Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-05-21
The john Lau peInsion.

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 thousand wo-
men of the Natchez tribe 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 Captain Laharpe
with file OF twenty-five men to take
possession of the same. In l7l8 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,
forming all its revenues, transacting all
its commerce, and, best of all, 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 Duncan.
polk, the center and vortex Of this whirl
Of business, mere lane twenty feet
wide and a quarter Of a mile long, was
crowded with excited people from morn
ing till night, so that the inhabitants of
the quarter sent to the police complaint
that they could get DO sleep. Mobiles,
lackeys, bishops, monks, merchants, sol
diers, women, pickpockets, foreigners,
all resorted to La Rue, painting, yelling,
operating, snatching papers, counting
crowns, making up scene of noisy
confusion unexanpled. One man hired
all the vacant houses in the street, and
made fortune by subletting Offices and
deskroom, even placing sentry-boxes on
some of the roofs, AID letting them at
good price. The excitement spread
over France, reached Holland, and drew
to Paris, as was estimated at the time,
FIVE hundred thousand strangers places
in the public vehicles being engaged
two months in advance, and com
msnding a high premium.
There we're the most extraordinary ae-
QUESTIONS of fortune. People suddenly
enriched we're called Mississippians, and
they behaved as the victims of sudden
wealth, unearned, usually do. Men,
who were lackeys one week, kept lack
eys 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 opera
tors, making two hundred francs q day
by both trades. Men gained money by
hiring out their backs as writing desks,
bending over while operators wrote out
their contracts and calculations. One
little hunchback made hundred and
fifty thousand francs by thus serving as
pupitrs ambulant (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 adegree that
for while the novel spectacle was pre-
sented of community almost every
member of which was prosperous be-
yond 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 incompatible Jean Lass" as be
I was then called in Paris 1t was a So
cial distinction to be able to say, Il have
seen him." His carriage could with
difficulty force its way through the rap
turous, 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 fever
ish street, vague apprehension, not
confessed, 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
dency into a wild, ungovernable rush,
which speedily broughtruin to thousands
and long prostration upon France.
John Law, who in December, l7l9, was
the idol of Paris ready to perish of his
celebrity, escaped with difficulty from
the kingdom in December, l720, hated
despised, impoverished to resume his
career as elegant gambler in the draw.
ing-rooms Of Germany and Italy.