deeming several of the public debts; this, however, proved the ruin of the subscribers; for, by the arts used on this occasion by some persons in power, the capital stock of the Company was soon raised to 33,543,2637.

At length, in consequence of the proceedings of this Company and the exclusive privileges granted them, the Metropolis experienced a great stagnation of trade, which occasioned the ruin of many families. An exclusive trade having been granted them, in consequence of a recent treaty with Spain, their agents under cover of the importation, which they were authorized to make by the ship sent annually to Porto Bello, poured in their commodities on the Spanish colonies without limitation or reserve. Instead of a ship of five hundred tons burthen, as stipulated by the treaty, they usually employed one of a thousand tons, exclusive of her water and provisions; and she was accompanied by three or four smaller vessels, which, mooring in creeks, &c. supplied her clandestinely with fresh bales of goods to replace such as had been previously disposed of. Under these advantages, the public being led to believe the profits of the Company much greater than they were, Sir John Blount, one of the Directors, under pretence of enabling government to pay off the national debt by lowering the interest, and reducing all the funds into one, proposed that the South Sea Company should become the sole public creditor.

This plausible scheme being readily adopted by the ministry, soon received the sanction of Parliament, and an act was passed purporting that the Company should be authorized to purchase from the several proprietors all the funded debts of the Crown, which then bore an interest of five per cent. and that after the expiration of six years the interest should be reduced to four per cent, and the capital be redeemable by Parliament. As the Directors could not be supposed to possess a sufficient sum in ready money for so great an undertaking, they were empowered to raise it by opening books of subscription, and granting annuities to such public creditors as should choose to exchange the security

of the Crown for that of the South Sea Company, with the emolaments which might arise from their commerce.

While this affair was in agitation, the stock of this Company rose to almost four hundred pounds, or four times the price paid to the first subscribers; and in order to raise it still higher, Blount, the projector of the scheme, circulated a report on the passing of the bill that Gibraltar and Minorca were to be exchanged for some places in Peru, by which the trade to the South Seas would be greatly increased. In consequence of this rumour, persons of all ranks and conditions, all ages and sexes, crowded to the South Sea House, anxious to become proprietors of the stock. The first purchases were in a few weeks sold for double the sum which had been paid for them, and the infatuation was carried to such a degree, that stock at last sold for ten times its original price. At length this stock falling as rapidly as it had risen, nothing was to be heard but the ravings of disappointed ambition; the execrations of beggared avarise; the pathetic lamentations of innocent credulity; the grief of unexpected poverty, or the frantic howlings of despair*.

However, the Company was not dissolved, though since 1783, they have carried on no trade. They only receive no interest for their capital, which is in the hands of government, and 80007. per annum out of the treasury towards the expense attending the management of their affairs; which is done by a governor, a subgovernor, deputy-governor, and twenty-one directors, annually chosen on the 6th of February, by a majority of votes. Various particulars respecting this company, and the unprecedented consequences of the bursting of what was called the Bubble, have already been related, to which we refer †.

All the remedy which government could supply to this evil, which they, instead of fostering, should have resisted in the begiuning, was by passing an act by which the Directors of the South Sea Company were compelled to forfeit their estates for the benefit

* Hughson's London, Vol. I. p. 341.

Part I. p. 565, to 658,

benefit of the thousands they had ruined by their iniquitous conduct.

The Auction Mart. This new Commercial Edifice is situated partly in Bartholomew Lane and Throgmorton Street, and derives some importance from its immediate contiguity to those active scenes of business, the Bank of England, Royal Exchange, the Stock Exchange, and other public offices. Though grand and imposing in its appearance, it is acknowledged that the peculiar construction of the building has made it eligible in some degree to sacrifice appearance to convenience. Yet notwithstanding this sacrifice to utility, it may be considered as offering a specimen of architecture, simply elegant, and highly creditable to a young arlist, Mr. John Walters, who, without profuse decoration has bestowed upon his design the characteristics of a national edifice.

The direct objects of the Auction Mart grew out of the late increase of sales by auction, and collateral circumstances in many respects ill calculated for conducting concerns of so much magnitude and importance as public sales; besides, the infinite vicis situdes to which commercial speculations are exposed, having suggested that admirable system at New Lloyds' Coffee House, which indefatigable zeal had perfected, and by which the maritime concerns of the kingdom, so intricate, diversified, and multifarious, were conducted with almost mechanical precision, this system the directors of the Auction Mart hoped at least to emulate. Advertisements of sales, before this institution was established, being dispersed promiscuously through the daily jour nals, it was evident, that, excepting to those persons in the habit of perusing a multiplicity of newspapers, a large portion of property announced for sale by auction, escaped notice. To obviate this check upon business, the Auction Mart affords the most prompt information connected with, or bearing the remotest affinity to any or every denomination of property, viz. freehold, copyhold, lifehold, and leasehold estates of every description.

1

Annuities,