Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance by Janet Gleeson Page A

“There appears some difficulty in his case, and in the way of having him brought over. If your lordship can suggest anything to me that can ease this matter, I should be very glad to receive it.” Stanhope’s reply to Stair confirmed the objections: “I did not fail to lay it before the king,” he wrote. “I am now to tell your lordship that I find a disposition to comply with what your lordship proposes, though at the same time it has met, and does meet, with opposition, and I believe it will be no hard matter for him [Law] to guess from whence it proceeds.” According to Law, Stanhope was furious that the petition was turned down, and “speaking to the King on my subject said that England’s debts during two wars were £50 million, but that she had lost more in the form of one of her subjects the day that I engaged myself in the affairs of France.” Twenty years on, the ghost of Wilson still hindered Law’s rise.
    He did not waste time lamenting. Having resolved instead to prove to England what she had lost by his success in France, in May he made the long-awaited proposal to Desmarets for a state bank issuing paper money against deposits. But Desmarets, still distrustful, strung him along in a state of constant suspense, demanding endless explanations, pointing out pitfalls. In early summer, perhaps worn out with frustration, Law fell ill and was not sufficiently strong to revise his scheme again until July. By then word of it had filtered to Paris financiers, who, fearing that their profits would suffer, noisily voiced their opposition. A state bank of issue would never work, said Samuel Bernard, one of the wealthiest of the financiers, “in a country where everything depends on the King’s pleasure.” Faced with yet more hostility Law remained cool and surprisingly optimistic. But Desmarets, still playing for time, raised more queries. How soon could Law begin? What guarantees would he offer? How would it be administered? Patiently Law answered every question. He was ready to open the bank on August 10 or even earlier if he could. He was so sure it would succeed he would put up 500,000 livres of his own money as guarantee. In this grand new institution Desmarets should certainly hold an official role. Eventually, in early August, Law’s persistence paid off. Desmarets approved. There remained only the king to convince.
    Louis was enjoying a quiet summer at his summer residence at Marly. On August 10, the day on which Law hoped to open the state bank, the king’s health suddenly deteriorated. According to contemporary reports, discolored blotches on his leg enlarged and the doctors, fearing gangrene, tried magical elixirs, multiple incisions, and swathing it in brandy-soaked bandages. But he was beyond help. On Sunday, September 1, 1715, at a quarter to nine in the morning, having reigned for seventy-two years, Louis XIV, France’s most glorious king, died.
    Orléans, like most of France, spent little time grieving. The day after Louis’s death he made a compelling address to the Parlement in which he coerced the representatives to reject the right of a council of noblemen and the Duc de Maine to assist him in his regency, a scheme of joint rule laid out by Louis to restrain Orléans’s power. He emerged triumphant. Until the five-year-old Dauphin came of age, Orléans would rule France as regent. For John Law, the opportunity of which he had long dreamed had never seemed so close.

8
    T HE B ANK

    Your Royal Highness will have no difficulty in reaping success from what I have the honour of proposing, the best actor is not the one with the largest role, but the one who acts the best. I know my strengths and I love pleasure too much to occupy myself in affairs that I do not understand in depth. My ideas are simple, the principles on which I have worked them out are true, and the conclusions I draw from them are correct.

    Letter from John Law to the Regent,
    December 1715

    A T THE B ANQUE G ÉNÉRALE