CHAPTER X.

Curious Forgery.—Its Discovery.—Loan of 1796.—Its Management.—French Revolution and its Effect.—List of Subsidies to Foreign Powers.—Removal of Business from ’Change Alley.—Erection of the present Stock Exchange.—Loyalty Loan.—Preliminaries of Peace.—Its Effect.—Hoax on the Stock Exchange.—War renewed.—Great Fraud on the Jobbers.—Its Discovery.—Rights of Stock-brokers.

On the 2d of November, 1793, as Mr. Martin, broker of ’Change Alley, was occupied in his business, he was applied to by a young man of somewhat effeminate appearance and of good address, to sell £16,000 scrip. As Mr. Martin was explaining to the applicant that an introduction was necessary, a Mr. Lyons, also a member of the Alley, esteemed a reputable person, passed, and the young man, to remove Mr. Martin’s doubts, immediately pointed to Mr. Lyons, as thoroughly aware of his respectability. The latter, on being questioned, said he knew the stranger intimately, at the same time expressing his dissatisfaction at not being employed by him. The introduction was sufficient for Mr. Martin, and he sold that day £10,000 out of the £16,000 intrusted to his care. The seller, by some curious chance, or for some subtle reason, did not make his appearance to receive the proceeds, nor did he leave an address to which it might be sent. On the following morning, however, Mr. Martin received a visit from him at his private residence; but, on being informed that the whole of the stock was not sold, his demand for payment was delayed. The day on which the remainder of the scrip was disposed of was a holiday at the Bank, and from this simple circumstance arose the discovery of a curious fraud. The business at the Stock Exchange on public holidays is trifling, and the buyer, instead of hurriedly depositing the scrip in his pocketbook, had leisure to remark that there was some irregularity about it. Mr. Martin at once stepped over to the Bank, checked the document, and discovered the forgery.

The scheme to which this gentleman had so nearly fallen a prey was cunningly contrived. The effeminate applicant to Mr. Martin was the sister of Lyons, disguised in male attire,—Lyons having placed himself in the way at the proper moment to give the necessary character; and, had it not been for the chance circumstance alluded to, would have profited largely by the deceit. The scheme failed; Lyons was apprehended; and, rather than give his sister the affliction of appearing against him, he pleaded guilty; thus sacrificing the slight chance of life which remained, to spare the feelings of her whom he had betrayed into crime.

In 1796 a loan for eighteen millions was proposed. The usual inquiries were made by the interested parties, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer positively declared that it should be conducted upon principles of free and open competition. The day was appointed to arrange its preliminaries. Mr. Mellish, Mr. James Morgan, and Mr. Boyd, were competitors; and when they had assembled, Mr. Boyd requested a few words in private with the Chancellor. The request was granted; and the surprise of Messrs. Mellish and Morgan may be conceived, when the Chancellor, on returning, proposed, that, if the latter bid for the loan, Mr. Boyd should be at liberty to supersede them on paying half per cent. above the highest offer. This was decidedly and indignantly refused; and the Chancellor, without any other proposition, at once agreed to take the terms offered by Mr. Boyd, although it was fully understood by all that there should be no final settlement on that day. The real causes of this extraordinary proceeding are difficult to ascertain; but the excuse offered by the Chancellor was, that Boyd had some claim on government, in consideration of the previous loan not having entirely expired. Allowing this, the state had no right to remunerate Mr. Boyd at the expense of others; and as very little of the previous scrip remained in his possession, it was, whatever partisanship might allege in excuse, a gross dereliction of public duty, and a great misdirection of public interest, to allot a loan without competition, at a loss of £499,500 to the public. At any rate, the contract was notified as open, the Governor of the Bank was authorized to declare it so, and the Chancellor expressed no doubt upon the subject.

There was much comment at the time. There was also a curious story in circulation of bills to the amount of £700,000 having been drawn on the treasury in fictitious names, and with fictitious dates; and it was asserted that, when the loan was contracted, it was absolutely known by the Cabinet that the king’s speech would inevitably raise the funds, and add five per cent. to the gains of the contractor. Before the first payment, £2,160,000 was the profit on a contract for eighteen millions.

During the loans so frequently mentioned, it was curious to witness the bidders arising at early dawn; waiting from two until ten in the morning, and then see them rush, with all the eager impetuosity of gain, to grasp a share of the proffered good.

