ate of the
currency. The truth is, indeed, that nearly all the great catastrophes
of trade have occurred in times and places when and where there were no
small notes. Every one has heard of the tulip-mania of Holland,--when
the Dutchmen, nobles, farmers, mechanics, sailors, maid-servants, and
even chimney-sweeps and old-clothes-women, dabbled in bulbs,--when
immense fortunes were staked upon the growth of a root, and the whole
nation went mad about it, although there was never a bank nor a paper
florin yet in existence.[C] Every one has heard of the great South-Sea
Bubble in England, in 1719, when the stock of a company chartered simply
to trade in the South Seas rose in the course of a few weeks to the
extraordinary height of _eight hundred and ninety per cent.,_ and filled
all England with an epidemic frenzy of gambling, so that the recoil
ruined thousands upon thousands of persons, who dragged down with them
vast companies and institutions.[D] Yet there was not a banknote in
England, at that time, for less than twenty pounds, or nearly a hundred
dollars.

[Footnote C: Mackay's _History of Popular Delusions._]

[Footnote D: Doubleday's _Financial History of England_, p. 93.]

More recent revulsions are still more to the point. In 1825, in England,
there were enormous speculations in joint-stock enterprises and foreign
loans. Some five hundred and thirty-two new companies were formed, with
a nominal capital of about $2,200,000,000, and Greek, Austrian, and
South American loans were negotiated, to the extent of $275,000,000.
Scarcely one of these companies or of these loans ever paid a dividend;
and the consequence was a general destruction of credit and property,
and a degree of distress which was compared to the terrible sufferings
inflicted by the Mississippi and the South-Sea Bubbles. Yet there
were no bank-notes in circulation in England under five pounds, or
twenty-five dollars. Again, our readers may recall the monstrous
overtrading in railroad shares in the years 1845-6. Projects involving
the investment of L500,000,000 were set on foot in a very little while;
the contagion of purchasing spread to all the provincial towns; the
traditionally staid and sober Englishman got as mad as a March hare
about them; Mr. Murdle reigned triumphant; and, in the end, the nation
had to pay for its delirium with another season of panic, misery, and
ruin. Yet during all this excitement there were not only no small notes
in cir