great financier, and this he was to reach in the space of four months.

The first great acquisition of value and importance was the transfer to
the Company of the right of coinage. This was effected on 25th July,
1719. The right was to extend over a period of nine years, and the
price was fixed at 50,000,000 livres, payable within fifteen months
of the date of the grant. To place the Company in a position to carry
out the bargain a fresh issue of shares was made, and Law on this
occasion took greater advantage of public enthusiasm than he did on
the occasion of the previous issue. In the latter case the shares were
offered at a premium of ten per cent., the public, although paying 550
livres, receiving stock only of the value of 500 livres. In the present
instance the 500 livres share was to be allotted on payment of 1000
livres, thus necessitating the issue of only 50,000 shares. In addition
to enacting a premium, Law employed a device he had before resorted to.
He made it a condition that subscribers should be already possessors
of previously issued shares to the extent of five times more than the
number of new shares they desired to have allotted to them. The effect
of this was magical. The demand for old shares was so intense that they
rose immediately to 2000 livres, and the rapidity of the rise only
served to widen the circle of speculators. Law was thus bringing within
his grasp practically the whole of the nation as participants in his
schemes.

The universal enthusiasm, however, was not unmixed. The unaccustomed
magnitude of Law’s transactions was productive in certain quarters of
considerable misgivings, and not a few were able amidst the general
excitement to regard his schemes with more than usual calmness. Amongst
those, of course, were found the financier’s bitterest enemies.
To discredit Law, and to baulk him in his efforts, they lost no
opportunity; and to instil doubt in the public mind as to the sanity
of their speculations was by no means a difficult task. It was only
necessary to secure the support of a few in order to depress the value
of the Mississippi stock. Extensive sales, ostensibly for the purpose
of saving a further loss, but really for the purpose of undermining the
market, produced in the following month a sharp reaction. The Earl of
Stair writing to Secretary Craggs on 20th August, 1719, remarks in the
course of his letter upon this sudden and disturbing attitude of the
public. He says:--

“Mississippi begins to stagger; the actions fall and there are no more
buyers; which has happened by Law’s imprudence, and boundless desire
for gain. He had raised the actions to such a price that it required
above forty millions to pay the interest at four per cent. When the
French, by degrees, began to make this calculation, and found that it
was impossible that even the King could find his account to furnish
such a sum annually to support Mississippi, they found themselves
cheated; and they are now crowding to sell out. Law will do what he can
to support the actions, but the thing is impossible. The mystery of
the matter is this: in the original fund of one hundred millions, the
King and the Regent had about forty millions; and the same proportion
of additional subscription of fifty millions. The company bought the
coinage of the King at fifty millions, to be paid in fifteen months.
Besides these fifty millions, the King or the Regent, by selling out
when the actions were at four hundred, might have got two hundred
millions; at which rate they might have been supported. But by buoying
them up to six hundred, to make the Regent win three hundred millions,
Law risks to have the whole fabric tumble to the ground. For the
French, who run on boldly and impetuously in the beginning of all
enterprises, run back with the same impetuosity when once they are
rebuffed. I do not know if I have explained this matter to you, so as
that you will be able to understand. It is, certainly, something more
extravagant and more ridiculous than anything that ever happened in any
other country. I wish for your diversion I could but talk one hour to
you upon that subject.”

Law, however, was equal to the opposition of his enemies, and treated
their efforts to undermine his position with the utmost indifference
and contempt. He proceeded apace with the completion of his schemes,
and was now approaching the zenith of his power. All that now remained
for him to accomplish of his original plans was the purchase of the
great farms and several other smaller sources of the national revenues.

The anti-scheme attempted by the brothers Paris, under the auspices
of D’Argenson, had been carried out to the extent of a lease of the
great revenue farms having been granted to Aymard Lambert, D’Argenson’s
valet-de-chambre, but had not been put into operation. Law now came
forward and secured the lease on behalf of the Western Company,
accomplishing the three-fold object of acquiring a valuable asset for
the company, relieving the taxpayers from the intolerable exactions
of the farmers, and, lastly, humiliating D’Argenson for the part he
took in the anti-scheme. The grant of the great farms was formally
made on 27th, and of the other departments of taxation on 31st August.
The treasury had derived from these sources the annual revenue of
48,000,000 livres, but Law offered a further sum of 3,500,000 livres
for the privilege which was to extend over a period of nine years. The
Company now declared its ability to pay a dividend of 200 livres upon
its shares, or 40 per cent. upon its capital. Such a declaration at
once counteracted the devices of Law’s opponents to lower the price
of the shares, and within a few days they rose to a premium of 1000
per cent., at which extravagant price it was even extremely difficult
to make substantial purchases. The demand was also created by the
condition that allotment of the recently issued shares would only be
in favour of those already possessed of stock. “The public,” says Lord
Stair, “has run upon this new subscription with that fury that near
the double of that sum is subscribed for; and there have been the
greatest brigues and quarrels to have place in the subscription, to
that degree, that the new submissions are not yet delivered out, nor is
the first payment received. Mr. Law’s door is shut, and all the people
of quality in France are on foot, in hundreds, before his door in the
Place Vendôme.”

Law now made the concluding proposal of his schemes. The absorption
of _billets d’état_ by the Company, although extensive, had not yet
exhausted them. There still remained almost 1500 million livres
in circulation, and Law was anxious to have them liquidated. He
accordingly proposed to lend the King a sum of money sufficient for the
purpose at 3 per cent. per annum, and at the same time to reduce the
interest upon the 100 millions previously advanced at 4 per cent. to a
similar rate; and in return for an offer so advantageous, he secured an
extension of the various grants to the Company for the uniform period
of fifty years. To carry through this, the largest and most important
transaction upon which the Company had entered as yet, an issue of
300,000 new shares was made at a price of 5000 livres, thus yielding a
premium of 4500 livres. These shares, however, were not to be allotted
to the public. The Regent was fully alive to the possibility of
enriching himself by securing the whole of the issue and profiting by
the rise which would certainly take place in their value. He already
was holder of 100,000 of previously issued shares, and of the whole
capital of the company only 200,000 were in the hands of the public.
The supply was accordingly unequal to the demand, and in the course of
two months the shares reached the incredible price of 10,000 livres. A
kind of madness had seized the nation. A royal road to fortune had been
opened up by the ingenious foreigner; and had lured along its easy path
an excited throng of princes and people, peers and commoners, clergy
and laity, rich and poor--in short all who by any means could hope to
secure the coveted scrip. The memoirs of the period teem with instances
of the excessive folly and rashness which characterised these halcyon
days of the scheme, and display a want of balance on the part of the
French nation entirely beyond belief.

That the public should thus have allowed their excitement of feelings
to destroy their judgment so far as to ignore the primary elements of
caution and of foresight can hardly be attributed to Law. No evidence
can be brought of any intention on his part to utilize his financial
genius for the purpose of blinding the nation to its own interests,
and turning it merely to his own exclusive advantage. The effect of
his schemes was entirely beyond his control. So far as the reception
they would receive from the French nation was concerned, his own
anticipations were only too clearly exceeded. He undoubtedly perceived
the dangerous courses upon which the public had entered, but it would
have been imprudent on his part to have endeavoured by any arbitrary
act to check it. He firmly believed in the adequacy of his system to
accomplish the objects which he stated he had in view. He may have
been, and was, somewhat over-sanguine, but that was merely a fault of
temperament, not a consequence of sinister motive. He may have been
extravagant in praise of the possibilities of his schemes, but that was
due to intensity of confidence in their efficacy, not to any deliberate
intention to deceive.

The total capital of the company was now 300,000,000 livres, and to pay
the promised dividend of 200 livres per share would require profits of
at least 120,000,000 livres. Those profits were drawn principally from
the interest payable by the State upon the advances made by the Company
for the purposes of liquidating the national debt, from the coinage,
from the tobacco monopoly, from the great farms, from the collection of
general taxes, and from their general commerce. Amongst these the only
leakage which could occur would be in the latter, and Law’s estimate of
the profits derivable from it were placed at one-third of the whole.
Such an estimate, however, may have been so wide of the mark that the
expenditure incurred in the administration of the Company’s commercial
transactions might possibly have been so great as to absorb the whole
of the surpluses accruing from the other departments. Time, however,
could alone supply the test of this, but the downfall of the system
anticipated the opportunity. Other contingencies arose, foreign to the
business of the Company, which struck at its stability and brought its
career to an unexpected end.

The closing months of 1719, and the opening months of 1720, saw the
system at the height of its prosperity. Everything proceeded smoothly.
Nothing ruffled the high hopes entertained by all as to its future. At
the General Assembly of the proprietors of the Company held, on 30th
December, 1719, for the purpose of communicating its position since
the previous assembly, and of submitting the accounts for this year,
it was reported that, although an accurate balance could not be struck
owing to the overwhelming duties of the directors in carrying through
the extensive negotiations of the previous months, “the proprietors
may be assured that everything passes for the good and advantage of
the Company; that the colonies of Louisiana are going on prosperously;
that the trade to India, and that to Africa, and to the north, are
assuming new vigour; that the produce of the Farms General is visible
increasing; that there will be very considerable profits arising from
the administration and striking of the coin and from the refining of
the materials; that the Company wish to economize the expenses of
taxations, and of the emoluments given to the Receivers General of
Finance, so that the dividend of the old shares of the Western Company
might be fixed at present at the proportion of 40 per cent. and a like
dividend for the hundred and fifty millions of the new shares in the
India Company.”

The board of directors consisted of thirty members, each of whom was
obliged to deposit 200 shares as security for his good administration.
Their salaries were originally fixed at 6000 livres, but at the same
meeting were increased to 30,000 livres, by no means an exorbitant sum
in view of the magnitude of their labours and the greatness of their
responsibility.

Interesting as had been the progress of the Company during the past
year, the Bank which Law had founded had also undergone a great and
momentous change. Since its institution in May, 1716, its operations
had met with great success, and had secured the utmost confidence
of the public, not only because of the soundness of the principles
which dominated its administration, but also because of its careful
and cautious management. The currency became more stable than it
hitherto had been, and foreign trade developed where before it had
been impossible by reason of the great uncertainty of the rates of
exchange. The Regent, influenced by its success and labouring under the
idea that this success could be permanently maintained even though its
principal features were radically changed, determined to take control
of Law’s bank, and convert it from a private into a royal institution.
Accordingly, on 4th December, 1718, the General Bank of Law and Company
was proclaimed a Royal Bank, to be administered in future by the King
and his advisers. This change was opposed by Law, who, knowing the
character of the Regent, foresaw the possibility of disastrous results,
but the Duc d’Orleans had decided upon the step, and opposition was of
no avail. The new ordinance was to come into force on 1st January,
1719. The King reimbursed in specie the holders of the shares, and
guaranteed the due payment of the notes in circulation which at that
date amounted to 59,000,000 livres. The proprietors, who had, as
already seen, only paid one fourth of their holding in specie and the
remaining three fourths in depreciated _billets d’état_, thus realised
their investment in cash to the face value of their securities. Law was
appointed Director-General of the Bank, acting under the instructions
of the King through the Regent. Thus the King by this change became
the sole proprietor of the Bank, and the dignity he conferred upon it
secured it even more, if that were possible, in the good favour of his
people.

It has already been stated that the notes of the General Bank were
always convertible at sight into coin of the weight and standard of
the day of issue, and that here lay its strength and security. The
Regent, however, in all probability unwilling to restrict himself from
taking advantage of depreciating the coinage at any time a favourable
opportunity should present itself, divested the notes of the Bank of
this excellent feature, and in the future they bore that. “The Bank
promises to pay the bearer, at sight, ---- livres in silver coin,
value received.” This change, also opposed by Law, struck at the
very root principle of good credit. It endeavoured to make paper the
standard of currency, while no guarantee was given that the coinage
would remain of a fixed and unvarying value. No legislative decree,
no royal proclamation, can place an artificial value upon the medium
of currency, unless there is also present the indispensable element of
public confidence. A paper currency can only circulate at its nominal
value if there is behind it the security of a fixed coinage and a fund
of specie in reserve for conversion. The Regent in issuing his new
notes offered neither of these, but on account of the favour into which
the Bank had been brought by Law, the confidence of the public remained
as yet at least unshaken. We will see, however, at a later stage the
consequences which this disastrous change involved.