When it became known that, on the 12th of May, 1789, an insurrection had broken out at Paris, it was but little imagined that its effects would press upon the resources of England for ever, increase her taxation,and embarrass her councils; and as news came from time to time of the excesses of the mob, the destruction of the Bastille, and the murder of the monarch, it was received in accordance with the political principles of the listener.

The first effect of the revolution shook the state to its foundation. A strong democratic tendency passed through Europe, and England shared the peril. A feeling of public wrong was prevalent. A fierce movement convulsed the populace. Debating societies were established, and the misgovernment of the nation was exposed. The public-houses were filled with orators, and the cry for reform was incessant. The press teemed with warnings and appeals. Societies corresponding with the Jacobin clubs of Paris were established. Some of the first men in England welcomed the revolution with enthusiasm, while the masses hailed it with delight. The Convention was congratulated; and it is surprising that, with democratic principles, a democratic spirit, and a numerous array of men of rank on the popular side, England should have preserved her constitution.

William Pitt, the minister of the day, took a bold and determined position. “It is not reform they want,” he said, “it is revolution. They wish to react the troubles of France; to murder the king; and establish a republic.” The people petitioned, and were neglected. They agitated, and were punished. The youth of England clamored for more freedom; and revolutionary principles spread far and wide. Persons of rank and property were alarmed, and formed associations against anarchists and levellers. Parliament was summoned before its time; the Alien Bill was passed; the naval and military forces were augmented; and when the French Convention declared they would assist the disaffected subjects of all monarchical governments, the English ministry demanded a disavowal. The demand was refused; the French ambassador was ordered to leave the kingdom; and, in 1793, the war which added so terribly to England’s encumbrances was declared.

At this time the position of revolutionary France was remarkable. From the commencement of the change, the princes of Europe regarded it with dislike; and the death of Louis was sufficient to decide all crowned heads against the movement. So soon, therefore, as war was declared, treaties were formed with the principal Continental powers. In six months, seven treaties of alliance, and six of subsidies, were concluded. Sweden coalesced with Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The German empire followed. Bavaria, Suabia, and the Elector Palatinate joined the hostile league. Naples followed the example of the Holy See; and the young republic, menaced from without and divided within, saw her territory invaded by half a million of the most warlike troops in Europe.

But the danger was met boldly. The combined armies which were to destroy democracy and establish kingly supremacy were checked at the first onset. The republic resolved to conquer, and the waste of life was disregarded. Conscriptions were frequent; reinforcements arrived constantly; and the army of the allies gave way. But to roll back the tide of war was insufficient for a victorious and a military people. The invasion was carried from their soil, and the invaders were dishonored ontheir own hearths. A great man had arisen; and Italy fell before the genius of Napoleon. Holland was conquered; Prussia and Spain sued for peace; the savage Russ and the disciplined Austrian alike gave way before the fierce enthusiasm of the soldiery, and the greatness of the captain.

In the mean time, the aspect of affairs in England was alarming. Ineffectual trials for high treason agitated the people. Every effort to pervert casual discontent into determined rebellion was made. The price of provision was high; the system of subsidies impoverishing; and taxation saddened the homes and hearts of the people.

The emperor had received seven millions, Prussia a million and a half; and a host of minor powers had coalesced from similar causes. But if the trials of the people were fearful, the difficulties of the government were numerous. Disaffection among the populace, a powerful and organized opposition within the House, a general hatred of the war without, an oratory unsurpassed in the senate, an invective unsurpassed in the street, an empty exchequer, a starving people, and quarterly loans, were difficulties which even the fine eloquence of William Pitt, and the large majorities he commanded, found it hard to surmount. Riots which endangered the royal person ensued; hundreds of thousands clamored against the taxation which oppressed them; and England seemed on the brink of revolt.

But a yet more dangerous era awaited the land. The navy, which had saved us from invasion, mutinied; the gold of the country followed her subsidies; the Bank of England ceased to pay her notes in specie; the power of France increased; Austria only remained to check the republic on the Continent; and Lodi witnessed a defeat which paralyzed the Imperial power. The passage of the Alps followed; and, within thirty miles of his capital, humiliating terms were dictated to the Emperor of Austria.

