Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1878-09-28

cent cts9ti ausfJ- Ooc ~ thcm enil>tsTl
ri fr>, in the kIngs guards. and the rrs'
obtained oiefkships IN the sfsloe Il the
COMPANY of e"atr.et". b. the uns
they acre all grozn O. manhs--i. the ED
ct. . man e over forty. sad the young
e.. eigh,een or txenty. tbsy h.i them-
selves s~cs.ue Army G. b;ractssrs AMI capi-
tAlisss. putci IN .rmy clrcl.. 90 the tsT',
the fiieiity. AMI the Iniomiisble energy
~ith Which they carried - their ba,a-
pess.
The reader 10 Axare tha, dariag the
la-t wear. If the rrign u Louis XIV
France safHrfei ser1es It me-; dis<s-
frous defeats frnm the allied armies, eom-
msnied by the great kaglish general,
the Dake e Mslssroagh. II s2s these
foar brothers. PARIS. Ohio supplied the
French Hmy With prssislans during that
Terrible time: ani do not hesitate Ia
say, that. on tao or three critical oocs-
sions. il ~.s their energy and intelligence
that saved the independence Of their
country. Often the kings government
could not give them . single Luis d or
in money when a furnishing army vas to
be supplied. On several occasions they
spent their whole capital in the work,
and riskei their credit. There vas one
period Of five months, n they used after
wards say, when they never once went TO
bed sure If being able Ia feed the army
the next day. During those years of trial
they were sustained 10 q great degree by
the confidence which they inspired in
their honesty. as well as in their ability.
The great French banker and capitalist
then Was Samuel Bernard. On more than
one occasion Bernard saved them by lend
ing them, on their personal security, i'm
mense sums; in one crisis as much as
three million francs.
We can Judge of the extent of their
operations when we learn. that, during
the last two years of the war, they had
to supply hundred and eighty thousand
men in the field, and twelve thousand
men in garrison, while receiving from the
government little besides deprecated
paper.
Peace came at last; and it came at a
moment when the whole capital of the
four brothers was in the kings paper,
and when the finances we're in state of
uncomfortable confusion. The old king
died in 1715, leaving as heir to the throne
a sickly boy five years of age. The roy
al paper was so much deprecated that
the kings promise to pay one hundred
francs sold in the street for twenty-five
francs. Then came the Scotch infator,
John Law, who gave France brief deli
rum Of paper prosperity, ending with
the most woful and wide. spread collapse
ever known. It was these four brothers,
but especially the third brother, Joseph
Paris, known in French history as Paris
Duverney, who, by labors almost without
example, restored the finances of the
country, funded the debt ct reasonable
interest, and enabled France to profit by
the twenty years that lay before her.
There is nothing in the whole history
of finance more remarkable than the five
years. labors of these brothers after the
Law-mania of 1719; and it is hardly pos
sible to ovcrstate the value of their SER
vices at a time when the kingdom was
governed by an idle and dissolute re-
gent, and when there was not a nobleman
about the court capable of graphing
with the situation. The regent died of
his debaucheries in the midst of their
work. The Duke of Bourbon succeeded
him; he was governed by Madame De
Prize; and between them they concocted a
nice scheme for getting the young king
married, who had then reached the ma.
ture age of fifteen. The idea was to rule
the king through queen of their own
choosing, and who would be grateful to
them for her elevation.
But it turned out quite otherwise. The
king, indeed, was married, and he was
very fond of his wife, and she tried to
carry out the desires of those who had
made her queen of France. But there
was an obstacle in the.way; and that oh.
stacle was the kings unbounded conf
dence in his tutor, the Able de Fleury, a
serene and extremely agreeable old gen.
tleman past seventy. A struggle arose
between the old tutor and Madame De
Prize for the possession of the young
king. The tutor won the victory. The
Duke of Bourbon was exiled to his coun-
try-seat, and Madame De Prize was sent
packing. Paris Duverney and his first
clerk were put into the bastile, where
they were detained for two years in unu-
sually rigorous imprisonment, and his
three brothers were exiled to their native
province.
Another intrigue of court set them
free again, and the four brothers were
once more in Paris, where they continued
their career as bankers, contractors, and
capitalists as long as they lived, each of
them acquiring and leaving a colossal
fortune, which their heirs were consider.
ate enough to dissipste. It was Paris.
Duverney who suggested and managed
the great military school at Paris, which
still exists. 1t was he also who made
the fortunes of the two most celebrated
literary men Of his time, Voltaire and
Besumarchais. He did this by admitting
them to share in army contracts, one Of
which yielded Voltaire profit of seven
hundred thousand france, which, with
good nursing, made him at last the rich
est literary man that ever lived.
Such was government in the good old
times! I like to think of il when things
go amiss in Washington or Albany. Let
our rulers do Is badly a. they may, they
cannot do worse than the rulers Of the
world did q century and half ago.-E.
y. Ledger.