A further important step in the development of the Bank was the
establishment of branches in the five important centres--Lyons, La
Rochelle, Tours, Orleans, and Amiens. Those towns, which enjoyed the
privilege of local parliaments, such as Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rouen,
Grenoble, Dijon and Metz, were carefully avoided by the Regent, who
anticipated that the extension of the Bank to them might provoke
unpleasant opposition. Other towns, again, where no provincial
parliaments existed to consult, had otherwise displayed hostility to
the Bank, and these also were not honoured by the presence of its
branches. “Lisle, Marseilles, Nantz, Saint Malo, and Bayonne, were
distinguished by this prudent exclusion.” At the same time it was
decreed that where branches of the Bank existed specie should only be
legal tender up to 600 livres, notes being necessary for amounts beyond
that sum, and that gold and silver were on no account, unless by
special permission of the Bank authorities, to be transmitted to such
towns. By these restrictions it was hoped that specie as a medium of
currency would fall into desuetude and notes alone become recognised
for purposes of exchange. This hope was expressed in the decree of
22nd April, 1719, which authorised the issue of 100,000,000 additional
notes. “These cannot be subject to any diminution, as the specie is,
inasmuch as the circulation of the Bank bills is more useful to the
subjects of his Majesty, than that of the specie of gold and silver,
and that they deserve a particular protection, in preference to the
coin made of materials brought from foreign countries.”

Before the close of the year, fresh issues were made to the extent of
900,000,000 livres; and on 21st December, silver and gold suffered
further restriction as tender, the former being limited to ten livres
and the latter to three hundred. The purpose of this was to force a
paper currency, and as far as possible discourage the use of specie.
By reducing to so low a limit the tender of gold and silver, a demand
was created for the notes of the Bank, and very shortly the Bank
had attracted to itself a large proportion of the coinage then in
currency. People “ran there in crowds, conjuring and imploring the
clerks to receive their specie, and thinking themselves happy when they
succeeded. Upon which, a merry fellow wittily called out to those who
were the most forward; ‘Don’t be afraid, gentlemen, that your money
should remain on your hands; it shall all be taken from you.’”

The effect was to a large extent as the Regent had wished. Paper
circulated with the greatest freedom, and the highly speculative
mood in which the people indulged was productive of an appearance
of peculiarly false prosperity. Money as represented in notes
became exceedingly abundant because of the manner in which it was
distributed. Everyone spent with a lavish hand, regardless of the
possibility of Law’s schemes receiving a sudden and unexpected check,
thus bringing about a dislocation of the supply of money. Luxuries
became necessaries, and domestic life displayed the grossest degrees
of unbridled extravagance. To supply the great demand for rich cloths,
costly furniture, and all the various luxuries which only find a ready
market when prosperity spreads over a whole community, new industries
arose throughout the country, and labour not only became scarce but
was able to command in some cases four times its previous value. A
taste arose too for works of art, and the best of the continent was
sent into France where fabulous prices were obtained with a readiness
proportionate to the ease with which the fortunes of the investors
were made. Duhautchamp, in his History of the Scheme, gives several
instances of this extravagance on the part of the _nouveaux riches_.
Of one he says that, “He carried his magnificence so far, that most
of the deeds related of him appear fabulous. His hotel in Paris, his
gardens, his furniture, his equipage, the number of his servants of
all degrees and professions, equalled those of the greatest princes.
A certain jeweller declares that he supplied him with more than three
millions worth of precious stones, without reckoning the beautiful
diamond of the Count de Nocé, for which he paid 500,000 livres, and a
girdle buckle which a Jew sold him for the same sum. With regard to his
furniture, being a connoisseur of good taste, he had selected the whole
so well, that, to form an idea of the magnificence of his apartments,
we must have recourse to descriptions which are used of fairy palaces.
Not content with 4000 marcs of silver and silver gilt service which
he had first ordered, he found means to carry off from the jeweller’s
that which had been made for the King of Portugal, under pretext that
the agents of that prince had been wanting in punctuality of payment.
Besides this magnificent table service, he furnished himself with
stands, mirrors, braziers, orange-tree cases, flower pots, &c. Lastly
all his cooking utensils were of silver. As for his upholstery, he
took everything which could be imagined of that kind that was most
precious. He had no less than eighty horses in his stables--his
equipages equalled in number those of the grand Sultan. The number of
his servants was nearly ninety, amongst whom were comprised intendant,
secretaries, steward, surgeon, valets de chambre, upholsterers, four
young ladies as chamber maids, and for his grooms four footmen of birth
very superior to that of their master. Even when he went to dine away
from home, he had his own table served as sumptuously as if he were
present. It was served with everything most exquisite, principally
during the year 1720. He was supplied with young peas which had cost
100 pistoles the pint. Nothing was wanting that the most voluptuous
gourmet could think of. The desserts that were served were fitted to
surprise the most expert mechanicians. Large fruits, which would have
deceived the eyes of the most clear sighted, were so artistically
contrived that when anyone, surprised at seeing a beautiful melon in
winter, attempted to touch it, he caused a number of little fountains
to spring up of different sorts of spirituous liquors which delighted
the sense of smell, whilst the master of the house, pressing his foot
on a concealed spring, made an artificial figure walk round the table
and pour out nectar to the ladies, before whom he was made to stop.
In a word I doubt whether the famous feasts of Antony and Augusta,
so vaunted in history, had anything more rare than those which our
fortunate millionaire took a pleasure in giving.”

CHAPTER VII

  Hotel Mazarin acquired as office of Company and of
      Bank.--Excitement of crowds in the Rue Vivienne and the
      Rue Quincampoix.--Curious sources of fortune.--Instances
      of enormous fortunes acquired by members of the
      nobility.--Enormous influx of foreign speculators into Paris.

In order that the Company and the Bank might be housed in a style of
magnificence befitting the brilliance of their careers, the Hotel
Mazarin had been purchased at a cost of one million livres. Both
were now under one roof, and Law was thus enabled to devote himself,
with greater ease and less inconvenience, to their management. This
was all the more necessary since the Bank and the Company, although
nominally distinct and separate undertakings carrying on different
classes of business, were yet in reality part and parcel of the same
system, engaged in accomplishing the same ultimate objects and working
in co-operation in all their transactions. Of both, Law was the
controlling spirit. The Bank, now the property of the Crown, was placed
entirely under the management of its founder upon whom no restrictions
were laid, and the Company although under the directorate of thirty
proprietors was equally in his hands. Their will was invariably his
wish, and in everything they yielded with ready compliance to the
suggestions of the great financial genius.

While the Hotel Mazarin was the centre from which the fuel for the
prevailing excitement was distributed, its intensity was only really
felt and displayed in another quarter. When the day of issue of shares
arrived, the Rue Vivienne in which the Company’s offices were situated,
and all the adjoining streets and squares, were crowded by speculators
of all degrees. Unseemly rushes took place amongst the throng. Each one
regarded his neighbour as a rival for the possession of the coveted
scrip, and crushed and jostled himself though the crowd towards the
enchanted building so that he might be amongst the first to enter when
its doors were opened to hand over the shares to successful applicants.
Lemontey compared them to a phalanx which “advanced for several days
and nights towards the Exchange office, like a compact column, which
neither sleep, hunger, nor thirst could destroy. But at the fatal cry
which announced the delivery of the last share, the whole vanished at
once.” So great was the number of applicants that on several occasions
considerable difficulty and delay were experienced in compiling the
lists of allottees. Public patience at these times was thoroughly
exhausted, and gave way to frantic disorder and not infrequently to
scenes of violence. The aristocracy, in order that they might not
be compelled to mix with the crowds on the street in their patient
wait to know the result of their efforts to secure allotment, rented
rooms and houses in the Rue Vivienne, and so great was the demand for
accommodation that fortunate proprietors were in a position to charge
the most exorbitant rates.

The excitement and frenzy however reached its highest point in the Rue
Quincampoix. Here was the Stock Exchange of the day. A short narrow
street of fifty yards in length and two or three in breadth, it ran
from the Rue aux Ours to the Rue Aubry-le-Boucher, and contained the
offices and houses of the bankers of the period. So confined was it
that the crowds of speculators entirely blocked it as a thoroughfare,
and drivers were prohibited from making use of it. Gates were erected
at each end, and guards with drums were stationed to inform people
when the street was opened or closed for business. Other restrictions
were imposed upon the use of the street. The entrance by the Rue
Aubry-le-Boucher was reserved for members of the aristocracy, and that
by the Rue aux Ours for all others, but inside the gates no distinction
of rank was respected. On Sundays and fête days the street was closed
altogether, and in order that business might not proceed to hours which
would disturb the rest of those who resided in the neighbourhood the
guards were ordered to clear the speculators from the street at a
reasonable hour in the evening.

As in the case of the tenants and proprietors of houses in the Rue
Vivienne, opportunity to even greater extent was afforded those who
resided in the Rue Quincampoix to let their houses as dwellings or
offices to the infatuated crowd of speculators. A house for which
a rent of eight hundred livres per annum was paid secured without
difficulty for its occupier a return of 5000 to 12,000 livres per
month, single rooms in many cases returning as much as 1500 livres per
month. Fortunes were made by many people who anticipated the demand
for accommodation and secured a number of houses at little above
their normal rent for the purpose of letting at these extravagant
figures. Curious, too, were the methods adopted by some for the making
of money. We read of a hunchback who converted his deformity to the
original and profitable use of a writing-desk. In a very few days he
had accumulated the sum of 150,000 livres from the fees he received
from the speculators who took advantage of the novel purpose to which
he put his hunch. The same eccentric occupation enabled a soldier,
possessed of very broad shoulders, to obtain his discharge from the
army and purchase an estate in the provinces to which he prudently
retired before the fever of speculation had enthralled him. We read
too of a cobbler who plied his trade in a very primitive manner under
four planks secured to a wall. The crowds of ladies who were drawn to
the Rue Quincampoix as interested spectators in its exciting scenes
suggested to the cobbler the means of gaining in a short time more
than the labour of a lifetime could secure for him. He furnished
his diminutive stall with chairs, and these he let out to ladies at
exorbitant charges gladly paid. He then added to his stock a supply of
pens and paper which were taken advantage of by brokers and others who
resorted to his stall to carry out their transactions. By these means
he drew an income of 50,000 livres per month.

But these and other similar methods of acquiring fortunes were only
incidental to the main business of the Rue Quincampoix. Great and
unexpected fortunes were made by speculators in the Company’s shares,
and these by no means were confined to the wealthy capitalists or
even persons possessed of moderate sums available for operation.
The methods provided for exchange were of the crudest description,
and provided means of amassing wealth for those who were absolutely
without capital but were unscrupulous enough to take advantage of the
opportunities that were opened up to them. Innumerable instances are
recorded where servants, the most menial, enriched themselves in this
way. One shareholder desirous of disposing his holding was too unwell
to carry out the sale himself and sent his servant to carry through the
transaction. He was instructed to sell two hundred and fifty shares at
8000 livres per share. On arrival at the Rue Quincampoix, he found the
shares had meanwhile risen to 10,000 livres. The difference of 500,000
livres he retained, and with it speculated further until he succeeded
in multiplying it four times, when he retired from the scene of his
good fortune to enjoy the fruits of his ill-earned money. Another,
who had been entrusted with the realisation of two hundred shares,
took advantage of the rapidly rising market to postpone the disposal
of them until the price enabled him to obtain 1,000,000 livres beyond
their value on the day upon which they were handed to him, and this he
regarded as his own, only paying to his principal the price they would
have brought had they been immediately realised.

Amusing too, are many of the stories of those who found themselves so
suddenly raised from extreme indigence to excess of wealth. Carriages
thronged the streets whose occupants were formerly coachmen and
footmen, cooks and scullery-maids, butlers and valets. A footman who
had established himself in a palatial residence betrayed his former
station by mounting behind his own carriage instead of entering it,
and when reminded of his mistake excused himself by the remark that he
wished to engage more footmen, and desired to know if there were room
for them. Another footman, according to the Regent’s mother, was in
the habit of doing the same thing, but in his case intentionally, in
order that he might the more experience the pleasure of the change his
newly gained wealth had brought to him. Amongst menials none were more
fortunate than those who were in attendance on Law himself. It is said
that his coachman, having made for himself a competency, desired to
leave the financier’s service, and on expressing his desire to Law was
allowed to do so on condition that he provided a substitute. This was
naturally easily complied with, and in a short time he returned with
two suitable men, of whom he offered one to Law, mentioning that he
intended retaining the other for himself.

[Illustration: DUC D’ORLEANS,

Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV.]