England now stood alone against France. An invasion was threatened; but it stirred a spirit of resistance which will long remain a memorable passage in English history. Every village had its volunteers, every corporation its company; and, whatever their defects may have been in the eyes of military science, there was scarcely a man who would not have marched to certain death to preserve the freedom inherited from his fathers. Song and sermon alike inspirited them; night after night watch-fires were prepared on the lonely hills of the country; and the slightest sound or symptom of invasion would have called forth its devoted sons and servants.

These things are greatly to the praise of our countrymen; and the following list of subsidies, up to 1801, will prove it was no trifle with which they contended, when they strained every power to meet the financial difficulties of the time:—

But though England witnessed the power of the republic aggrandized on the Continent,—though the blood she had shed and the money she had spent were ineffectual on land,—she yet retained her ancient supremacy at sea. The name of Nelson was a word of dread; and the maritime force of France was crushed by that victory which crowned a series of splendid successes in the Bay of Aboukir, and which, known as the battle of the Nile, went like a trumpet call throughout Europe. The despondency of the Continent passed away; the system of coalition, so dear to William Pitt, was again called forth; and Austria, Russia, Turkey, and Naples once more joined the victorious island. Loans were again made. Germany had another million, Russia half that amount, and other sums passed to other powers. But the exertion was vain, the loans were fruitless; and in 1802 that peace, of which it was said “every man is glad, but no man is proud,” was concluded in the treaty of Amiens.

In the same year the sinking funds were united, to assist in discharging the debts then existing; and one per cent. on loans subsequent to 1802 was again appointed, to swell the amount. This fund at its commencement was limited to four millions, but this limitation was repealed; and the application of expired annuities, and of saving by the reduction of interest, was also repealed.

In the latter part of the century, a beneficial change was made in the provision for the naval expenses. Prior to this period, £4 per man per month was the allowance to meet the entire cost of the department; after this time, the expenses of the navy were supplied, like other charges, from the loans periodically raised.

Though the discontent of the English people was often roused, yet the stories which were occasionally circulated,—of forced loans in France,—of Parisian banking-houses being surrounded by soldiers,—of money-chests violated, and of moneyed men plundered,—had considerable effect in quieting them. It is probable that many of these were inventions; some of them were understood to be so; but when it is known that entire yearly incomes were often collected, and called income-tax, there are few financial follies of our neighbours which we should not be inclined to credit.

A curious proposition to pay off the national debt was very seriously made in 1798. A profound disquisition upon the evils which arose from it, and the ruin to which it was leading, was followed by an intricate array of figures, a close calculation of the population, and an analysis of their incomes. Somewhat excited by the grave beginning, the public were not a little disappointed to find that, by deducting one day’s provision per week for a certain time, and allowing compound interest on it, the great financial difficulty of the day might be overcome. The volume was privately printed, in quarto, at considerable expense; but whether itemanated from a lunatic asylum, or whether it sent the writer to one, cannot be ascertained.

It must be evident from the brief record of the war just given, that business in the funds had increased greatly. Prior to 1801, the market of ’Change Alley, in the coffee-house where the brokers met, was, as a public place, open to any who chose to make it his resort. The jobber who reckoned his transactions by hundreds of thousands was jostled by the man who was disposed, either morally or materially, to pick pockets; while the loans which had increased the national debt to 550 millions, the exchequer-bills, which were circulated as freely as the government dared, and the companies, which were augmented in proportion, formed an amount of business that, in the opinion of the principal persons, demanded a building to bear some proportion to the importance of its transactions. It was resolved, therefore, to choose a plot of ground as near the Bank as possible, and to meet the required expenses by private subscription. Whatever errors may be indigenous to the Stock Exchange, illiberality can scarcely be classed among them; and so successful were the proceedings, that, on the 18th of May, 1801, Mr. William Hammond, chairman of the committee of management, laid the first stone of the first building erected exclusively for the business of the Stock Exchange. Beneath the stone the following inscription, engraved on copper, was placed:—

“On the 18th of May, in the year 1801, and forty-one of George III., the first stone of this building, erected by private subscription, for the transaction of business in the public funds, was laid in the presence of the proprietors, and under the direction of William Hammond, William Steer, Thomas Roberts, Griffith Jones, William Grey, Isaac Hensley, Jo. Brackshaw, John Capel, and John Barnes, managers; James Peacock, architect. At this era, the first of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland, the public funded debt had accumulated in five successive reigns to £552,730,924. The inviolate faith of the British nation, and the principles of the constitution, sanction and secure the property embarked in this undertaking. May the blessing of that constitution be secured to the latest posterity!”

