The Secret Committee was the 1720 British parliamentary investigation that exposed corruption linked to the South Sea Bubble.
After the South Sea Company’s share price collapsed in late 1720, Parliament appointed a Secret Committee of the House of Commons to investigate the company’s conduct and the financial interests of public officials. The inquiry examined company records and evidence of bribery.
The committee reported in 1721 that company directors had engaged in extensive corruption and that several politicians had received improper benefits. Investigators found papers concealed in a fireplace, an episode that became one of the investigation’s most famous details. The revelations damaged the reputations of figures including John Aislabie, the former chancellor of the Exchequer.
The South Sea Bubble was not merely a market-price collapse. It involved a government-debt conversion scheme, political influence, aggressive promotion, and speculative buying. The Secret Committee helped turn public outrage into an official account of how the scheme had operated.