Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

46 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
But this was only a beginning of trouble. Disastrous wars had in
volved the empire in heavy debt. The mania for speculation had become
an epidemic, giving rise to numerous ventures which, in the last analysis,
' were only legalized forms of gambling. But such was the passion for
accumulation, such the lure of sudden riches, especially for those who
had felt the pinch of poverty, that thousands, persuaded into taking a
short cut to fortune, were easily victimized by swindlers. These enter
prises came to be known as bubbles, for reasons only too obvious. But
during the first quarter of a century more than a hundred were organ
ized. However, a climax was reached when the British Government
chartered the South Sea Company, a syndicate which agreed to take
over England's entire debt, then aggregating £53,000,000 sterling and
to pay the bondholders in certificates of stock. Such was the prospect
of rich revenues to be derived from an unlimited trade with Spanish
America, a realm whose fabled wealth had become a familiar proverb,
that the British imagination was fairly dazed by the stupendous under
taking. Even the most astute statesmen of the age felt its fascination.
As a result the British Government accepted the syndicate's proposi
tion. Of course, since England herself endorsed the scheme and was
to become a shareholder in its expected profits it was only natural that
its stock should have found purchasers in an open market, among private
individuals. To the average man it looked like a perfectly safe invest
ment. But it proved to be only a bubble; and in its wake came the
heaviest financial crash in England's history, entailing upon thousands
of people want, misery, .and destitution. The treasury of England was
embarrassed by the wars but pauperized by the gamblers.
Robert Walpole becoming England's prime minister at this time
brought to the helm of affairs a sagacious intellect but a dissolute life.
His administration, in a commercial sense, evolved order out of chaos.
It marked an era of maritime enterprise, of industrial activity, of trade
expansion; but it .also marked an era of corrupt politics.
To add to the prevailing demoralization, religious zeal was at a low
ebb. The church had become formalistic. It no longer embodied a vital
principle, a regenerating power. It merely proclaimed a code of ethics.
Though a spirit of reform, destined to eventuate in the great Wesleyan
movement, was already beginning to quicken at Oxford, it came too late
to be of help in this hour of England's crisis.
Misfortune always opens a door to intemperance. The gin habit had
fastened itself upon the population to an alarming extent. Prior to 1689
drinking in England had been confined largely to the wealthy classes
who could afford the luxury of French wines; but trade relations with
Prance having been suspended in the above year, Englishmen began to
manufacture a cheap drink called gin, whose use especially .among the
masses soon became a great evil, spreading throughout the kingdom like1
a pestilence. To quote a student of economics: * " Statistics of the
manufacture of intoxicants bear out this statement. In 1684, only 527
gallons of spirits were distilled in England; in 1714 the figures had risen
to 2,000,000 gallons; in 1727 to 3,601,000; in 1733 to 5,394,00 and in
1742 to 7,000,000 gallons. Most of this was gin. It is said that retailers
* E. P. Brooks in '' History of Georgia,'' p. 36.