Regent and the unhappy Law. Coin, to any amount above five hundred
livres, was an illegal tender, and nobody would take paper if he could
help it. No one knew to-day what his notes would be worth to-morrow.
"Never," says Duclos, in his Secret Memoirs of the Regency, "was seen a
more capricious government-never was a more frantic tyranny exercised by
hands less firm. It is inconceivable to those who were witnesses of the
horrors of those times, and who look back upon them now as on a dream,
that a sudden revolution did not break out--that Law and the Regent did
not perish by a tragical death. They were both held in horror, but the
people confined themselves to complaints; a sombre and timid despair, a
stupid consternation, had seized upon all, and men's minds were too vile
even to be capable of a courageous crime." It would appear that, at one
time, a movement of the people was organised. Seditious writings were
posted up against the walls, and were sent, in hand-bills, to the houses
of the most conspicuous people. One of them, given in the "Memoires de
la Regence," was to the following effect:--"Sir and Madam,--This is to
give you notice that a St. Bartholomew's Day will be enacted again on
Saturday and Sunday, if affairs do not alter. You are desired not to
stir out, nor you, nor your servants. God preserve you from the flames!
Give notice to your neighbours. Dated Saturday, May 25th, 1720." The
immense number of spies with which the city was infested rendered the
people mistrustful of one another, and beyond some trifling disturbances
made in the evening by an insignificant group, which was soon dispersed,
the peace of the capital was not compromised.
The value of shares in the Louisiana, or Mississippi stock, had fallen
very rapidly, and few indeed were found to believe the tales that had
once been told of the immense wealth of that region. A last effort was
therefore tried to restore the public confidence in the Mississippi
project. For this purpose, a general conscription of all the poor
wretches in Paris was made by order of government. Upwards of six
thousand of the very refuse of the population were impressed, as if in
time of war, and were provided with clothes and tools to be embarked
for New Orleans, to work in the gold mines alleged to abound there.
They were paraded day after day through the streets with their pikes and
shovels, and then sent off in small detachments to the out-ports to be
shipped for America. Two-thirds of them never reached their destination,
but dispersed themselves over the country, sold their tools for what
they could get, and returned to their old course of life. In less than
three weeks afterwards, one-half of them were to be found again in
Paris. The manoeuvre, however, caused a trifling advance in Mississippi
stock. Many persons of superabundant gullibility believed that
operations had begun in earnest in the new Golconda, and that gold and
silver ingots would again be found in France.
In a constitutional monarchy some surer means would have been found for
the restoration of public credit. In England, at a subsequent period,
when a similar delusion had brought on similar distress, how
different were the measures taken to repair the evil; but in France,
unfortunately, the remedy was left to the authors of the mischief.
The arbitrary will of the Regent, which endeavoured to extricate the
country, only plunged it deeper into the mire. All payments were ordered
to be made in paper, and between the 1st of February and the end of
May, notes were fabricated to the amount of upwards of 1500 millions of
livres, or 60,000,000 pounds sterling. But the alarm once sounded, no
art could make the people feel the slightest confidence in paper which
was not exchangeable into metal. M. Lambert, the President of the
Parliament of Paris, told the Regent to his face that he would rather
have a hundred thousand livres in gold or silver than five millions
in the notes of his bank. When such was the general feeling, the
superabundant issues of paper but increased the evil, by rendering still
more enormous the disparity between the amount of specie and notes in
circulation. Coin, which it was the object of the Regent to depreciate,
rose in value on every fresh attempt to diminish it. In February, it
was judged advisable that the Royal Bank should be incorporated with
the Company of the Indies. An edict to that effect was published and
registered by the Parliament. The state remained the guarantee for the
notes of the bank, and no more were to be issued without an order in
council. All the profits of the bank, since the time it had been taken
out of Law's hands and made a national institution, were given over by
the Regent to the Company of the Indies. This measure had the effect of
raising for a short time the value of the Louisiana and other shares
of the company, but it failed in placing public credit on any permanent
basis.
