Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1858-04-14
John Law.

i John Law.
! John Law, the son of an Ednbor0' goldsmith
had for years roamed about on the Continent
living by high play and studying the great prin
ciples of trade, now clerk at Amsterdam an
now as the boon companion of French nobles.-
Full of schemes and plans for financial reforms
he offered to the Regent OF France, the Duke
Orleans. the payment of the national debt OF tn
kingdom and an almost unlimited amount o
money in return for the permission to erect {
bank. The offer was the more readily accepted
as France was then on the verge of ruin. The
brilliant but ruinous reign of Louis XIV. had
exhausted her natural resources and destroyed
her credit; commerce and industry were alike
at standstill; agriculture utterly neglected.
Law promised an abundance Of means and q re-
vival of trade oy the creation of paper money
The desired permission was granted, and the
first bank of circulation established in Paris
Unfortunately its basis of circulation was unsafe
and its circulation extended vastly beyond the
legitimate limits. 1t became gigantic gamb-
ling establishment under royal protection. For
time all went WELL Laws great skill and ex.
perience enabled him to succeed in bold specu-
lations, and soon the shares of the new bank
rose to twenty and forty times their par value.
The Regent granted him, for a consideration,
one great privilege after another. Public credit
was restored, the army well clad and well fed,
internal improvements carried on with energy,
and hope and confidence restored to the people.
Foremost among the gigantic schemes of Law
stood the plan for colonizipg Louisiana, known
to the French only by book modestly enti
tied Antarctic France, anciently called Ameri.
ca" 1t was represented as abounding in riches
ind ha Sfot
and promised to settle it quickly. Ships were
sent out with emigrants of the most doubtful
character, cities were founded mainly on paper,
and magnificent plans and glowing descriptions
scattered broadcast over the land Thus the
Mississippi Company, as it was called, was fu-
sed into the great bank, now raised to the power
and dignity OF Royal Bank, and the two great
gambling institutions went hand in hand.
A little narrow lane in the city OF Paris was
the scene of this gigantic comedy Here prin-
ces and beggars, scamps and honest men. crowd.
ed together, from morn till night, and made or
lost fortunes in few hours. The lust OF gain,
the thirst for gold, rose to fever heat to perfect
frenzy. Money fell into disrepute, coin was
worth ten per cent. less than bank notes, and
everybody sold everything in order to buy shares
that had risen from 500 livres, their par value,
to 10000 livres. Law was idolized; like the
princess of the Arabian nights, be had but to
give an order and shower of gold fell upon the
happy people. He was made Priyy Council.
lor and Comptroller of the State Finances,
though at the cost of his Protestant faith, which
be abjured.
AN,the people speculated and gambled with
perfect frenzy. Colossal fortunes were made in
few hours. A hunchback grew rich by let
.;,.. b;, hrood ,bnnldar nc a dosE. opd haouara
received notes Of 1000 livres as an aims. France
The other States of Europe looked with envy at
her rising greatness. She was victorious in
Spain and triumphed in her diplomacy. For
eign gold flowed in streams to her capital 30O.-
600 strangers filled the city Of Paris.
Suddenly, no one knew how, mstrust began
to enter some hearts. 1t became known that
five hundred millions of coined money had been
carried out of France, and panic ensued, as
sudden and fearful as the rise of the bank had
been beyond all precedent. The whole farce of
a run on the bank was then for the first time
played to perfection. Some sold out at any
price, others threw enormous sums away, sure
of to day but uncertain Of to morrow. Utter
decentralization followed as the natural effect OF
the gambling of whole nation. When the cri-
sis came and the bank broke, thirty thousand
families found themselves ruined. Suicide be-
came contagious and many lost their mind aid
money together.
Law himself had to flee, and took refuge in
Venice; he had never enriched himself, and
lived and died in poverty, supported only by
high play at the gaming table. Voltaire saw
the mother of his children die in misery in Brus-
sells; and the man who had once offered the Re
gent OF France present of one hundred mil
lions, who had owned immense estates in Eu.
rope and four States of our Union, through
whose hands the whole wealth Of great nation
passed, left to his children few paintings and
diamond But his legacy to France was sad
and disastrous. He gave the French an insa
tiate thirst for gain and luxury; he inspired
them with that lust of gold that has swallowed
up so many OF the nobler traits of their charac
ter, and showed thus most mournfully that ma
tions, as little as individuals, can become gam
blers with impunity. The few successful spec
ulators changed the whole aspect of society
they bought the estates of the ruined mobiles ant
took their place at Court and in high offices
their vices were not even gilt; their lowbred os
tentation most contemplate.