The state of things now became alarming. To prevent, if possible,
the utter extinction of public confidence in their proceedings, the
directors summoned a general court of the whole corporation, to
meet in Merchant Tailors' Hall, on the 8th of September. By nine
o'clock in the morning, the room was filled to suffocation; Cheapside
was blocked up by a crowd unable to gain admittance, and the greatest
excitement prevailed. The directors and their friends mustered in
great numbers. Sir John Fellowes, the sub-governor, was called to the
chair. He acquainted the assembly with the cause of their meeting,
read to them the several resolutions of the court of directors, and
gave them an account of their proceedings; of the taking in the
redeemable and unredeemable funds, and of the subscriptions in money.
Mr. Secretary Craggs then made a short speech, wherein he commended
the conduct of the directors, and urged that nothing could more
effectually contribute to the bringing this scheme to perfection than
union among themselves. He concluded with a motion for thanking the
court of directors for their prudent and skilful management, and for
desiring them to proceed in such manner as they should think most
proper for the interest and advantage of the corporation. Mr.
Hungerford, who had rendered himself very conspicuous in the House of
Commons for his zeal in behalf of the South Sea Company, and who was
shrewdly suspected to have been a considerable gainer by knowing the
right time to sell out, was very magniloquent on this occasion. He
said that he had seen the rise and fall, the decay and resurrection of
many communities of this nature, but that, in his opinion, none had
ever performed such wonderful things in so short a time as the South
Sea Company. They had done more than the crown, the pulpit, or the
bench could do. They had reconciled all parties in one common
interest; they had laid asleep, if not wholly extinguished, all the
domestic jars and animosities of the nation. By the rise of their