A council of state was held in the beginning of May, at which Law,
D'Argenson (his colleague in the administration of the finances), and
all the ministers were present. It was then computed that the total
amount of notes in circulation was 2600 millions of livres, while the
coin in the country was not quite equal to half that amount. It was
evident to the majority of the council that some plan must be adopted to
equalise the currency. Some proposed that the notes should be reduced to
the value of the specie, while others proposed that the nominal value of
the specie should be raised till it was on an equality with the
paper. Law is said to have opposed both these projects, but failing in
suggesting any other, it was agreed that the notes should be depreciated
one-half. On the 21st of May, an edict was accordingly issued, by which
it was decreed that the shares of the Company of the Indies, and the
notes of the bank, should gradually diminish in value, till at the end
of a year they should only pass current for one half of their nominal
worth. The Parliament refused to register the edict--the greatest outcry
was excited, and the state of the country became so alarming, that, as
the only means of preserving tranquillity, the council of the regency
was obliged to stultify its own proceedings, by publishing within seven
days another edict, restoring the notes to their original value.
On the same day (the 27th of May) the bank stopped payment in specie.
Law and D'Argenson were both dismissed from the ministry. The weak,
vacillating, and cowardly Regent threw the blame of all the mischief
upon Law, who, upon presenting himself at the Palais Royal, was refused
admitance. At nightfall, however, he was sent for, and admitted into the
palace by a secret door,[Duclos, Memoires Secrets de la Regence.] when
the Regent endeavoured to console him, and made all manner of excuses
for the severity with which in public he had been compelled to treat
him. So capricious was his conduct, that, two days afterwards, he took
him publicly to the opera, where he sat in the royal box, alongside of
the Regent, who treated him with marked consideration in face of all the
people. But such was the hatred against Law that the experiment had well
nigh proved fatal to him. The mob assailed his carriage with stones
just as he was entering his own door; and if the coachman had not made
a sudden jerk into the court-yard, and the domestics closed the gate
immediately, he would, in all probability, have been dragged out and
torn to pieces. On the following day, his wife and daughter were also
assailed by the mob as they were returning in their carriage from the
races. When the Regent was informed of these occurrences he sent Law a
strong detachment of Swiss guards, who were stationed night and day in
the court of his residence. The public indignation at last increased so
much, that Law, finding his own house, even with this guard, insecure,
took refuge in the Palais Royal, in the apartments of the Regent.
The Chancellor, D'Aguesseau, who had been dismissed in 1718 for his
opposition to the projects of Law, was now recalled to aid in the
restoration of credit. The Regent acknowledged too late, that he had
treated with unjustifiable harshness and mistrust one of the ablest,
and perhaps the sole honest public man of that corrupt period. He had
retired ever since his disgrace to his country-house at Fresnes, where,
in the midst of severe but delightful philosophic studies, he had
forgotten the intrigues of an unworthy court. Law himself, and the
Chevalier de Conflans, a gentleman of the Regent's household, were
despatched in a post-chaise, with orders to bring the ex-chancellor to
Paris along with them. D'Aguesseau consented to render what assistance
he could, contrary to the advice of his friends, who did not approve
that he should accept any recall to office of which Law was the bearer.
On his arrival in Paris, five counsellors of the Parliament were
admitted to confer with the Commissary of Finance, and on the 1st of
June an order was published, abolishing the law which made it criminal
to amass coin to the amount of more than five hundred livres. Every one
was permitted to have as much specie as he pleased. In order that the
bank-notes might be withdrawn, twenty-five millions of new notes were
created, on the security of the revenues of the city of Paris, at
two-and-a-half per cent. The bank-notes withdrawn were publicly burned
in front of the Hotel de Ville. The new notes were principally of
the value of ten livres each; and on the 10th of June the bank was
re-opened, with a sufficiency of silver coin to give in change for them.
These measures were productive of considerable advantage. All the
population of Paris hastened to the bank, to get coin for their small
notes; and silver becoming scarce, they were paid in copper. Very few
complained that this was too heavy, although poor fellows might be
continually seen toiling and sweating along the streets, laden with
more than they could comfortably carry, in the shape of change for fifty
livres. The crowds around the bank were so great, that hardly a day
passed that some one was not pressed to death. On the 9th of July, the
multitude was so dense and clamorous that the guards stationed at the
entrance of the Mazarin Gardens closed the gate, and refused to admit
any more. The crowd became incensed, and flung stones through the
railings upon the soldiers. The latter, incensed in their turn,
threatened to fire upon the people. At that instant one of them was hit
by a stone, and, taking up his piece, he fired into the crowd. One man
fell dead immediately, and another was severely wounded. It was every
instant expected that a general attack would have been commenced upon
the bank; but the gates of the Mazarin Gardens being opened to the
crowd, who saw a whole troop of soldiers, with their bayonets fixed,
ready to receive them, they contented themselves by giving vent to their
indignation in groans and hisses.
