Page:History of the French in India.djvu/67

UNITES TO IT THE INDIA COMPANY. 45 land and Holland, and depending on a large capital. c hai This capital, he proposed, should be not less than ^— 100,000,000 francs, divided into 200,000 shares of 500 1717. francs each, payable in Government notes. As these were still at a discount, the proposal was regarded with wonder, and at first, with some distrust. But Law was confident. It was his object to cause by the success of his scheme a further run upon the Government notes, so as to raise them to par. The scheme was presented to the public in August, 1717. Letters patent, bearing that date, conferred upon the Company of the West, as it was called, for twenty-four years, the privileges of a monopoly of the entire trade with Louisiana and Canada. Every right of the citizen and the trader, and of the absolute owner of the soil, was comprised in these privileges. They were made dependent solely upon the condition of rendering fidelity and homage to the King of France in token of vassalage. But though presented to the public in August, 1717, some time elapsed before Law saw fit to take the scheme, as it were, by the hand, and to push it into public favour. Measures, hostile to himself and his plans, were being hatched at the time under the auspices of the Parlement of Paris, M. d'Argenson, President of the Council of Finance, and the brothers Paris. He deemed it more prudent there- fore to await the moment when he could act with a certainty of success. It is only necessary to state here that in the contest of the Regent with the Parlement the Regent tri- umphed. Profiting by this victory, he caused to be issued, on December 4, 1718, a royal proclamation by which the General Bank was declared attached to the State, under the designation of the Royal Bank, with effect from January 1, 1719. The King, i.e., the State, thus became security for the notes. The change was effected by the purchase by the State of the twelve