In 1724 and 1725, the decayed, unsafe, and dangerous state of the river and harbour, which had been much complained of for many years before, continued still to engage the attention of our rulers, as appears by the following memoranda in the Hall records—“August 3. 1724; this day Col. Armstrong’s Report concerning the river, with severall maps, &c. were brought into this House.” again—“Jan. 4th. 1724–5; To apply to Parliament for reviving the Extinct Powers for Commissioners concerning the navigation of the river Ouze.” again—“Febr. 3. appointed a Comittee to state, settle, and consider of proper ways and means, by tonnage upon goods imported, to raise 2500l. per annum, stipulated to be employed in amending and restoring the navigation of this harbor.”—again [901b]—“June 7th. 1725; Ordered that Mr. Badslade be paid 20l. for his disbursements for printing the severall schemes, cases, and answers, relating to this navigation.”
In the latter part of 1726, an affair came on between the corporation and one Henry Southwell, a freeman, which ended rather disgracefully to the former. They seized a quantity of coals belonging to him, under pretence of their being foreign bought and foreign sold; for which he brought an action against the Town Clerk, which the corporation defended. They proceeded further, and actually disfranchised Southwell. Upon which he procured a mandamus, and obliged them to restore him to his freedom. This must have been not a little mortifying to them. They thought they had him entirely in their power, and could master him; whereas the mastery, in fact, belonged to him, and it so turned out that they were in his power: so that like the Irishman, [902] they caught a Tartar, and thereby brought themselves into a most humiliating dilemma, and exposed themselves to the ridicule and derision of the whole country. The Hall-records notice and memorizet his affair as follows: “Nov. 16th. 1726; ordered that the suit brought by Henry Southwell, a freeman, against Edw. Bradfield, Town-clerk, for seizing a parcell of coales, fforeign bought and fforeign sold, which came into this port in a ship, Wm. Coverdale, master, a foreigner, for Wm. Taylor, fforeigner, be defended, at the publick charge—and that Hen: Southwell be disfranchised for his collouring bargains and sales, contrary to his Oath of ffreedom, and using opprobious words (in his Letters) to the corporation, unless he shews good cause to the contrary, upon due notice to him for that purpose to be given.”—again—“Febr. 3rd. 1726–7. Ordered that Mr. Hen: Southwell, appearing and shewing no sufficient cause to the contrary, be disfranchised the freedom of this burgh, and he is disfranchised accordingly.”—again—“April 29th. 1728. Ordered that the former order, made for discharging Hen: Southwell of the freedom of this burgh, be made void, and that he be restored again, according to the direction of a peremptory mandamus, issued out of his majesty’s court of King’s Bench, to the mayor, aldermen, and common councell for that purpose directed: and the said Hen: Southwell appearing, was sworn, and found pledges.”—This might have taught our corporation a very useful lesson, and been a standing warning to them never more to act in so arbitrary a manner, or attempt to extend their power beyond its due bounds.
Being now come to the close of this reign, it may be proper here just to mention some of the principal events by which it was distinguished. Among them the first in order of time was the rebellion in 1715, in favour of the pretender; which, though it was suppressed early in the ensuing year, was far from being eradicated from the minds of the people. The malcontents were long after very numerous in the kingdom, and ever busy in forming new plots against the government, of which that wherein bishop Atterbury was concerned seems to have been the most formidable. The seasonable discovery of it prevented its being productive of much mischief, except to the conspirators themselves, some of whom paid very dear for the share they had in it; particularly Layer and Atterbury. The former was hanged and quartered, and the latter banished his country for ever.
But of all the occurrences of this reign the South Sea scheme, or grand bubble, as it is sometimes called, was that which proved most disastrous and calamitous to the nation. This memorable scheme was laid before the House of Commons by the South Sea Company, along with another from the Bank of England, in 1719, for reducing all the public Funds into one, in order to discharge the national debt, on some valuable consideration to be granted them, &c. After much debate and contest, it was determined in favour of the South Sea Company, and their proposals were accepted on Feb. 1. 1719–20. An Act afterwards passed both Houses for that purpose, which received the royal assent in April following. Upon the proposals being accepted, stock rose gradually to a prodigious height; to 310 per cent. even before the bill received the royal assent; in a few days to 340, then to 400, and before the end of May to 500. In short, what by the artifices of the managers, and the credulity of the people, eager to grasp the riches now held out to them, by the 2nd. of June it got up to 890, and continued rising and falling till it amounted to above 1000. Nothing was now minded but the business of stock-jobbing. Exchange Alley, where these affairs were transacted, was in a continual hurry, and thither crowds of all ranks and qualities daily resorted. The desperate, who ventured first, were generally gainers, whilst the more wary, who came in later, were many of them great sufferers: so that the wrongheads, (as the saying then was,) had the better of the longheads. A spirit of gaming thus prevailing in the nation, many projects were set on foot, which obtained the name of bubbles, and were evidently the progeny of the grand bubble. They were near 100 in number, and it was reckoned that almost a million and half was won and lost in them. A proclamation was issued against them on the 11th. of June, and they were soon after entirely suppressed by order of the Lords Justices.
