 Preface of Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles McKay, Volume 1. Preface. In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and peculiarities, their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their mind upon one object and go mad in its pursuit, that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first. We see one nation suddenly seized from its highest to its lowest members with a fierce desire of military glory, another as suddenly becomes crazed upon a religious scruple, and neither of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears to be reaped by its posterity. At an early age in the annals of Europe its population lost their wits about the sepulcher of Jesus and crowded in frenzied multitudes to the Holy Land. Another age went mad for the fear of the devil and offered up hundreds of thousands of victims to the delusion of witchcraft. At another time the many became crazed on the subject of the philosopher's stone and committed follies till then unheard of in the pursuit. It was once thought a venial offence in very many countries of Europe to destroy an enemy by slow poison. Persons who would have revolted at the idea of stabbing a man to the heart drugged his potage without scruple. Ladies of gentle birth and manners caught the contagion of murder until poisoning under their auspices became quite fashionable. Some delusions, though notorious to all the world, have subsisted for ages, flourishing as widely among civilized and polished nations as among the early barbarians with whom they originated, that of dueling, for instance, and the belief in omens and divination of the future, which seemed to defy the progress of knowledge to eradicate them entirely from the popular mind. Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages. Man, it has been well said, think in herds. It will be seen that they go mad in herds while they only recover their senses slowly and one by one. Some of the subjects introduced may be familiar to the reader, but the author hopes that sufficient novelty of detail will be found even in these, to render them acceptable, while they could not be wholly omitted in justice to the subject of which it was proposed to treat. The memoirs of the South Sea Madness and the Mississippi Delusion are more complete and copious than are to be found elsewhere. And the same may be said of the history of the witchmania, which contains an account of its terrific progress in Germany, a part of the subject which has been left comparatively untouched by Sir Walter Scott in his Letters on Demonology in Witchcraft, the most important that have yet appeared on this fearful but most interesting subject. Popular delusions began so early, spread so widely and have lasted so long that instead of two or three volumes, fifty would scarcely suffice to detail their history. The present may be considered more of a miscellany of delusions than a history, a chapter only in the great and awful book of human folly which yet remains to be written in which Person once justingly said he would write in five hundred volumes. Interspersed are sketches of some lighter matters, amusing instances of imitativeness and wrong-headedness of the people, rather than examples of folly and delusion. The just matters have been purposely excluded as incompatible with the limits prescribed to the present work, a mere list of them would alone be sufficient to occupy a volume. Memories of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay Volume 1 Chapter 1 Money Mania The Mississippi Scheme Part 1 Some inclin-destine companies combine, erect new stocks to trade beyond the line, with air and empty names beguile the town, and raise new credits first, then cry him down, divide the empty nothing into shares, and set the crowd together by the ears. Defoe The personal character and career of one man are so intimately connected with the great scheme of the years 1719 and 1720 that a history of the Mississippi Madness can have no fitter introduction than a sketch of the life of its great author, John Law. Historians are divided in opinion as to whether they should designate him a naive or a madman. Both epithets were unsparingly applied to him in his lifetime and while the unhappy consequences of his projects were still deeply felt. Posterity, however, has found reason to doubt the justice of the accusation and to confess that John Law was neither naive nor madman, but one more deceived than deceiving, more sinned against than sinning. He was thoroughly acquainted with the philosophy and true principles of credit. He understood the monetary question better than any man of his day and if his system fell with a crash so tremendous it was not so much his fault as that of the people amongst whom he had erected it. He did not calculate upon the avaricious frenzy of a whole nation. He did not see that confidence, like mistrust, could be increased almost ad infinitum and that hope was as extravagant as fear. How was he to foretell that the French people, like the man in the fable, would kill in their frantic eagerness the fine goose he had brought to lay them so many golden eggs? His fate was like that which may be supposed to have overtaken the first adventurous boatman who rode from Erie to Ontario. Rod and Smooth was the river on which he embarked. Rapid and pleasant was his progress and who was to stay him in his career. Alas for him the cataract was nigh. He saw when it was too late that the tide which wafted him so joyously along was a tide of destruction and when he endeavored to retrace his way he found that the current was too strong for his weak efforts to stem and that he drew nearer every instant to the tremendous falls. Down he went over the sharp rocks and the waters with him. He was dashed to pieces with his bark but the waters maddened and turned to foam by the rough descent only boiled and bubbled for a time and then flowed on again as smoothly as ever. Just so it was with law in the French people he was the boatman and they were the waters. John Law was born at Edinburgh in the year 1671. His father was the younger son of an ancient family in Fife and carried on the business of a goldsmith in Banker. He amassed considerable wealth in his trade sufficient to enable him to gratify the wish so common among his countrymen of adding a territorial designation to his name. He purchased with this view the estates of Loriston and Randleston on the Frith of Forth and was thenceforth known as Law of Loriston. The subject of our memoir, being the eldest son, was received into his father's counting-house at the age of fourteen and for three years labored hard to inquire an insight into the principles of banking as then carried on in Scotland. He had always manifested great love for the study of numbers and his proficiency in the mathematics was considered extraordinary in one of his tender years. At the age of seventeen he was tall, strong and well-made and his face, although deeply scarred with the smallpox, was agreeable in its expression and full of intelligence. At this time he began to neglect his business and becoming vain of his person indulged in considerable extravagance of attire. He was a great favourite with the ladies by whom he was called Bola while the other sex, despising his papery, nicknamed him Jessamy John. At the death of his father, which happened in 1688, he withdrew entirely from the desk which had become so irksome and being possessed of the revenues of the paternal estate of Loriston he proceeded to London to see the world. He was now very young, very vain, good-looking, tolerably rich and quite uncontrolled. It is no wonder that on his arrival in the capital he should launch into extravagance. He soon became a regular frequenter of the gaming-houses and by pursuing a certain plan, based upon some abstruse calculation of chances, he contrived to gain considerable sums. All the gamblers envied him his luck and many made it a point to watch his play and stake their money on the same chances. In affairs of gallantry he was equally fortunate. Ladies of the first rank smiled graciously upon the handsome Scotchman, the young, the rich, the witty and the obliging. But all these successes only paved the way for reverses. After he had been for nine years exposed to the dangerous attractions of the gay life he was leading, he became an irrecoverable gambler. As his love of play increased in violence, it diminished in prudence. Great losses were only to be repaired by still-greater ventures, and one unhappy day he lost more than he could repay without mortgaging his family's estate. To that step he was driven at last. At the same time his gallantry brought him into trouble, a love affair or slight flirtation with a lady of the name of Villiers. Note one, Miss Elizabeth Villiers, afterwards Countess of Orkney, exposed him to the resentment of a Mr. Wilson by whom he was challenged to fight a duel. Law accepted and had the ill fortune to shoot his antagonist dead upon the spot. He was arrested the same day and brought to trial for murder by the relatives of Mr. Wilson. He was afterwards found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to a fine upon the ground that the offence only amounted to manslaughter. An appeal being lodged by a brother of the deceased, law was detained in the king's bench, wenced by some means or other, which he never explained, he contrived to escape. And an action being instituted against the sheriffs, he was advertised in the Gazette and a reward offered for his apprehension. He was described as Captain John Law, a Scotchman, aged twenty-six, a very tall, black, lean man, well-shaped, above six feet high, with large potholes in his face, big-nosed, and a speaking broad and loud. As this was rather a caricature than a description of him, it has been supposed that it was drawn up with a view to favour his escape. He succeeded in reaching the continent, where he travelled for three years, and devoted much of his attention to the monetary and banking affairs of the countries through which he passed. He stayed a few months in Amsterdam, and speculated to some extent in the funds. His mornings were devoted to the study of finance and the principles of trade, and his evenings to the gaming-house. It is generally believed that he returned to Edinburgh in the year 1700. It is certain that he published in that city, his proposals and reasons for constituting a council of trade. This pamphlet did not excite much attention. In a short time afterwards he published a project for establishing what he called a land bank. Note two, the wits of the day called it a sand bank, which would wreck the vessel of the state. The notes issued by which were never to exceed the value of the entire lands of the state, upon ordinary interest, or were to be equal in value to the land, with the right to enter into possession at a certain time. The project excited a good deal of discussion in the Scottish Parliament, and a motion for the establishment of such a bank was brought forward by a neutral party called the Squadron, whom Law had interested in his favour. The Parliament ultimately passed a resolution to the effect that to establish any kind of paper credit, so as to force it to pass, was an improper expedient for the nation. Upon the failure of this project, and of his efforts to procure a pardon for the murder of Mr. Wilson, Law withdrew to the Continent and resumed his old habits of gaming. For fourteen years he continued to roam about, in Flanders, Holland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and France. He soon became intimately acquainted with the extent of the trade and resources of each, and daily more confirmed in his opinion that no country could prosper without a paper currency. During the whole of this time he appeared to have chiefly supported himself by successful play. At every gambling house of note in the capitals of Europe he was known and appreciated as one better skilled in the intricacies of chance than any other man of the day. It is stated in the biography universelle that he was expelled, first from Venice and afterwards from Genoa, by the magistrates, who thought him a visitor too dangerous for the youth of those cities. During his residence in Paris he rendered himself obnoxious to D'Argenson, the Lieutenant-General of the police, by whom he was ordered to quit the capital. This did not take place, however, before he had made the acquaintance in the saloons of the Duke de Vendôme, the Prince de Conti, and of the gay Duke of Orleans, the latter of whom was destined afterwards to exercise so much influence over his fate. The Duke of Orleans was pleased with the vivacity and good sense of the Scottish