Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1851-08-28

CaswaH, and Company, was expelled from
the House, and ordered to refund f250,000.
The Earl of Sunderland, who was next
brought to trial. was acquitted by majority
of 233 to l72. Mr.. Craggs, senior, died the
day previous to that appointed for his trial,
some said by poison administered by his own
hand, but really in an apopletic fit brought
on by grief, caused by his disgraceful situa-
ton, and the premature death of his son,
Secretary Craggs, five weeks before. His
property, amounting to 100000 pounds,
was confscated. The directors of the Com
pany were then tried one by one, and the
whole property of each confscated, except
small allowance which was left them to re-
commence life with. Sir John Blunt was al
lowed 5000 pounds, out of $4,000 pounds !;
Sir John Fellows 10, 600 pounds out of 243, 900
pounds; Sir Theodore Jannsen $4,000 pounds
out of 243,000 pounds Mr.. Edward Gibbon,
the grandfather of Gbbon the historian, 10000
pounds out of 100000 pounds; Sir John
Lambert 5000 pounds out of 1000 pounds;
and others in proportion.
/. Out of the funds procured by this large
coniscation of property, some compensation
was made to the sufferers; but altogether it
did not amount to much. 1t was long before
enterprise recovered the shock which thad sus-
tanned; and so-terrible was the lesson, that to
this day no national bubble has been blown
at all comparable in magnitude to the South
Sea Scheme. The year 1925 indeed was one
of bubble; and speculation ran dangerously
high in 1886; but the South Sea Bubble is
still, and may 1t long continue to be, without
rival in our history.
We have mentioned that simultaneously
with the South Sea Scheme, there were many
otherprojects ahoat, all attracting their groups
of shareholders, and all giving rise to gam
bling and fraud. A list of eighty three such
projects, all of which were summarily extin-
tinguished by the privy council at one sitting,
is given by Mr.. Mackay in his work on
popular Delusions" Some of these are
feasible enough, being schemes for insurance,
or for encouraging various branches of COM
merce and manufacture; and might have sue
ceeded and been useful in a calm state of the
public mind others are so wild and visionary,
that we can scarcely believe that their pro-
jectors were in earnest in believing they
would gather dupes One is for supplying
London with seal coal-capital 100000;
another for effectually settling the island of
Blanco and Sal Tartagus; another for en-
couraging the breed Of horses in England
improving glebe and chursh lands, and build
ing and repairing parsonage houses; fourth
for trading in hair; fifth for a wheel for a
perpetual nloton-capital 100000; sixth
for importing walnut-trees from Virginia
a seventh for purchasing and improving the
fens in Lincolnshire-2,0 100000; an eighth for
nsuring masters and mistresses against loss
es they may sustain by their servants-capi-
tai 100000; a ninth for erecting hospitals
to take charge of illegitimate children
There was one for extracting silver from lead;
and one for transmitting quicksilver into a
fine malleable metal. In fact, whatever
scheme was proposed, took. There was one
protector, however, who outdid all the rest
by stroke of real genius. He proposed "a
company for carrying on an undertaking of
great advantage; but nobody to know what
it is"-capital 100000, divided into 5000
shares of 10 each, deposit 2 per share. The
schemer opened ain Office at Cornhill to re-
ceive names; nearly one thousand dupes came
forward in five hours, and deposited each 2
per share, and next day the clever rascal was
on the other side of the channel with 1900
in his pocket.