To secure respectability in the members, vote by ballot was adopted, and ten guineas per annum fixed on as the subscription.

The peace of 1801 was a welcome respite to all save the members of the Stock Exchange; where it was said, “There were not commissions sufficient to pay for summer excursions, nor confidence enough to make a bankrupt.” Great efforts had been made to reduce the price, which continued to ascend; although Goldsmid was said to have stood in the market and sold to any amount at the lowest price of the time. The attempt proved vain; and the endeavour to control public opinion was paid for by this house to the amount of £180,000.

It was difficult to believe, at first, that war had really ceased. There was a continued excitement until the treaty was signed; all places of public resort were thronged with inquirers; betting ran high about the articles; the chances of exchequer-bills and new lotteries were discussed; and when the truce was announced in the city, it was also announced that the preliminaries of a new loan would be arranged. Talleyrand was talked of as having employed his information and capacity in gaining large sums; foreigners generally were busy in making or marring theirfortunes; and it was ascertained that, in 1803, they held upwards of eighteen millions of government securities. When it was known that the preliminaries were signed, the tumultuous joy of the nation is beyond expression; and Lloyd’s was instantly crowded. The people ran about, congratulating one another on the happy event; the different steeples displayed the union-flag by day, and at night a general illumination took place; consols rose from 59 to 66½, and there were twenty-one defaulters on the next settling day.

The loan, known as the loyalty loan, attracted much attention in the early part of the century. The period at which it was contracted was a critical one for the empire. Abroad, Prussia and the princes of the Empire had withdrawn from the confederacy against France; Austria demanded assistance; Holland was bound by fear to the French republic. Stagnation of trade, scarcity of specie, want of provisions, and discontent among the people, marked the period at home. The supplies for the year were difficult to obtain; an appeal was made to the loyalty of the nation, and that appeal was answered. Some subscribed in the hope of gain; others to curry favor; and, with all these various interests, eighteen millions were subscribed in a few days. As an additional inducement, it was promised that the capital, if claimed, should be repaid within two years after a definitive treaty of peace. The peace of Amiens came in 1802, and the holders were, therefore, entitled to demand, on the 27th of March, 1804, £100 sterling for each £100 stock, although the latter was at a heavy discount. It need hardly be added, that the claim was made; and, as money was not sufficiently plentiful, it was arranged that, for every £100 of the three per cent. loyalty loan, £100 Navy five per cent. should be given, and for the difference between the money-price of the latter and £100 sterling, the holder should receive the amount in three per cents. The whole entailed a heavy loss upon the country, and this was more to be regretted, because upwards of eight millions of this loan had been gathered by the Jews, and by two city banking-houses.

A few months evinced the uncertainty of the peace. Jealous and watchful, both powers stood ready to renew the combat. The First Consul insulted our ambassadors; dismantled fortresses; annexed whole countries to France; sent armies against the free citizens of Switzerland; demanded the banishment of French emigrants, and the abridgment of the liberty of the press; until, unable to subdue their passions, the love of peace which had once swayed men’s minds changed to a fierce desire for war. In May, 1803, the English ambassador demanded an explanation, and was insolently told that Great Britain was unequal to cope with France.

During this period great anxiety prevailed throughout London, concerning the completion of a negotiation on which so much depended. The more thoughtful hoped that the peace of the world would not be disturbed; and great was the pleasure, therefore, of these good citizens, when, on the 5th of May, 1803, in passing the Mansion House, their attention was arrested by the following letter, conspicuously displayed in the place usually allotted to important information. It was short, but to the purpose:—

“Lord Hawkesbury presents his compliments to the Lord Mayor, and has the honor to acquaint his Lordship, that the negotiation between this country and the French republic is brought to an amicable conclusion.”