Eight days afterwards the concourse of people was so tremendous, that
fifteen persons were squeezed to death at the doors of the bank.
The people were so indignant that they took three of the bodies on
stretchers before them, and proceeded, to the number of seven or eight
thousand, to the gardens of the Palais Royal, that they might show the
Regent the misfortunes that he and Law had brought upon the country.
Law's coachman, who was sitting on the box of his master's carriage,
in the court-yard of the palace, happened to have more zeal than
discretion, and, not liking that the mob should abuse his master, he
said, loud enough to be overheard by several persons, that they were
all blackguards, and deserved to be hanged. The mob immediately set upon
him, and, thinking that Law was in the carriage, broke it to pieces. The
imprudent coachman narrowly escaped with his life. No further mischief
was done; a body of troops making their appearance, the crowd quietly
dispersed, after an assurance had been given by the Regent that the
three bodies they had brought to show him should be decently buried at
his own expense. The Parliament was sitting at the time of this uproar,
and the President took upon himself to go out and see what was the
matter. On his return he informed the councillors, that Law's carriage
had been broken by the mob. All the members rose simultaneously, and
expressed their joy by a loud shout, while one man, more zealous in
his hatred than the rest, exclaimed, "And Law himself, is he torn to
pieces?" [The Duchess of Orleans gives a different version of this
story; but whichever be the true one, the manifestation of such feeling
in a legislative assembly was not very creditable. She says, that the
President was so transported with joy, that he was seized with a rhyming
fit, and, returning into the hall, exclaimed to the members:--
"Messieurs! Messieurs! bonne nouvelle!
Le carfosse de Lass est reduit en canelle!"]
Much undoubtedly depended on the credit of the Company of the Indies,
which was answerable for so great a sum to the nation. It was,
therefore, suggested in the council of the ministry, that any privileges
which could be granted to enable it to fulfil its engagements, would be
productive of the best results. With this end in view, it was proposed
that the exclusive privilege of all maritime commerce should be
secured to it, and an edict to that effect was published. But it was
unfortunately forgotten that by such a measure all the merchants of
the country would be ruined. The idea of such an immense privilege was
generally scouted by the nation, and petition on petition was presented
to the Parliament, that they would refuse to register the decree. They
refused accordingly, and the Regent, remarking that they did nothing but
fan the flame of sedition, exiled them to Blois. At the intercession
of D'Aguesseau, the place of banishment was changed to Pontoise, and
thither accordingly the councillors repaired, determined to set the
Regent at defiance. They made every arrangement for rendering their
temporary exile as agreeable as possible. The President gave the most
elegant suppers, to which he invited all the gayest and wittiest company
of Paris. Every night there was a concert and ball for the ladies. The
usually grave and solemn judges and councillors joined in cards
and other diversions, leading for several weeks a life of the most
extravagant pleasure, for no other purpose than to show the Regent of
how little consequence they deemed their banishment, and that when they
willed it, they could make Pontoise a pleasanter residence than Paris.
Of all the nations in the world the French are the most renowned for
singing over their grievances. Of that country it has been remarked with
some truth, that its whole history may be traced in its songs. When Law,
by the utter failure of his best-laid plans, rendered himself obnoxious,
satire of course seized hold upon him, and, while caricatures of his
person appeared in all the shops, the streets resounded with songs, in
which neither he nor the Regent was spared. Many of these songs were far
from decent; and one of them in particular counselled the application of
all his notes to the most ignoble use to which paper can be applied. But
the following, preserved in the letters of the Duchess of Orleans, was
the best and the most popular, and was to be heard for months in all the
carrefours of Paris. The application of the chorus is happy enough:--
Aussitot que Lass arriva
Dans notre bonne ville,
Monsieur le Regent publia
Que Lass serait utile
Pour retablir la nation.
