XLII. 1844. CHAP. nated so fatally in the close of that year. It was impossible that so great a fall in the rate of discount, and so great an increase in the circulating medium, could take place without a corresponding rise of prices in everything except food, which was kept down by the fine harvests; the state of things of all others most favourable to commercial enterprise and speculation of every kind. 2. way Mania. The first effect of this state of things, as auspicious The Rail in the outset as it was perilous in the end, was a vast increase in railway speculation, and the growth of what has been not inaptly called the RAILWAY MANIA. It was during the years 1844, 1845, and 1846 that this system received its full development, and it was then pushed to a degree of extravagance which would not be credited by future times if not attested by a host of contemporary witnesses, and evinced by lasting effects upon the face and fortunes of the country. Compared with the fever which then seized the public mind, and the magnitude of the speculations in consequence set on foot, the famous South Sea Bubble, and the corresponding fervour of England in 1824-25 and 1836-37, sink into insignificance. The progressive rise in the price of the chief articles of commerce was such as to render speculation of every kind for a considerable time a source of profit, and to diminish to an extraordinary degree the unfortunate ones which terminated in bankruptcy. The result of this, as usual, was, that people thought that the prosperity which had now set in would never cease; that the rise of prices, which had proved so profitable to many, would continue for ever. It must be confessed, that for a considerable time appearances seemed to justify the anticipation. The few fortunate speculators who set on foot some of the favourite lines, soon sold their shares at such prices as in a few days enabled them to realise large fortunes. The knowledge of this so increased the public anxiety to share in these profit 1 Mart. ii. 628; Ann. Reg. 1845, 2,3; Dou bleday, ii. 388. XLII. 1844. able investments, that these shares rose every day higher, CHAP. and scarcely any one who bought had not an opportunity of selling in a few days to advantage. Such was the effect of this, that in a short time the nation seemed to have lost its senses. 3. the mania on society. The effect of this universal mania appeared in a thousand different ways, some of which, it must be confessed, Effects of exhibited the national character in no very favourable colours. The passion for gain, now thoroughly awakened, seized upon all classes, pervaded both sexes, swept away all understandings. The grave and the gay, the old and the young, the studious and the volatile, were alike involved in the vortex. The few who ventured to withstand the torrent, and to suggest that the currency and capital of the country were alike inadequate to bear the strain which would soon be brought upon them, were put aside as mere alarmists, whose opinions were entitled to no consideration. It was said the money never left the country, that it only circulated from hand to hand with more rapidity, and that there was enough and to spare. Every one concerned, however remotely, in the great work of forming the network of railways which was to overspread the country, was worked to death, so great was the universal anxiety to get the lines forward. Surveyors with theodolites and chains were incessantly travelling the country in every direction; and when the proprietor refused his consent to their entry, it was stealthily obtained at night, or openly asserted in daylight by large bodies of men. Nothing could resist the universal mania. Park-walls were to be perforated, shady dells penetrated, gardens pierced through, stately mansions levelled with the ground, villages ruined, streets effaced, to make way for these gigantic precursors of human improvement. As the season passed on, and the 30th November, the last day for lodging plans with the Board of Trade, approached, the pressure and excite XLII. 1844. CHAP. ment became unparalleled. Lithographers by hundreds were brought over from Belgium and France to aid in making the plans; the engineers and their clerks sat up all night, and several of them in two years made large fortunes. On the evening of the closing day the doors of the Board of Trade were besieged by a clamorous crowd contending for admission, as at the pit doors of the when a popular actress is to perform: above Doubleday, six hundred plans were thrust in before the doors closed Personal at midnight on 30th November 1845. The capital reknowledge; Ann. Reg. quired for their construction was £270,950,000, and Chron. 177. above £23,000,000 required to be deposited before the Acts could be applied for! 1 1 Mart. ii. 630, 631; ii. 388, 389; 1845, 4. Effects on the public mind. opera It may easily be conceived that so prodigious and universal a ferment in society did not take place without unhinging in a great degree the public mind, and bringing forward in the most dangerous way many of the worst qualities of human nature. The same effects on all classes which had been observed in France during the Mississippi Bubble, reappeared in Great Britain, but on a much greater scale, and pervading more universally all gradations of society. The passion for gain, deemed by all to be within their reach, seized upon all classes. Not a doubt was entertained, save by the thinking few, who were derided as alarmists and croakers, of the possibility, nay certainty, of reaching the goal; the only point was, who was to be first in the race? All classes joined in it: country clergymen and curates hastened to invest the savings of their scanty incomes in the golden investments; traders and shopkeepers in towns almost universally expended their all in similar undertakings; servants, both in affluent and humble families, were to be seen on all sides crowding to the agents' offices in the nearest towns, to throw their little savings into the crucible from whence a golden image was expected to start forth. It was painful to behold the extent of the delusion, mournful to contemplate its certain consequences. No class, not Ladies of CHAP. even the very highest, was exempt from it. XLII. 1845. 5. diate bene classes. Doubtless some classes gained, and that enormously, by this universal insanity. The legislatorial attorneys, Its immethe engineers in chief employment, and the surveyors, fits to some rapidly made fortunes. It must be confessed they gave the public something very tempting in appearance, at least, for their money. There was not a line proposed that was not supported by the opinion of professional men of the highest character, to the effect that at least ten per cent, probably much more, would be the certain returns to the fortunate shareholders. Experience ere long proved that by doubling the estimated costs, and halving the estimated profits, a much nearer approximation to the truth would be obtained. Under the influence of such powerful excitements it may be believed that, without imputing to any one deliberate and intentional falsehood, great exaggeration prevailed; most erroneous views were successfully palmed off upon the committees, and a vast amount of solid wealth was for ever thrown away, to the utter ruin of great numbers of innocent persons. These truths were ere long too clearly demonstrated by the result. It was computed that no less than £16,000,000 was expended in surveys, legislation, or litigation connected with the bills got up during the railway mania before they got through Parliament; 1 Porter, 3d of the £300,000,000 in round numbers which the lines edit., 324, were computed to cost, nearly a third has never paid . 631; anything in the shape of dividend, and on the remain- ii. 388, 389. ing two-thirds the net receipts, 1 after deducting the VOL. VII. I 326; Mart. Doubleday, CHAP. Working expenses, would not on an average exceed 3 per XLII. 1845. 6. cent.* It would be well if the historian bad only to record Great effect the immediate losses which arose to the parties conspeculations cerned in them from these gigantic undertakings. But of these in the country. unfortunately the evil did not stop here; but, on the contrary, has impressed its mark in a lasting way on the national character and on the estimation in which the Legislature is held. From the extravagant speculations and unbounded gains and losses of the years during which the mania lasted, may be dated a great change, and * The Sums authorised to be expended by Acts of Parliament on Railways in the United Kingdom were as follows in the nndermentioned years :— The entire Receipts from and numbers of travellers on these lines, from which nearly one-half required to be deducted for working expenses, were, The number of Lines completed in these railways was in 1850, The Parliamentary Expenses incurred in getting some of the principal of these lines were, These figures exhibit only the expenses incurred by the promoters of the bills, without those incurred by those who opposed them, which were often of still larger amount.-Parl. Report, July 10, 1850; PORTER, 326, 334, 3d edit. |