adventurer, while the latter was no less pleased with the wit and amiability of a prince who promised to become his patron. They were often thrown into each other's society, and law seized every opportunity to instill his financial doctrines into the mind of one whose proximity to the throne pointed him out as destined at no very distant date to play an important role in the government. Shortly before the death of Louis XIV, or, as some say, in 1708, law proposed a scheme of finance to Desmarais, the comptroller. Louis is reported to have inquired whether the projector were a Catholic and on being answered in the negative to have declined having anything to do with him. Note III. This anecdote, which is related in the correspondence of Madame de Bavière, Duchess of Orleans and mother of the Regent, is discredited by Lord John Russell and his history of the principal states of Europe from the piece of Utrecht, for what reason he does not inform us. There is no doubt that law proposed his scheme to Desmarais and that Louis refused to hear of it. The reason given for the refusal is quite consistent with the character of that bigoted and tyrannical monarch. It was after this repulse that he visited Italy, his mind being still occupied with the schemes of finance he proposed to Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, to establish his land bank in that country. The Duke replied that his dominions were too circumscribed for the execution of so great a project and that he was by far too poor a potentate to be ruined. He advised him, however, to try the King of France once more, for he was sure, if he knew anything of the French character, that the people would be delighted with a plan not only so new but so plausible. Louis XIV died in 1715 and the heir to the throne being an infant only seven years of age, the Duke of Orleans assumed the reigns of government as Regent during his minority. The law now found himself in a more favourable position. The tide in his affairs had come, which, taken at the flood, was to waft him on to fortune. The Regent was his friend, already acquainted with his theory and pretensions, and inclined, moreover, to aid him in any efforts to restore the wounded credit of France, bowed down to the earth by the extravagance of the long reign of Louis XIV. Hardly was that monarch laid in his grave ere the popular hatred suppressed so long, burst forth against his memory. He who, during his life, had been flattered with an excess of adulation, to which history scarcely offers a parallel, was now cursed as a tyrant, a bigot, and a plunderer. His statues were pelted and disfigured, his effigies torn down, amid the execrations of the populace, and his name rendered synonymous with selfishness and oppression. The glory of his arms was forgotten, and nothing was remembered but his reverses, his extravagance, and his cruelty. The finances of the country were in a state of the utmost disorder. A profuse and corrupt monarch, whose profuseness and corruption were imitated by almost every functionary, from the highest to the lowest grade, had brought France to the verge of ruin. The national debt amounted to three thousand millions of livres, the revenue, to one hundred forty five millions, and the expenses of government to one hundred forty two millions per annum, leaving only three millions to pay the interest upon three thousand millions. The first care of the regent was to discover a remedy for an evil of such magnitude, and a council was early summoned to take the matter into consideration. The Duke de Saint-Simone was of the opinion that nothing could save the country from a revolution but a remedy at once bold and dangerous. He advised the regent to convoke the state's general, and declare a national bankruptcy. The Duke de Noyer, a man of accommodating principles, an accomplished courtier, and totally averse from giving himself any trouble or annoyance that ingenuity could escape from, opposed the project of Saint-Simone with all his influence. He represented the expedient as a like dishonest and ruinous. The regent was of the same opinion, and this desperate remedy fell to the ground. The measures ultimately adopted, though they promised fair, only aggravated the evil. The first and most dishonest measure was of no advantage to the state. A recoinage was ordered, by which the currency was depreciated one-fifth. Those who took a thousand pieces of gold or silver to the mint received back an amount of coin of the same nominal value but only four-fifths the weight of the metal. By this contrivance the treasury gained seventy-two millions of leavers when all the commercial operations of the country were disordered. A trifling diminution of the taxes silenced the clamors of the people and for the slight present advantage the great perspective evil was forgotten. A chamber of justice was next instituted to inquire into the malversations of the loan-contractors and the farmers of the revenues. Tax collectors are never very popular in any country, but those of France at this period deserved all the odium with which they were loaded. As soon as these farmers general, with their hosts of subordinate agents, called Malthautiers, note four, from Malthaut, an oppressive tax, were called to account for their misdeeds, the most extravagant joy took possession of the nation. The chamber of justice, instituted chiefly for this purpose, was endowed with very extensive powers. It was composed of the presidents and councils of the parliament, the judges of the courts of aid, and of requests, and the officers of the chamber of account, under the general presidents of the minister of finance. Informers were encouraged to give evidence against the offenders by the promise of one-fifth part of the fines and confiscations. A tenth of all concealed effects belonging to the guilty was promised to such as could furnish the means of discovering them. The promulgation of the edict constituting this court caused a degree of consternation among those principally concerned, which can only be accounted for on the supposition that their peculation had been enormous, but they met with no sympathy. The proceedings against them justified their terror. The Bastille was soon unable to contain the prisoners that were sent to it, and the jails all over the country teamed with guilty or suspected persons. An order was issued to all in-keepers and postmasters to refuse horses to such as endeavour to seek safety in flight, and all persons were forbidden under heavy fines to harbour them or favour their invasion. Some were condemned to the pillory, others to the galleys, and the least guilty to fine and imprisonment. One only, Samuel Bernard, a rich banker and farmer general of a province remote from the capital, was sentenced to death. So great had been the illegal prophets of this man, looked upon as the tyrant and oppressor of his district, that he offered six millions of leavers, or 250,000 pounds sterling, to be allowed to escape. His bribe was refused, and he suffered the penalty of death. Others, perhaps more guilty, were more fortunate. Confiscation, owing to the concealment of their treasures by the delinquents, often produced less money than a fine. The severity of the government relaxed, and fines, under the denomination of taxes, were indiscriminately levied upon all offenders. But so corrupt was every department of the administration that the country benefited but little by the sums which thus flowed into the treasury. Courtiers and courtiers' wives and mistresses came in for the chief share of the spoils. One contractor had been taxed in proportion to his wealth and guilt at the sum of twelve millions of leavers. The count blank, a man of some weight in the government, called upon him, and offered to procure a remission of the fine if he would give him a hundred thousand crowns. «Vous êtes trop tard, mon ami?» replied the financier. «I have already made a bargain with your wife for fifty thousand. Note five. This anecdote is related by Montseur de la Hôde in his Life of Philip of Orleans. It would have looked more authentic if he had given the names of the dishonest contractor and the still more dishonest minister. But Montseur de la Hôde's book is liable to the same objection as most of the French memoirs of that and of subsequent periods. It is sufficient with most of them that an anecdote be ben trovato. The vero is but a matter of secondary consideration. About a hundred and eighty millions of leavers were levied in this manner, of which eighty were applied in payments of the debts contracted by the government. The remainder found its way into the pockets of the courtiers. Madame de Maintenance, writing on this subject, says, «We hear every day of some new grant of the regent, the people murmur very much at this mode of employing the money taken from the peculators. The people, who, after the first burst of their resentment is over, generally express a sympathy for the weak, were indignant that so much severity should be used to so little purpose. They did not see the justice of robbing one set of rogues to fatten another. In a few months all the more guilty had been brought to punishment, and the Chamber of Justice looked for victims and humbler walks of life. Charges of fraud and extortion were brought against tradesmen of good character and consequence of the great inducements held out to common informers. They were compelled to lay open their affairs before this tribunal in order to establish their innocence. The voice of complaint resounded from every side, and at the expiration of a year the government founded advisable to discontinue further proceedings. The Chamber of Justice was suppressed, and a general amnesty granted to all against whom no charges had yet been preferred. In the midst of this financial confusion, law appeared upon the scene. No man felt more deeply than the regent, the deplorable state of the country, but no man could be more averse from putting his shoulders manfully to the wheel. He disliked business. He signed official documents without proper examination, and trusted to others what he should have undertaken himself. The cares inseparable from his high office were burdensome to him. He saw that something was necessary to be done, but he lacked the energy to do it, and had not enough virtue to sacrifice his ease and his pleasures in the attempt. No wonder that, with his character, he listened favorably to the mighty projects, so easy of execution, of the clever adventurer whom he had formerly known, and whose talents he appreciated. When law presented himself at court, he was most cordially received. He offered two memorials to the regent, in which he set forth the evils that had befallen France, owing to an insufficient currency, at different times depreciated. He asserted that a metallic currency, unaided by paper money, was wholly inadequate to the wants of a commercial country, and particularly cited the examples of Great Britain and Holland to show the advantages of paper. He used many sound arguments on the subject of credit, and proposed as a means of restoring that of France, then at so low an ebb among the nations, that he should be allowed to set up a bank, which should have the management of the royal revenues, and issue notes both on that and on landed security. He further proposed that this bank should be administered in the king's name, but subject to the control of commissioners to be named by the state's general. While these memorials were under consideration, law translated into French his essay on money and trade, and used every means to extend through the nation his renown as a financier. He soon became talked of. The confidants of the regent spread abroad his praise, and everyone expected great things of Montserrat's. The French pronounced his name in this manner to avoid the un-gallic sound, augh. After the failure of his scheme, the wags said the nation was las de lui, and proposed that he should in future be known by the name of Montsur et las. On the 5th of May, 1716, a royal edict was published by which law was authorized, in conjunction with his brother, to establish a bank under the name of law and company, the notes of which should be received in payment of the taxes. The capital was fixed at six millions of leavers, in twelve thousand shares of five hundred leavers each, purchasable one-fourth in specie, and the remainder in billet de tarte. It was not thought expedient to grant him the whole of the privileges prayed for in his memorials until experience should have shown their safety and advantage. Law was now on the high road to fortune. The study of thirty years was brought to guide him in the management of his bank. He made