Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1875-06-05
JOHN LAW AND HIS TIMES.


Big Bonanza In France and England In the
Days of John Law--Speculation Run
Mad.
Talking of bonanzas, calls to mind
the days of John Law and his grand
schemes in France. The country in a
financial point of view was very badly
off. Money issued by the government
was worth little or nothing. The treas
ury was empty and desolation stared
France in the face. At this auspicious
moment Law entered upon the stage
with his great Louisiana land scheme.
The capital was one hundred millions of
francs, in shares of five hundred francs,
purchasable wholly in the new treasury
notes bearing four per cent. interest,
then at discount of seventy per cent.
Maps of this illimitable virgin land
were published. Pictures we're exhibit
ed, in which crowds of interesting naked
savages, male and female were seen
running up to welcome arriving French
men; and under the engraving a gaping
Paris crowd could read In this land
are seen mountains filled with gold, sill
yer, copper, lead, quicksilver; and the
savages, not knowing their value, gladly
exchange pieces of gold and silver for
knives, iron pots, small looking glass,
or even little brandy" One picture
was addressed to pious souls; for even
at that early day, as at present, there
was occasionally observed curious al
lance between persons engaged in the
promotion of piety and those employed
in the pushing of shares. This work
exhibited group of Indians kneeling
before some reverend fathers of the So,
ciety of Jesus. Under it was written
"IndiaR Idolaters imploring Baptism. -
The excitement, once kindled, was
stimulated by lying announcements of
the sailing of great fleets for Louisiana
laden with merchandise and colonists
of the arrival of vessels with freights
worth millions;" of the establishment
of silk factory, wherein twelve thou
sand women of the Natchez tribe were
Employed; of the bringing of Louisianf
ingots to the mint to be assayed; of the
discovery in Arkansas of great rock o.
emerald, and the dispatch of Captain
Laharpe with file of twenty-five mer
70 fo1z - %bo co,oo T., 1T1
Law sent engineers to Louisiana, who
did something toward lying out its fu
ture capital, which he named New Or
leans, in honor of his patron, the re
gent.
The royal paper rose rapidly unde1
this new demand. Other schemes fol
lowed, until John Law, through hi
various companies, seemed about tx
"run" the kingdom of France by con
tract, farming all it's revenues, transact
ing all its commerce, and, best of all
paying all its debtsl Madness ruled tn,
hour. The deprecated paper rose, rose
and still rose reached par went be
yond par, until gold and silver were at
discount of ten per cent. The stree
named Quincampoix, the center ant
vortex of this whirl of business, mer
lane twenty feet wide and quarter of
mile long, was crowded with excite,
people from morning till night, and ia
into the night, so that the inhabitants G
the quarter sent to the police a forms
complaint that they could get no sleer
Mobiles, lackeys, bishops, monks, mel
chants, soldiers, women, pickpocket,
foreigners, all resorted to La Rue
"panting, yelling, operating, snatchin
papers, counting crowns, making up
scene of noisy confusion unexamplet
One man hired all the vacant houses
the street, and made fortune by sui
letting offices and desk-room, even pla,
ing sentry-boxes on some of the roof
and letting them at good price. Tt
excitement spread over France, reacho
Holland, and drew to Paris, as was est
mated at the time, five hundred thousan
strangers, places in the public vehicl
being engaged "two months in a.
vance," and commanding high pr
MUM.
There were the most extraordinary a
QUESTIONS of fortune. People sudden
enriched were called Mississippiens, al
they behaved as the victims of suddt
wealth, unearned, usually do. Men wi
were lackeys one week, kept lackeys Il
next. A gorcon of a wine shop gain'
twenty millions. A cobbler, who had
stall in the Rue Quincampoix made
four planks, cleared away his traps al