La faridondaine! la faridondon.
Mais il nous a tous enrich!,
Biribi!
A la facon de Barbari,
Mort ami!
Ce parpaillot, pour attirer
Tout l'argent de la France,
Songea d'abord a s'assurer
De notre confiance.
Il fit son abjuration.
La faridondaine! la faridondon!
Mais le fourbe s'est converti,
Biribi!
A la facon de Barbari,
Mon ami!
Lass, le fils aine de Satan
Nous met tous a l'aumone,
Il nous a pris tout notre argent
Et n'en rend a personne.
Mais le Regent, humain et bon,
La faridondaine! la faridondon!
Nous rendra ce qu'on nous a pris,
Biribi!
A la facon de Barbari,
Mon ami!
The following smart epigram is of the same date:--
Lundi, j'achetai des actions;
Mardi, je gagnai des millions;
Mercredi, j'arrangeai mon menage,
Jeudi, je pris un equipage,
Vendredi, je m'en fus au bal,
Et Samedi, a l'Hopital.
Among the caricatures that were abundantly published, and that showed
as plainly as graver matters, that the nation had awakened to a sense of
its folly, was one, a fac-simile of which is preserved in the "Memoires
de la Regence." It was thus described by its author: "The 'Goddess of
Shares," in her triumphal car, driven by the Goddess of Folly. Those
who are drawing the car are impersonations of the Mississippi, with his
wooden leg, the South Sea, the Bank of England, the Company of the West
of Senegal, and of various assurances. Lest the car should not roll fast
enough, the agents of these companies, known by their long fox-tails and
their cunning looks, turn round the spokes of the wheels, upon which are
marked the names of the several stocks, and their value, sometimes high
and sometimes low, according to the turns of the wheel. Upon the ground
are the merchandise, day-books and ledgers of legitimate commerce,
crushed under the chariot of Folly. Behind is an immense crowd of
persons, of all ages, sexes, and conditions, clamoring after Fortune,
and fighting with each other to get a portion of the shares which she
distributes so bountifully among them. In the clouds sits a demon,
blowing bubbles of soap, which are also the objects of the admiration
and cupidity of the crowd, who jump upon one another's backs to reach
them ere they burst. Right in the pathway of the car, and blocking up
the passage, stands a large building, with three doors, through one of
which it must pass, if it proceeds further, and all the crowd along
with it. Over the first door are the words, "Hopital des Foux," over the
second, "Hopital des Malades," and over the third, "Hopital des Gueux."
Another caricature represented Law sitting in a large cauldron,
boiling over the flames of popular madness, surrounded by an impetuous
multitude, who were pouring all their gold and silver into it, and
receiving gladly in exchange the bits of paper which he distributed
among them by handsfull.
While this excitement lasted, Law took good care not to expose himself
unguarded in the streets. Shut up in the apartments of the Regent, he
was secure from all attack, and, whenever he ventured abroad, it was
either incognito, or in one of the Royal carriages, with a powerful
escort. An amusing anecdote is recorded of the detestation in which he
was held by the people, and the ill treatment he would have met, had
he fallen into their hands. A gentleman, of the name of Boursel, was
passing in his carriage down the Rue St. Antoine, when his further
progress was stayed by a hackneycoach that had blocked up the road. M.
Boursel's servant called impatiently to the hackneycoachman to get out
of the way, and, on his refusal, struck him a blow on the face. A crowd
was soon drawn together by the disturbance, and M. Boursel got out of
the carriage to restore order. The hackney-coachman, imagining that he
had now another assailant, bethought him of an expedient to rid himself
of both, and called out as loudly as he was able, "Help! help! murder!
murder! Here are Law and his servant going to kill me! Help! help!"
At this cry, the people came out of their shops, armed with sticks
and other weapons, while the mob gathered stones to inflict summary
vengeance upon the supposed financier. Happily for M. Boursel and his
servant, the door of the church of the Jesuits stood wide open, and,
seeing the fearful odds against them, they rushed towards it with all
speed. They reached the altar, pursued by the people, and would have
been ill treated even there, if, finding the door open leading to the
sacristy, they had not sprang through, and closed it after them. The
mob were then persuaded to leave the church by the alarmed and indignant
priests; and, finding M. Boursel's carriage still in the streets, they
vented their ill-will against it, and did it considerable damage.