all his notes payable at sight, and in the coin current at the time they were issued. This last was a master stroke of policy, and immediately rendered his notes more valuable than the precious metals. The latter were constantly liable to deprecation by the unwise tampering of the government. A thousand leavers of silver might be worth their nominal value one day, and be reduced one-sixth the next, but a note of law's bank retained its original value. He publicly declared at the same time that a banker deserved death if he made issues without having sufficient security to answer all demands. The consequence was that his notes advanced rapidly in public estimation and were received at one percent more than specie. It was not long before the trade of the country felt the benefit. Linguishing commerce began to lift up her head. The taxes were paid with greater regularity and less murmuring, and a degree of confidence was established that could not fail if it continued to become still more advantageous. In the course of a year, law's notes rose to fifteen percent premium, while the B.A. de Tat, or notes issued by the government as security for the debts contracted by the extravagance of Louis XIV, were at a discount of no less than seventy-eight and a half percent. The comparison was too great in favor of law not to attract the attention of the whole kingdom, and his credit extended itself day by day. Branches of his bank were almost simultaneously established in Lyon, Rochelle, Taur, Amiens, and Orleans. The regent appears to have been utterly astonished at his success, and gradually to have conceived the idea that paper, which could so aid a metallic currency, could entirely supersede it. Upon this fundamental error he afterwards acted. In the meantime, law commenced the famous project which has handed his name down to posterity. He proposed to the regent, who could refuse him nothing, to establish a company that should have the exclusive privilege of trading to the Great River Mississippi and the province of Louisiana on its western bank. The country was supposed to abound in the precious metals, and the company, supported by the profits of their exclusive commerce, were to be the sole farmers of the taxes and the sole coiners of money. Letters patent were issued, incorporating the company, in August 1717. The capital was divided into two hundred thousand shares of five hundred levers each, the whole of which might be paid in B.A. de Tat, at their nominal value, although worth no more than a hundred and sixty levers in the market. It was now that the frenzy of speculating began to seize upon the nation. Law's bank had affected so much good that any promises for the future which he thought proper to make were readily believed. The regent every day conferred new privileges upon the fortunate projector. The bank obtained the monopoly of the sale of tobacco, the sole right of refinement of gold and silver, and was finally erected into the Royal Bank of France. Amid the intoxication of success, both law and the regent forgot the maxim so loudly proclaimed by the former, that a banker deserved death who made issues of paper without the necessary funds to provide for them. As soon as the bank, from a private, became a public institution, the regent caused a fabrication of notes to the amount of one thousand millions of levers. This was the first departure from sound principles, and one for which law is not justly blameable. While the affairs of the bank were under his control, the issues had never exceeded sixty millions. Whether law opposed the inordinate increase is not known, but as it took place as soon as the bank was made a royal establishment, it is but fair to lay the blame of the change of system upon the regent. Law found that he lived under a despotic government, but he was not yet aware of the pernicious influence which such a government could exercise upon so delicate a framework as that of credit. He discovered it afterwards to his cost, but in the meantime he suffered himself to be impelled by the regent into courses which his own reason must have disapproved. With a weakness most culpable, he lent his aid in inundating the country with paper money, which, based upon no solid foundation, was sure to fall sooner or later. The extraordinary present fortune dazzled his eyes and prevented him from seeing the evil day that would burst over his head when once, from any cause or other, the alarm was sounded. The parliament were from the first jealous of his influence as a foreigner and had, besides, their misgivings as to the safety of his projects. As his influence extended, their animosity increased. Dagesault, the chancellor, was unceremoniously dismissed by the regent for his opposition to the vast increase of paper money and the constant depreciation of the gold and silver coin of the realm. This only served to augment the enmity of the parliament, and when Darjensen, a man devoted to the interests of the regent, was appointed to the vacant chancellorship and made at the same time minister of finance, they became more violent than ever. The first measure of the new minister caused a further depreciation of the coin. In order to extinguish the bie de tat, it was ordered that persons bringing to the mint four thousand leavers in specie and one thousand leavers in bie de tat should receive back coin to the amount of five thousand leavers. Darjensen plumed himself mightily upon thus creating five thousand new and smaller leavers out of the four thousand old and larger ones, being too ignorant of the true principles of trade and credit to be aware of the immense injury he was inflicting upon both. The parliament saw at once the impolicy and danger of such a system, and made repeated remonstrances to the regent. The latter refused to entertain their petitions, when the parliament, by a bold and very unusual stretch of authority, commanded that no money should be received in payment but that of the old standard. The regent summoned a lee de justice and annulled the decree. The parliament resisted and issued another. Again the regent exercised his privilege and annulled it, till the parliament, stung to fiercer opposition, passed another decree, dated August 12th, 1718, by which they forbade the bank of law to have any concern, either direct or indirect, in the administration of the revenue, and prohibited all foreigners under heavy penalties from interfering, either in their own names or in that of others. In the management of the finances of the state, the parliament considered law to be the author of all the evil, and some of the counsellors, in the virulence of their enmity, proposed that he should be brought to trial and, if found guilty, be hung at the gates of the palais de justice. Law, in great alarm, fled to the palais royal and threw himself on the protection of the regent, praying that measures might be taken to reduce the parliament to obedience. The regent had nothing so much at heart, both on that account and because of the disputes which had arisen relative to the legitimation of the Duke of Maine and the Count of Thoulouse, the sons of the late king. The parliament was ultimately over-odd by the arrest of their president and two of the counsellors, who were sent to distant prisons. End of Chapter 1, Part 1 Recording by Sarah Williams, Germantown, Maryland, August 2008 For information or to volunteer, please visit LibreVox.org Memoirs of extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds Volume 1 by Charles Mackay Reading by Morgan Scorpion Chapter 1, The Mississippi Scheme, Part 2 Thus the first cloud upon law's prospects blew over. Freed from apprehension of personal danger, he devoted his attention to his famous Mississippi project, the shares of which were rapidly rising in spite of the parliament. At the commencement of the year 1719, an edict was published, granting to the Mississippi Company the exclusive privilege of trading to the East Indies, China and the South Seas, and to all the possessions of the French East India Company, established by Colbert. The company, in consequence of this great increase of their business assumed, as more appropriate, the title of Company of the Indies, and created 50,000 new shares. The prospects now held out by law were most magnificent. He promised a yearly dividend of 200 leave upon each share of the 500, which, as the shares were paid for in Billet d'État at their nominal value, but worth only 100 leave, was at the rate of about 120% profit. The public enthusiasm, which had been so long-rising, could not resist a vision so splendid. At least 300,000 applications were made for the 50,000 new shares, and law's house in the Rouda Can Can Poir was beset from morning to night by the eager applicants. As it was impossible to satisfy them all, it was several weeks before a list of the fortunate new stockholders could be made out, during which time the public impatience rose to a pitch of frenzy. Dukes, marquises, counts with their duchesses, marchinesses and countesses waited in the street for hours every day before Mr. Law's door to know the result. At last, to avoid the jostling of the plebeian crowd, which, to the number of thousands, filled the whole thoroughfare, they took apartments in the adjoining houses that they might be continually near the temple once the new Plutus was diffusing wealth. Every day the value of the old shares increased, and the fresh applications, induced by the golden dreams of the whole nation, became so numerous that it was deemed advisable to create no less than 300,000 new shares at 5,000 lever each in order that the regent might take advantage of the popular enthusiasm to pay off the national debt. For this purpose, the sum of 1,500 millions of lira was necessary. Such was the eagerness of the nation that thrice the sum would have been subscribed if the government had authorised it. Law was now at the zenith of his prosperity, and the people were rapidly approaching the zenith of their infatuation. The highest and the lowest classes were alike filled with a vision of boundless wealth. There was not a person of note amongst the aristocracy, with the exception of the Duke of Saint-Saumont and Marshal Villard, who was not engaged in buying or selling stock. People of every age and sex and condition in life speculated in the rise and fall of the Mississippi Bonds. The Ruda Can Can Poir was the grand resort of the Jobbers, and it being a narrow, inconvenient street, accidents continually occurred in it, from the tremendous pressure of the crowd. Houses in it, worth in ordinary times, a thousand-lever of yearly rent, yielded as much as twelve or sixteen thousand. A cobbler, who had a stall in it, gained about two hundred lira a day by letting it out and furnishing writing materials to brokers and their clients. The story goes that a hunchback man who stood in the street gained considerable sums by lending his hump as a writing desk to the eager spectators. The great concourse of persons who assembled to do business brought a still greater concourse of spectators. These again drew all the thieves and immoral characters of Paris to the spot, and constant riots and disturbances took place. At nightfall it was often found necessary to send a troop of soldiers to clear the street. Law, finding the inconvenience of his residence, removed to the Place Vendôme, with the crowd of Adieu Terre, followed him. That spacious square soon became as strong as the Ruda Can Can Poir. From morning to night it presented the appearance of a fair. Booth's intents were erected for the transaction of business and the sale of refreshments, and gamblers with their roulette tables stationed themselves in the very middle of the place and reaped a golden, or rather a paper, harvest from the throng. The boulevards and public gardens were forsaken. Parties of pleasure took their walks in preference in the Place Vendôme, which became the fashionable lounge of the idle, as well as the general rendezvous of the busy. The noise was so great all day that the Chancellor, whose court was situated in the square, complained to the regent and the municipality that he could not hear the advocates. Law, when applied to, expressed his willingness to aid in the removal of the nuisance, and for this purpose entered into a treaty with the France de Carignol for the Hôtel des Soissons, which had a garden of several acres in the rear. A bargain was concluded by which Law became the purchaser of the hotel at an enormous price, the prince reserving to himself the magnificent gardens as a new source of profit. They contained some fine statues and several fountains, and were all together laid out with much taste. As soon as Law was installed in