[South Sea Company]:

$1,750 · Offered by William Reese Company

A SUPPLEMENT TO THE REPORTS OF THE COMMITTEE OF SECRECY: CONTAINING, I. A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE...SOUTH-SEA STOCK, COMMONLY CALL'D THE FICTITIOUS STOCK.... II. A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE ... The results of the Parliamentary inquiry into the South Sea Company, after the "South Sea Bubble" nearly collapsed Britain's economy in 1720. The South Sea Company was a joint-stock company founded in 1711. Early on, it was granted a monopoly on the slave trade with the "South Seas" and Spanish colonies in the Americas. Despite the middling success of their first few voyages, King George I became governor of the company in 1718, dramatically boosting public confidence. Share values soared, and the company was employed to take on England's national debt. Speculation soon spiraled out of control, and the value of South Sea stock increased by nearly ten times in the first half of 1720 before falling to below previous levels just as quickly. The market collapsed as a result of the "South Sea Bubble" and great numbers of investors were completely ruined.A Parliamentary Committee of Secrecy was initiated to look into the events surrounding the disaster. The committee's task was no simple one; after the South Sea Company surrendered their books and records, the committee found that in some, "many false and fictitious entries were made; in others, entries with blanks; in others, entries with razures and alterations; and in others leaves were torn out." Regardless, their investigation, the re

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