It was, however, amongst the higher ranks of society that the greatest
scramble for wealth took place, and amongst the entourage of the
court that the deepest gambling in shares was indulged in. Peers,
court favourites, ladies of fashion, judges, bishops, and practically
everyone of standing in society or in the public service, were to be
found day after day in the Rue Quincampoix, engaged in the purchase
and sale of the Mississippi stock. The Regent himself was one of the
most successful participants in the national gamble, and with princely
and lavish generosity, marked his sudden and easy access of enormous
wealth. Amongst charitable institutions he distributed several million
livres, giving in particular one million each to the Hotel-Dieu, the
Hospital General, and the Foundlings. The debts of prisoners to the
extent of one and a half millions were discharged, and to many of his
friends he gave gifts of varying, but extravagant, amounts. The Marquis
de Nocé, the Count de la Motte, and the Count de Roie, were each
recipients of 100,000 livres, and the Count de la Marche, a child of
thirteen years, son of the Prince de Conti, had conferred upon him a
pension of 60,000 livres. He also increased by 130,000 livres, the
pension enjoyed by his mother, the Princess Palatine, who wrote in her
letters that “we hear nothing but millions spoken of now; my son has
given me two millions in shares, which I have distributed among my
household. The King has also taken some millions for his household. All
the royal household have received some, all the children of France, the
grandchildren of France, and the Princes of the blood.”

The Duke of Bourbon, son of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan,
repaired his broken fortunes, liquidated his enormous debts, and in the
course of several successful strokes of speculation, acquired a fortune
of twenty million livres. He purchased large estates in Picardy, and
acquired all the most valuable land between the Oise and the Somme. The
castle at Chantilly was rebuilt on a scale of regal magnificence, and
an extensive zoological collection was brought together as a feature of
attraction to his territorial possessions. Anxious to improve the breed
of horses in France, he also imported 150 race-horses from England, and
thus established one of the finest stables on the continent of Europe.
And then, “to pay his court to the Regent, who was passionately fond
of his daughter, the Duchess of Berry, he gave that Princess, who was
eager after pleasure, a superb festival, which lasted four or five
days, and cost an immense sum of money.”

Among other nobles whose dilapidated fortunes were restored at this
time, were the Dukes D’Antin, de Guiche, de la Force, the Marshal
D’Estrées, Madame de Vérue and the Princes de Rohan and de Poix. But
many foreigners were no less successful, and of one, Joseph Gage,
brother of Viscount Gage, who had acquired an exceedingly large
fortune, we are told that, having aspirations to kingly rank, he
offered the King of Poland three millions if the latter would resign
his crown in his favour, and meeting with an unfavourable reply,
endeavoured to negotiate a similar transaction with reference to
Sardinia, but with no greater success.

Fortune, however, did not shine on all the members of the nobility
of France. Many were unable or unwilling to take advantage of the
opportunities offered them for enrichment. Of the latter the most
conspicuous were Chancellor D’Aguessau, the Duc de Saint-Simon, the
Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Marshal de Villeroy and Marshall de Villars.
For the former other means were discovered for acquiring wealth than
direct speculation, means less creditable, if not more discreditable.
The institution of marriage was utilized by the poor nobility to
replenish their finances. Many of the _nouveaux riches_ were only too
pleased to endow a prospective noble son-in-law with wealth sufficient
to enable him to live according to his station, so that they too
might be able to number themselves among the aristocracy. Until the
advent of Law, marriages of this kind were not only unusual, but so
strict was the line of division which separated the nobility from
all inferior ranks, that when they were celebrated, they invariably
brought social ostracism. The charms of wealth, however, removed all
scruples of caste, and we find, for instance, that the marriage of
Mlle. de Sainte-Hermine, a near relation of the Duc de la Vrilliere,
Secretary of State, whose consent was willingly given, to a _parvenu_
of the name of Panier, was celebrated without any reflection on the
ground of misalliance. But marriages of a very different class from
these were brought into favour amongst this class of suitor during
these days of financial excitement. These were known as marriages à
réméré,--marriages with right of redemption,--the distinctive feature
of which consisted in the right of the noble husband to cancel the
marriage at a future date. Marais instances the case of “the Marquis
D’Oise, of the house of Villars-Brancas, who entered into a proposal
of marriage with a little girl of two years old, daughter of André
the Mississippian. The betrothal was made with the consent of the two
families. The Marquis was to have an annuity of 20,000 livres until the
marriage took place, and even in case it never took place. If it took
place, the dowry was to be four millions. Little girls would no longer
have dolls, but asked for “Marquises of Oise to play with.”

This marriage, however, did not take place, the pretext for its
cancellation being found in the subsequent fall of André on the
collapse of the scheme. The marriage of the Count D’Evreux was of the
same class. His wife was a young girl of twelve, daughter of the famous
Crozat. The Count received a sum of 2,000,000 livres on the marriage,
but, subsequently gaining enormous profits on successful share
transactions, repaid the dowry and obtained release from the nuptial
tie.

During these months of excitement, Paris was a centre of a attraction
equally for the foreigner as for the Frenchman. The brilliance of the
capital was dazzling, and the facilities for spending money were even
greater than those for making it. The influx was from all nations and
drawn from every grade. The sovereigns even of foreign countries did
not disdain to engage in the general business of share speculation, and
sent to Paris specially appointed agents for the purpose, or made use
of their ministers already at the French court. Britain too supplied
its quota of speculators. The Earl of Ilay, a friend of Law’s, and
anxious to benefit his friends at home by turning his friendship to
account, in writing to Mrs. Howard in Sept., 1719, said, “I have laid
out the money you bid me. It is very difficult in a letter to give you
an idea of the funds of this country; but in fact everybody has made
estates that have been concerned in them for four or five months. As a
little instance of this, cousin Jack has got, I believe, near £10,000,
and has lost the half of that sum by a timorous silly bargain he made;
for my part, I came after all was in a manner over, and as I never
meddle with these matters, I do nothing but buy books and gimcracks.
It is true it is now very late, and yet, by what I am informed by him
who knows all, and does all, I am of opinion that whatever sum you
remit here may be turned to great profit. The stocks are now at 950,
and if no accidents happen of mortality, it is probable they will be
1500 in a short time. The money I laid out for you was 5000 livres,
as a subscriber to the fifty millions of stock lately added, of which
the tenth part only is paid down, so that 5000 is the first payment
of 50,000 livres. The subscription was full, but Mr. Law was so kind
as to allow it me; some of the subscribers have already sold their
subscriptions for 230, that is their own money back again and 130 per
cent. profit. Whatever you think fit to do, you may bid Middleton
remit to me as many livres. I shall acknowledge the receipt of them
and do the best I can. You will think that the levity of this country
has turned my head when I tell you your master might, within these few
months, have made himself richer than his father.”

It was estimated that at the end of 1719, no fewer than 305,000
foreigners were in Paris, drawn there in the hope of securing immediate
wealth. So large an accession to the population had the effect of
stimulating business. Housing accommodation became exceedingly scarce,
and every available out-house was utilised as a temporary place of
abode. Not only did the necessaries of life rise greatly in price, but
all articles of luxury shared in the general increase of value. The
effect was to create an appearance of great prosperity which permeated
every class of the community, and elicited expressions of deep respect
and admiration for the man who had inaugurated this new era of apparent
greatness for France.

CHAPTER VIII

  Law’s importance causes him to be courted by all classes.--Socially
      ostracised by nobility.--Law’s conversion to Roman
      Catholicism.--The part of the Abbé Dubois and the Abbé Tencin
      in the conversion.--Difficulties in its accomplishment.--Law
      becomes naturalised.--Law appointed Controller-General of
      Finance.--Regent celebrates appointment by a distribution
      of pensions.--Law honoured with the freedom of the City of
      Edinburgh.--Elected member of Academy of Sciences.--William Law
      brought to France and made Postmaster-General.--Law’s private
      investments.--His fiscal reforms.--His introduction of free
      university education.

In the midst of all this excitement, gaiety and brilliance, Law himself
stood out as the one great and prominent figure in the kingdom. Court
was paid to him by all the most influential personages in France; and
by the multitude he was regarded with feelings of awe and admiration.
His chambers were crowded day after day by those who at other times
would have been in attendance upon their sovereign. Every excuse and
artifice was employed in order to obtain an interview with the great
man. “I have seen an hundred coaches at his levee in a morning, and
dukes and peers waiting for hours together to speak with him, and could
not get within two rooms of him for the crowd.” Yet through the whole
of this period of flattery and adulation he maintained the same cool
unaffected demeanour which had always characterised him, and although
given at times to treat his importunate visitors with haughtiness and
curtness, yet he was noted for his general suavity and affability
when receiving those who were strangers to him, and who had sought
introductions without credentials merely for the purpose of obtaining
pecuniary assistance. When he passed along the streets, he was followed
by crowds by whom he was greeted with cries of “Long live Mr. Law.”
Ladies of the highest rank kissed their hands to him, and even princes
rendered him obeisance in public. In fact so important had Law become
in the eyes of everyone, that he allowed himself to indulge in conduct
of a somewhat shameless character, although it was attributed simply
to boldness by those who encouraged him in it. The latter--and they
were more often than not of the gentler sex--thought they excused their
conduct in endeavouring to give it the character of a joke, and the
nobility of the period, ready at all times to sacrifice their lives to
their honour, scrupled not to sacrifice their honour to their fortune.

The determination of many ladies to have the honour, as they considered
it, of speaking with Law, led to many amusing if not ridiculous
incidents. One lady, who had waited without success at his house for
an interview, instructed her coachman to overturn her carriage if on
any occasion when driving her he chanced to meet the great financier.
For several days she drove through the streets of Paris he was most
in the habit of frequenting, and at last her patience was rewarded.
On the approach of Law her coachman upset the carriage, and the
lady who was carried into a neighbouring house by the object of her
attentions confessed the purpose of her stratagem, and extracted a
promise from him that her application for shares would be granted. Not
so successful, however, was the ruse of another lady who had failed to
secure an invitation to the house of Madame de Simiane where Law was to
dine. Driving to the house when all were seated at dinner, she bade her
coachman and footman to shout “Fire,” at which the guests all rushed
into the street. On seeing the lady leave her carriage to meet him, Law
at once perceived the object of the false alarm and fled before she had
an opportunity of speaking to him.

At Law’s house was always to be found the most exclusive society in
Paris, and it is related that the Regent, expressing the desire on
one occasion to find a Duchess to whom he could depute the duty of
accompanying his daughter to Modena, mentioned to the Abbé Dubois
that he did not exactly know where to find one, to which the latter
remarked, “I can tell you where to find every duchess in France: you
have only to go to Mr. Law’s; you will see them every one in his
ante-chamber.”

One incident, however, serves to show that there was no desire on
the part of the nobility to admit Law to their ranks, and that their
conduct in apparently placing him on their own social level was merely
dictated by the possibility of utilising their friendship for financial
gain. The Maréchal de Villeroi had arranged a ballet in which the young
king was to appear. Such ballets had been common during the reign
of Louis XIV., and were considered part of a nobleman’s education,
which then chiefly consisted in “grace, address, exercise, respect
for bearing, graduated and delicate politeness, polished and decent
gallantry,” but had fallen entirely into disuse during the Regency.
Great difficulty was accordingly experienced by the Maréchal in
obtaining a sufficient number of dancers amongst the nobility who alone
were formerly privileged to take part in the royal entertainment. Many
were admitted who would not otherwise have been allowed to join in the
ballet, and Law requested the Regent to obtain the honour for his son
of being allowed to join the company. The Maréchal was unable to refuse
the Regent’s request, but the idea of a commoner’s son occupying a
place in a royal ballet so scandalised the feelings of social propriety
of the privileged circle that “nothing else was spoken of for some
days; tongues wagged freely, too; and a good deal of dirty water was
thrown upon other dancers in the ballet.” The success of the ballet was
thus threatened, and the whole project promised to be a total failure
when it was announced that Law’s son had fallen ill from small-pox. The
cause of all the difficulties having thus been removed, the high-born
courtiers displayed their undisguised satisfaction and proceeded with
calmer feelings to carry out the first and only Court ballet which
graced the reign of Louis XV.

