ROYAL EXCHANGE AND LONDON ASSURANCE--THEIR RISE AND PROGRESS.--BUBBLE
ERA.--EPIGRAMS.--OPPOSITION TO THE NEW COMPANIES.--ACCUSATIONS
AGAINST THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--LIST OF ASSURANCE
COMPANIES.--EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER OF MANY.--REMARKABLE CAREER OF LE
BRUN.--DIRECTORS IN TROUBLE.
The rise of the Royal Exchange and London Corporations forms no
uninteresting picture of the time in which they were produced. The
bubbles of 1712 had not long passed away, when some of the first
merchants of London, willing to secure to themselves the advantages
which the Amicable as a life, and the Sun as a fire, office possessed,
met in Mercers’ Hall, to petition the crown for a charter to effect
marine and other assurances. The petition was well timed, as upwards
of 150 underwriters had recently failed; many merchants having fallen
to the ground with them, there was every reason in the public clamour
for a safer and more secure mode of investment. About the same time
also another body, of “knights, merchants, and citizens of London,” had
petitioned with the same object. A junction of the two was arranged,
and, under the title of the Royal Exchange Assurance, they endeavoured
to obtain a charter. This was at the commencement of that remarkable
period in commercial history known as the South Sea bubble. The above
proposition, however, was well grounded; and so many were prevented
from subscribing, that, under the title of the London Assurance, a
company of equal magnitude was commenced.
Their petitions made slow progress; but the Royal Exchange, without
waiting the issue, commenced business, and, in nine months, had insured
property to the amount of 2,000,000_l._ sterling. While these companies
were in progress, the great bubble era came. With it, excepting as
regards assurance, this volume has nothing to do. But the public found
this pressed closely on its attention. When men were willing to receive
a company with fair promises in the place of fair prospects,--when
persons ran about the Alley exclaiming, “Give us something to subscribe
to; we care not what it is,”--a practice so sound as assurance was
certain to be applied in every form that the hurried ingenuity of
speculators could devise. Besides the proposed assurances on the lives
of men, cattle were brought into use, and 2,000,000_l._ were demanded
for assuring horses. Of this it was said:--
“You that keep horses to preserve your ease,
And pads to please your wives and mistresses,
Insure their lives, and if they die we’ll make
Full satisfaction, or be bound to break.”