At the formation of another mining company, the utmost magnanimity was evinced. Rules were passed that none of the directors should hold more than 200 shares, that all which remained should be brought honestly into the market, and that every thing should be fair. But this moderation waxed weaker as their power increased. Thousands of shares were allotted among the managers, and locked carefully up. A resolution was passed, that no director or officer should be required to pay deposits; and then, employing the most respectable brokers to purchase 1,000 shares with the money of the company, they created a sensation in the market, and sent them to a premium. The person who sold the mines to the company was employed to report upon their value. Opinions the most flattering were given of property absolutely worthless; and, as a proof of the greediness of one party and the incapacity of the other, it may be mentioned that a mine, the full value of which was £400, was purchased at £11,000; and that £121,000 were paid for some which, in almost every instance, were exhausted. When the Lower Rhine Steam-Navigation Company was announced, it became a great favorite. Large quantities were sold for the account; and, as the settling time approached, the premium rose to 28. The sellers were unable to deliver the shares, and their difficulties became serious. To meet them, new receipts were printed, closely imitating the old, the name only of the banker being changed. The deceit was discovered. A committee sat to elucidate the fraud, and the supposed concoctor was expelled from the Stock Exchange. The circumstance excited great attention at the time; and many more were said to be implicated than it was in the power of the committee to reach. Another peculiar feature of the period was to be found in the loans which preceded and accompanied the memorable era when the public was wild to lend its capital to foreign states, and the resources of the borrowers were scarcely regarded. The dividends of the English funds were scoffed at; the general rate of percentage was increased in the eyes of the many; Patagonian or Lilliputian securities, which promised eight per cent., were eagerly looked for; and solid loans were followed by visionary dividends. It is a somewhat curious fact, that directly the Navy five per cents were reduced, the people rushed wildly into new securities to retrieve their loss, and missed in the promises of the one the certainty of the other. In 1822, foreign states which, in some cases, had not even attained the freedom for which they fought, became creditors to the English public to the amount of £10,150,000.