Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-12-06

promise, he would deserve that france
should erect statues in his honor. The
charter was speedily granted; the COM
pany received an irreyoesble grant of ali
lands, water-courses, rivers, forests and
islands, dependent upon Louisiana, with
the right of alternating property, arming
vessels and being exempt from taxes.
Law eontrived to raise the credit Of the
stock by giving out that he would pur-
chase at par, at six months date, the
shares that were then selling at fifty.
This bold policy worked well with the
Parisians, who, inexperienced in stock
jobbing, we're dazEled with the excess of
daring displayed by the Scottish fnan-
cier. The shares rose to par, Law united
with the original Mississippi company,
in 1719, several other trading companies
to Africa and the East Indies, which
had been unsuccessful, and the fusion of
| them all formed the new Indian com
pany, with exclusive concessions and
monopolies, said to be of immense value
The art Of putting, then in its infancy,
was at once brought into the most active
r,quisition. Large engravings were cir
culated, representing the arrival of the
French at the Mississippi, in the midst
of an enchanting country, with male and
female savages running to meet them
with an sffectionate welcome. "There
are seer" said the accompanying doscrip-
ton, mountains full of gold and silver,
copper, lead and quicksilver. 1t was
declared that rock of pure emerald had
been discovered in Arkansas, and that
the natives eagerly exchanged gold,
gems, and the most precious jewels for
knives, looking glasses, and even a little
brandy. In point of fact, the Missis-
sippi region was then scarcely habi-
table desert, desolsted By fever in the
lower part, and with less than four hun
dred whites and twenty blacks in all
Louisiana Laws magnificent company
did little in America save to lay the
foundation Of a town, to which he gave
the name of his munifeent patron, the
Regent of France. Such was the origin
of New Orleans.
But the brilliant scheme, however i'll
founded and abortive abroad, was des-
tined to achieve a miraculous success at
home. The shares rose from par to 130,
and presently to 200 per cent. Law
managed to secure for his company the
profitable monopoly of tobacco, on which
the French government has since made
so many millions. A little later he un-
dertook the direct collection of all the
taxes for the exchequer, and obtained
concession of the profit of the coinage
for nine years, minus sum Of fifty mil
lions to be paid to the King. All these
valuable privileges were trumpsted to
the public as so many new guarantees Of
fortune to the new company, whose stock
now rose, under the stimulus Of sue
cess heretofore unheaSd Of, to 800 per
cent, and even more. New shares were
created, on one pretext and another, and
sold at an enormous premium. The
printing presses of the company, like
those of the Erie railway clique, were
always busy, and to the great profit of
the clique, no matter what became of
the public. The coveted shares we're
sought for with avidity.
Laws magnificent residence in the
Rue Quincampoix was thronged with |
carriages from morning till night. Ouch
esses came in their robes to besiege the
wsrthy banker and solicit the privilege |
of subscribing. Princes and mobiles,
merchants and bankers, generals and
bishops, actors and day laborers, jostled |
each other in the eager scramble for
stock. All the apartments in the vicin-
ity were rented at fabulous prices to those
engaged in the stock jObbing fever, and
one poor fellow. with a humpbaek, even
made fortune of 10000 francs BY rent
ing it as an extemPore writing desk to
eager speculators. The mania spread
from Paris all over France, aud even to
foreign lands. All Europe looked with
longing ewes to the Rue Quincampoix.
The stories Of fortunes won in q day |
dazzled all eyes. At the end Of 1719
the number of foreigners and provincial
Frenchmen assembled in Paris for pur-
poses of speculation, was estimated at
100000. Many soyereigns had their
agents there for the sole pur-
pose of following the trade in shares. So
prodigious was the concourse that the
transaction of business became almost
impossible from the crowd. Govern
nent was obliged to issue edicts restrain
ing all public functionaries from remain
ng away from their duties to speculate
N stocks.
At evening it frequently became
necessary to send corps of gems d'drmes
20 clear the street. The jObbers had re-
course to all sorts Of tricks to whet and
Keep up the excitement. Great combi
nations were formed every now and then
10 "bear" the stock, with the hope of
buying in at profit Emissaries, in the
pay of the great stock jobbers, spread
Wild rumors through the excited crowd.
Unheard-of tricks spread wide and sud
len fluctuations, impoEerishing some
and enriching others, from morning till
night. The stock rose at one time, for
the short period of two weeks, to the
Wild figure of two thousand per cent
The list of 'Mississippians," as the Peo-
pie who made fortunes out of the bubble
we're called, has preserved the names of
one hundred persons who gained, while
the scheme lasted, above twenty million
francs (or s4,0OO,00O) each. There was
not single noted person in the nation,
save Marshal Villars and the Duke of
ST. Simon, who did not, at some time or
other, enter into the fascinating specula-
ton. A bankers lackey, named Dupin,
retired with fortune Of fifty millions.
A waiter at tavern realized thirty mil
lions, went to England and came back