While Law’s influence at this time was all-powerful in the government
of France, he was without any of the outward symbols of authority. He
held no office, and his influence accordingly could only be exercised
indirectly. He enjoyed the splendour of the position to which he had
attained, but did not possess any official mark of greatness. Two
obstacles existed to official advancement. His religion was not that
recognised by the State; and his nationality was foreign. Both of these
he was now prepared to renounce. The abjuration of his religion was a
step which required to be accomplished with the utmost caution. All the
elements of sincerity were lacking, and Law’s conversion was likely
to be regarded as a merely political move. There was danger moreover
of the public regarding the conversion of Law under royal auspices
in the light of a highly scandalous proceeding, and considering that
it might derogate from the high office to which he was destined and
for which the abjuration of his religion was a necessary preliminary.
There was a circumstance also in Law’s career which under ordinary
conditions would have militated against his admission to the Roman
Catholic communion, and therefore required delicate treatment. Law
had not been legally married to the lady whom he passed off as his
wife, and the law of the Church strictly required cessation of all
relations with her. This, naturally, was a course to which Law would
not assent since by her he had a son and a daughter, and since
her husband Senor was now dead for many years. It was accordingly
necessary to have a very indulgent converter, one who would not only
attest sincere conversion but would at the same time refrain from
interfering with Law’s connubial relations. An accommodating instrument
had therefore to be found, and Dubois was ready to supply him in the
person of a certain Abbé Tencin. “I shall give you,” said Dubois,
“neither a curé nor a habitué de paroisse: they are too much bound by
formularies, maxims, and rigid rules; you will have the Abbé Tencin,
a man of considerable talent whom I know intimately; he can convert
and receive into the Church Mr. Law and all his family.” The Abbé was
undoubtedly a man of talent, ambitious and witty, but unfortunately had
acquired a reputation for unscrupulousness, and a degree of dishonesty
inconsistent with his high professions. Regarded with suspicion,
and denied the friendship of those with whom his calling would have
brought him into contact, he devoted himself to intriguing on behalf
of politicians and others to whom a man of the ability and cunningness
of the Abbé was indispensable. To Dubois he was invaluable, but he
also had that minister under his control through his having compromised
himself with Madame de Tencin. The Abbé found in this a powerful lever,
and unfailingly turned it to his own advantage at every opportunity.
Law’s conversion was such an opportunity, and one which opened out a
prospect of enrichment he had not as yet enjoyed.

With the approval of the Regent, the Abbé was accordingly deputed to
perform the delicate task of making Law a Catholic. A short time was
allowed to elapse before the actual ceremony took place, and in the
interval it was supposed that Law, under the spiritual guidance of the
Abbé, was preparing himself for the solemn and important step he was
about to take. But by no ingenious form of deception, however mild, was
the Abbé able to give even a colour of sincerity to Law’s conversion,
and he was therefore placed under the necessity of choosing some other
place than Paris for the performance of the ceremony lest the people,
outraged in their notions of religious propriety, should resort to
forcible measures to prevent the ceremony from taking place. The Church
of the Récollets in Melun was accordingly chosen as a sufficiently safe
and retired scene for the abjuration, and on 17th September, 1719,
the necessary formalities were performed, the Abbé retiring from “his
pious task with many shares and bank-notes.” The event was made the
occasion of sarcastic verse of which a few fragments still survive.
The following fragment preserved in the “Memoris du Maréchal Duc de
Richelieu” celebrates the bestowal of the title of Primate of the
Mississippi upon the Abbé by the Colonel of the Regiment of Skull-Caps,
a burlesque association which jested on all events:--

    Nous Colonel de la Calotte,
    Pour empêcher par tous moyens,
    Que l’erreur des Luthériens
    Et que la Doctrine Huguenotte
    N’infecte notre Régiment
    D’un pernicieux sentiment;
    Et pour mettre dans la voye,
    Quiconque seroit fourvoyé,
    Et seroit devenu la proye
    De l’Hérétique Devoyé.
    A ces causes, vu la science,
    Bonnes mœurs, doctrine, éloquence
    Et zele que l’Abbé Tencin
    A fait paroître sur-tout autre;
    Pour le salut de son prochain,
    Nous lui donnons Lettre d’Apôtre,
    Et de convertisseur en chef;
    D’autant qu’en homme apostolique,
    Il a rendu Law Catholique:
    En outre par le même bref,
    Voulant illustrer la soutane,
    Et donner du poids aux Sermons
    Dudit Abbé; nous le nommons
    _Primat de la Louisiane._
    De plus, quoique l’Abbé susdit,
    Plein d’un évangélique esprit,
    Meprise les biens de ce monde,
    Et que même contre eux il fronde.
    De notre libéralité
    Pour soutenir sa dignité,
    En conséquence du systême
    Lui déléguons dîme on dixieme
    Sur les brouillards dudit pays,
    Qui du systême sont le prix;
    Espérant qui la Cour de Rome
    Donnera les Bulles gratis.

An unexpected difficulty, however, now arose. Law’s parish church
was the church of Saint-Roch, and the Curé, refusing to credit the
sincerity of the conversion, would not recognize Law as a duly
converted Catholic. This was a serious difficulty since Law had
renounced his old faith and, while having complied with all the outward
formalities necessary for reception into the new, was denied admission.
The realisation of his ambition was thus threatened, and the situation
demanded the employment of measures, extreme if necessary, but
sufficient at least to overcome the scruples of the recalcitrant Curé.
Tencin, as intermediary in the negotiations which followed, had full
and ample powers to treat with the Curé. The wily Abbé, knowing that
corruption was closed to him as an avenue of successful approach to the
Curé, adopted the useful method, but one none the less corrupt because
it does not personally benefit the recipient, of offering on behalf
of his principal to subscribe lavishly to the funds of the church,
and to give substantial assistance towards its construction. The Curé
yielded readily to the temptation, and it was thereupon arranged that
Law should communicate and make the bread offering at High Mass on
Christmas-day with all due solemnity. His donations were attributed to
a sense of religious duty, and as a thank-offering for the privilege of
being received into the Catholic communion. The ceremony was performed
before a crowded and fashionable congregation, who had flocked from
Paris to witness the interesting event, and Law was now able to take
out letters of naturalisation.

Law, however, was not permitted to escape so easily from public
reflection upon the apparent motives of his action. A heated
controversy arose between Jansenites, who, influenced only by rigid
principle, were indignant at the manner in which a sacred rite had been
in their opinion grossly abused, and the Jesuits, who, inclined to
place more weight upon outward ceremony, were convinced, or at least
declared they were convinced, of the sincerity of the conversion. Nor
were matters improved when during the controversy all the compromising
features of Law’s past life were diligently gathered and as diligently
published to a curious and interested community.

But Law chose to treat the matter in a spirit of indifference, and by
refraining from making any attempt to refute or explain the statements
of his opponents the storm subsided from mere exhaustion.

A few days after the ceremony at Saint-Roch, on 5th January, 1720, Law
was named Controller General of Finance in place of D’Argenson, whose
tenure of office was wholly at Law’s mercy. Law had merely to create
difficulties for his nominee, in order to obtain his resignation, and
D’Argenson wise enough to perceive the futility of opposing the designs
of Law readily yielded up the most important office in the national
administration. As Voltaire remarks, Law had in the space of four
years developed from a Scotsman into a Frenchman; from a Protestant
into a Catholic; from an adventurer into a lord of the fairest lands
of the kingdom; and from a banker into a minister of state. His
phenomenal rise from obscurity to the highest office, and that in a
foreign country, was an apparent witness to the truth of his theories,
and the circumstance that he did not allow himself to be overcome by
overestimation of his own importance, but maintained an unassuming and
unpretentious manner throughout the whole of this period secured for
him the personal attachment and admiration of the whole nation, and
for his opinions a greater degree of implicit faith than probably they
would otherwise have received.

The Regent was himself delighted with the preferment he was thus easily
enabled to confer upon his favourite, and marked the occasion by a
lavish distribution of grants and pensions to numerous courtiers and
relations. Of these the Duke of Saint-Simon mentions grants of 600,000
livres to La Fare, captain of the guard; 100,000 livres to Castries,
chevalier d’honneur to Madame la Duchesse d’Orléans; 200,000 to the
Prince de Courtenay; and 60,000 livres to the Comte de la Marche, the
infant son of the Prince de Conti. Saint-Simon then adds that “seeing
so much depredation, and no recovery to hope for, I asked M. la Duc
d’Orléans to attach 12,000 livres, by way of increase, to my government
of Senlis, which was worth only 1000 livres, and of which my second son
had the reversion. I obtained it at once.”

Two other honours of a different character were also conferred upon
Law during these few months of greatness. One came from his native
city, which was now anxious to do homage to the man of whom it
formerly had reason to be somewhat ashamed. This consisted of the
freedom of Edinburgh, presented to him in a gold casket of magnificent
workmanship, which had cost the municipal treasury the sum of £300. The
other consisted in his election as an honorary member of the Academy
of Sciences, an honour of the highest order and conferred only upon
Frenchmen of outstanding ability. In this latter condition was found
the excuse for purging his name from the roll on his downfall, his
election which took place on 2nd December, 1719, having preceded his
naturalisation.

The magnitude and diversity of interests to which Law’s time and
attention was now devoted were such as to cause him to enlist the
services of his brother, William Law, a man of parts but much inferior
in ability to his more brilliant brother.

William Law was first appointed representative of the Bank on the
London Exchange, and so great was the standing of the Bank in the
opinion of English commercial circles that the bulk of remittances
for France passed through his hands. His business capacity, however,
was such as to warrant Law in bringing his brother over to Paris, and
accordingly a London office was established in the Strand under the
management of one George Middleton. Before setting out for Paris,
William Law had made arrangements for the importation into France
of considerable numbers of skilled workmen, chiefly gold and silver
smiths. It had always been one of Law’s objects to develop France
into a great industrial nation, and one of the methods he adopted to
accomplish this end was to rob England of its best workmen by offering
substantial inducements. A factory was established at Versailles in
which it was intended to carry on, on a large scale, a business which
would gradually absorb certain classes of trade that had hitherto been
practically the monopoly of British manufacturers. Success however
did not come as Law had anticipated. No doubt his efforts were a
stimulating influence, but he was to discover that trade, which was not
of natural growth, seldom prospered by purely artificial means.

William Law on his arrival in Paris was received with that welcome
which his relationship with the Comptroller-General naturally secured
for him. He was introduced immediately to the Regent, and was not
only made one of the directors of the Bank, but was also appointed
to the office of Postmaster-General--a circumstance which alone
indicates the commanding influence Law exercised over the Regent and
the government of France. These two brothers lived in princely fashion
in Paris, honoured and courted by everyone from the Regent downwards.
Each accumulated enormous wealth, but directed its investment into
different channels. William purchased land and estates in his native
country, not that he foresaw the possibility of the collapse of his
brother’s schemes, but because he had no desire to permanently settle
in France. John, on the other hand, with the intention of becoming
a Frenchman so far as that was possible in spite of his origin,
acquired great estates throughout the land of his adoption, and thus
incidentally evinced his confidence in the sterling value of his
financial schemes. His nephew compiled a list of his more important
investments, aggregating almost 8,000,000 livres:--

    La Marquisat d’Effiat                           800,000 livres.
    La Terre de la Rivière                          900,000   „
    La Marquisat de Toncy                           160,000   „
    La Terre de la Marche                           120,000   „
    La Terre de Roissy                              650,000   „
    La Terre d’Orcher                               400,000   „
    Terre et Bois de Brean                          160,000   „
    Marquisats de Charleville et Bacqueville        330,000   „
    La Terre de Berville                            200,000   „
    La Terre de Fontaine Rome                       130,000   „
    La Terre de Serville                            110,000   „
    La Terre d’Yville                               200,000   „
    La Terre de Serponville                         220,000   „
    La Terre de Tancarville                         320,000   „
    La Terre de Guermande                           160,000   „
    Hotel Mazarin, et Emplacemens Rue Vivienne    1,200,000   „
    Emplacemens Rue de Varenne                      110,000   „
    Emplacemens de la Place Louis le Grand          250,000   „
    Partie du fief de la Grange Batelière           150,000   „
    Marais on Chartiers du Fauxbourg St. Honore     160,000   „
    Maisons, surtout dans Paris                     700,000   „
    Les Domains de Bourget                           90,000   „
    Quelques petites terres, comme Valançay,
        St. Suplice, etc.                           350,000   „

Not by any means a strikingly large list for the man who had in so few
years enabled the Regent and innumerable members of the aristocracy to
accumulate vast wealth and rehabilitate the fortunes which successive
generations had squandered in reckless extravagance.

That Law did not merely use the great power and influence he had
acquired in the government of France for the purpose of promoting his
own financial schemes and his own personal advantage is evident from
the radical reforms he accomplished in the fiscal arrangements of that
country. The principles upon which he based his fiscal policy were
of the most advanced and enlightened character. They were liberal,
and consequently had strict equality for their object. The system of
taxation which prevailed not only showed many anomalies but lent itself
to the grossest abuse. Monopolies of every description abounded.
Officials swarmed throughout the country, and by their extortionate
levies upon every branch of trade checked industrial progress in every
direction. It is said that in Paris itself the number of officials
equalled the number of people engaged in the various trades they were
supposed to supervise in the interests of the nation. Free trading
intercourse was also limited by the existence of a system of provincial
protection which sought to prevent the goods of one province from
entering, except under payment of prohibitive dues, the markets of
another province.

