Lewis XIV. a little before he died, was two thousand two hundred Millions in Debt: But by the Reduction of the Principal and Interest of the Revenues of the Town-House, (of Paris) by strikeing off two fifths upon all Contracts, and by reducing Interest to four per Cent. the Debts of the State were reduced to one thousand eight hundred Millions; which was the very Sum that was owing from the Crown, when Lewis XV. came to it. The Debts of the Government were afterwards reduced to one thousand four hundred Millions, by sinking a Quarter, a half and three-fourths upon the State Bills, as well as all other Debts owing by the King, as also on Pensions, and by the Recovery of great Sums thro’ the Chamber of Justice. Mr. Law thought he should be able to extinguish all the Debts, by a Scheme which he form’d
upon the Profits that were made by Missisippi. For this Purpose he erected a Bank, and caused as many Shares to be created, as amounted to one hundred and fifty Millions, at one hundred Livres each, payable in State Bills, which, to the Advantage of the Buyers, rose to no less than one thousand. After this, he created more Actions, to the Value of one hundred and five Millions, payable in Money or Effects, at one thousand per Cent. which, with the former one hundred and fifty Millions, produced one thousand six hundred and fifty Millions; a Sum more than sufficient to cancel all the King’s Debts. Besides this, Mr. Law created Bank Bills for one thousand two hundred Millions, of which he received the Value, either in Money or Effects. He raised the Money higher, upon which there were at least three hundred Millions Profit, that are not brought to the Accompt. He compelled all People to carry their Money to the Bank, by certain Arrets, which injoin’d People at first, to keep no more than one hundred Livres by them, and afterwards but five hundred. So that in eight Months Management, he augmented the old Debts of the State, that were one thousand four hundred Millions, to one thousand six hundred and fifty Millions; which, added to the one thousand two hundred Millions of the Bank, rise to two thousand eight hundred and fifty Millions, due at this Time from the King. If to this we add the Præmium to which the Actions rose, which at one thousand eight hundred among private People, make five thousand four hundred Millions more; to which the one thousand two hundred Millions in Bank Bills must be added; it will appear that the Public is charg’d with six thousand six hundred Millions in Paper; and for the paying off of that Sum, there will be but five hundred Millions in the Kingdom
in Specie, when they are reduced to their intrinsic Value. The King having received one thousand six hundred and five Millions in Effects, of which he owed the greatest Part, and Actions or Shares being taken instead thereof, which Actions, by secret Management, rose to five thousand four hundred Millions among the Subjects, Mr. Law thereby gave the People the Opportunity of putting three thousand seven hundred and five Millions in their Pockets.
An Account of the Bank Bills that subsisted, and of those that were burnt.
| Bills engraved | 669000000 | |||
| Bills printed | 1927400000 | |||
| ————— | ||||
| Viz. | ||||
| Bills of | 10000 | Livres | 1134000000 | |
| 1000 | 1123200000 | |||
| 100 | 299200000 | |||
| 10 | 40000000 | |||
| ————— | ||||
| Total | 2596400000 | |||
| Bills burnt of | 10000 | Livres | 562500000 | |
| 1000 | 138528000 | |||
| 100 | 6026000 | |||
| 10 | 273460 | |||
| ————— | ||||
| Total | 707327460 | |||
| There then remained | ||||
| therefore in Trade | 1989072540 |
The Fortunes made at Paris, during this Missisippi Contagion, are so extraordinary, that unless one had seen it, ’twere impossible to believe it; and, what is still more unaccountable, the greatest
were rais’d by mere Scoundrels; for except a few of the Court Lords and Ladies, it look’d as if Fortune had resolved to put the Gentry into Almshouses, for the Sake of inriching a Parcel of Bankrupts, Lacqueys, Beggars, and other of the Mobility[66]. And ’tis my real Opinion, that if God had not interpos’d, Footmen would at length have been the Masters, and the Masters the Footmen. The Handicraftsmen laid by their Work; there was nothing talked of but Actions, and every Place echoed with Missisippi and Quinquempoix, which is the Street where all that hopeful Trade was carried on.
These lucky Missisippians have nevertheless seen the Turn of Fortune’s Wheel. The Generality of those who had not the Precaution to send their Money out of the Kingdom, were called to Accompt, and obliged to disgorge a Part of their Gains. Whether the King got much by this Scrutiny, I know not; but I believe it had the same Fate as the Chamber of Justice, established in 1716, in the Augustins Convent at Paris, for the Prosecution of People employ’d in the Finances. This Tribunal, at the Head of which was M. de Portail, now the first President, had condemned several Tax Gatherers for an infinite Number of Misdemeanors committed in the King’s Finances. Some were punished as they justly deserved. A great many were tax’d in Proportion to the Declarations they were forced to make of their immense Wealth, which might have produc’d very considerable Sums for the Ease of the Government, at that Time plung’d over Head and Ears in Debt. But these Bloodsuckers of the People compounded
for a Trifle of Expence, by a few Presents to a Lady, or to some Nobleman who had the Favour of the Regent. This was a Golden Shower, of which the least Part fell into the King’s Coffers.
I have made a terrible Digression. Mr. Law carried me to Missisippi, which is a long Voyage, and a Country from whence a Man can’t return whenever he has a Mind to it; but I am now come back to the Court. I have mentioned the Ministers to you, but they are not the only Persons that have a Seat in the Council. One of its Members is the Marshal de Villars, who being of all the French Generals, the Man that made the most shining Figure during the last War, I think myself oblig’d to give you a more particular Account of him.