Chronicles and characters of the stock exchange

by of the Bank of England John Francis

He knew him to be in possession of large landed estates; and, when informed that his Lordship had refused to give any reason except that it was not convenient, Mr. Sprot told his visitor not to be alarmed, that he would not press his claim, and concluded by making an engagement with him to visit his Lordship.

Together they went, and were received with patrician dignity. Mr. Sprot deliberately detailed his business, and received the cool reply, that it was not convenient to pay. But the energetic jobber was not a man to bow before rank, unless accompanied by worth; and Mr. Sprot unhesitatingly declared, that, if the account were not settled by a certain hour next day, he would post his Lordship as a defaulter. The latter grew alarmed, and attempted to conciliate; but the conference closed with the repeated determination of Mr. Sprot to post him. Long before the hour appointed, however, his Lordship’s solicitor waited on the broker to arrange the payment; and thus the honor of the earl was preserved, and the credit of the broker saved in the money-market, through the acuteness and determination of Mark Sprot.

In 1810, an application was made to Parliament for permission to erect and secure to the public the right of admission to an open market for the sale and purchase of national securities, on the ground that the public ought not to be excluded from the room in which business in the public funds is contracted. The bill was introduced by Sir William Curtis, and rejected by the senate.

The history of the house of Baring—which, though generally regarded as mercantile, is largely connected with the loans—has been termed an evidence of the power of a few active young men to advance themselves to immense fortune, and to distinguished marks of favor from the sovereign. Various origins are attributed to the members of the firm, and the Herald’s College has been employed to give the dignity of ancestral honors to the family. In 1793, the first baronet of the name was created, and the signal services of Sir Francis to the East India Company, of which he was a director, were greatly appreciated.

It has been stated,—but as the writer is uncertain of his authority, he gives it with caution,—that they were originally German weavers, who came over to London, and, being successful in business, were, through the interest of William Bingham, of Philadelphia, appointed agents to the American government. Considering, therefore, the large resources at their command, it is not surprising that, during the loyalty loan in 1797, the head of the house made one hundred thousand pounds for three consecutive days; or that, in 1806, it was sarcastically said, “Sir Francis Baring is extending his purchases so largely in Hampshire, that he soon expects to be able to inclose the country with his own park paling.”

In 1805 this gentleman, the first algebraist of the day, retired from business with a princely fortune, and shortly afterwards died, full of years and honors. A green old age, a career closed at the pinnacle of prosperity, and a death-bed surrounded by sons and daughters, whom the descendant of the German weaver had lived to place in splendid independence, was his enviable lot. The great commercial house which he had raised to so proud a position was continued by his sons, and may be considered the most important mercantile establishment in the empire. Freehold estates to the amount of half a million, besides enormous personal property, rewarded his great capacity, and his yet greater integrity.

The house of Baring, notwithstanding some periods when doubt and almost dismay hung over it, yet retains the power and position bequeathed by Sir Francis; and, as an instance of the fortune and capacity of its members, it may be mentioned that the late Lord Ashburton, when bearing, as Sir Robert Peel feelingly expressed it, the honored name of Alexander Baring, realized £170,000 in two years by his combinations in French Rentes.

From 1810 to 1815, the business in every department of the Stock Exchange increased greatly. Loan after loan came rapidly forward, was as rapidly taken, went to a premium, was merged in the funded debt, and was succeeded by fresh demands for fresh loans. The public feeling was so strong, even during those fearful campaigns which preceded the fatal field of Austerlitz, when the futile threat of invasion was frequent, and “the army of England” assembled at Boulogne, that no ministry could have maintained its power unless it had been a war ministry. And when the event of that battle, known as the “battle of the three emperors,” was made public, when the entire powers of the Continent were at the feet of Napoleon, and William Pitt, the soul of the coalition, died from fear of the calamities that threatened, the people of England were unchanged in their resolute defiance. Enmity towards the French was an article of faith. Hatred to their leader was taken from the mother’s breast, and nourished by the stories which day by day engrossed the public mind, or violated public feeling. At one time, the commercial world was excited with the story that all the specie in all the private banks of France had been seized. At another, some cruelty which outraged humanity passed current with the vulgar. Stories of the conscription harrowed the feelings of parents; tales of insurrection, suppressed with heartless cruelty, raised the indignation of the child. The evening fireside derived its great attraction from the talk about Bonaparte; and it is no exaggeration to say, that nurses stilled their querulous charges, or that mothers hushed their children, with that dreaded name. Policies were opened on his life; and so uncertain was it considered in 1804, that fifty-five guineas per cent. were paid to insure it for one year. No fiction was more favorite or more frequent than that which detailed his death; and in this the powerful invention of the romancer was often proved. Poison and steel, the dagger of the conspirator and the bullet of the republican, were constantly asserted to have ended his career. On one occasion, it was universally credited that the great Corsican was no more. A despatch had been received by Lord Grenville announcing his death, and circumstantially detailing its manner. No doubt was entertained; the funds rose, and the news spread. Some very loyal persons set the bells ringing in a suburban village, and the whole affair bore the aspect of truth. The story circulated wore an appearance of romance entirely in keeping with the career of the man whose death was announced. It was stated that Napoleon, having called a council of war, to which he had invited one of the wild chiefs of the desert, who professed attachment till he could procure revenge, had been shot by him in open council; and, on the signal thus given, the wild hordes of the desert had slain Bonaparte and his devoted followers in the land so recklessly invaded. News was not then so frequent, information was not so widely diffused; and the document was credited much longer than it would have been a quarter of a century later. It deserves to be mentioned as a curiosity, that the forgery was not attributed to members of the Stock Exchange, but to a pair of “state speculators,” assisted by “members of the lower House.” But though it was not caused by them, they felt its effect in the fluctuating price, and several were ruined by the ingenious device of these “state speculators” and “members of the lower House.”

Among the names conspicuous in the city for character and capacity, stands that of the great political economist, David Ricardo, who, at the early age of fourteen, was introduced by his father, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, to the mysteries of the Stock Exchange. The mind of the younger Ricardo was of an inquiring character. He began to study the principles of the creed in which he had been educated. The result was his secession from the faith of the ancient people, and his abandonment to his own resources by his father. Those resources were small; but his conduct and character had interested the members of Capel Court, and, to their honor, with a liberality which not unfrequently distinguishes them, the oldest and most influential came to his assistance. The extraordinary powers of Mr. Ricardo were soon developed in the acquisition of a considerable fortune; and, having hitherto employed but little time in study, he amply and nobly redeemed his lost hours. At twenty-five he commenced mathematics, and with great application studied chemistry and mineralogy, fitted up a laboratory, formed a collection of minerals, and bestirred himself with all the energy of his character. These sciences, however, he soon abandoned, and, having accidentally become acquainted with Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” he employed his great thought upon the subject of political economy, in which he soon became distinguished. He led the van in the bullion controversy; his principles were those on which the present bank charter is founded; and, in 1817, he published that great work on his favorite science so familiar to the commercial reader.

His reputation preceded him to the senate; and his opinions on the above subjects were deferred to with respect. When Mr. Peel’s bill was introduced, in 1819, his name was called for from all sides of the House; and, in 1823, David Ricardo, an acute, patient, and comprehensive thinker, a firm and faithful friend, and an honor to the body of which he was a member, died, at the early age of fifty-two.