Law was alive to the prejudicial effects of all these factors upon
the industrial prosperity of the country, and also upon the general
well-being of the people, and endeavoured as far as possible to remove
or at least to modify them. His ideal was the adoption of a single tax
to be levied in proportion to the wealth of the individual. Too many
vested interests existed however for the accomplishment of so sweeping
a reform, and he had to satisfy himself with measures more moderate
in their sweep. It is a tribute to his fearlessness that during the
winter of 1719–20 he introduced innumerable changes in the method and
incidence of taxation, and that in spite of the overwhelming opposition
of those who were thus deprived of continuing the old extortionate
system to their own pecuniary gain. By wholesale modification of
duties and charges, he succeeded in effecting substantial reductions
in the price of such necessaries as grain, corn, coal, wood, butter,
cheese, and eggs. Inland protective duties were abolished on all
articles classed as necessaries or as raw material, and on one item of
import--English coal--the tariff was removed for the benefit of French
manufacturers, whom Law was most anxious to encourage.

But Law’s horizon was not bounded by the commercial and industrial
interests of the country. He recognised the great part which education
plays in the progress of a nation, and determined to give such
facilities as would place the highest education within the reach of
every one. He accordingly appropriated a twenty-eighth part of the
postal revenue for the endowment of free education in the University of
Paris. He thus conferred upon France a benefit of the most invaluable
character, and by this measure alone merited the reputation of an
enlightened and broad-minded statesman.

CHAPTER IX

  Law’s designs against England’s political and industrial
      position.--Earl of Stair’s correspondence with Mr. Secretary
      Craggs.--Stair accused by Law of threatening the safety of
      the Bank.--Stair’s recall intimated.--Lord Stanhope sent to
      conciliate Law.--Threatened rupture between England and France
      over question of evacuation of Gibraltar.--Stair endeavours to
      justify his hostile attitude towards Law.--His apprehensions as
      to Law’s purpose in acquiring South Sea stock.--The humiliating
      nature of Stair’s dismissal.

The year 1720 was a momentous one in the history of the Mississippi
Scheme. Its commencement was full of promise from many points of view.
It witnessed the realisation of Law’s ambition to gather into his
hands the reins of government in practically every department of the
administration. It witnessed also the zenith of prosperity for all
those gigantic schemes and undertakings which were to make France the
great centre of trade and finance for the world. But the promise for
the future which these circumstances seemed to contain was only of few
months’ duration. Yet these few months saw Law the most striking and
commanding figure of his time throughout Europe. We have already seen
the position to which he had attained in the internal affairs of France
itself; how the government of that country was practically under his
control; and how by sheer energy and force of character he had extended
his influence over every class of society. His fame however reached
far beyond the confines of France. He was regarded as an international
force by other nations. Not only was his system copied by other
countries, but he was bent on following a line of foreign policy for
France which threatened the political and industrial prospects of these
countries, and caused them great alarm, temporary no doubt, probably
foolish, but real while it lasted.

Law’s designs were chiefly directed against the power of England. The
English government recognised this, and considered Law a person to be
conciliated. Their attitude towards him was peculiarly weak, and led to
the recall of the minister at the French court, the Earl of Stair. That
minister on his arrival in Paris in 1715 had called upon Law, not only
as a friend, but because he adjudged him even then as a man of great
importance. Their friendship however was of short duration. It rapidly
degenerated into merely formal intercourse, and then into active
hostility. The latter stage was reached in 1719, when we find Lord
Stair intriguing against Law in his attempt to displace Dubois, foreign
minister of France, by Torcy, who would have been a more pliable
instrument for the carrying out of his designs. Lord Stair’s letters
to Mr. Secretary Craggs at this time are full of interest, and show the
nature of the hostility between himself and Law, and the progress of
their quarrel. On August 30th, 1719, he writes--“In a long conversation
I had with the Abbé (Dubois) to-night, he seems apprehensive that Torcy
gains ground, and that there may be a close connection betwixt Law and
Torcy, with views to turn the Abbé out. I am afraid this apprehension
of the Abbé is not without ground; but, however that may be, I am
persuaded we shall quickly see this court take airs which will not be
easy to bear; and I am not a little apprehensive that we shall very
quickly see them come into measures that we shall have no reason to
like. If this should be true, we must not, in my poor opinion, seem to
take any notice of it; but at the same time, it will behove us to exert
ourselves to find out ways, without loss of time, to get rid of the
pressure of the public debts.”

A few days later Lord Stair had apparently concluded that he was
powerless to stem the advance of Law’s influence, and writes
accordingly--“Supposing I had talents, and that I were fitter to serve
you at this court than another; you will be obliged to change your
minister. You may depend on it, this court, with their fortune, will
change their measures (_i.e._, their foreign policy); and they will
desire to have a man here that they may be either able to gain or
impose upon. You must henceforth look upon Law as the first minister,
whose daily discourse is, that he will raise France to a greater
height than ever she was, upon the ruin of England and Holland. You
may easily imagine I shall not be a minister for his purpose. He is
very much displeased with me already, because I did not flatter his
vanity by putting in Mississippi. I did not think it became the King’s
Ambassador to give countenance to such a thing, or an example to others
to withdraw their effects from England, to put them into the stocks
here; which would have been readily followed by many. I have been in
the wrong to myself, to the value of thirty or forty thousand pounds,
which I might very easily have gained if I had put myself, as others
did, into Mr. Law’s hands; but I thought it was my duty, considering my
position, not to do so.

“The Abbé told me, that if some people prevailed, measures would be
changed; that Torcy of late took the ascendant very much; and that
the Regent discovered a great partiality towards him; and that, if it
continued a little longer, he, the Abbé, would lay down. I am sure Law
is in this thing, for he will be for removing everything that does not
absolutely depend on him, and that can, in any manner, stand in his
way to hinder him to be first minister. Law’s heart has been set upon
that from the beginning; and we stand too directly in the way of his
ambitious views, for France to imagine that a good understanding can
subsist long between the nations, if he comes to govern absolutely.”

On 9th September, Lord Stair returns to the question of the
displacement of Dubois, and seeks to impress the government with what
he conceives to be the gravity of the situation. “I told you, in my
former letter, what the Abbé Dubois said to me upon the subject of
Torcy’s taking the ascendant over him in the Regent’s favour, and
of the close connection he, the Abbé, apprehended was between Torcy
and Law. He has since confirmed the same thing to me in several
conversations; and seemed to be in very great concern, and to have
thoughts of laying down, which I advised him not to do. The Abbé
likewise told me that there were many things which were hid from him;
and that he apprehended there was some change of measures.

“I come now to take notice of another thing to you, which in my opinion
is very much to be minded; and that is the spirit, behaviour and
discourse of the man whom, from henceforth, you must look upon as the
first minister, and that is Mr. Law. He, in all his discourse, pretends
that he will set France higher than ever she was before, and put her in
a condition to give the law to all Europe; that he can ruin the trade
and credit of England and Holland whenever he pleases; that he can
break our Bank whenever he has a mind, and our East India Company. He
said publicly the other day at his own table, when Lord Londonderry was
present, that there was but one great kingdom in Europe, and one great
town; and that was France and Paris. He told Pitt that he would bring
down our East India stock, and entered into articles with him to sell
him at twelve months hence a hundred thousand pounds of stock at eleven
per cent. under the present current price.

“You may imagine what we have to apprehend from a man of this temper,
who makes no scruple to declare such views, and who will have all the
power and all the credit at his court.”

Later in the same month he says, “I hope our good friends in the
North will make our affairs in Parliament easy. We must in that case
exert ourselves to do something decisive towards the payment of the
public debts, if we do not intend to submit ourselves to the condition
in which Mr. Law pretends to put all Europe. He says, _il rendra la
France si grande que toutes les nations de l’Europe, enverront des
Ambassadeurs à Paris, et le roy n’enverra que des couriers_.”

From opposition on the ground of policy alone to personal differences
was an easy stage. Law, conscious of his own power, had been hitherto
somewhat indifferent to the efforts of Lord Stair to weaken his
direction of the foreign policy of France. A rumour, however, which
gained circulation towards the end of the year determined him to rid
the French court of a man who he thought was moved not less by personal
enmity than by the interests of the country he represented. Two
circumstances had happened of an alarming nature which threatened the
safety of the Bank and the value of Mississippi stock. A run had been
made upon the Bank, and an attack upon the market had been organised
with a view to depreciating the price of shares. These disturbing
events had been attributed to Lord Stair, and Law at once informed the
Regent to whom the matter was of great concern. Lord Stair was innocent
of the charge, and naturally sought an interview with the Regent in
order to disabuse his mind. The result was satisfactory so far as the
assurances of the Regent went, but displayed the latter’s duplicity
since he was throughout unquestionably on the side of Law. Stair’s
letter descriptive of the interview was dated 11th December. “Several
days ago I was informed on very good authority, that Mr. Law told the
Duke of Orleans that it was I who had latterly been the cause of the
attack on the Bank. I thereupon resolved to clear myself with him,
and I turned the conversation in such a way that he mentioned he had
been told that I had been the cause of the attack. I said to him, ‘My
Lord, I understand that Mr. Law has had a talk with you, and I am very
pleased to have the opportunity of proving to you that he is absolutely
false in all his statements. It is true that the subjects of the King,
my master, have considerable wealth in this country, which it would
have been very easy for me to have used to the prejudice of the Bank.
But if it is true that neither I nor any other subject of the King had
taken billets in order to have them changed at the Bank; if we have not
placed shares on the market in order to depreciate them; if it is true
that I have had no communication with those who have run on the Bank,
you ought to be convinced that Mr. Law’s talk is not only false but is
the most atrocious calumny and the most unworthy; a calumny which does
not tend only to deceive you on my account, a trustworthy servant at
all times, through gratitude and through affection; but which tends to
embroil you with my master, the King, who is your best friend and ally;
for I know that Mr. Law stated at the same time that what I did in this
respect I did by order of my court.

“Now, if Mr. Law cannot prove to you that one of these three points is
true, since I boldly submit to you that all three are false, he ought
to be considered by you as a calumniator who desires to deceive in
things of great importance. But it is not merely of recent date that I
know the good intentions of Mr. Law for his country, and the designs
he has to set the King at variance with you. It is only eight days
since Mr. Law publicly threatened, in presence of several subjects of
the King, my master, to write a book for the purpose of convincing the
world that Great Britain could not possibly pay her debts. Such are the
ordinary and public discourses of Mr. Law. You can judge what effect
that can produce when a man who pretends to be your first minister
delivers such discourses. I have known it for a long time, but I have
refrained from saying anything to you because I was persuaded that
Great Britain would not think the same; and because I regarded these
discourses as the effects of the foolish vanity and inebriation of
Mr. Law whose head I have noticed for some time, has been turned.’ I
then told the Duke of Orleans many discourses of a similar nature. The
Duke listened with surprise. At last he said to me, ‘My Lord, they are
truly the discourses of a fool.’ I replied, ‘I say nothing to you that
I would not say in Mr. Law’s presence, and that I could not prove; you
can now judge if it would have been astonishing if I had really acted
in the way Mr. Law led you to believe I had done, but I am guided by
the respect I have always had for your interests.’

“The Duke of Orleans told me finally that he was quite satisfied
with what I had just told him; that he had always looked on me as
his friend, and that he had difficulty in believing that I wished
to prejudice his operations. That is substantially all that passed
between the Duke and myself on the subject of Mr. Law. You can make the
necessary reflections. There is no need of comment.”

Stair’s following letter communicates an apparent determination of the
Regent to exclude Law from any influence on the relations of France
with England, but also indicates his hesitation to place too much
reliance upon the Regent’s assurances. “The Regent,” he writes, “so
strongly perceived the dangers into which Law would precipitate him,
that some days ago he repeatedly spoke very strongly to me of the
vanity, presumption, and insolence of this man. He said he knew Law to
be a man whose head had been turned by excessive vanity and ambition;
that nothing could satisfy him except to be absolute master; that he
had so great conceit of his own abilities and so great contempt for the
talents of other men that he was impracticable with every one; that he
had tried to make him work with the cleverest men in France, and that
he could not agree with them for two consecutive days, always being
impatient at the slightest obstacle or contradiction. He told me that
he had rated Law soundly for his insolent discourses which alarmed
everyone in such a way that he had reason to believe that Law would
contain himself; but that he saw clearly no bridle could hold him.
‘But,’ said the Regent, ‘believe me, I shall arrange matters so that
there will be no risk of Law embroiling me with the King nor separating
me from my allies. He is necessary to me in my financial affairs, but
he will not be listened to in political matters, and I shall be on my
guard against his mischievous designs.’ I should like to believe that
the Regent said what he thinks, and that he really thought it at the
moment he spoke to me; but, with all that, a great treasurer, such
as Law, is first minister wherever he chances to be in office; and
if Law’s system is established we are equally lost sooner or later.
Further, believe me, we ought to be aware of this nation; we can never,
with safety, count on their friendship, inasmuch as you could be a
dangerous enemy to them, and can bring home to them the great injury
we could cause them if they disagreed with us. On this account their
friendship will be assured; but we shall miscalculate every time we
depend on them in time of need. You will have received a messenger from
the Abbé Dubois, who would inform you that I told him last Thursday
that I would ask to be recalled. It is not from pique; but I see by the
course things are taking that I shall no longer be able to render any
service to the King at this court.”