the new abode, an edict was published, forbidding all persons to buy or sell stock anywhere but in the gardens of the Hôtel des Soissons. In the midst, among the trees, about five hundred small tents and pavilions were erected for the convenience of the stock-jobbers. There various colours, the gay ribbons and banners which floated from them, the busy crowds which passed continually in and out, the incessant hum of voices, the noise, the music and the strange mixture of business and pleasure on the countenances of the throng, all combined to give the place an air of enchantment that quite enraptured the Parisians. The Prince de Carignol made enormous profits while the delusion lasted. Each tent was let at the rate of five hundred lever a month, and as there were at least five hundred of them, his monthly revenue from the source alone must have amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand lever or upwards of ten thousand pounds sterling. The honest old soldier, Marshal Rilar, was so vexed to see the folly which had smitten his countrymen that he never could speak with temper on the subject. Passing one day through the Place Vendome in his carriage, the choleric gentleman was so annoyed at the infatuation of the people that he abruptly ordered his coachmen to stop and, putting his head out of the couch window, harangued them for full half an hour on their disgusting avarice. This was not a very wise proceeding on his part. Hisses and shouts of laughter resounded from every side, and jokes without number were aimed at him. There being at last strong symptoms that something more tangible was flying through the air in the direction of his head, the Marshal was glad to drive on. He never again repeated the experiment. Too sober, quiet, and philosophic men of letters, Monsieur de la Motte and the Abbe Terreson congratulated each other that they, at least, were free from this strange infatuation. A few days afterwards, as the worthy Abbe was coming out of the Hotel de Soisson, whether he had gone to buy shares in the Mississippi, whom should he see what his friend La Motte entering for the same purpose? Ha! said the Abbe smiling. Is that you? Yes, said La Motte, pushing past him as fast as he was able, and can that be you? The next time the two scholars met, they talked of philosophy, of science, and of religion, but neither had the courage for a long time to breathe one syllable about the Mississippi. At last, when it was mentioned, they agreed that a man ought never to swear against his doing any one thing, and that there was no sort of extravagance of which even a wise man was not capable. During this time, Law, the new Plutus, had become all at once the most important personage of the state. The anti-chamber of the regent were forsaken by the courtiers, peers, judges, and bishops, thronged to the Hotel de Soisson. Officers of the army and navy, ladies of title and fashion, and everyone to whom hereditary rank or public employ gave acclaim to precedence, were to be found waiting in his anti-chambers to beg for a portion of his India stock. Law was so pestered that he was unable to see one-tenth part of the applicants, and every manoeuvre that ingenuity could suggest was employed to gain access to him. Peers, whose dignity would have been outraged if the regent had made them wait half-and-half for an interview, were content to wait six hours for the chance of seeing Monsieur Law. Enormous fees were paid to his servants, if they would merely announce their names. Ladies of rank employed the blandagements of their smiles for the same object, but many of them came day after day for a fortnight before they could obtain an audience. When Law accepted an invitation, he was sometimes so surrounded by ladies, all asking to have their names put down in his list as shareholders in the new stock, that in spite of his well-known and habitual gallantry, he was obliged to tear himself away par forth. The most ludicrous stratagems were employed to have an opportunity of speaking to him. One lady, who had striven in vain during several days, gave up in despair all attempts to see him at his own house, but ordered her coachman to keep a strict watch whenever she was out in her carriage, and if he saw Mr. Law coming, to drive against a post and upset her. The coachman promised obedience, and for three days the lady was driven incessantly through the town, praying inwardly for the opportunity to be overturned. At last she aspired Mr. Law, and pulling the string, called out to the coachman, "'Upset us now, for God's sake, upset us now!' The coachman drove against a post, the lady screamed, the coach was overturned, and Law, who had seen the accident, hastened to the spot to render assistance. The cunning dame was led into the Hotel des Soissons, where she soon thought it advisable to recover from her fright, and after apologising to Mr. Law, confessed her stratagem. Law smiled, and entered the lady in his books as the purchaser of a quantity of India stock. Another story is told of a madame de Boucher, who, knowing that Mr. Law was at dinner at a certain house, proceeded thither in her carriage, and gave the alarm of fire. The company started from the table and Law among the rest, but seeing one lady making all haste into the house towards him while everybody else was scampering away, he suspected the trick, and ran off in another direction. Many other anecdotes are related, which even though they may be a little exaggerated, are nevertheless worth preserving, as showing the spirit of that singular period. Note 7. The curious reader may find an anecdote of the eagerness of the French ladies to retain Law in their company, which will make him blush or smile, according as he happens to be very modest or the reverse. It is related in the letters of Adam Charlotte, Elizabeth de Bavière, Duchess of Orleans, Volume 2, Page 274. The regent was one day mentioning, in the presence of Dargançon, the abbey de Bois and some other persons, that he was desirous of deputing some lady, of the rank at least of a duchess, to attend upon his daughter at Modena, but added he, I do not exactly know where to find one. No? replied one, in effected surprise. I can tell you where to find every duchess in France. You are only to go to Mr. Law's, and you will see them every one in his ante-chamber. Monsieur de Chirac, a celebrated physician, had brought Stock at an unlucky period, and was very anxious to sell out. Stock, however, continued to fall for two or three days, much to his alarm. His mind was filled with the subject, when he was suddenly called upon to attend a lady who imagined herself unwell. He arrived, was shown upstairs, and felt the lady's pulse. It falls, it falls, good God, it falls continually, said he musingly, while the lady looked up in his face all anxiety for his opinion. Oh Monsieur de Chirac, said she, starting to her feet and ringing the bell for assistance. I am dying, I am dying, it falls, it falls, it falls. What falls? inquires the doctrine amazement. My pulse, my pulse, said the lady. I must be dying. Calm your apprehensions, my dear madame, said Monsieur de Chirac. I was speaking of the Stocks. The truth is, I have been a great loser, and my mind is so disturbed, I hardly know what I have been saying. The price of shares sometimes rose ten or twenty percent in the course of a few hours, and many persons in the humbler walks of life, who had risen poor in the morning, went to bed in affluence. An extensive holder of stock, being taken ill, sent his servant to sell two hundred and fifty shares at eight thousand Lever each, the price at which they were then quoted. The servant went, and on his arrival in the Jardin des Soissons, found that in the interval the price had risen to ten thousand Lever. The difference of two thousand Lever on the two hundred and fifty shares, amounting to five hundred thousand Lever, or twenty thousand pounds sterling, he very coolly transferred to his own use, and giving the remainder to his master set out the same evening for another country. Law's coachman in a very short time made money enough to set up a carriage of his own, and requested permission to leave his service. Law, who esteemed the man, begged of him as a favour that he would endeavour before he went to find a substitute as good as himself. The coachman consented, and in the evening brought two of his former comrades, telling Mr. Law to choose between them, and he would take the other. Cookmaids and footmen were now and then as lucky, and in the full-blown pride of their easily acquired wealth, made the most ridiculous mistakes. Preserving in the language and manners of their old, with the finery of their new station, they afforded continual subjects for the pity of the sensible, the contempt of the sober, and the laughter of everybody. But the folly and meanness of the higher ranks of society were still more disgusting. One instance alone, related by the Duke de Saint-Sarmon, will show the unworthy avarice which have infected the whole of society. A man of the name of André, without character or education, had, by a series of well-timed speculations in Mississippi Bonds, gained enormous wealth in an incredibly short space of time. As Saint-Sarmon expresses it, he had amassed mountains of gold. As he became rich, he grew ashamed of the lowness of his birth, and anxious above all things to be allied to nobility. He had a daughter, an infant of only three years of age, and he opened a negotiation with the aristocratic and needy family of Dois, that his child should, upon certain conditions, marry a member of that house. The Marquis Dois, to his shame, consented, and promised to marry her himself on her attaining the age of twelve, if the father would pay him down the sum of a hundred thousand crowns and twenty thousand libra every year until the celebration of the marriage. The Marquis was himself in his thirty-third year. The scandalous bargain was duly signed and sealed, the stock-jobber, furthermore agreeing to settle upon his daughter, on the marriage day, a fortune of several millions. The Duke of Branca, the head of the family, was present throughout the negotiation and shared in all the prophets. Saint-Sermon, who treats the matter with the levity becoming what he thought so good a joke, adds that people did not spare their animad versions on this beautiful marriage, and further informs us that the project fell to the ground some months afterwards by the overthrow of law and the ruin of the ambitious Monsieur André. It would appear, however, that the noble family never had the honesty to return the hundred thousand crowns. Amid events like these, which humiliating though they be partake largely of the ludicrous, others occurred of a more serious nature. Robberies in the streets were of daily occurrence, in consequence of the immense sums in paper which people carried about with them. Assassinations were also frequent. One case in particular fixed the attention of the whole of France, not only on account of the enormity of the events, but of the rank and high connections of the criminal. The Count Dorn, a younger brother of the Prince Dorn, and related to the noble families of Taurenberg, Jolene and Montmorrancy, was a young man of dissipated character, extravagant to a degree, and unprincipled as he was extravagant. In connection with two other young men, as Reckless has himself, named Mille, a Piedmontese captain, and one de Stam or de Stang, a Fleming, he formed a design to rob a very rich broker who was known, unfortunately for himself, to carry great sums about his person. The Count pretended a desire to purchase of him a number of shares in the company of the Indies, and for that purpose appointed to meet him in a cabaret, or low public house, in the neighbourhood of the Place Vendôme. The unsuspecting broker was punctual to his appointment, so were the Count Dorn and his two associates, whom he introduced as his particular friends. After a few moments' conversation, the Count Dorn suddenly sprang upon his victim, and stabbed him three times in the breast with a ponoir. The man fell heavily to the ground, and while the Count was employed in rifling his portfolio of bonds in the Mississippi and Indian schemes to the amount of one hundred thousand crowns, Mille, the Piedmontese, stabbed the unfortunate broker again and again to make sure of his death. But the broker did not fall without his struggle, and his cries brought the people of the cabaret to his assistance. The Stang, the other assassin, who had been sent to keep watch at a staircase, sprang from a window and escaped. But Mille and the Count Dorn were seized in the very act. The crime committed in open day and in so public a place