o by the broker whom he sold it to; and it sometimes
occurs, such drafts having to pass through the clearing-house,{20}
the principal is not certain whether his money, is safe till the day
following. In this way does the floating stock pass and repass through
the Stock Exchange to and from the public, each jobber seizing and
laying his hand on as much as he can, besides the eighth per cent.
certain, which the established rule gives in their favour: the price
frequently gives way, or rises much more to his advantage, which
advantage is lost to the principals, and thrown into the pockets of
middle men by the carelessness and indolence of the broker, who will not
trouble himself in looking out for such persons as he might do business
with in a more direct way.{21} When the Stock Market was more public,
that is, when they admitted the public by paying sixpence a day,
competitors for government loans were to be seen in numbers, which
enabled ministers to make good bargains for the country{22};

20 A room situated in Lombard-street, where the banking
clerks meet for the mutual exchange of drafts. The principal
business commences at three o'clock in the afternoon, and
the balances are paid and received at five o'clock.

21 Query,--When a broker has to buy and sell for two
different principals, may he not act as a jobber also, and
put the turns into his own pocket? In such cases the jobbers
are convenient cloaks to disguise the transaction.

22 The loans taken by Boyd and Co., Goldsmidt, and others,
were generally contracted for upon much better terms for the
country than those taken by the Stock Exchange; but as they
were contending against what is known by the interests of
the house, they all were ruined in their turns, as the
jobbers could always depreciate the value of stocks by
making sales for time of that they did not possess.

~135~~but, since the establishment of the present private market, the
stock-jobbers have been found to have so much power over the price
of stocks, after loans had been contracted for, that real monied men,
merchants, and bankers, have been obliged to creep in under the wings of
this body of gamblers, and be satisfied with what portion of each loan
this junto pleases to deal out to them."--In this way little Principal
opened the secret volume of the Stock Exchange frauds, and exposed to
our view the vile traffic carrie