In the middle of January, 1720, Lord Stanhope intimated the recall
of Lord Stair to the French minister, and a few days afterwards it
was known throughout Paris. The manner of his recall was by no means
courteous, but Lord Stair received the news with apparently unruffled
temper, and expressed no regret in dimitting office since he recognised
the difficulty and the delicacy of the position in which he had placed
himself. Notwithstanding, however, the manner of his discharge--a
discharge which was virtually a disgrace--he declared that it would
not alter his unchangeable devotion to the service of his King and
country. So serious a view did the English government take of the
probable consequences of Stair’s efforts to circumvent Law that they
deemed it necessary to send Lord Stanhope himself to Paris in order to
conciliate Law and to disclaim any animosity on the part of England
towards him. Such a step showed at once a callous indifference to the
feelings of Lord Stair, and greatly gratified Law, who seemingly
occupied the proud position of being able to bring England to the
humiliating necessity of asking his pardon for the hostility to him
of her minister. Stanhope also promised to give Law’s son a regiment,
and to secure that a writ of summons should be issued calling Lord
Banbury, his brother-in-law, to the House of Lords, a question as to
his title having arisen which had hitherto denied him this privilege.
Lord Stair refers to this step by his government in a letter dated 14th
February, 1720. “As to Lord Stanhope, I have ever had a very great
value and esteem for him; and I have upon all occasions endeavoured to
give him the sincerest proofs of my friendship and faithful attachment
to him; and I dare say it, with great truth, that I have not given him
the least reason to complain of me personally. I am sorry if I have
not been able to deserve his esteem, but I am sure I have deserved his
friendship, at least his good-will. What has happened lately, I own to
you, has piqued me very much, especially the manner of doing it; but
I reckon that has proceeded from his views as a minister, in which I
think he has been very much mistaken. I shall readily agree with you
that if his lordship has gained Mr. Law, and made him lay aside his
ill-will and ill-designs against his country, he did very right to make
all sorts of advances to him, to give his son a regiment, to engage to
bring Lord Banbury into the House of Lords, to sacrifice the King’s
ambassador to him. If I had thought Mr. Law to be gained, I should
very readily have advised to do all these very things and a great deal
more. But if his lordship has not gained Mr. Law I am afraid we shall
not find our account in Lord Stanhope’s supporting, when he is ready
to fall, in making him first minister, and in destroying the personal
credit I had with the Regent, and recalling me from this court, when
my long stay should have enabled me to be better able to judge of
their designs and of their ways of working than a stranger of greater
capacity could probably be. A little time will show who has judged
right. I do most heartily wish, for the good of my country, that I may
be found to have framed a wrong judgment; but I own to you I have seen
nothing yet to make me change my opinion, but on the contrary, new
things every day do confirm me that Mr. Law’s designs and the views
of this court are just what I represented them to be. You do me great
wrong if you say that I advised to break with the Regent if he did not
agree to part with Mr. Law. You will find no such thing in any of my
letters. You will find then, that I thought it was useful to endeavour
to shake Mr. Law’s credit with his master, to make his master jealous
of Mr. Law’s ambition, and apprehensive of the dangers his presumption
might lead him into; and that I thought it was fit to stand in his way,
as much as it was possible, to hinder him to gain an absolute power
over the Regent’s mind, and to obstruct his becoming first minister. I
thought it was fit to make Mr. Law lose his temper and to make him act
in passion and rage. I had not succeeded in all these views when Lord
Stanhope arrived and thought fit to demolish me and all my works at
once. As to Mr. Law, I have no ill-will to him, but as I take him to be
a dangerous enemy to my country, I am afraid time will but too plainly
show that I have judged right in this matter. As to my revocation, if
it was possible I should have a mind to stay in this country, you have
made it impracticable. You have taken all effectual ways that could be
thought of to destroy the personal credit I had with the Regent. You
have made it plain to him that I have no credit with the King, that is
to say with his ministers. Lord Stanhope has declared to Mr. Law that I
shall be recalled, so that is no longer a question. You are under the
necessity of sending another minister to this court.”

A new element of concern for Lord Stair now introduced itself, and
bulked largely in his subsequent correspondence up to the time of his
departure from Paris. The occupation of Gibraltar by Britain was a sore
point with France and Spain, and many efforts were made at various
times to obtain her dislodgment. Lord Stanhope’s visit to Paris at
this time was taken advantage of by the Regent and Dubois for the
purpose of negotiating its evacuation if possible, and, according
to Stair, he had given some hope of this being brought about. On the
faith of this, the Regent had apparently assured the King of Spain
that Gibraltar would be given up, and felt that his honour was now
involved in this hope being realised. It was soon evident however that
the English government had no intention at any time of entertaining
proposals for its evacuation, and alarm was felt that a rupture might
take place. Law, we are informed by Stair, was anxious to declare war,
and was confident that the resources of France, owing to the operation
of his system, were sufficient to result in a successful issue. He
became very bitter in his conversation about England, and spoke with
a degree of insolence, revolting even to the French. One evening he
invited to dinner Lord Bolingbroke, and so fierce was his denunciation
of the English that the latter vowed he would never again set foot in
Law’s house. On the same occasion one of Stair’s friends had said to
Law, “Sir, what is this rumour which runs through Paris about us going
to have war? I am persuaded that you have nothing to do with it. A
man who thinks of making a flourishing state by commerce, and by the
establishments which require peace, does not think of war.” Law replied
coldly to him, “Sir, I do not wish war, but I do not fear it.”

Lord Stair’s conclusions were undoubtedly biassed by the deep
feelings of resentment he naturally fostered towards the man who had
accomplished his downfall, and he was too ready to make use of any
rumour which in any degree gave colour to the character of the designs
he attributed to Law. There is no substantial evidence that Law really
went so far as Stair would have us believe, and was using every means
in his power to induce the Regent to make the question of Gibraltar
an occasion for hostilities. It is impossible to say more than that
Law was merely an interested spectator, but not an active participant
during the progress of the affair. As first minister, he would be
under the necessity of guarding his opinions when expressed upon the
subject, but there is no reason to believe that he meant more than he
said when he stated he did not wish war, but did not fear it. Yet Stair
sees underlying this remark the insolence of Law with which he has been
endeavouring to impress the government at home, and points out that if
this be his attitude when his system is likely to fall to pieces, what
would it be if his system yet proved a success.

Notwithstanding Stair’s efforts, however, the English government were
not inclined to adopt his views as to Law’s designs, and indicated
that he had simply allowed himself to be carried away by pique and bad
temper. Stair could not of course allow an accusation such as this to
pass unchallenged and replied, “God knows, that I was only actuated by
feelings of zeal and of attachment towards my King and to my country.
I have spoken truly, as a clear-headed man, whilst you have treated
me as a dreamer; although I can say, without conceit, that you have
reason to trust me and to distrust those to whom you have given trust.
I do not speak of Lord Stanhope. I know him to be an honest man, and
a faithful servant of the King. I respect him and honour him; and
although I have had cause to complain of him, I have no resentment
against him. He believed he was serving the State in humiliating me. He
was deceived. Any man can be deceived. I’ll be bound for it, if you had
left it to me, Law would have been lost at the present moment, and the
understanding between the King and the Duke of Orleans would have been
closer than ever. At the present time it is necessary to think as soon
as possible about sending another minister to this court. For God’s
sake, send an honest man here before everything; and a clever man if
you can find him.”

Stair seems to have created an impression in the mind of his government
that he wished the King to demand from the Regent a promise that he
would depose Law from office at the risk of going to war; and early in
March, Mr. Secretary Craggs wrote that the King would not entertain
such a proposal. Stair had not, however, reduced the matter to such an
issue, and on 12th March stated clearly the position he had taken up.
“I must beg pardon,” he wrote, “to say two things, first that I never
did put things upon that issue, and in the next place, that there was
no need of putting things upon that issue. You will find in my letters
that I represented to the Duke of Orleans that Law, by his vanity and
presumption, was leading him into great dangers and inconveniences,
both at home and abroad; that Law, by going too fast, and by taking
arbitrary measures, was in a way to ruin his Royal Highness’s credit
with the nation, and to overturn the whole system of the finances; and
that, at the same time, Law was, by his discourse and conduct, doing
everything that lay in his power to destroy the good understanding
between the King and the Regent, and between the Regent and the rest
of his allies, and I bade the Regent beware how he trusted the reins
of his chariot to that Phæton Law, because he would overturn it. The
answer the Regent made me to these representations was, that he knew
that vanity and ambition had turned his head; but that he, the Regent,
would take care to keep a hand over him, and to contain him within
bounds in the management of the finances; that he should have nothing
to say in public affairs; that, if he pretended to meddle, the Regent
would not listen to him; and that I might be well assured that it
should not be in his power to create an ill understanding between him
and the King.

“I believe nobody can fairly say that there is anything in my
representations which imported that the King would quarrel with the
Regent if he did not lay Law aside. Nor can they say that there is
anything in the Regent’s answer which imports that he took what I said
in that sense. On this foot things stood. I spoke very freely to the
Regent what I had to say on the subject of Mr. Law, and His Royal
Highness received what I said in a very friendly manner.

“When Lord Stanhope arrived, he thought fit to acknowledge Mr. Law as
first minister, and to _consider him as a much greater man than ever
Cardinal Richelieu or Cardinal Mazarin had been_; to tell the Regent
that the King was very well satisfied with Mr. Law, and did not in any
manner complain of him; that what I had said was entirely out of my
own head, and without, and even contrary to orders; and that for so
doing I should be recalled. Since that time Mr. Law has acted as First
Minister, and I have had no intercourse with the Regent but in formal
audiences, to deliver such messages as I received from Court, and to
receive short and formal answers.

“In what manner Mr. Law has acted as First Minister, I may save you the
trouble of telling you. You have seen it and felt it.

“For me; there was nothing left for me to do, but to desire to be
recalled, unless I could have prevailed with myself to have acted the
part of a fool, or of a knave, or of both. What I have said above, I
believe, is sufficient to prove that things were not brought to that
extremity that there was a necessity to declare war against France, or
to make humble submission to Mr. Law.

“What has happened of late may convince you, I am sure it will the
world, that I knew Mr. Law and this court better than other people do.
Neither vanity or resentment prompts me to say this.

“As to the charge you bring against me, that I have exclaimed against
the minister personally, and against these measures, it does not lie
against me. I have behaved myself with great modesty and moderation on
this side. I have never spoken of Lord Stanhope but with respect and
esteem. I have writ upon that subject to yourself with great freedom,
and to no other man living, my uncle Sir David excepted, to whom I
endeavoured to clear myself of the heavy charge you brought against me.
I shall not compare my behaviour with that of other people’s. I know
how I have been represented to my master and my country. I propose no
other revenge to myself than to show by my conduct that they have been
unjust to me, and that I deserved fairer usage.

“If the charge you mention is laid against our ministry, viz., ‘That
Law is for setting up the Pretender, and they are setting up Mr. Law;
that the Regent will play us false; and that I have been ill-treated
for penetrating these designs; that we are in the hands of France and
dare not own it; that he understands himself with Spain, and that we
shall be the dupes of this alliance, and of this war.’ If this charge
is laid against the Ministers, it shall not be laid against them by my
words. I shall content myself to shew my conduct, that no part of that
charge lies against me.

“Believe me, my dear Craggs, I have no design to enter into any cabals,
nor to make any broils in the state. If I endeavour to show you are
wrong, it is with a design that you may get into the right way again
as soon as possible, that you may not continue to deceive yourselves.
Ask and take the assistance of people who love the King and his
government. You shall always be sure of my little help to support this
ministry. I am not for changes; nor can I be influenced by private
resentment, which, I declare to you upon my honour, I am ready to
forget, as if I never had any reason to complain. My dear Craggs, take
my word for it, Mr. Law’s plan is formed to destroy the King and his
government and our nation; and he will certainly bring his Master into
it; nor is there any other way to divert him from that design but my
showing his Master that it is dangerous for him to attack us. There is
nothing but an appearance of strength and firmness on our side, or the
miscarriage of Law’s system on this side, can save us from a war with
France. No personal credit that anybody may flatter themselves they
have with the Duke of Orleans, will signify anything to divert it. Your
letter about Gibraltar was very well writ, and it was very right to
write it; but I will give you my word for it, it will have no manner
of weight here if Law’s system takes place. If they can bully the
Ministry, or buy a party in England, we must part with Gibraltar; and
when we have parted with it we shall be every way as little secure of
peace as we are at present; and upon many accounts less able to support
a war.”

