Lord Liverpool, British Prime Minister, 1825:

“I wish it however to be clearly understood, that those who now engage in Joint- Stock Companies, or other enterprises, enter on those speculations at their peril and risk. I think it my duty to declare, that I never will advise the introduction of any bill for their relief; on the contrary, if such a measure is proposed, I will oppose it, and I hope that Parliament will resist any measure of the kind.”

Lots more on the history of investment bank failures and governmental attitudes to them from Martin Hutchinson, former Business Editor of UPI, at The Bear’s Lair.