The glad tidings soon reached the Stock Exchange, and the funds rose to seventy on the opening of the market. In a short time, however, suspicion was aroused. Men doubted, though they scarcely knew why; and the price fluctuated, with a downward tendency. Many of the members, as they arrived from their residences at the West, where the news ought to have reached, were utterly ignorant of the intelligence. The faith of the bulls failed them, and the boldness of the bears increased. It soon became confidently asserted that the news was fictitious; and when the treasury received information of the report and its origin, a letter was sent by the authorities, terming the important document a scandalous forgery. Amid a confusion, an uproar, and a noise, at that period unprecedented, the Lord Mayor communicated in person the contents of his second letter. Business was immediately suspended; the guilty and the guiltless were alike suspected; and when a price was named, it was at a reduction of seven per cent. A subscription was entered into to assist in discovering the parties implicated; all bargains were declared void; and the only important result was in a number of actions at law, the benefit of the legal profession, and the impunity of the projectors.

The 16th of May was a memorable period for the country and for the Stock Exchange. The personal insult offered by the French Consul to the representative of his Majesty; the evident determination of the same people to break all ties and truces, rendered an appeal to arms once more necessary; and on that day the fierce and fatal war which followed the truce of Amiens,—which desolated the fairest fields of Europe,—which crushed the ambitious man who provoked it,—and which added two hundred and sixty-three millions to the national debt,—was proclaimed.

In 1806, Joseph Elkin Daniels, a conspicuous character in the Alley, and known for some time as a dealer in securities, availed himself of the confidence of the members of the Stock Exchange, to perpetrate a fraud as novel as it was notable. As a dealer in the funds for time, he was well known; and his frequent transactions, combined with the trust which his character had achieved, gave his broker a confidence in his proceedings of which he proved utterly unworthy. The time was an important one. The Continent was struggling against the iron yoke of Bonaparte. Austria was making that last great struggle with her enemy which ended at Austerlitz; rumors were plentiful, and the price of stock varied greatly, when the man Daniels came to the broker, and desired him to buy omnium on account. The price was high, but his request was complied with. Omnium continued to advance, and Daniels continued to buy, although the price increased from ten to thirteen premium. When the broker had completed his orders to the amount of £30,000, he grew anxious for his money, and applied for payment. Daniels, however, quieted him by saying, he was so sure the price would rise, that his friends would lend him on the security of the stock, to enable him to make the most of his speculation, and that he should, therefore, hold the entire amount. Thestatement seemed a fair one. Daniels was believed to be honest, and the broker handed him £30,000 omnium, for which Daniels gave him his draught on Smith, Payne, & Smith.

The first part of this man’s fraudulent scheme was now acted. He knew the check would not be presented until the afternoon, and that he was, therefore, free from danger for a few hours. He immediately took the omnium to other brokers, represented to them an urgent necessity for money, sold it, and having been paid checks for the amount, immediately presented them to the bankers on whom they were drawn, and received the amount in cash. He then went to all whom he knew, or would trust him, borrowed money on the security of his own checks,—a common practice on the Stock Exchange,—with remarkable boldness, remained in London until near the hour when he knew his own draught would be presented and refused, and then left, laden alike with gold and a guilty conscience.

The total amount of fraud was estimated at £50,000. Telegraphic notices were transmitted to the principal ports of the United Kingdom; the Lord Mayor despatched officers in all directions; the chief sufferers went express to various places, on the chance of detaining him; and every exertion was made to bring to justice the man who had violated every principle of common honesty, and so greatly shaken the honorable confidence of the members of the Stock Exchange. Two thousand seven hundred pounds which he had strangely left at his banker’s, were attached; two hundred guineas were offered for his apprehension; his lodgings were examined, and the property found was seized by the officers of justice.

The search was too active not to be successful; and Daniels was discovered in the Isle of Man. Here a new difficulty arose. The Manx laws protected the culprit, the governor’s permission being required to apprehend him; and, when procured, so numerously was the island peopled with men like Daniels, that the officers, afraid of arresting him in open day, took advantage of night to remove their prisoner. The proceeds of the robbery were found; and when his departure was known, the island rose tumultuously at the violation of a right on which the safety of half the population depended.

Great excitement was caused by his arrival in England; but, after a careful legal consultation, it was decided that he could not be convicted on any criminal charge; and Joseph Elkin Daniels escaped the legal penalty of that fraud which gave so severe a shock to the members of the Stock Exchange.