as a cabaret filled Paris with consternation. The trial of the assassins commenced on the following day, and the evidence being so clear, they were both found guilty and condemned to be broken alive on the wheel. The noble relatives of the Count Dorn absolutely blocked out the anti-chambers of the regent, preying for mercy on the misguided youth and alleging that he was insane. The regent avoided them for as long as possible, being determined that, in a case so atrocious, justice should take its course. But the importunity of these influential suitors was not to be overcome so silently, and they at last forced themselves into the presence of the regent and prayed him to save their house the shame of a public execution. They hinted that the prince's Dorn were allied to the illustrious family of Orleans, and added that the regent himself would be disgraced if a kinsman of his should die by the hands of a common executioner. The regent, to his credit, was proof against all their solicitations, and replied to their last argument in the words of Cornet, Le Creme Féle Honte, un homme par les chauffeurs, adding that whatever shame there might be in the punishment he would very willingly share with the other relatives. Day after day they renewed their entreaties, but always with the same result. At last they thought that if they could interest the duke de Saint-Saumont in their favour, a man for whom the regent felt sincere esteem, they might succeed in their object. The duke, a thorough aristocrat, was as shocked as they were that a noble assassin should die by the same death as a plebeian felon, and represented to the regent the impolicy of making enemies of so numerous wealthy and powerful a family. He urged, too, that in Germany, where the family of Dauenberg had large possessions, it was the law that no relative of a person broken on the wheel could succeed to any public office or employ until a whole generation had passed away. For this reason he thought the punishment of the guilty count might be transmuted into beheading, which was considered all over Europe as much less infamous. The regent was moved by this argument, and was about to consent when law, who felt particularly interested in the fate of the murdered man, confirmed him in his former resolution to let the law take its course. The relatives of Dauen were now reduced to the last extremity. The Prince de Roebach Montmorency, despairing of other methods, found means to penetrate into the dungeon of the criminal, and offering a cup of poison implored him to save them from disgrace. The Count Dauen turned away his head and refused to take it. Montmorency pressed him once more, and losing all patience at his continual refusal turned on his heel and exclaiming, Die then, as thou wilt, mean-spirited wretch, thou art fit only to perish by the hands of the hangman. Left him to his fate, Dauen himself petitioned the regent that he might be beheaded, but law, who exercised more influence over his mind than any other person, with the exception of the notorious Abbe Dubois, his tutor, insisted that he could not in justice succumb to the self-interested views of the Dorn. The regent had from the first been of the same opinion, and within six days after the commission of their crime, Dorn and Mille were broken on the wheel in the Place de Greve. The other assassin, Le Stang, was never apprehended. This prompt and severe justice was highly pleasing to the populace of Paris. Even Monsieur de Can Canpoir, as they called law, came in for a share of the approbation for having induced the regent to show no favour to a patrician. But the number of robberies and assassinations did not diminish. No sympathy was shown for rich jobbers when they were plundered. The general laxity of public morals, conspicuous enough before, was rendered still more so by the rapid perversion of the middle classes, who had hitherto remained comparatively pure between the open vices of the class above and the hidden crimes of the class below them. The pernicious love of gambling diffused itself through society, and bore all public and nearly all private virtue before it. For a time, while confidence lasted, an impetus was given to trade which could not fail to be beneficial. In Paris especially, the good results were felt. Strangers flocked into the capital from every part, bent not only upon making money, but on spending it. The Duchess of Orleans, mother of the regent, computes the increase of the population during this time from the great influx of strangers from all parts of the world, at least 305,000 souls. The housekeepers were obliged to make up beds in garret's kitchens and even stables for the accommodation of lodgers, and the town was so full of carriages and vehicles of every description that they were obliged in the principal streets to drive at a foot pace for fear of accidents. The looms of the country worked with unusual activity to supply which laces, silks, broadcloth and velvets, which, being paid for in abundant paper, increased in price fourfold. Provisions shared the general advance. Bread, meat and vegetables were sold at prices greater than had ever before been known, while the wages of labour rose in exactly the same proportion. The artisan, who formerly gained 15 sews per diem, now gained 60. New houses were built in every direction, and illusory prosperity shone over the land and so dazzled the eyes of the whole nation that none could see the dark cloud on the horizon announcing the storm that was too rapidly approaching. Law himself, the magician whose wand had wrought so surprising a change, shared, of course, in the general prosperity. His wife and daughters were courted by the highest nobility and their alliance sought by the heirs of Dukele and princely houses. He bought two splendid estates in different parts of France and entered into negotiations with the family of the Duke de Sully for the purchase of the marquisette of Rosny. His religion, being an obstacle to his advancement, the regent promised if he would publicly conform to the Catholic faith to make him control a general of the finances. Law, who had no more real religion than any other professed gambler, readily agreed, and was confirmed by the Abbe de Tanson in the Cathedral of Mellon in the presence of a great club-cloud of spectators. Note 8. The following squib was circulated on the occasion. Frond de Toncelle et Seraphique, malheureuse Abbe de Tanson, dépris que leur est catholique, tous les rouillants est Capuchin, thus somewhat weakly and paraphrastically rendered by Justin Sond in his translation of the Memoirs of Louis XV. Tanson occurs on thy Seraphic zeal, which by persuasion hath contrived the means to make the Scotchman at our altar's kneel, since which we all are poor as Capuchin. On the following day he was elected Honorary Churchwarden of the Parish of Saint-Roch upon which occasion he made it a present of the sum of five hundred thousand libra. His charities, always magnificent, were not always so ostentatious. He gave away great sums privately, and no tale of real distress ever reached his ears in vain. At this time he was by far the most influential person of the state. The Duke of Orleans had so much confidence in his sagacity and the success of his plans that he always consulted him upon every matter of moment. He was by no means unduly elevated by his prosperity, but remained the same simple, affable, sensible man that he had shown himself in adversity. He was gallantry, which was always delightful to the fair objects of it, was of a nature so kind, so gentlemanly, and so respectful, that not even a lover could have taken offence at it. If upon any occasion he showed any symptoms of haughtiness, it was to the cringing nobles who lavished their adulation upon him till it became fulsome. He often took pleasure in seeing how long he could make them dance attendance upon him for a single favour. To such of his own countrymen as by chance visited Paris and sought an interview with him, he was, on the contrary, all politeness and attention. When Archibald Campbell, Earl of Islay, an afterwards Duke of Argyle, called upon him in the Place Vendome, he had to pass through an anti-chamber crowded with persons of the First Distinction, all anxious to see the great financier, and have their names put down as first on the list of some new subscription. Law himself was quietly sitting in his library, writing a letter to the gardener at his paternal estate of Lourston about the planting of some cabbages. The Earl stayed for a considerable time, played a game of piquet with his countrymen, and left him charmed with his ease, good sense, and good breeding. Among the nobles who, by means of the public credulity at this time, gained some sufficient to repair their ruined fortunes, may be mentioned the names of the Duke de Bourbon, de Guiche, de La Force, de Chaune, and d'Anton, de Marchard Estrée, the Princes de Roin, de Poir and de Lyon. The Duke de La Force gained considerable sums not only by jobbing in the stocks, but in dealing in porcelain, spices, etc. It was debated for a length of time in the Parliament of Paris whether he had not, in his quality of spice merchant, forfeited his rank in the peerage. It was decided in the negative. A caricature of him was made, dressed as a street porter, carrying a large bale of spices on his back with the inscription, Admiral de La Force. The Duke de Bourbon, son of Louis XIV by Madame de Montespar, was particularly fortunate in his speculations in Mississippi paper. He rebuilt the royal residence of Chantilly in a style of unwanted magnificence, and being passionately fond of horses, he erected a range of stables which were long renowned throughout Europe, and imported 150 of the finest races from England to improve the breed in France. He bought a large extent of country in Piccadilly and became possessed of nearly all the valuable lands lying between the Was and the Somme. When fortunes such as these were gained, it is no wonder that law should have been almost worshipped by the mercurial population. Never was Monarch more flattered than he was. All the small poets and literateurs of the day poured floods of adulation upon him. According to them he was the saviour of the country, the tutelary divinity of France, wit was in all his words, goodness in all his looks, and wisdom in all his actions. So great a crowd followed his carriage whenever he went abroad that the regent sent him a troupe of horse as his permanent escort to clear the streets before him. It was remarked at this time that Paris had never before been so full of objects of elegance and luxury. Statues, pictures and tapestries were imported in great quantities from foreign countries and found a ready market. All those pretty trifles in the way of furniture and ornament of French excel in manufacturing were no longer the exclusive playthings of the aristocracy, but were to be found in abundance in the houses of traders and the middle classes in general. Jewelry of the most costly description was brought to Paris as the most favourable mart among the rest, the famous diamond bought by the regent and called by his name and which long adorned the crown of France. It was purchased for the sum of two million of livre under circumstances which show that the regent was not so great a gainer as some of his subjects by the impetus which trade had received. When the diamond was first offered to him, he refused to buy it, although he desired above all things to possess it, alleging us his reason that his duty to the country he governed would not allow him to spend so large a sum of the public money for a mere jewel. This valid and honourable excuse threw all the lages of the court into alarm and nothing was heard for some days but expressions of regret that so rare a gem should be allowed to go out of France, no private individual being rich enough to buy it. The regent was continually importuned about it, but all in vain until the duke de Saint-Sermont who with all his ability was something of a twadler undertook the weighty business. His entreaties being seconded by law, the good natured regent gave his consent, leaving to law's ingenuity to find the means to pay for it. The owner took security for the payment of the sum of two million of livre within the stated period, receiving in the meantime the interest of five percent upon that amount and being allowed besides all the valuable clippings of the gem. Saint-Sermont in his memoir relates with no little complacency his share in the transaction. After describing the diamond to be as large as a green gauge of a form nearly round, perfectly white and without floor and weighing more than five hundred grains, he concludes