[Illustration: JOHN, 2ND EARL OF STAIR.

From a Portrait in The National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.]

Fresh apprehension seems to have been aroused in Stair’s mind as to
Law’s apparently deep designs for the accomplishment of some great
injury to English interests by the fact that Law about this time had
purchased large quantities of South Sea stock. He communicated his
apprehension to Craggs, who was not disposed to lay great stress upon
the circumstance. This seems to have somewhat allayed his fears, and he
accordingly wrote on 30th April:

  “I am glad you do not apprehend that Mr. Law is in a condition to
  do us any great hurt by what he gets by the rise of our South Sea
  Stock. Though I know that Law will brag, yet I own to you I did
  apprehend that he had gained considerably and that he might be able
  to do us a good deal of mischief by withdrawing a very great sum
  himself, and by tempting other foreigners to follow his example.
  I suppose you know the great sums Mr. Law pretends to have in our
  stocks were bought in Holland.

  It seems to me to be a very dangerous thing in such a country as
  ours, where things are so very uncertain and fluctuating, to have
  foreigners masters of such vast sums of money, as they must needs
  have at present, by the rise of our stocks. This is a terrible
  handle to hurt us by, in the hands of such a man as Law. I wish our
  monied men may be attentive enough to the security of the nation in
  this point; and that they may not let themselves be blinded by the
  flattering appearances of present gains.

  I am very glad to see you think so sanguinely as to the payment of
  our national debts. It will be very important to give the world
  such impressions of our situation. By several letters I have seen
  from very understanding men in Holland, I should be afraid that
  such impressions might prevail there and at Geneva, which would be
  very hurtful to us, for both the Dutch and the Geneve have very
  great sums in our stocks.

  I am afraid we have not money enough, either in coin or in paper,
  to move so vast a mass as our South Sea Company now comes to be.
  The national bank would have been a very great help. I must own
  I apprehend that if that matter is not settled at this time, you
  will meet with great opposition at any other time by the South Sea
  Company, which, from this time forward, we are to look upon as a
  very powerful body.

  I am afraid our people in England think too neglectfully of Mr.
  Law’s schemes. I own to you, that, as this kingdom is disposed,
  there is a great odds to be laid that it will miscarry; but it is
  not impossible, far from it, that it may hold long enough to do us
  a good deal of mischief. Another thing I dare be bold to say--it
  cannot succeed without undoing us; and if Mr. Law can compass our
  ruin, I think he is in a fair way to carry through his project
  in France. I know Mr. Law himself thinks so too, and that being
  the case we may be very sure he will do us all the mischief in
  his power. You cannot think that power is small, considering the
  absolute authority he has acquired over the Regent. That being so
  I am sure you will agree with me that we cannot be too attentive
  to discover, prevent, and defeat the designs he may form against
  us. His designs are no trifling ones; they strike at the root.
  As to the behaviour of this court towards ours, it will depend
  entirely upon what happens in Sicily, and upon the King of Spain’s
  disposition towards the Regent, which is naturally bad, and which,
  I have reason to think will not be made better by the advice he
  receives from France. As to our friend the new Archbishop of
  Cambray, (the Abbé Dubois) he will do Law all the hurt he can,
  because he is firmly persuaded that Law is determined to turn him
  out. The truth of the matter is that Law does hate and despise
  him exceedingly, and it is no less true, that the Abbé has but
  very little credit at present with his master, though his master
  affects to say the contrary. The Abbé, with all the desire he has
  to flatter himself, sees through the disguise.”

The closing letter of this correspondence shows how humiliating was the
dismissal of Lord Stair,--humiliating even to the extent of his being
denied the usual privilege of seeing his sovereign on his return--and
how complete was the triumph of Law over his former friend.

  “I see plainly I shall not be able to see the King of England.
  It is a great while ago since Mr. Law told his friends here,
  that I should not be allowed to have the honour of seeing the
  King. It is pretty hard to digest I own, if, after serving the
  King very faithfully, very zealously, and with some success, I
  should have the mortification not so much as to have my master’s
  good countenance. However that happens to be, I am very glad His
  Majesty’s affairs go so very well, and that there is so good an
  understanding amongst them that serve him.

  I shall be able to tell a good many curious particulars concerning
  the state of affairs here, which are not so very proper to be put
  into a letter. Mr. Law still brags that he will make our stocks
  humble, by withdrawing the French effects. He seems more bent than
  ever to do us mischief, believing it the only way he has left to
  save himself and his system. How far he may be able to draw his
  master into his notions, God knows. His master professes the best
  intentions imaginable. In the meantime they go on with the new
  levies with all the application imaginable; and I am assured they
  are giving out commissions for levying some more German regiments
  in Alsace. All over France they talk of a war with Britain, and
  the Jacobites are in greater numbers at Paris, and more insolent.
  They talk of great changes at this court; and that the Archbishop
  of Cambray is to be sent to his diocese. Law’s friends give out
  that he has more credit than ever at the Palace Royal. That may
  be; but I dare swear he has lost a great part of his master’s good
  opinion, though, at the same time, he is very unwilling to renounce
  the fine views Law had given him. I think we have nothing to fear
  from France at present but by surprise; but, in my opinion, it will
  behove us to be very attentive against something of that kind.
  It is plain the Jacobites have their heads filled with some such
  notion.

  As soon as Sir Robert arrives, I shall certainly set out and leave
  some friends to take the best care they can to my effects.”

Thus was brought to a close an embassy which offered at its outset
so bright promises, but which ended in virtual disgrace. It is very
questionable if any other result could have been possible. Lord Stair
possessed all the necessary qualifications for a successful ambassador,
and his failure can hardly be said to have been due to want either of
ability or of tact. Rather was it due to the integrity of his motives
and to the high estimate he had of his office. Had he yielded to the
temptation which Law set before him to enrich himself by speculation
in Mississippi stock, his difference with him might never have
originated, and his mission might have had a happy ending. But it is
futile to speculate on probable consequences had events been other than
they really were. On the other hand it is a tribute to Lord Stair’s
foresight that he always predicted the downfall of Law’s schemes, and
this he did even when they were at the height of their prosperity and
gave every indication of probable success.

CHAPTER X

  The beginning of Law’s difficulties.--The Bank’s reserve of specie
      begins to be depleted.--Law attempts a remedy by altering
      the standard of the coinage, and restricting the currency of
      specie.--Temporary success of remedy.--Domiciliary visits
      resorted to for detection of hoarded specie.--Bank and
      Company United.--Discharge of National Debt.--Use of the Rue
      Quincampoix prohibited as a stock market.--The assassination of
      a stock-jobber by the Comte de Horn, and the latter’s execution.

Events now very rapidly developed in the history of the Bank and of
the West India Company. Law’s accession to power marked the beginning
of his difficulties--difficulties which taxed his judgment to the
utmost and forced him into the employment of expedients which he
himself foresaw could not permanently ward off injury to his schemes.
He thought, however, they might serve their purpose until his schemes
assumed a less fluid condition, and that their establishment in good
working order would render them proof against attack from such outside
forces as might array themselves against him.

The first indications of danger were becoming apparent in December, and
by the following month had assumed an alarming aspect. Shares had been
selling at the very high price of 10,000 livres each, but by concerted
action amongst several large holders and speculators that price was
gradually forced up until it reached the unprecedented figure of 20,000
livres. This was now their opportunity. Artificial inflation could not
be carried to greater lengths, and accordingly a process of extensive
unloading commenced. These speculators, however, suspicious of the
stability of the new system, were not satisfied with holding notes,
the value of which might depreciate at any moment, and immediately
presented them at the Bank for their equivalent in specie. Law
perceived that such a process if allowed to run unchecked would soon
deplete the Bank of all its available resources. Refusal to exchange
would be suicidal, and if public confidence could not be maintained
without recourse to artificial means, the currency of the notes would
require to be forced directly or indirectly.

One of the chief offenders was the Prince de Conti, a near relative of
the Regent. This nobleman had amassed great wealth through engaging
in speculation under Law’s guidance, but had alienated the latter by
his insatiable appetite for still greater fortune. Unable again to
enlist the services of Law in his interests, he evinced towards him
that bitterest form of ingratitude, the ingratitude of the man who
is favoured to him who does the favour. He attacked Law in his most
sensitive part by realising great quantities of stock, and converting
the notes he received in payment into money at the Bank, an operation
which required the aid of three waggons. Many speculators who had
preferred specie to paper transmitted their money abroad for safe
investment, and in the course of a few weeks several hundred millions
of livres were sent out of the country. A few also hoarded their wealth
in secret places until the time would come when they could without fear
employ it openly.

The first step taken by Law with a view to placing a check upon this
continuous drain on the reserves of the Bank was the issue of a decree
on 28th January, depreciating the coinage by raising the price of
the silver marc to 54 livres. At the same time the interest of money
was reduced from 4 to 2 per cent. Many people refused to bring their
specie to the Bank for recoinage, and then commenced that system of
domiciliary visits which under subsequent decrees worked with so much
tyranny and for a time absolutely destroyed not only public but also
domestic confidence.

The result of the decree was not so satisfactory as had been
anticipated, and in quick succession other decrees were issued
introducing alterations in the standard of the coinage. The purpose
of this was to discredit specie as far as possible as a medium of
exchange, and by giving the note the appearance of fixity in value
to raise its credit for currency purposes. Payments in specie were
only allowed to the extent of 300 livres in gold, and of 10 livres
of silver, sums respectively equivalent to £12 10s. and 8s. 4d.
in our money. Public offices could only receive payments in bank
notes, except where the amounts of these or the balances were less
than the lowest denomination of the note. And then the employment
of gold and silver for other than coinage purposes was strictly
prohibited without the royal license. These measures, however, were
still unequal to restoring public confidence in the paper of the
Bank, although in addition to those already specified, decrees were
published fixing the value of paper at five per cent. and then at ten
per cent. above the corresponding nominal value of specie. Trade was
now beginning to experience the bad effects of a restricted currency,
and representations were strongly made to Law and to the Regent to
restore the currency to its previous position. This of course Law was
unable to do without facing the consequences of seeing the bulk of the
specie withdrawn altogether not only from circulation but from the
country. A financial and industrial crisis would have at once been
precipitated. To meet the situation, Law resolved upon bold and extreme
measures. On the pretext that there were 1,200,000,000 livres in specie
lying idle in the hands of financiers and successful speculators, an
edict of Council was published on 27th February, which ordered “that
no person, of whatever estate or condition, not even any religious
or ecclesiastical community, should keep more than 500 livres in
coined money or ingots, under pain of confiscation of the excess, and
of a fine of 10,000 livres.” All payments exceeding 100 livres in
amount were to be made without exception in paper, and the purchase
of jewellery, plate and precious stones was declared illegal if made
for purposes of investment. To provide against concealment of specie
informers were promised a reward of half the sums disclosed, and all
government officials were ordered to make search wherever ordered by
the directors of the Bank. This decree was followed on 5th March by one
which further debased the currency by raising the price of the silver
marc to 85 livres, and on 11th March by a third, by which gold specie
was to be withdrawn from the currency from and after 1st May following,
and silver specie, except the smaller pieces which were necessary for
odd change, from and after 1st August following.

These various decrees wrought a revolution in the fiscal arrangements
of the country. No one appreciated more fully their danger than Law
himself, but extraordinary circumstances such as those with which
he was forced demanded the employment of extraordinary methods to
counteract them. He was presented with the alternative of certain
collapse of his schemes if he did not resort to arbitrary measures,
or of a possible chance of saving the situation if he could force
the currency of paper by withdrawing all the specie from circulation
and holding it in the hands of the Bank. Had he succeeded in doing
this, confidence in the notes of the Bank would undoubtedly have
largely been restored since that depends entirely upon the knowledge
of the public that behind them there are liquid reserves available for
conversion whenever required. It is questionable if any other methods
could have been devised than those followed by Law, and in judging
their character it is necessary to bear in mind the ultimate object he
had in view.

