Читать книгу John Law of Lauriston. Financier and Statesman, Founder of the Bank of France, Originator of the Mississippi Scheme, Etc онлайн

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Disappointed, but not discouraged, Law was more determined than ever to have his system put to practical test. If France did not accept salvation at his hands, he doubted not some other country would. He accordingly approached the King of Sardinia, one of the needy sovereigns of the day. Law’s proposal to him was the establishment of a land-bank, which he held out in glowing terms as the certain foundation of great national prosperity, but the wily monarch was not to be drawn, and with a touch of sarcasm recommended Law again to urge his scheme upon France. “If I know,” he said, “the disposition of the people of that kingdom, I am sure they will relish your schemes; and, therefore, I would advise you to go thither.”

The close of 1714 saw Law for the third time in Paris. Whether his return to France was due to the suggestion of the King of Sardinia, or to his having perceived a possibility of his system being yet adopted by France, whose crippled financial condition was becoming more serious as time went on, and demanded some drastic remedy to relieve the intolerable burden upon the Treasury, we cannot judge. He probably considered that, with bankruptcy hanging over the French nation like a grim spectre, necessity, if not conviction, would induce the acceptance of his theories. The nation’s indebtedness had now outgrown its resources. Every conceivable device had been resorted to for the purpose of meeting the most pressing obligations. Provision for the future was regardlessly sacrificed to the needs of the moment, and ingenuity was devoted only to keeping the evil day afar off. Every one feared the worst. No one was able to grapple with the difficulty in a broad, statesmanlike fashion, and to carry out a bold policy of national economy. The Treasury had to face the payment of exorbitant rates of interest upon loans, the full value of which had not been received. The coinage was debased to an extent altogether out of proportion to its face value. Lotteries were organised on an extensive scale as a means of appealing to the gambling instincts of the community, and as a method of applying indirect taxation without the hateful element of compulsion. Billets d’état were foisted upon unwilling creditors in almost unlimited amounts, and formed a paper currency that had difficulty in changing hands at even 10 per cent. upon its value of issue. To crown all, titles were sold as mere articles of commerce, sinecures created with high-sounding designations that roused the ridicule of the multitude, but helped to provide the King with money, and monopolies granted to the highest bidder. Yet all these devices failed their purpose, and the insatiable hunger of the Treasury was still far from being appeased. Financial paralysis was creeping over the nation, and threatened the gravest consequences.