with a chuckle by telling the world that he takes great credit to himself for having induced the regent to make so illustrious a purchase. In other words, he was proud that he had induced him to sacrifice his duty and buy a boreble for himself at an extravagant price out of the public money. End of Chapter 1 Part 2 Chapter 1 Part 3 of memoirs of extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds Volume 1 This is a Librevox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org Recording by Morgan Scorpion Memoirs of extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds Volume 1 by Charles Mackay The Mississippi Scheme Part 3 Thus the system continued to flourish till the commencement of the year 1720. The warnings of the Parliament that too great a creation of paper-money-wood sooner or later bring the country to bankruptcy were disregarded. The regent, who knew nothing whatever of the philosophy of finance, thought that a system which had produced such good effects could never be carried to excess. If 500 millions of paper had been of such advantage, 500 millions additional would be of still greater advantage. This was the grand error of the regent and which law did not attempt to dispel. The extraordinary avidity of the people kept up the delusion, and the higher the price of Indian and Mississippi stock, the more belated a bank were issued to keep pace with it. The edifice, thus weird, might not unactly be compared to the gorgeous palace erected by Potemkin, that princely barbarian of Russia, to surprise and please his imperial mistress. Huge blocks of ice were piled one upon another, iconic pillars of chaseless workmanship in ice formed a noble portico, and a dome of the same material shone in the sun which had just strength enough to guild, but not to melt it. It glittered afar like a palace of crystals and diamonds, but there came one warm breeze from the south and the stately building dissolved away, till none were able even to gather up the fragments. So was the law and his paper-system. No sooner did the breath of popular mistrust blow steadily upon it, than it fell to ruins, and none could raise it up again. The first slight alarm that was occasioned was early in 1720. The Prince de Conte offended that law should have denied him fresh shares in India stock at his own price, sent to his bank to demand payment in specie of so enormous a quantity of notes that three wagons were required for its transport. Law complained to the regent, and urged on his attention the mischief that would be done if such an example found many imitators. The regent was but too well aware of it, and sending for the Prince de Conte ordered him, under penalty of his high displeasure, to refund to the bank two-thirds of the specie which he had withdrawn from it. The Prince was forced to obey the despotic mandate. Happily for law's credit, de Conte was an unpopular man, everybody condemned his meanness and cupidity, and agreed that law had been hardly treated. It is strange, however, that so narrow an escape should not have made both law and the regent more anxious to restrict their issues. Others were soon found who imitated from motives of distrust, the example which had been set by de Conte in revenge. The more acute stock-jobbers imagined justly that prices could not continue to rise forever. Bourdon and La Richardière, renowned for their extensive operations in the funds, quietly and in small quantities at a time, converted their notes into specie, and sent it away to foreign countries. They also brought as much as they could conveniently carry of plate and expensive jewellery, and sent it secretly away to England or to Holland. Vermele, a jobber who sniffed the coming storm, procured gold and silver coin to the amount of nearly a million libra, which he packed in a farmer's cart, and covered over with hay and cow dung. He then disguised himself in the dirty smock frock or blouse of a peasant, and drove his precious load in safety into Belgium. From thence he soon found means to transport it to Amsterdam. Hitherto, no difficulty had been experienced by any class in procuring specie for their wants. But this system could not long be carried on without causing a scarcity. The voice of complaint was heard on every side, and inquiries being instituted, the cause was soon discovered. The council debated long on the remedies to be taken, and law, being called on for his advice, was of an opinion that an edict should be published, depreciating the value of coin five percent below that of paper. The edict was published accordingly, but failing of its intended effect was followed by another, in which the depreciation was increased to ten percent. The payments of the bank were at the same time restricted to one hundred libra in gold, and ten in silver. All these measures were nugatory to restore confidence in the paper, though the restriction of cash payments within limits so extremely narrow kept up the credit of the bank. Notwithstanding every effort to the contrary, the precious metals continued to be conveyed to England and Holland. The little coin that was left in the country was carefully treasured, or hidden until the scarcity became so great that the operations of trade could no longer be carried on. In this emergency, law hazarded the bold experiment of forbidding the use of specie altogether. In February 1720, an edict was published, which instead of restoring the credit of the paper, as was intended, destroyed it irrevocably and drove the country to the very brink of revolution. By this famous edict it was forbidden to any person whatever to have more than five hundred libra, twenty pounds, of coin in his possession, and a pain of a heavy fine, and confiscation of the sums found. It was also forbidden to buy up jewellery, plate, and precious stones, and informers were encouraged to make search for offenders by the promise of one half the amount they might discover. The whole country set up a choir of distress at this unheard of tyranny. The most odious persecution daily took place. The privacy of families was violated by the intrusion of informers and their agents. The most virtuous and honest were denounced for the crime of having been seen with a Louis-Darr in their possession. Servants betrayed their masters, one citizen became a spy upon his neighbour, and arrests and confiscations so multiplied that the courts found a difficulty in getting through the immense increase of business thus occasioned. It was sufficient for an informer to say that he suspected any person of concealing money in his house, and immediately a search warrant was granted. Lord Stare, the English ambassador, said that it was now impossible to doubt the sincerity of law's conversion to the Catholic religion. He had established the inquisition after having given an abundant evidence of his faith in transubstantiation by turning so much gold into paper. Every epithet that popular hatred could suggest was showered upon the regent in the unhappy law. Coin, to any amount above five hundred livery, was an illegal tender and nobody would take paper if he could help it. Noble knew today what his notes would be worth tomorrow. Never, said Duclos, in his secret memoirs of the Regency, was seen a more capricious government. Never was a more frantic tyranny exercised by hands less firm. It is inconceivable to those who were witnesses of the horrors of those times and who look back upon them now as on a dream, that a sudden revolution did not break out, that law and the regent did not perish by a tragical death. They were both held in horror, but the people confined themselves to complaints, a sombre and timid despair, a stupid consternation had seized upon all, and men's minds were too vile even to be capable of a courageous crime. It would appear that, at one time, a movement of the people was organised. Seditious writings were posted up against the walls and were sent in handbills to the houses of the most conspicuous people. One of them, given in the Memoir de la Regence, was to the following effect. Sir and Madam. This is to give you notice that a saint by following his day will be enacted again on Saturday and Sunday if affairs do not alter. You are desired not to stir out, nor you, nor your servants. God preserve you from the flames. The notice to your neighbours dated Saturday, May the 25th, 1720. The immense number of spies with which the city was infested rendered the people mistrustful of one another, and beyond some trifling the stoences made in the evening by an insignificant group, which were soon dispersed, the peace of the capital was not compromised. The value of shares in the Louisiana or Mississippi stock had fallen very rapidly, and few indeed were found to believe the tales that had once been told of the immense wealth of that region. A last effort was therefore tried to restore the public confidence in the Mississippi project. For this purpose, a general conscription of all the poor riches in Paris was made by order of government. Upwards of six thousand of the very refuse of the population were impressed, as if in time of war, and were provided with clothes and tools to embark on New Orleans to work in the gold mines alleged to abound there. They were paraded day after day through the streets with their pikes and shovels, and then sent off in small detachments to the outports to be shipped for America. Two-thirds of them never reached their destination, but dispersed themselves over the country, sold their tools for what they could get, and returned to their old course of life. In less than three weeks afterwards, one half of them were to be found again in Paris. The manoeuvre, however, caused a trifling advance in Mississippi stock. Many persons of superabundant gullibility believed that operations had begun in earnest in the new Golconda, and that gold and silver ingots would again be found in France. In a constitutional monarchy some sureer means would have been found for the restoration of public credit. In England, at a subsequent period when a similar delusion had brought on similar distress, how different were the measures taken to repair the evil? But in France, unfortunately, the remedy was left to the authors of the mischief. The arbitrary will of the regent, which endeavored to extricate the country, only plunged it deeper into the mire. All payments were ordered to be made in paper, and between the 1st of February and the end of May, notes were fabricated to the amount of upwards of 1,500 millions of lira, or 60 million pounds sterling. But the alarm once sounded, no art could make the people feel the slightest confidence in paper which was not exchangeable into metal. Monsieur Lambert, the president of the Parliament of Paris, told the regent to his face that he would rather have 100,000 lira in gold or silver than 5 million in the notes of his bank. When such was the general feeling, the superabundant issues of paper but increased the evil by rendering still more enormous the disparity between the amount of specie and notes in circulation. Coin, which was the object of the regent to depreciate, rose in value on every French attempt to diminish it. In February it was judged advisable that the Royal Bank should be incorporated with the company of the Indies. An edict to that effect was published and registered by the Parliament. The state remained the guarantee for the notes of the bank, and no more were to be issued without an order in council. All the profits of the bank, since the time it had been taken out of law's hands and made a national institution, were given over by the regent to the company of the Indies. This measure had the effect of raising for a short time the value of the Louisiana and the other shares of the company, but it failed in placing public credit on any permanent basis. A council of state was held in the beginning of May at which law, D'Argenton, his colleague in the administration of the finances, and all the ministers were present. It was then computed that the total amount of notes in circulation was 260,000 millions of libra, while the coin in the country was not quite equal to half that amount. It was evident to the majority of the council that some plan must be adopted to equalize the currency. Some proposed that the notes should be reduced to the value of the specie, while others proposed that the nominal value of the specie should be raised till it was on an equality with the paper. Law is said to have been opposed to both these projects, but failing in suggesting any other, it was agreed that the notes should be depreciated one half. On the 21st of May, an edict was accordingly issued by which it was decreed that the shares of the company of the Indies