England -- Social life and customs; Gambling -- Great Britain
In the end, Lord Cochrane and Mr Butt were condemned to pay to the King
a fine of a Thousand Pounds each, and J. P. Holloway Five Hundred;
and these three, together with De Berenger, Sandon, and Lyte, were
sentenced to imprisonment in the Marshalsea for twelve calendar months.
Further, Lord Cochrane, De Berenger, and Butt were to stand in the
pillory for one hour, before the Royal Exchange, once during their
imprisonment. This latter part of their punishment was, afterwards,
remitted. Lord Cochrane’s name was struck off the Navy List, he was
expelled from the House of Commons, his Arms were taken down from
his stall, as Knight of the Bath, his banner torn down, and kicked
ignominiously out of Henry VII.’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
By very many he was believed innocent, and, on his seat for
Westminster being declared vacant, he was enthusiastically re-elected.
He escaped from custody, was captured, and had to serve his time. On
June 20, 1815, he was told his imprisonment was at an end, if he would
pay the fine imposed upon him; and, on July 3rd, he reluctantly did
so, with a £1000 bank note, on the back of which he wrote:—“My health
having suffered by long and close confinement, and my oppressors having
resolved to deprive me of property, or life, I submit to robbery, to
protect myself from murder, in the hope that I shall live to bring the
delinquents to justice.”
On the very day he was released, he took his seat again in the House of
Commons; and, in 1832, he received a “free pardon,” was restored to the
Navy List, gazetted a rear-admiral, and presented at a Levée!
The year 1825 was remarkable for the number of bubble companies which
were floated or not, and for the dreadful commercial panic which
ensued, during which over seventy banks collapsed in London, or the
country. Over £11,000,000 were subscribed to foreign loans, and
£17,500,000 to different companies. In Parliament there were presented
439 private bills for companies, and Acts were passed for 288. Horace
Smith sings of them thus:
“Early and late, where’er I rove,
In park or square, suburb or grove,
In civic lanes, or alleys,
Riches are hawked, while rivals rush
To pour into mine ear a gush
Of money making sallies.
‘Haste instantly and buy,’ cries one,
Real del Monte shares, for none
Will yield a richer profit;
Another cries—‘No mining plan
Like ours, the Anglo-Mexican;
As for Del Monte, scoff it.’
This, grasps my button, and declares
There’s nothing like Columbian shares,
The capital a million;
That, cries, ‘La Plata’s sure to pay,’
Or bids me buy, without delay,
Hibernian or Brazilian.
‘Scaped from the torments of the mine,
Rivals in gas, an endless line,
Arrest me as I travel;
Each sure my suffrage to receive,
If I will only give him leave
His project to unravel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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