As to the South-Sea Stock, it continued to rise till about the end of August. It then began to fall, and fell faster than it rose; so that by Michaelmas-day it sunk to 150. In December it underwent a parliamentary enquiry, which induced Knight, the South-Sea Company’s treasurer to abscond. In the end, parliament applied to the relief of the sufferers the estates of the sub-governor, deputy-governor, directors, &c. And also that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Aislabie. They were also incapacitated from sitting or voting in either House of Parliament, or holding any office or place of trust under his Majesty, his heirs, or successors. The following Summer an Act against the directors received the royal assent, and shortly after another for restoring the public credit. The share Walpole had in settling this distracted affair, and restoring public credit, brought him into great favour at court, and facilitated his promotion. He was now made chancellor of the Exchequer, and first Commissioner of the Treasury, and continued prime minister to the end of this reign, and fifteen years after; to the no small benefit, no doubt, of many Lynn freemen, whatever may be said of the nation at large.
This reign was also distinguished by those memorable religious controversies which sprung from the novel or unfashionable opinions advanced and maintained by Clarke, Whiston, Peirce, Hoadly, and others, and which wrought a considerable revolution in the minds of a great many, both in the church and among the dissenters. The athanasian trinity was given up by numbers of our most learned countrymen; the nature of the kingdom of Christ, with the measure and extent of the obedience due to the civil magistrate, became better understood; the injustice and iniquity of imposing human creeds, or articles of faith, were more fully evinced; in short, the English nation is supposed to have been thenceforth more generally and accurately acquainted with the principles of civil and religious liberty, the claims of conscience, and rights of man, than at any former period. Of late years, however, we are thought to have made no advances on these grounds, but rather to have been moving in a retrogressive direction; so that our favourite word liberty itself would seem to be in danger of losing its wonted meaning, and becoming a vague, or rather an obsolete term in our language. Nor will the violent hubbub lately raised, by Lord Sidmouth’s illiberal, illconditioned, illfeatured, illdigested, and deservedly reprobated bill, be sufficient to invalidate this opinion.
The effects of the above-mentioned controversies extended even to this town; and the elder Pyle, who was then at the head of our established clergy, as well as the elder Rastrick, who was at the head of the dissenting interest here, were both actually brought over to what was deemed the heterodox side of the question. They were men of considerable eminence and learning, and had been both educated at Cambridge; for Rastrick was originally one of the established clergy, and had been for sometime vicar of Kirkton near Boston, before he left the church and joined the dissenters. But we will say no more of them here, as we shall have occasion to bring them forward again in our biographical sketches. The king died suddenly, at Osnaburgh in his German dominions, on the 11th of June 1727, and was succeeded by his only son, George prince of Wales, which brings us to the end of this section.
Section VI.
A view of the state of things in this town during the reign of George II.—his accession attended with no inauspicious circumstances; and his reign, on the whole, happy and prosperous—recital of some of the most notable and prominent acts of our municipality in the earlier part of it—account of certain subsequent proceedings and occurrences.
The reign of George II. commenced upon the arrival of the news of his father’s demise, which was very shortly, and within a few days after that event had taken place. He was proclaimed in London on the 15th of June, and at Edinburgh and Dublin on the 19th of the same month. His accession was attended by none of those untoward appearances which beclouded that of his predecessor. All the lords and others, the late king’s privy councellors, were sworn of his privy council, the former ministry retained their places, and Walpole held the premiership for fifteen years longer; nor was he displaced at last through any dislike or prejudice which the king had imbibed against him or his service, but by the persevering and prevailing exertions of the opposition party, headed by Pulteney, who forced him to resign, contrary to the desire or inclination of the sovereign. His administration has been much censured, for its systematic corruption. But that corruption never extended so far as that of certain heaven-born ministers of more recent times; and it was certainly employed for much better purposes. His aversion to war, and constant endeavours to avoid it, cover a multitude of his sins: and it was probably not so often as most people imagine that this country has been favoured with better ministers than Sir Robert Walpole.