Bloomington herald. [volume] (Bloomington, I. T. [Iowa]) 1840-1849, 1841-10-15

HuNT's MERCHANTS MAGAZINE, for Jolly,
Contains it's usual variety Of instructive mat
ter. The leading article is a history OF the
Bank Bubble in France, or of the Mlssissp-
pi, from which we take the following passage
for the especial benefit of Mr.. Bidde and eth
er wing financiers:
"More than $4,000 persons are said to have
been reduced from wealth 10 want by the de-
probation of the stock of the bank, and the
dishonor Of its notes. The victim Of the Mis-
sissppi Scheme might look 10 the repien-
ished Golfers Of the government, or the olsen
numbered estates Of the princes Of the blood,
with the consciousness that it had been thro'
his own destruction that their revenues had
been built up. Private fortunes had been
melted together by wholesale, to create the es-
tate Ct minister or favoritc, like the ordina-
nv coins which are drawn from the usual pur-
poses Of circulation, and are brough l-together
in one great mass, to form splendid, but I'M
necessary article of plate. The grounds Of
Chantilly, which had been mortgaged, and
even alenated in part, during the misfortunes
Of the family, were recovered by the Duke of
Bourbon, through the means which his sue
cessful specuations afforded, aud built up in
magnifcence suitable TO the condition of the
most prnceIy house of Europe. An English
gentleman, by the name Of Gage, amassed SO
immense fortune, that, in defiance OF the usu-
al decorum of continental etiquette, he offered
three millions sterling to the King of Poland
for his crown; and the monarch is said to have
been so deaf to the voice of self-respect, as to
have actually treated for the sale. 1t would
have seemed as if the wealth of the whole
| nation had been thrown into the government
foundry, and recast into lis colossal shapes,
which aslonshed not only from their grandeur,
but their solidity. The face of the country
was reduced to widerness-its fields We're
d:y-i,s aborers starving-its trade confused
while here and there, on the shore, or in the
| forest, might be seen splendid palace, or a
grotesaue pagoda, which had been built by the
| collected energies Of the state. Blu: who can
| estimate the misery that was then suffered 3
| The eve of the traveller was caught by the
monuments Of wealth which stood out In the
distance before him, aud he forgot to notice the
miserable howell by their side. The chroni-
| Giles of the Court of Louis XIV, are too much
wrapped up in the notnentous weight OF the
| intrgues which they relate, to bestow a tho't
upon the silent suiferings that were endured
| by those who were not involved in the mas
querade. Madam du Bari says carelessly,
| that the poor were found starved and frozen IN
troops, in the dreadful winter that ensued but
she relates it as matter of speculative Curl
osity, in the same way that almanac writers,
in our own day, relate the extraordinary move
ments among wild beasts, who were driven by
the extremity of the weather TO the roadside
to die. The princess Elizabeth wondered that
the people should slarve; she asked whether
they were too proud to eat bread. In another
reign the cup was full, and the princess Eliz.
abelh was led 20 the altar, to explate the crimes
| of those from whom her honors were descend
ed. She might have looked to the other end
| of the street in which she was sacrificed, and
seen there, led on a similar errand to that in
which she was employed, victim far mora
| frail, but not less obnoxious TO the execution.
ers. The daughter of king Louis XIV, and
the mistress who countenanced him in his last
atrocities, might have called to remembrance
in tina, solemn hour, the miseries which the
one had endeavored to alleviate, and which the
other had aggravated till the moment of re-
| venge had arrived.
"rhe founder of the Mississippi Scheme
found himself brought down in the course o.
few short months, from pitch of honor sec
ond to that alone which belongs to the king
to point so low that there were none IN thai
great realm who would have done him rever
ence. In the desolate retreat at Venice, II
which he hastened to draw around him tina