| 1mo, Of rents constituted in June 1720, on the town-house, at 2½ per cent. or at the 40th penny | 25 | millions. | |||
| 2do, Ditto of the 10th of October 1720, at 2 per cent. or at the 50th penny | 8 | millions. | |||
| 3tio, Ditto at ditto upon lives at 4 per cent. or at the 25th penny | 4 | millions. | |||
| 4to, Due to the company upon the original stock of 100 millions still paid them at this day at 5 per cent. | 5 | millions. | |||
| 5to, For the 200 millions of credit at the bank, suppose at the rate of 3 per cent. | 6 | millions. | |||
| 6to, For the last 200 millions provided for in different ways, suppose at 2½ per cent. | 5 | millions. | |||
| 7to, Allowed to the company to indemnify them for the loss they sustained by these arbitrary ways of reckoning with them, 80 millions at 5 per cent. still paid them | 4 | millions. | |||
| 57 | millions. | ||||
| The interest at first was | 80 | millions | |||
| The interest at last was | 57 | millions | |||
| Defrauded by the scheme | 23 | millions a year. | |||
This is (as near as I can guess at it) the state of the French bankruptcy in 1720.
The creditors were robbed of 23 millions a year. I call it robbed, because the interest due to them was diminished by that sum, without their consent, and in consequence of the most arbitrary proceedings; whereas, had the system been conducted with ability, the whole of the debts would have been brought to an interest of 48 millions, instead of 57, and no body would have complained of injustice.
Money likewise might have been brought to 2 per cent. The 1600 millions borrowed of the company at 3 per cent. would then have been reduced to two; which would have brought the 48 millions of interest, upon the whole, to 32 millions: and France, from being reduced to beggary by the King’s wars, would have become the most flourishing state in Europe.
Let us next guess at what may reasonably be supposed to have been the largest sum of coin ever collected in this bank.
I imagine that the far greater part of all the coin supposed to be in France during the Missisippi scheme, remained in private hands, without ever coming into the bank. My reason for being of this opinion is,
Law never could have had more than the value of his original stock, and all the value of notes he had in circulation.
It is absurd to imagine he ever should have had the half, or near it; but let me suppose it,
| The bank stock was | 6 | millions. |
| The notes he issued were | 59 | millions. |
| In all | 65 | millions. |
This is a trifle compared with 1200 millions.