and the notes of the bank should gradually diminish in value till at the end of a year they should only pass current for one and half of their nominal worth. The parliament refused to register the edict. The greatest outcry was excited and the state of the country became so alarming that, as the only means of preserving tranquility, the council of the Regency was obliged to stultify its own proceedings by publishing within seven days another edict, restoring the notes to their original value. On the same day, the 27th of May, the bank stopped payment in specie. Law and D'Argançon were both dismissed from the ministry, the weak, vacillating and cowardly regent through the blame of the mischief upon Law, who upon presenting himself at the Palais Royal was refused admittance. At nightfall, however, he was sent for and admitted into the palace by a secret door, when the regent endeavoured to console him and made all manner of excuses for the severity with which, in public, he had been compelled to treat him. So capricious was his conduct that, two days afterwards, he took him publicly to the opera where he sat in the royal box alongside of the regent, and tortured him with marked consideration in face of all the people. But such was the hatred against Law that the experiment had well nigh proved fatal to him. The mob assailed his carriage with stones just as he was entering his own door, and if the coachman had not made a sudden jerk into the courtyard and the domestics closed the gate immediately, he would in all probability have been dragged out and torn to pieces. On the following day his wife and daughter were also assailed by the mob and were returning in their carriage from the races. When the regent was informed of these occurrences he sent Law a strong detachment of Swiss guards who were stationed night and day in the court of his residence. The public indignation at last increased so much that Law, finding his own house even with this guard insecure, took refuge in the Palais Royale in the apartments of the regent. The Chancellor, Daguesso, who had been dismissed in 1718 and opposed opposition to the projects of Law, was now recalled to aid in the restoration of credit. The regent acknowledged too late that he had treated with unjustifiable harshness and mistrust one of the ablest and perhaps the sole honest public man of that corrupt period. He had retired ever since his disgrace to his country-house at Fresn where in the midst of severe but delightful philosophical studies he had forgotten the intrigues of an unworthy court. Paul himself and the Chevalier de Conflon, a gentleman of the regent's household, were dispatched in opposed shares with orders to bring the ex-chancellor to Paris along with them. Daguesso consented to render what assistance he could contrary to the advice of his friends who did not approve that he should accept any recall to office of which Law was the bearer. On his arrival in Paris five councillors of the parliament were admitted to confer with the Commissary of France and on the 1st of June an order was published abolishing the law which made it criminal to amass coin to the amount of more than 500 libra. Everyone was permitted to have as much specie as he pleased. In order that the banknotes might be withdrawn 25 millions of new notes were created on the security of the revenues of the city of Paris at 2.5%. The banknotes withdrawn were publicly burned in front of the Hotel de Ville. The new notes were principally removed of the value of 10 libra each and on the 10th of June the bank was reopened with a sufficiency of silver coin to give in change for them. These measures were productive of considerable advantage. All the population of Paris hastened to the bank to get coin for their small notes and silver becoming scarce they were paid in copper. Very few complained that this was too heavy although poor fellows might be continually seen toiling and sweating along the streets laden with more than they could comfortably carry. In the shape of change for 50 libra. The crowds around the bank were so great that hardly a day passed that someone was not pressed to death. On the 9th of July the multitude was so dense and clamorous that the guards stationed at the entrance of the Mazurang Gardens closed the gate and refused to admit any more. The crowd became incensed and flung stones through the railings upon the soldiers. The latter, incensed in their turn, threatened to fire upon the people. At that instant one of them was hit by a stone and, taking up his peace, he fired into the crowd. One man fell dead immediately and another was severely wounded. It was every instant expected that a general attack would have been commenced upon the bank but the gates of the Mazurang Gardens being open to the crowd who saw a whole troop of soldiers with their bayonets fixed ready to receive them they contented themselves by giving vent to their indignation in groans and hisses. Eight days afterwards the concourse of people was so tremendous that fifteen persons were squeezed to death at the doors of the bank. The people were so indignant that they took three of the bodies on stretches before them and proceeded to the number of seven or eight thousand to the gardens of the Palais Royale that they might show the regent the misfortunes that he and Law had brought upon the country. Law's coachmen, who were sitting at the box of his master's carriage in the courtyard of the palace, were more zeal than discretion and not liking that the mob should abuse his master he said loud enough to be overheard by several persons that they were all blaggards and deserved to be hanged. The mob immediately set upon him and thinking that Law was in the carriage broke it to pieces the imprudent coachmen narrowly escaped with his life. No further mischief was done a body of troops making their appearance to the crowd quietly dispersed after an assurance had been given by the regent that the three bodies they had brought to show him should be decently buried at his own expense. The parliament was sitting at the time of this uproar and the president took upon himself to go out and see what was the matter. On his return he informed the councillors that Law's carriage had been broken by the mob. All the members rose simultaneously and expressed their joy by a loud shout while one man more zealous in his hatred than the rest exclaimed and Law himself is he torn to pieces? Note 13. The Duchess of Orleans gives a different version of this story, that whichever be the true one, the manifestation of such feeling in a legislative assembly was not very creditable. She says that the president was so transported with joy that he was seized with a rhyming fit and returning to the hall exclaimed to the members Monsieur, Monsieur, Bonne Nouvelle Le Carros de la S'Éraduerie en Canal Much undoubtedly depended on the credit of the company of the Indies, which was answerable for so great a sum to the nation. It was therefore suggested in the Council of the Ministry that any privileges which could be granted to enable it to fulfil its engagements would be productive of the best results. With this end in view it was proposed that the exclusive privilege of all maritime commerce should be secured to it and an edict to that effect was published. But it was unfortunately forgotten that by such a measure all the merchants should be ruined. The idea of such an immense privilege was generally scouted by the nation and petition on petition was presented to the Parliament that they would refuse to register the decree. They refused accordingly and the regent remarking that they did nothing but found the flames of sedition exiled them to Blois. At the intercession of Dagestor the place of banishment was changed upon toise and thither, accordingly the Council is repaired by that defiance. They made every arrangement for rendering their temporary exile as agreeable as possible. The President gave the most elegant suppers to which he invited all the gay and wittiest company of Paris. Every night there was a concert and ball for the ladies. The usually grave and solemn judges and councillors joined in cards and other diversions, leading for several weeks a life of the most extravagant pleasure for no other purpose than to show the regent of how little consequence was their banishment and that when they willed it they could make pantroise a pleasanter residence than Paris. Of all the nations in the world the French are the most renowned for singing over their grievances. Of that country it has been remarked with some truth that its whole history may be traced in its songs. When law by the utter failure of his best-laid plans rendered himself obnoxious Sartre of course seized hold upon him and while caricatures of his person appeared in all the shops, the streets resounded with songs in which neither he nor the regent were spared. Many of these songs were far from decent and one of them in particular cancelled the application of all his notes to the most ignoble use to which paper can be applied. But the following, preserved in the letters of Duchess of Orleans was the best and the most popular and was to be heard for months in all the carifor in Paris. The application of the chorus is happy enough. As soon as the arrival of our good life Mr. La Rige published that it will be used to restore the nation the Faridondin, the Faridondin but it will enrich us all. Biri Biri at the barbershop my friend, his partner to attract. All the people of France are first to be sure of our trust and trust. He gives his abjuration the Faridondin but it will be converted. Biri Biri at the barbershop my friend, his partner to attract. All the people of France are first to be sure of our trust but the region the Faridondin the Faridondin the Faridondin the Faridondin Biri Biri at the barbershop my friend. The following epigram is of the same date. Monday Monday Monday Monday Monday Monday Monday Monday Monday of various assurances. Lest the car should not roll fast enough, the agents of these companies, known by their long foxtails and their cunning looks, turn round the spokes of the wheels, upon which are marked the names of the several stocks and their value, sometimes high and sometimes low, according to the turns of the wheel. Upon the ground are the merchandise, day-books, and ledges of legitimate commerce, crushed under the chariot of folly. The ground is an immense crowd of persons of all ages, sexes and conditions, clamouring after fortune, and fighting with each other to get a portion of the shares which she distributes so bountifully among them. In the clouds sits a demon, blowing bubbles of soap, which are also the objects of the admiration and cupidity of the crowd, who jump upon one another's backs to reach them ere they burst. Right in the pathway of the car, and blocking up the passage, stands a large building, with three doors, through one of which it must pass if it precedes farther, and all the crowd along with it. Over the first door are the words, opetal de fou, over the second, opetal de malade, and over the third, opetal de gueur. Another caricature of represented law sitting in a large cauldron, boiling over the flames of popular madness, surrounded by an impetuous multitude who were pouring all their gold and silver into it, and receiving gladly in exchange the bits of paper which he distributed among them by handfuls. While this excitement lasted, law took great care not to expose himself unguarded in the streets. Shut up in the apartments of the regent, he was secure from all attack, and whenever he ventured abroad it was either incognito or in one of the royal carriages with a powerful escort. An amusing anecdote is recorded of the detestation in which he was held by the people and the ill-treatment he would have met had he fallen into their hands. A gentleman of the name of Bursal was passing in his carriage down the Rue de Saint Antoine when his father's progress was stayed by a hackney-coach that had blocked up the road. Monsieur Bursal's servant called impatiently to the hackney-coachman to get out of the way, and on his refusal struck him a blow on the face. A crowd was soon drawn together by the disturbance, and Monsieur Bursal got out of the carriage to restore order. The hackney-coachman, imagining that he had now another assailant, bethought him of an expedient to rid himself of both and called out as loudly as he was able. Help! Help! Murder! Murder! Here are law and his servant going to kill me. Help! Help! At this cry the people came out of their shops armed with sticks and other weapons, while the mob gathered stones to inflict summary vengeance upon the supposed financier. To leave for Monsieur Bursal