The twenty-five millions secured on the municipal revenues of the city
of Paris, bearing so low an interest as two and a half per cent., were
not very popular among the large holders of Mississippi stock. The
conversion of the securities was, therefore, a work of considerable
difficulty; for many preferred to retain the falling paper of Law's
Company, in the hope that a favourable turn might take place. On the
15th of August, with a view to hasten the conversion, an edict was
passed, declaring that all notes for sums between one thousand and ten
thousand livres; should not pass current, except for the purchase of
annuities and bank accounts, or for the payment of instalments still due
on the shares of the company.
In October following another edict was passed, depriving these notes
of all value whatever after the month of November next ensuing. The
management of the mint, the farming of the revenue, and all the other
advantages and privileges of the India, or Mississippi Company, were
taken from them, and they were reduced to a mere private company. This
was the deathblow to the whole system, which had now got into the hands
of its enemies. Law had lost all influence in the Council of Finance,
and the company, being despoiled of its immunities, could no longer hold
out the shadow of a prospect of being able to fulfil its engagements.
All those suspected of illegal profits at the time the public delusion
was at its height, were sought out and amerced in heavy fines. It was
previously ordered that a list of the original proprietors should be
made out, and that such persons as still retained their shares should
place them in deposit with the company, and that those who had neglected
to complete the shares for which they had put down their names, should
now purchase them of the company, at the rate of 13,500 livres for each
share of 500 livres. Rather than submit to pay this enormous sum for
stock which was actually at a discount, the shareholders packed up all
their portable effects, and endeavoured to find a refuge in foreign
countries. Orders were immediately issued to the authorities at the
ports and frontiers, to apprehend all travellers who sought to leave the
kingdom, and keep them in custody, until it was ascertained whether
they had any plate or jewellery with them, or were concerned in the late
stock-jobbing. Against such few as escaped, the punishment of death was
recorded, while the most arbitrary proceedings were instituted against
those who remained.
Law himself, in a moment of despair, determined to leave a country where
his life was no longer secure. He at first only demanded permission to
retire from Paris to one of his country-seats; a permission which the
Regent cheerfully granted. The latter was much affected at the unhappy
turn affairs had taken, but his faith continued unmoved in the truth
and efficacy of Law's financial system. His eyes were opened to his own
errors, and during the few remaining years of his life, he constantly
longed for an opportunity of again establishing the system upon a
securer basis. At Law's last interview with the Prince, he is reported
to have said--"I confess that I have committed many faults; I committed
them because I am a man, and all men are liable to error; but I
declare to you most solemnly that none of them proceeded from wicked
or dishonest motives, and that nothing of the kind will be found in the
whole course of my conduct."
Two or three days after his departure the Regent sent him a very kind
letter, permitting him to leave the kingdom whenever he pleased, and
stating that he had ordered his passports to be made ready. He at
the same time offered him any sum of money he might require. Law
respectfully declined the money, and set out for Brussels in a
postchaise belonging to Madame de Prie, the mistress of the Duke of
Bourbon, escorted by six horse-guards. From thence he proceeded to
Venice, where he remained for some months, the object of the greatest
curiosity to the people, who believed him to be the possessor of
enormous wealth. No opinion, however, could be more erroneous. With
more generosity than could have been expected from a man who during the
greatest part of his life had been a professed gambler, he had refused
to enrich himself at the expense of a ruined nation. During the height
of the popular frenzy for Mississippi stock, he had never doubted of
the final success of his projects, in making France the richest and most
powerful nation of Europe. He invested all his gains in the purchase
of landed property in France--a sure proof of his own belief in the
stability of his schemes. He had hoarded no plate or jewellery, and sent
no money, like the dishonest jobbers, to foreign countries. His all,
with the exception of one diamond, worth about five or six thousand
pounds sterling, was invested in the French soil; and when he left that
country, he left it almost a beggar. This fact alone ought to rescue
his memory from the charge of knavery, so often and so unjustly brought
against him.