It was natural that these tyrannical steps should have had the
immediate effect of rousing a storm of opposition amongst the public
towards Law, and if we are to believe Lord Stair, they also prejudiced
him in the eyes of the Regent, to whom the hostile attitude of the
people was a matter of grave concern. On the day following the issue of
the decree of 11th March, he wrote to Craggs, “The rage of the people
is so violent, that, in the course of one month, he will be pulled to
pieces; or his master will deliver him up to the rage of the people.
You may depend upon it that he is mightily shaken in his master’s
good opinion, who, within these few days last past, has used him most
cruelly to his face, and called him all the names that can be thought
of, ‘Knave and madman,’ &c. He told him he did not know what hindered
him to send him to the Bastille; and that there never was anyone sent
thither deserved it half so well. To make matters better, Law’s head is
so heated that he does not sleep at nights, and he has formal fits of
phrenzy. He gets out of bed almost every night and runs, stark staring
mad, about the room making a terrible noise; sometimes singing and
dancing, at other times swearing, staring and stamping, quite out of
himself. Some nights ago his wife, who had come into the room upon the
noise he made, was forced to ring the bell for people to come to her
assistance. The officer of Law’s guard was the first that came, who
found Law in his shirt, who had set two chairs in the middle of the
room and was dancing round them, quite out of his wits. This scene
the officer of the guard told Le Blanc, from whom it came to me by a
very sure conveyance. Le Blanc is in despair about the state of Law’s
health and discredit in which he stands with the Regent. At the same
time, there is a most formidable party formed against him, and almost
everyone who held their tongues out of fear, now take courage to speak
to the Regent upon his character; so that they believe the Regent is
only withheld by shame from sacrificing him to the resentment of the
nation. Law, on the other hand, says, that if they will give him but a
little time, he will set everything to rights; that he will raise the
credit of the stocks; turn the course of the exchange; sink the stocks
in England, and put everything in that country into such disorder that
it shall plainly appear that he can do everything in that country he
pleases. In order to that, he has prevailed with Croisset, André,
and several other people, who had very great sums in our stocks, to
withdraw their money and to remit the greater part of it back into
France; with the rest, he proposes to turn the course of the exchange
and to carry on his other designs. He proposes further, in order to
alter the course of the exchange, to lower the value of the specie in
France, till the crown is brought down by degrees to three livres; and
this _arret_ is to come out in a few days.”

Law’s object was to a large extent gained so far as it aimed at
replenishing the reserves of coin at the Bank. During the month
of March no less than 300,000,000 livres were deposited, a sum
undoubtedly large but still short of being an adequate security
against the enormous mass of paper afloat, which has been estimated at
2,600,000,000 livres. These deposits were at the same time maintained
in full strength by the operation of the decree of 27th February,
which relieved the Bank of the necessity of repaying at any time more
than 500 livres in specie. Success however limited as it was, was only
secured at considerable cost to Law’s reputation. The domiciliary
visits which were made use of for detecting hoarded coin created
widespread and bitter resentment. A feeling of deep distrust, of
insecurity, and of fear crept through the community. The reward for
information was so great that sons betrayed their parents, brothers
their sisters, servants their masters. Friend betrayed friend, and
enemies had an effective instrument of revenge. “Never before had
sovereign power been so violently exercised, never had it attacked in
such a manner the temporal interests of the community. Therefore was
it by a prodigy, rather than by any effort or act of the government,
that these terribly new ordinances failed to produce the saddest and
most complete revolutions; but there was not even talk of them; and
although there were so many millions of people, either absolutely
ruined or dying of hunger, and of the direst want, without means to
procure their daily subsistence, nothing more than complaints and
groans was heard.”

Among those who were ruined in their fortunes at this time was one of
the directors of the Bank itself. A domiciliary visit, prompted by
one of his enemies, resulted in the discovery of 10,000 crowns, which
were confiscated. For failure to declare his hoard and deposit it in
the Bank he was fined 10,000 livres and lost his appointment. The
brothers Pâris were also among the sufferers. They were detected in
the act of conveying 7,000,000 livres into Lorraine, and a visit to
their residences brought into the coffers of the Bank an additional sum
of like amount. These confiscations and many others of more or less
substantial sums were published abroad in order to induce others to
conform to the edict from fear, and in many cases the prospect of loss
of fortune was regarded a less evil than possibility of discovery with
all its attendant penalties. There is in fact every reason to believe
that neither Law nor the Regent anticipated recourse to harsh measures
in carrying out their decree. They relied upon the fear which would be
created by its publication serving their purpose, and in order the
better to accomplish it arranged with several well-known prominent men
to allow themselves to become apparent victims. Thus were many of the
courtiers and public officials intimidated into divesting themselves of
their accumulated wealth, and into exchanging it for paper which was so
soon to lose its value. The largest capture which was made was that of
ex-Chancellor Pontchartrain whose cellars disgorged the enormous sum of
57,000 louis d’or or considerably over £10,000,000. The deep dislike
the Regent had for his own decree is also evinced by his conduct
towards the President Lambert de Vernon, who had sought an interview
for the purpose of informing against some one who was possessed of
500,000 livres in gold. On hearing his message, the Regent in horror
enquired, “What d--d sort of a trade have you taken to?” The President
replied, “Sir, I do nothing more than obey the law, and it is that
which you indirectly treat with such an appellation. As for the rest,
your Royal Highness need not be alarmed, and may do me more justice.
It is myself I come to inform against, in the hope of being allowed to
keep at least a part of this sum, which I prefer to all the bills of
the Bank.” As a result of his appeal, the President was allowed the
reward of an informer and permitted to retain half his fortune.

Law himself was the victim of a somewhat amusing result of his own
methods about this time. Some months before he negotiated with the
President of Novion the purchase of his estates for £400,000 francs.
The President required payment to be made in silver, and Law, who was
anxious to impress everyone with the advantages to be gained by the use
of paper alone, could not of course refuse, declaring that he preferred
to be rid of a metal which was to him a burden on account of its bulk,
and of the embarrassment it caused him. Unfortunately Law was compelled
afterwards to re-transfer the estates to the President’s son to whom
the right of pre-emption had been reserved, and received back the price
in notes which he was bound to accept according to his own decree. Nor
could Law complain of the advantage that had been taken of him without
depreciating the value of his own paper.

A measure of vastly greater importance and destined to lead to much
graver consequences than even those already mentioned was the union
of the Royal Bank and the Indian Company. A meeting was held on
22nd February at the Bank to which had been called the principal
shareholders of the Company, the proposal being formally made and
agreed to. Since the General Bank had been converted, in December,
1718, into a Royal institution, it had carried on its business for
the benefit of the Royal revenues alone. The notes in circulation
carried the guarantee of the King, a guarantee which was still to
remain notwithstanding the amalgamation. For the ostensible purpose
of preventing unlimited issue of additional notes it was provided
that authority must in all cases be first obtained from the Council.
Since the Council was in all its deliberations under the influence
of the Regent, it will be seen later how worthless such a provision
proved as an effective check to arbitrary fabrication of paper. During
the period of the Bank’s existence as a Royal establishment, it had
carried on business with great success, its balance sheet showing on
paper a profit 120,000,000 livres of profit. This profit it was also
arranged should be transferred intact to the company for the benefit
of its shareholders. The object which Law had in view in bringing
about the union could only have been one of expediency. It contained
no feature which promised permanent success to the undertaking, and
showed a singular lack of foresight and real business capacity.
Undoubtedly it gave encouragement to speculators, who were carried
away by the apparent increase of stability given to the Company by the
amalgamation. But even this was of short duration. It was impossible
to conceal for long the elusory nature of the transaction, and it soon
became clear that a false step had been taken inasmuch as the fortunes
of the Bank were now altogether bound up with those of the Company.

Previously to the date of the incorporation of the Bank and the
Company, the note issue in circulation amounted to about 600,000,000
livres. Within three months after that date, an additional
2,000,000,000 livres were fabricated and set afloat. The bulk of the
fresh issues was utilised for the purpose of discharging the national
debt, one of the great objects which Law had in view at the initiation
of his financial schemes. The national creditors were now become
creditors of the Company in respect of the notes they held; and the
state had now nominally discharged her debts in full.

One of the difficulties created by the publication of the various
decrees limiting the currency of coin was that of scarcity of notes of
small denomination. On 19th April, accordingly, a decree was registered
by which no less than 438,000,000 livres in notes of 10 to 1000 livres
each were issued in order to facilitate the changing of notes of
greater value and the carrying out of transactions of small amounts.

Although all these expedients failed in their object, the extent to
which speculation was carried was very little affected. The time for
suddenly made fortunes had now gone, but sufficient excitement remained
to render the purchase and sale of shares an occupation attractive to
thousands of speculators. The tendency of the market was distinctly
downwards, but there were intervening fluctuations, which maintained
the mania in almost all its former strength. The Rue Quincampoix was
still crowded from morning till evening. So great were the crowds on
many occasions that scenes of confusion were frequent and sometimes
developed into scenes of violence. It formed a happy hunting ground
for the lowest classes in the community. Robberies and even murders
took place so often that special precautions had necessarily to be
taken by those who carried money on their person. So dangerous had
the street and its environs become that on 22nd March, the council
published an edict prohibiting its use as a stock market, and requiring
all houses and offices wherein share transactions had been hitherto
usually negotiated to be closed in future for such business. No other
locality was assigned to the speculators, and for two months they had
no recognised place of meeting. The wisdom of this decree was dictated
by an unhappy occurrence that took place on the morning of the day of
its issue, in which was involved a young foreigner of noble family,
Comte de Horn, son of Prince Philippe Emmanuel who had served in France
at the sieges of Brizac and of Landau, and at the battles of Spire
and of Ramillies. According to the account given of the incident by
Duclos, it appears that the Count, who had been living a riotous life
in Paris for some time and had contracted extensive debts, along with
two companions, Laurent de Mille, and a sham knight named Lestang,
plotted the assassination of a rich stock-jobber and the theft of his
pocket-book in which he was known to carry large sums of money in
paper. They resorted to the Rue Quincampoix, and under the pretext of
negotiating the purchase of 100,000 crowns worth of shares, took the
stock-jobber to a tavern in the Rue de Venise and stabbed him there.
The unfortunate stock-jobber, in defending himself, made sufficient
noise to attract the attention of a waiter, who, passing at the moment
the door of the room, opened it. Seeing a man lying in a pool of blood,
he immediately closed and locked the door and shouted murder.

The assassins, finding retreat closed against them, escaped through
the window. Lestang, who had been keeping watch on the staircase,
rushed off on hearing the shouts of the waiter to the lodging house
in the Rue de Tournon, where the three of them boarded, took the most
portable luggage and fled. Mille dashed through the crowds in the Rue
Quincampoix, but followed by the people, was at last arrested at the
markets. The Comte de Horn was seized on jumping from the window.
Believing his two accomplices to have succeeded in saving themselves,
he had enough presence of mind to say that he feared he himself would
also have been murdered in trying to defend the stock-jobber. His ruse,
however, proved valueless by the arrest of Mille, who, having been
brought back to the tavern, confessed all. The Comte declared to no
purpose he did not know Mille; and the Commissary of Police took him
to prison. The crime being fully established, the trial did not last
long, and on 26th March both were broken alive on the wheel in the
Place du Grève. The Comte was apparently the author of the plot; for,
while he was still breathing on the wheel, he demanded pardon for his
accomplice, who was executed last.

Before the execution had been carried out, the strongest efforts had
been made to influence the Regent to grant a pardon, or at least a
commutation of the punishment. The crime was so atrocious that they
did not insist on the first, but redoubled their solicitations for
the latter. They represented that the execution by the wheel was so
ignominious, that no daughter of the house of Horn could, until the
third generation, enter any convent. The Regent rejected all prayers
for pardon. They appealed to him on the ground that the culprit was
allied to him, but he replied,--“I shall partake of the shame. That
ought to console the other relatives.” He repeated the words of
Corneille: “The shame is in the crime, not in the scaffold.” The Regent
was inclined however to commute the punishment, but Law and the Abbé
Dubois impressed him with the necessity of preserving the public safety
at a time when everyone carried his wealth about with him. They pointed
out to him that the people would not be satisfied, and would consider
themselves humiliated by a distinction of punishment for a crime so
atrocious.

When his parents lost all hope of pardon from the Regent, the Prince de
Robec Montmorency, and the Marechal d’Isenghen, found means of securing
admission to the prison. They brought poison with them and exhorted
him to take it in order to avoid the shame of the execution, but he
refused. “You wretch,” they declared, leaving him with indignation,
“you are only worthy to die by the hands of the executioner.”

CHAPTER XI

  New measures prove ineffectual.--New edict issued fixing price
      of shares and depreciating value of notes.--Authorship
      of edict.--People hostile to edict.--Parliament refuses
      to register it, and a revocation is issued.--Law deposed
      from office of Controller-General.--D’Aguessau reinstated
      in his former office.--New schemes for absorption of
      bank-notes.--Widespread distress produced amongst
      community.--Law’s person in danger.--Stock-jobbers establish
      themselves in the gardens of the Hotel de Soissons.--Parliament
      exiled to Pontoise, and Bank closed for an indefinite period.

The efforts of Law and of the Regent having as yet proved insufficient