Page:History of the French in India.djvu/75

 THE DOWNFALL OF TIFF SCHEME. 53 they did not hesitate to have recourse to all sorts of CHAP, artifices to obtain an opportunity of speaking to him. n * All this time, the great mart of business, the Rue 1720. Quincampoix, was crowded by " nobles and footmen, bishops and clergy, men of the sword and shopmen, magistrates and pickpockets, marquesses and servants, Frenchmen and foreigners," all animated by but one object, the scramble for wealth. So entire was the con- fidence in Law's paper, that it was actually preferred to coin, which was then regarded as but a clumsy sort of circulating medium.* Law himself was nominated, on January 5, 1720, Controller-General of Finances, having paved the way for the assumption of that high office by embracing the Roman Catholic faith. But though Law was apparently at the summit of his ambition, the crisis was at hand. Many of those who had realised fortunes from their speculations were clear- headed enough to perceive that it would be wise to in- vest a portion of their gains in land. This movement, adopted almost simultaneously by very many, threw a number of shares into the market and cheapened the price of all. Even at the end of 1719 shares had indi- cated an inclination to fall. Law, however, threw himself manfully into the gap. By a series of measures he endea- voured to make the possession of paper-money still more advantageous to the public than specie. He offered increased facilities to small capitalists and annui- tants to invest in the scheme. At the same time he showed a bold front to the public by directing the employes of the Royal Bank to display the utmost readiness to exchange specie for notes. But, in Febru- ary, 1720, the rage for speculation had been superseded by the rage for realising. Men of all sorts hastened to exchange their notes for silver, and for the most part to invest this silver in tangible property. To such extrava- gance, in its turn, was this system carried, that after
 * Cochut, Law, son Susteme et son Epoque.