The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

CHAP. XXXI.] SPECULATION EUN MAD. 385
Noble lords were pointed at as " stags ;
" there were even clergymen
who were characferized as " bulls ;
" and amiable ladies
who had the reputation of " bears," in the share markets. The
few quiet men who remained uninfluenced by the speculation of
the time, were, in not a few cases, even reproached for doing
injustice to their families, in declining to help themselves from
the stores of wealth that were poured out all around.
Folly and knavery were, for a time, completely in the ascend-
ant. The sharpers of society were let loosed and jobbers and
schemers became more and more plentiful. They threw out
railway schemes as mere lures to catch the unwary. They fed
the mania with a constant succession of new projects. The railway
papers became loaded with their advertisements. The post-
office was scarcely able to distribute the multitude of prospectuses
and circulars which they issued. For the time their popularity
was immense. They rose like froth into the upper heights of
society, and the flunky Fitz Plushe, by virtue of his supposed
wealth, sat amongst peers and was idolized. Then was the
harvest-time for scheming lawyers, pai'liamentary agents, engi-
neers, surveyors, and traffic-takers, who were alike ready to
take up any railway scheme however desperate, and to prove
any amount of traffic even where none existed. The traffic in
the credulity of their dupes was, however, the great fact that
mainly concerned them, and of the profitable character of which
there could be no doubt. Many of them saw well enough the
crash that was coming, and diligently made use of the madness
while it served their turn.
Even men of reputed sagacity in commercial undertakings,
who had accumulated their wealth patiently and honestly, and
who seemed most unlikely to risk their capital in such a mania,
were drawn into the irresistible vortex, and invested in the new
schemes in the hope of realizing profits more rapidly, or obtain-
ing a higher interest for their money.
Parliament, whose previous conduct in connection with railway
legislation was so open to reprehension, interposed no check
—attempted no, remedy. On the contrary, it helped to intensify
the evils arising from this unseemly state of things. Many of
its members were themselves involved in the mania, and as
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