could not be restored: the decline progressively CHAP. continued, and the news of the crash in France

completed ours.
Thousands of families were re-
duced to beggary; thousands more were threatened
with the same fate; and the large fortunes made,
or supposed to be made, by a few individuals, served
only by comparison to aggravate the common ruin.
Those who had sported most proudly on the surface
of the swollen waters were left stranded and bare
by the ebbing of that mighty tide. The resentment
and rage were universal. "I perceive," says a
contemporary, "the very name of a South Sea
"man grows abominable in every county *;" and
a cry was raised not merely against the South Sea
Directors, not merely against the Ministry, but
against the Royal Family, against the King himself.
Most of the statesmen of the time had more or less
dabbled in these funds. Lord Sunderland lost con-
siderably t; Walpole, with more sagacity, was a
great gainer‡; the Duke of Portland, Lord Lons-
dale, and Lord Irwin, were reduced to solicit West
India governments; and it is mentioned as an ex-
ception, that "neither Lords Stanhope, Argyle, nor
Roxburgh, have been in the stocks."§ Towns-

* Mr. Brodrick to Lord Midleton, Sept. 27. 1720. + Mr. Brodrick to Lord Midleton, Sept. 13. 1720. Coxe's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 730. Walpole sold out at the highest price (1000), saying, as he well might, "I am fully satisfied." His wife continued to speculate a little longer on her own account.

§ Mr. Drummond to Mr. D. Pulteney, November 24. 1720. (Coxe's Walpole.)

XI.

1720.

XI.

1720.

CHAP. hend, I believe, might also be excepted. But the public indignation was pointed chiefly against Sir John Blunt as projector, and against Sunderland and Aislabie as heads of the Treasury; and it was suspected, how truly will afterwards appear, that the King's mistresses and several of his ministers, both English and German, had received large sums in stock to recommend the project. In short, as England had never yet undergone such great disappointment and confusion, so it never had so loudly called for confiscation and blood.

That there was some knavery to punish, I do not deny, and I shall presently show. It seems to me, however, that the nation had suffered infinitely more by their own self-willed infatuation than by any fraud that was or could be practised upon them. This should not have been forgotten when the day of disappointment came. But when a people is suffering severely, from whatever cause, it always looks round for a victim, and too often strikes the first it finds. It seeks for no proof; it will listen to no defence; it considers an acquittal as only a collusion. Of this fatal tendency our own times may afford a striking instance. Whilst the cholera prevailed at Paris and Madrid, it was seen that the mob, instead of lamenting a natural and unavoidable calamity, were persuaded that the springs had been poisoned, and ran to arms for their revenge.

During this time, express after express was sent to the King at Hanover, announcing the dismal news, and pressing his speedy return. George had

XI.

1720.

intended to make a longer stay in Germany; but CHAP. seeing the urgency of the case he hastened homewards, attended by Stanhope, and landed at Margate on the 9th of November. It had been hoped that his Majesty's presence would have revived the drooping credit of the South Sea Funds, but it had not that effect; on the contrary, they fell to 135 at the tidings that Parliament was further prorogued for a fortnight. That delay was necessary to frame some scheme for meeting the public difficulties, and this task, by universal assent, and even acclamation, was assigned to Walpole. Fortunately for that Minister he had been out of office when the South Sea Act was passed; he had opposed it as he had opposed all the measures, right or wrong, of Stanhope's and Sunderland's government, and its unpopularity, therefore, turned to his reputation with the country. Every eye was directed towards him; every tongue invoked him, as the only man whose financial abilities, and public favour, could avert the country's ruin. Nor did he shrink from this alarming crisis. Had he stood aloof, or joined the opposition, he would probably have had the power to crush the South Sea Directors and their abettors, and especially to wreak his vengeance upon Sunderland; and he is highly extolled by a modern writer for magnanimity in resisting the temptation.* But though

* Coxe's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 138. A letter in his second volume (p. 194.) from Pulteney, then a friend of Walpole, confirms the view I have taken.

CHAP, Walpole undoubtedly deserves great praise through XI. all his administration for placability and personal 1720. forbearance, yet I can scarcely think the present case an instance of it. In this case the line of interest exactly coincided with the line of duty. Would not the King have shut out Walpole for ever from his confidence had Walpole headed this attack on his colleagues? Would not a large section, at least, of the Whigs, have adhered to their other chiefs? Was it not his evident policy, instead of hurling down the objects of popular outcry, to befriend them in their inevitable fall, and then quietly to step into their places, with the consent, perhaps even with the thanks, of their personal adherents?

Meanwhile the German ministers and mistresses, full of fear for themselves, and in utter ignorance of England, were whispering, it is said, the wildest schemes. One spoke of a pretended resignation to the Prince of Wales; another wished to sound the officers of the army, and try to proclaim absolute power; another again advised to apply to the Emperor for troops. But such mad proposals, if, indeed, they were ever seriously made, were counteracted by the English ministers, and still more, no doubt, by the King's own good sense and right feeling.

On the 8th of December Parliament met in a mood like the people's, terror-stricken, bewildered, and thirsting for vengeance. In the House of Commons parties were strangely mixed; some men,

XI.

who had dipped in dishonest practices, hoped by CHAP. an affected severity to disarm suspicion; others, smarting under their personal losses, were estranged 1721. from their political attachments. Whigs and Tories crossed over, while the Jacobites, enjoying and augmenting the general confusion, hoped to turn it in their own behalf. The King's opening speech lamented the unhappy turn of affairs, and urged the seeking a remedy. This passed quietly in the Lords; but when Pulteney moved the Address in the Commons, Shippen proposed an angry amendment, and produced a violent debate. "Miscreants"

scum of the people" "enemies of their coun"try;" such were the names given to the South Sea Directors. One member complained that the Ministry had put a stop to all the little bubbles, only in order to deepen the water for the great one. Lord Molesworth admitted that the Directors could not be reached by any known laws; "but extra"ordinary crimes," he exclaimed, "call for extra"ordinary remedies. The Roman lawgivers had not "foreseen the possible existence of a parricide; but "as soon as the first monster appeared, he was sewn “in a sack, and cast headlong into the Tiber; and "as I think the contrivers of the South Sea "Scheme to be the parricides of their country, "I shall willingly see them undergo the same "punishment!" Such was the temper of the times! On this occasion, Walpole spoke with his usual judgment, and with unwonted ascendency.

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