In the same year, it was ascertained that the amount of foreign property in the British funds was twenty-two millions; and it is scarcely out of place to mention, that, by some patient calculator, it was found that one guinea invested at the Christian era, at five per cent., compound interest, would have increased to a greater sum than could be contained in five hundred millions of earths, all of solid gold.

In the early part of the present century an attempt was made to resist the tax paid to the city, of forty shillings per annum, by stock-brokers, as unreasonable and unjust. Various members of the body refused to pay;the corporation and the brokers were at issue; and, in 1805, a hundred summonses were applied for, though a few only were granted, to test the disputed right. Among these was one to Francis Baily, who undertook the championship; and from the conviction that the claim was unjust, refused in the above year to pay the sum demanded. As the justice, though not the law, is yet doubted by some, a brief retrospect of the various acts affecting brokers may not be out of place.

The act of 8 and 9 William III., c. 32,—alluded to in an earlier part of the volume,—was the first that could affect stock-brokers, as in that reign they and their misdeeds began to flourish. The following forms a portion of the preamble to the act:—

“Whereas divers brokers and stock-jobbers have lately set up and carried on most unjust practices, in selling and discounting tallies, bank-stock, bank-bills, shares and interest on joint stock, and other matters, and have and do unlawfully combine to raise or fall the value of such securities, for their own private advantage; and whereas the numbers of such brokers and stock-brokers are very much increased within these few years, and do daily multiply,—be it enacted, that from and after May, 1697, no person shall act as broker until licensed by the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen of the said city of London.

“That the number of brokers shall not exceed one hundred, and that the admittance fees shall not exceed 40s.

“That the names of the brokers shall be publicly affixed on the Royal Exchange, in Guildhall, and other public places in the city.

“That any persons acting as brokers without being admitted as aforesaid, shall forfeit £500, and persons employing them £50; and that any person not being a sworn broker acting as such, shall forfeit £500, and for every offence stand three times in the pillory.

“That all brokers shall keep a book, to be called the Brokers’-book, to enter contracts, and in cases of omission, forfeit £50 for every offence.

“That they shall not receive more than ten shillings per cent. for brokerage. That, if they shall deal in any articles on their own account, they shall forfeit £500, and never act as brokers again.

“That no person buying or selling tallies, corn, or any other provision, or coal, shall be esteemed a broker within the meaning of the act.”

In 1707, this, which was for ten years, expired; and although various petitions, according to the interest of the petitioner, were presented, it was not renewed. A new act was then brought in, by which a yearly tax of forty shillings was levied against all brokers; and it is doubtful whether this would have been passed, had not a deficiency been created by the repeal of one concerning specie.

In 1711, a committee of the House was appointed to consider the acts relative to brokers; and a recommendation ensued to revive the act of 1697. In compliance with this, a bill was brought in, read a first and second time, but was not passed; and in the reign of Queen Anne, the charge for brokerage of 10s.per cent. was reduced to 2s.9d.It is now 2s.6d.

In 1746, and in 1756, new bills were brought in, but rejected, which materially affected stock-jobbers; and in 1765 it was ordered that a billbe brought in to restrain the ill practices of brokers; but this, like the others, was not passed.

The ground of defence occupied by Mr. Baily was somewhat subtle. In 1806, this gentleman published a pamphlet, called “The Rights of Stock-jobbers defended,” in which he explained his principles of action, and detailed the course which had been taken. He says:—“The right of the city of London to call upon stock-brokers to be sworn in before the Court of Aldermen, has long been contested and opposed by that body. It is resisted by them, in the first instance, under the impression that they are merely agents, and ought not to be considered as brokers more than many other persons, who, under the name of tailors, merchants, and tradesmen, act by commission in the purchase and sale of goods.”

With these ideas Mr. Baily contested the right, not, as those who knew him will readily credit, from narrow views or confined notions, but because he believed he was supporting a principle founded in justice. These views, however, he found it impossible to maintain. A case was produced by the city, in which it was decided that a person buying and selling stock came within the meaning of the act; and the efforts of Mr. Baily proved futile.

For those who feel disposed to investigate the subject, a list of acts relating to brokers will be found in the Appendix.

In 1807, Lord Henry Petty proposed a new plan for a sinking fund; which, however, was only a revival of the principle of borrowing with one hand and spending with the other; and, as the ministry which planned it were not long in office, it was not continued after the first year.

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