The funds were said to be the nursery of fraud. In the leading companies the interest of the citizen was sacrificed to the jobber. The whole town was converted into a corporation of brokers and usurers, which could lie the government into credit one week and out of it the next. The magistracy of the city encouraged it, and the aristocracy of the city pursued it. ’Change Alley was called a gaming-house publicly set up in the middle of London, towards which the heads of our merchants and tradesmen were turned instead of to their legitimate pursuit; and it was said that £80,000 were paid annually by foreigners in the shape of commissions to the brokers of the Alley. But it was to the bargains for time that public attention was principally pointed by the city member. The origin of these bargains is obvious, and may be traced to the period of six weeks in each quarter, when the bank books were—as it was then thought—necessarily closed to prepare for the payment of the dividend. As no transfer could be made during this period, it naturally enough became a practice to buy and sell for the opening. The habit grew by what it fed on; and, in time, periodical dates for the payment of funds, purchased or sold when it could not be transferred, were fixed on by the Stock Exchange Committee, at intervals of about six weeks. As in these transactions the possession of stock was unnecessary, and the payment of the difference in the price was sufficient, bargains for time became common, and not only English, but foreign capitalists, were attracted by the chance of gain, while the Hebrews flocked to ’Change Alley from every quarter under heaven. In consequence of the view which Sir John Barnard took of these facts, he succeeded in carrying that enactment which, intended to prevent gambling in the funds, has been utterly and singularly powerless in its effect. It provided that no loss in bargains for time should be recoverable in the courts, and placed without the pale of the law all such speculations. One hundred and sixteen years have passed, the act is still in force, and speculative bargains have not only increased, but form the chief business of the Stock Exchange. The greatest corporation in the world has availed itself of the principle, and the effect of the statute is, not to prevent respectable men from speculating, but to make rogues refuse to pay their losses, knowing that, while the law is inefficient, the blackboard of the Stock Exchange is their only punishment. To such men such punishment is ridiculous; they only feel through the purse, and in that they know they are safe by virtue of an act in which they rejoice.