and his servant, the door of the church of the Jesuits stood wide open, and seeing the fearful odds against them, they rushed towards it with all speed. They reached the altar, pursued by the people, and would have been ill-treated even there, if, finding the door open leading to the sacristy, they had not sprang through and closed it after them. The mob were then persuaded to leave the church by the alarmed and indignant priests, and finding Monsieur Bursal's couch still in the streets, they vented their ill-will against it, and did it considerable damage. The 25 million secured on the municipal revenues of the city of Paris, bearing so low an interest as two and a half percent, were not very popular among the large holders of Mississippi stock. The conversion of the securities was therefore a work of considerable difficulty, for many preferred to retain the falling paper of law's company in the hope that a favorable turn might take place. On the 15th of August, with a view to hasten the conversion, an edict was passed, declaring that all notes for sums between 1,000 and 10,000 Lever should not pass current, except for the purchase of vanuities and bank accounts, or for the payment of instalments still due on the shares of the company. In October following, another edict was passed, depriving these notes of all value whatever after the month of November next evening. The management of the mint, the farming of the revenue, and all the other advantages and privileges of the India or Mississippi company were taken from them, and they were reduced to a mere private company. This was the death blow to the whole system, which had now got into the hands of its enemies. Law had lost all influence in the Council of Finance, and the company, being despoiled of its immunities, could no longer hold out the shadow of a prospect of being able to fulfil its engagements. All those suspected of illegal profits at the time the public delusion was at its height were sought out and immersed in heavy fines. It was previously ordered that a list of the original proprietors to be made out, and that such persons as still retained their shares should place them in deposit with the company, and that those who had neglected to complete the shares for which they had put down their names should now purchase them of the company at the rate of 13,500 Lever for each share of 500 Lever. Rather than submit to pay this enormous sum of stock which was actually at a discount, the shareholders packed up all their portable effects and endeavoured to find a refuge in foreign countries. Orders were immediately issued to the authorities at the ports and frontiers to apprehend all travellers who sought to leave the kingdom and keep them in custody, until it were ascertained whether they had any plate or jewellery with them, or were concerned in the late stock-jobbing. Against such few as escaped the punishment of death was recorded, while the most arbitrary proceedings were instituted against those who remained. Or himself, in a moment of despair, determined to leave a country where his life was no longer secure. He at first only demanded permission to retire from Paris to one of his country's seats, a permission which the regent cheerfully granted. The latter was much affected at the unhappy tone affairs had taken, but his faith continued unmoved in the truth and efficacy of law's financial system. His eyes were opened to his own errors, and during the few remaining years of his life he constantly longed for an opportunity of again establishing the system upon a secure basis. At law's last interview with the prince he has reported to have said, I confess that I have committed many faults. I committed them because I am a man, and all men are liable to error, but I declare to you most solemnly that none of them proceeded from wicked or dishonest motives, and that nothing of the kind will be found in the whole course of my conduct. Two or three days after his departure the regent sent him a very kind letter, permitting him to leave the kingdom whenever he pleased, and stating that he had ordered his passports to be made ready. He at the same time offered him any sum of money he might require. Law respectfully declined the money and set out for Brussels in a post-share belonging to the Madame de Prié, the mistress of the Duke of Bourbon, escorted by six horse-guards. From thence he proceeded to Venice where he remained for some months the object of the greatest curiosity to the people who believed him to be the possessor of enormous wealth. No opinion, however, could be more erroneous. With more generosity than could have been expected from a man who during the greatest part of his life had been a professed gambler, he had refused to enrich himself at the expense of a ruined nation. During the height of the popular frenzy from Mississippi Stock, he had never doubted of the final success of his projects in making France the richest and most powerful nation of Europe. He invested all his gains in the purchase of landed property in France, a sure proof of his own belief in the stability of his schemes. He had hoarded no plate or jewellery and sent no money, like the dishonest job as to foreign countries. His all, with the exception of one diamond, worth about five or six thousand pounds sterling, was invested in the French soil, and when he left that country he left it almost a beggar. The fact alone ought to rescue his memory from the charge of neighbouries so often and so unjustly brought against him. As soon as his departure was known, all his estates and his valuable library were confiscated. Among the rest, an annuity of two hundred thousand leaver, eight thousand pounds sterling, on the lives of his wife and children, which had been purchased for five millions of leaver, was forfeited, notwithstanding that a special edict, drawn up for the purpose in the days of his prosperity, had expressly declared that it should never be confiscated for any cause whatever. Great discontent existed among the people that law had been suffered to escape. The mob and the parliament would have been pleased to have seen him hanged. The few who had not suffered by the commercial revolution rejoiced that the quack had left the country, but all those, and they were by far the numerous class whose fortunes were implicated, regretted that his intimate knowledge of the distress of the country, and of the causes that had led to it, had not been rendered more available in discovering a remedy. At a meeting of the Council of Finance and the General Council of the Regency, documents were laid upon the table from which it appeared that the amount of notes in circulation was two thousand seven hundred millions. The regent was called upon to explain how it happened that there was a discrepancy between the dates at which these issues were made, and those of the edicts by which they were authorised. He might have safely taken the whole blame upon himself, but he preferred that an absent man should bear a share of it, and he therefore stated that Law upon his own authority had issued one thousand two hundred millions of notes at different times and that he, the regent, seeing that the thing had been irrevocably done, had screamed Law by anti-dating the decrees of the Council which authorised the augmentation. It would have been more to his credit if he had told the whole truth while he was about it, and acknowledged that it was mainly through his extravagance and impatience that Law had been induced to overstep the bounds of safe speculation. It was also ascertained that the national debt on the first of January 1721 amounted to upwards of three thousand one hundred millions of leaver, or more than a hundred and twenty-four million pounds sterling, the interest upon which was three million one hundred and ninety-six thousand pounds. A commission, or visa, was forthwith appointed to examine into all the securities of the state creditors who were to be divided into five classes. The first four comprising those who had purchased their securities with real effects, and the latter comprising those who could give no proofs that the transactions they had entered into were real and bona fide. The securities of the latter were ordered to be destroyed, while those of the first four classes were subjected to the most rigid and jealous scrutiny. The result of the labours of the visa was a report in which they counselled the reduction of the interest upon these securities to fifty-six millions of leaver. They justified this advice by a statement of the various acts of speculation and extortion which they had discovered, and an edict to that effect was accordingly published and duly registered by the parliaments of the kingdom. Another tribunal was afterwards established under the title of the Chambre de l'Arcenal, which took cognisance of all the malversations committed in the financial departments of the government during the late unhappy period. A master of requests, named Falhone, together with the Abbe Clamont and two clerks in their employ, had been concerned in diverse acts of speculation to the amount of upwards of a million of leaver. The first two were sentenced to be beheaded and the latter to be hanged, but their punishment was afterwards commuted into imprisonment for life in the Bastille. Numerous other acts of dishonesty were discovered and punished by fine and imprisonment. D'Algencaint shared with law in the region the unpopularity which had alighted upon all those concerned in the Mississippi madness. He was dismissed from his post of chancellor to make room for daggers so, but he retained the title of keeper of the seals and was allowed to attend the councils whenever he pleased. He thought it better, however, to withdraw from Paris, and live for a time the life of seclusion at his country seat, but he was not formed for retirement, and becoming moody and discontented he aggravated a disease under which he had long laboured and died in less than a twelve month. The populace of Paris so detested him that they carried their hatred even to his grave. As his funeral procession passed to the church of Saint Nicolas du Chardonnay, the burying place of his family, it was beset by a riotous mob and his two sons, who were following his chief mourners, were obliged to drive as fast as they were able down a by-street to escape personal violence. As regards law, he for some time entertained a hope that he should be recalled to France to aid in establishing its credit upon a firmer basis. The death of the regent in 1723, who expired suddenly as he was sitting by the fireside conversing with his mistress, the Duchess de Fallori, deprived him of that hope, and he was reduced to lead his former life of gambling. He was more than once obliged to pawn his diamond, the sole remnant of his vast wealth, but successful play generally enabled him to redeem it. Being persecuted by his creditors at Rome, he receded to Copenhagen, where he received permission from the English ministry to reside in his native country, his pardon for the murder of Mr. Wilson having been sent over to him in 1719. He was wrought over in the Admiral's ship, a circumstance which gave occasion for a short debate in the House of Lords. Earl Conningsby complained that a man who had renounced both his country and his religion should have been treated with such honour, and expressed his belief that his presence in England at a time when the people were so bewildered by the nefarious practices of the South Sea directors would be attended with no little danger. He gave notice of emotion on the subject, but it was allowed to drop, no other member of the House having the slightest participation in his lordship's fears. Law remained for about four years in England and then proceeded to Venice, where he died in 1729 in very embarrassed circumstances. The following epitaph was written at the time, c'est ce qui s'est écossant célèbre, c'est calculateur sans égale, c'est algèbre, amis la France à l'eau pétale. His brother, William Law, who had been concerned with him in the administration both of the bank and the Louisiana company, was imprisoned in the Bastille for alleged malversation, but no guilt was ever proven against him. He was liberated after 15 months and became the founder of a family which is still known in France under the title of Marquises de l'Oriston. In the next chamber will be found an account of the madness which infected the people of England at the same time and under very similar circumstances, but which, thanks to the energies and good sense of the constitutional government, was attended with results far less disastrous than those which were seen in France. End of chapter one, part three.