The spirit of gambling se...
The Times, 1824-04-15T00:00:00

; he spirit of gambling seems to catch a Aew stimuliu every hour. lYe would that it were possible to act against i the community- Or ga.mesters om a large scate, as easil a'nd decidedlly as against fti,;se miscreants in miniature, w,hp, have hidhertoborne, without J, serving to lear the ?xch1.. si*e odium itWched to that in,fat?w?us professiols, 1P%e the lhells o[St. James's and its neiglboul0100d were wb?rYed by a posse. of p6lice-officers from Boiv-stree;-Wlhen, mores rectntly, the wlfole corporation of petty plunn'.vrors wvas Convulsed by the Pposures anticipated from. vw/) :ell's trial, we rejoiced withl the rest of ouu neig'hbours, at whaii% in our innocence, we trusted might prove a substantial re- ' buke to the career of ftauid and of seduction. We were severely tlisappointed; for if that particular evil has been checked-if the. smnaller vessel has ceased to bleed--the life-stream haas burst forth from a prhicipal' artery;' and thlieatens our national existence. 'The schemg of gigantic speculation, which have their 'autkors ir_e city of London, and half the people'of Elland. for their dupes-whicfl rise upou us with the rrioriling' sun, and accomplish the deception and destructior) of thou- sands beibre nightfall-raustbe discountenianced by the.so. ber part of society, or there is prep4red for- this natict a crash, for which there has been no parallel but in the South Sea tragedy. In our own time siuch a thing has not been known, until now, as a project which required an outlay of millionie, succeeding for no reason but becrmre it weas a o ject. The wlhole people of England appear to have plungeei into a lottery, vhere thte price, of a ticket is just all that each purcbaser is worth: the eagerness to buy is not found. ed on the slightest attempt at calculation. No one seems to tlhink of the proportion of prizes to blanks; they sfmply buy because. the price of tickets advances, and because they look to make money by selling them. This it is which constitutes the differenee between - rational enterprise, and desperate hazard. The former proceeds on a know- ledge, or presumed knowledge, of tbe' telation between the means employed and the end 'prosed: the latter, on an observation of the rise or fall of whatever stock is presented to it-the very madnus Xvhich has within these two years ruined such numbers of prosperous families by their dlabbling in foreign loans, and which made such tre- mendous havoc in the affiairs of our ancestors just 104 years from the date at -avhieli we are writing. We vish. for no iuaconstitutiotial or arbitrary interference with the rights of property; or even with the freaks of folly; but -we do .earnestly entreat our countrymen to examine somewhatiur- ther iut the allurienents off'ered to them, thau merelytfieir 'narketaXle value. Let nnne a u i t lti dnvsot* or reaction. inne prtce-oxtie stocn s loan,, or - company, is a ground of speculation just equal to, and no, whit morereasonable thani a thrpw. of the dice-and of dice tOO probably loaded. We extract from SmolUet's Gontinu- ation of Hume, a passage relative to the South Sea frenzy, which the 'sanguine-minded of the present season may not without advantage meditate:- "While the King was involved at Hanover in a labyrinth of negotiations, the South-Sea scheme produced a kind of national de- lirium in his English dominions. Blunt, the projector, had taken the hint of his plan from the famous AlMississippi scheme formicd by Law, which in the preceding year had raised such a ferment in France, and entailed ruin upon maRy thousand fanmilies of that. - kingdom. In the scheme of Law, there was something substantial. An exclusive trade to Louisiana promised some advantage; though the design was defeated by the frantic eagerness of the people. Law- himlself became the dupe of the Regent, who transferred tthe burden of fifteen hundred millions of the King's debts to the shoulders of the subjects; while the projector wns sacrificed as the scape-goat of the political iniquity. The South-Sea scheme promised no com. merdal advantage of any consequence. It was buoyed up by nothing but the folly and rapacioussess of individtals, which became so blind and extravagnt, that Blunt, with moderate talents, was able to impose upon the whole nation, and nsake tools of the other di- rectors, to serve his own purposes and those of a few associates- When this projector found that the South-Sea stock did not rise ac- cording to his expectation upon the bill'a being passed, he circulated a report that Gibraltar and Fort Mahon would be exchanged for some places in Peru; by which means the English trade to the South-Sea would be protectod and enlarged. This rumour, diffrused by his emissaries,acted like a contagion- In five days the directors opened their books for a subscription of one mi'lion, at the rate of three hundred pounds for every hundred pounds capital. Persons of all ranks crowded to the house in such a manner, that the first subscri,tion exceeded two millions of original stock. In a few days. this stock adrvaRcd to three hundred and lorty pounas; auu use subscriptions were sold for double the price of the first payment. Without entering into a detail of the proceedings, or explaining the scandalous arts that were practised to enhance the value of the stock, and decoy the unwary, we shall only observe, that by the promise of prodigious dividends, and other infamous arts, the stock was raised to one thousand; and the whole nation infected with the spirit of stock-jobbing to an astonishing degree. All distinction of party, religion, sex, character, and circumstances, were swaUowed up in this univeral concern, or in some such pecuniary project. Ex- change-alley was filed with a strange concourse of statesmen and clergymen, churchmen and dissenters,Whigs and Tories, physicians, lawyers, tradesmen, and even with multitudes of females. All other professions and employments were utterly neglected; and the people's attention wholly engrossed by this and other chimerical schemes, which were known by the denomination of bubbles. New companies started up every day, nuder the countenanee of the prime nobility. The Prince of Wales Vwas constituted Governor of the Velch Copper Company: the Duke of Chandos appeared at tbe head of the York-buildings Company: the Duke of Bridgewa formed a third, for building houses in London and Westmin_- About aAhundred suchs chemes. were projected and put in execu- tion to the ruin of many thousands. The sums proposed to be raised by these expedients amounted to 300 millions sterling, which exceeded the value of all the lands in England. The nation was so intoxicated with the spirit of adventure, that people became a prey to the grossest delusion. An obscure projector, pretending to have formed a very advantageois scheme, which, however, he did not explain, published proposals for asubscription,in which hepro- rnised that in one month the particulars of his project should be discosed. In the mnean time lbe declared that every person paying two guineas ahould be entitled to a subscription for 1001.,. which would produce that sum yearly. In one forenoon this adventurer received a thousand of these subscriptions; and in the evening set out for another kisgdom. The King, before his departure, had is- sueda proclamation against these unlawful projects; the Lords. Justicessafterwards dismissed anl the petitions that had been pre- sented for chatters and patents; 'and the Prince of WVales re- nounced the company of which he-had beeni elected Governor. The South Sewscheme raised such a flood of eager avidity and extrava- gant hope, that the majofity of the Directors were suvept along with it, even contrary. to their oWn sessse and inclination; but Blunt and his accomplicea still directed the strearn. " The infatuation preeviled till the,8th day of September, when the stockbeph0to fall. Then did some of the adventurers awake fros their deliriur. The number of the seUers daily increased. LOn ,thuSgday o? the molnlhbt,e etock htunkto 10: sever3 enie'ntgo1ldsnithg and bankers, who had lent great sum, upon it, werc obligtd4t stop payment, allld abscon,d. The ebbofthisportent- ou3 tide was 50 violenit, that it bore down every tling in its way; and an infinitenunber of fiamilies were overwhelmed with ruin. Public credit sustained a terrible shock; the nation was thrown into a dangerous fernent; and nothing was heard but the ravings of grief, di4appointment, and desnair."