nst these
unlawful projects; the lords-justices afterwards dismissed all the
petitions that had been presented for charters and patents; and the
prince of Wales renounced the company of which he had been elected
governor. The South-Sea scheme raised such a flood of eager avidity and
extravagant hope, that the majority of the directors were swept along
with it, even contrary to their own sense and inclination; but Blunt and
his accomplices still directed the stream.

The infatuation prevailed till the eighth day of September, when the
stock began to fall. Then did some of the adventurers awake from their
delirium. The number of the sellers daily increased. On the twenty-ninth
day of the month the stock had sunk to one hundred and fifty; several
eminent goldsmiths and bankers, who had lent great sums upon it, were
obliged to stop payment and abscond. The ebb of this portentous tide
was so violent, that it bore down everything in its way; and an infinite
number of families were overwhelmed with ruin. Public credit sustained
a terrible shock; the nation was thrown into a dangerous ferment; and
nothing was heard but the ravings of grief, disappointment, and despair.
Some principal members of the ministry were deeply concerned in these
fradulent transactions; when they saw the price of stock sinking daily,
they employed all their influence with the bank to support the credit of
the South-Sea company. That corporation agreed, though with reluctance,
to subscribe into the stock of the South-Sea company, valued at four
hundred per cent., three millions five hundred thousand pounds, which
the company was to repay to the bank on Lady-day and Michaelmas of the
ensuing year. This transaction was managed by Mr. Robert Walpole, who,
with his own hand, wrote the minute of agreement, afterwards known by
the name of the bank contract. Books were opened at the bank to take in
a subscription for the support of public credit; and considerable sums
of money were brought in. By this expedient the stock was raised at
first, and those who contrived it seized the opportunity to realize. But
the bankruptcy of goldsmiths and the sword-blade company, from the fall
of South-Sea stock, occasioned such a run upon the bank, that the money
was paid away faster than it could be received from the subscription.
Then the South-Sea stock sunk again; and the directors of the bank,
finding themselves in danger of being involved in that company's ruin,
renounce