The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-06-03
THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE.
The John Law Era of Speculation in France
Extraordinary Acquisitions of Fortune.


The John Law Era of Speculation in France
Extraordinary Acquisitions of Fortune.
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 $4,000 women
of the Natchez tribes were Employed; of
the bringing Of Louisiana ingots to the
mint to be assayed; of the discovery in
Arkansas of great rock of emerald, and
the dispatch of Capt. Laharpe with file
of twenty-five men to take possession of
the same In 171S Law sent engineers
to Louisiana, who did something toward
laying out its future capital, which he
named New Orleans, in honor of his
patron, the Regent.
The royal paper rose rapidly under
this new demand. Other schemes fol
lowed, until John Law, through his va
rious companies, seemed about to "run"
the kingdom of France by contract,
farming all its revenues, transacting all
its commerce, and, best of ali, paying all
its debts! Madness ruled the hour. The
deprecated paper rose, rose, and still
rose; reached par; went beyond par,
until gold and silver were at discount
of 10 per cent. The street named Quin-
campoix, the center and vortex of this
whirl of business, mere lane twenty
feet wide and quarter of mile long,
was crowded with excited people from
morning till night, and far into the night,
SO that the inhabitants of the quarter
sent to the police formal complaint
that they could get no sleep. Mobiles,
lackeys, Bishops, monks, merchants,
soldiers, women, pickpockets, foreign
ers, all resorted to La Rue, "panting,
yelling, operating, snatching papers,
counting crowns" making up scene of
noisy confusion unexampled. One man
hired all the vacant houses in the street,
and made fortune by sub-letting offices
and desk-room, even placing sentry
boxes on some of the roofs, and letting
them at good price. The excitement
spread over France, reached Holland,
and drew to Paris, as was estimated at
the time, 800, 600 strangers, places in the
public vehicles being engaged two
months in advance" and commanding a
high premium.
There were the most extraordinary ac-
QUESTIONS of fortune. People suddenly
enriched were called Mississiploie,as, and
they behaved as the victims of sudden
wealth, unearned, usually do. Men who
were lackey one We, k kept lackeys the
next. A garcon of wine shop gained
twenty millions. A cobbler who had
stall in the Rue Quincampoix, made of
four planks, cleared away his traps and
let his boards to ladies as seats, and sold
pens, paper and ink to operators, making
two hundred francs day by both trades.
Men gained money by hiring out their
backs as writing desks, bending over
while operators wrote out theK con-
tracts and calculations. One little
hunchback made hundred and fifty
thousand francs by serving as a aoupitre
anebula,lt (strolling desk), and a broad
shouldered soldier gained money enough
in the same way to buy his discharge
and retire to the country upon pretty
farm. The general trade of the city was
stimulated to such degree that for
while the novel spectacle was presented
of community almost every member of
which was prosperous beyond his hopes;
for even in the Rue Quincampoix itself,
although some men gained more money
than others, no one appeared to lose
anything. And all this seemed the work
OF one man-the great, the incompara-
BILE "Jean Lass" as he was then called
in Paris. 1t was social distinction to
ha abla tn cav OT have seen him +" His
carriage could with difficulty force its
way through the rapturous, admiring
crowd. Princes and mobiles thronged
his antechamber, a duchess publicly
kissed his hand, and the Regent made
him Controller General of the Finances.
This madness lasted eight months.
No one needs to be told what followed it
how chill first came over the feverish
street, a vague apprehension, not con-
fessed, but inspiring certain wish to
"realize." Dread word, REALIZE The
tendency to realize was adroitly checked
by Law, aided by operators who desired
to unload;" but the unloading, once
suspected, converted the realizing ten
der:sy into a wild ungovernable rush,
which speedily brought ruin to thou
sands, and long prostration upon France.
John Law, who in December, 1719, was
the idol of Paris, ready to perish of his
celebrity, escaped with difficulty from
the kingdom in December, 1720, hated,
despised, impoverished, to resume his
career as elegant gambler in the drawing
rooms of Germany and Italy.-Harper's s
Magazine for June.