Chronicles and characters of the stock exchangeFrancis, John, of the Bank of England
History
Chronicles and characters of the stock exchange
Francis, John, of the Bank of England
Speculation; Stock Exchange (London, England)
Nor can all the world tell us any other end that it could answer; for
as to the pretences of deluding the imperialists on shore, or the
British men-of-war at sea, and so the better to facilitate the escape
of the Pretender to Spain, I undertake to prove that this is absurd
and ridiculous; for the Pretender was embarked at Netunna, and gone
away to sea thirteen days, at least, before this whim of people taken
at Voghera was talked of.
As to the amusements among the Courts at Vienna, Paris, and London,
they amounted to nothing at all, answered no end; neither prompted
any design on one hand, or hindered any thing on the other. In a
word, we may challenge the world to tell us any one turn that was
served by it, or end answered by it, but this in Exchange Alley.
Nor was this so inconsiderable a design as not to be worth while to
form such a juggle, though a great way off; and, as far off as it
is, if we may believe the report of those who remember the machines
and contrivances of that original of stock-jobbing, Sir F—— C——.
There are those who tell us letters have been ordered, by private
management, to be written from the East Indies, with an account of
the loss of ships which have been arrived there, and the arrival
of ships lost; of war with the Great Mogul, when they have been in
perfect tranquillity; and of peace with the Great Mogul, when he was
come down against the factory of Bengal with one hundred thousand
men;—just as it was thought proper to calculate those rumors for the
raising and falling of the stock, and when it was for his purpose to
buy cheap, or sell dear.
It would be endless to give an account of the subtleties of that
capital ch—t, when he had a design to bite the whole Exchange. As he
was the leading hand to the market, so he kept it in his power to
set the price to all the dealers. The subject then was chiefly the
East India stock, though there were other stocks on foot, too, though
since sunk to nothing; such as the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Linen
Manufacture stock, Paper stock, Saltpetre stock, and others, all at
this day worse than nothing, though some of them then jobbed up to
350 per cent., as the two first in particular.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account