temper and discretion that he finally, after having encountered the most vexatious opposition even from the three companies, who were not satisfied with the arrangement because none of them derived any peculiar advantage from it, he succeeded in carrying a bill to that effect through the commons, which afterwards passed the lords, and received the royal assent. But the iniquities of the bubble were yet to be inquired into, and a secret committee of the commons was appointed to investigate the proceedings of the South-Sea directors. The frenzy that had so recently prevailed for all kinds of speculation now gave way to frantic resentment against those who had promoted it. The directors and officers of the South-Sea Company were cited before the lords, and examined at their bar; and the result of the exertions of the secret committee in the lower house developed a history of guilt that produced a sensation of horror in the assembly. The commons ordered their doors to be locked, and the keys placed on the table, and then summoned four members of their house, directors of the company, to attend in their places; upon which, general Ross, on the part of the committee, acquainted the house that "they had already discovered a train of the deepest villany and fraud that hell ever contrived to ruin a nation, which, in due time, they would lay before the house; and that in the mean while, in order to a farther discovery, they thought it highly necessary to secure the persons of some of the directors and principal South-Sea officers, and seize their papers, which was ordered accordingly." By the revelations which flowed from these proceedings, it appeared that large transfers of the company's stock had been made to persons holding high trusts in the state, for the purpose of obtaining their support to the South-Sea Bill; and that the company had been guilty of a variety of shameless frauds upon the public, to which they were encouraged not only by the connivance, but by the participation of several of the ministers. The lord Sunderland and Mr. Aislabie, chancellor of the exchequer, who were deeply implicated in these affairs, were forced into a disgraceful resignation of their offices, and the latter was expelled from the house of commons, and committed to the Tower.* Craggs was preserved from ignominy by a sudden death †, and a variety of persons—the majority of them being men of eminence and station-were severely punished by parliament. The utmost rigor was observed throughout this harassing and painful investigation; and if the commons originally betrayed a culpable subserviency in consenting to a plan which they had not sufficiently considered, they abundantly redeemed their character by the intrepidity and stern impartiality with which they now sifted the wrong, and pronounced judgment upon the culprits. The excitement caused throughout the country by the proceedings was unparalleled. Petitions poured in It appeared that Mr. Aislabie had burned a book of accounts, and given a false discharge for 842,000Z., besides having speculated, in direct violation of his oath, in the funds of the company. + It was suspected that Craggs terminated his own life. Mr. Brodrick, a member of the house, who assisted at all these proceedings, says, in a letter to lord Middleton, "one who came out of the city told me, he be lieved Mr. Craggs dying, if not actually dead, and gave some circumstances in confirmation of a whisper of his having taken a dose; if so, it resembles, in great measure, lord Essex's case." Amongst these were several members of parliament. To such a height was the indignation of the legislature carried, that one gentleman, Mr. Vernon, was expelled the house of commons for endeavouring to interest general Ross on behalf of his relative, Mr. Aislabie. 1721. LORD STANHOPE. 107 from all parts, praying for justice on the offenders.* This strong feeling was communicated even to the lords, and the speeches at both sides partook of a highly inflammable character. Mr. Waller, the son-in-law of Aislabie, having prevaricated in his testimony, and sir John Blount, who was supposed to be the original projector of the bubble, and who was one of its basest agents, refusing to answer certain interrogatories put to him, the duke of Wharton observed, in reference to lord Stanhope, who had somewhat injudiciously interposed to shield the witnesses, "The government of the best princes was sometimes rendered intolerable to their subjects by bad ministers; thus Sejanus had made the reign of Tiberius, a prince originally of the greatest hopes, hateful to the Romans. That wicked minister first began by weaning the affections of the emperor from his son, and next from his people, and so Rome was ruined." Stung by this harsh insinuation, and conscious of his innocence, Stanhope impetuously replied that "the Roman history, no doubt, afforded striking examples; and in return for that which had just been mentioned of a bad minister, he must remind the house of the instance of a great man and illustrious patriot, the elder Brutus, who had a son so profligate, that, to gratify his vices and passions, he hesitated not to sacrifice the liberties of his country." This effort of recrimination was too much for the strength of an honest man, unjustly assailed in a season of national calamity and universal suspicion. Stanhope was seized with sudden illness in the act of speaking, was obliged * All possible means were employed to exasperate the people against the South-Sea directors and their abettors. Pamphlets and handbills were hourly published and sold in the streets. The most clamorous cries for justice were kept up in a series of letters published in the "London Journal," and supposed to be written by Mr. Gordon. Libels of a seditious character became so frequent, that a committee was appointed to inquire into the authors and printers of them. They sent for Peele, the publisher of the "London Journal," and for Mr. Gordon, but they both kept out of the way. Mist, the publisher of the notorious periodical called "Mist's Journal," was sentenced to stand in the pillory, to pay a fine of fifty pounds, and, after three months' imprisonment, to find security for his good behaviour for seven years. In the meanwhile, his paper was carried on under the evasive title of " Fog's Journal." See" Political State." to leave the house, and expired on the following evening. The king is said to have received the intelligence of his death at supper, and to have been so overcome with emotion as to burst into tears. He had some abler ministers, but none whose integrity stood so clear and unsullied. He Knight, the cashier of the company, fled to the continent upon the first indication of danger, after having undergone a single examination at the bar of the house of lords. The moment it was known that he had left his house, a reward of 2000l. was offered for his apprehension in the name of the king, and an order was issued to stop the ports, and take effectual care of the coasts to prevent Knight, or any other officers of the South-Sea Company, from leaving the kingdom. But it was too late, for he was already beyond the jurisdiction of the English authority. His case was every way remarkable, both in its progress and its sequel. left his house on a Saturday night, wrote a letter to the directors on the Sunday evening, vindicating the step he had taken, and on the Monday morning went on board a packet, that conveyed him to Calais that evening. In his letter he stated that " self-preservation obliged him to withdraw from the resentment against the directors and himself; that he had "done nothing to reproach himself with; that he had "taken with him but little more than a sufficiency to maintain himself;" and that he had "withdrawn only to avoid the weight of an inquiry which he found too heavy, sensible that it would have been impossible to have avoided the appearance and charge of prevarication and perjury from the extent of the inquiry, and the nature and largeness of the transactions." The immediate effect of his disappearance was to bring the investigations of the committee to a sudden termination. It appeared that he had taken with him a certain green book, which was supposed to contain the entire secrets of the company, and without his assistance it was impossible to explore the dark labyrinths of the confused and falsified دو |