Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance (24 page)

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the following friends and experts, many of whom have patiently shared their knowledge and read and commented on early drafts of the book: Nicholas Carn of Alliance Capital; Antoin Murphy of Trinity College, Dublin; David Bowen; Virginia Hewitt, Lorna Goldsmith and Dr. Barrie Cook in the Coins and Medals Department at the British Museum; Dr. Francis Harris, Department of Manuscripts at the British Library; Professor Walter Eltis, Exeter College, Oxford; Sophie Angonin, CICL; Guy Holborn, Librarian, Lincoln’s Inn; Gavin Kealey QC; Christine Battle; Al Senter; staff at the Bank of England Museum, especially John Keyworth; Amanda Straw, curator of the Knowsley Estate; Jacob Simon at the National Portrait Gallery; stock market historian David Schwartz; Peter Furtado at
History Today
; Dr. Munro Price, Department of European Studies, University of Bradford; Dr. Peter Campbell, Department of European Studies, University of Sussex; staff at the Bibliothèque Méjanes, Bibliothèque Nationale, Public Record Office, West Hill Library, the London Library, the British Library, the Heinz archive at the National Portrait Gallery; my enthusiastic and encouraging publishers at Simon & Schuster, especially Airié Dekidjiev; literary agent sans pareil Chris Little; and my husband Paul Gleeson, whose career in the financial markets helped spark my fascination with John Law in the first place.

S
OURCES

Law has long attracted the attention of biographers and economic historians. Many of his most important writings have been published by Paul Harsin in
Les Oeuvres complètes de John Law.
The earliest biography of John Law was published in 1721 by W. Gray; the first detailed biography written after his death was that by J. P. Wood, written in 1824. Law’s financial activities were recounted by several eighteenth-century economists, including Marmont du Hautchamp, Sir James Steuart, Du Tot, and others. The Regency period in France, John Law’s career, and the social effect of his policies are vividly documented in the numerous journals, letters, and diaries of the times, including the letters of the regent’s mother Charlotte Elizabeth, the Princess Palatine; and the journals and memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon, Barbier, Buvat, d’Argenson, and Marais. The effect of his policies is also richly reflected in diplomatic correspondence preserved in the Public Record Office. The most poignant record of Law’s escape from France and final years in exile are the letters contained in his letter book at the Bibliothèque Méjanes, Aix-en-Provence.

As this is intended as a book for the general reader I have deliberately simplified the sometimes mind-bogglingly complex financial details, and kept numbers to a minimum. The figures quoted in the text are mostly taken from those published in Professor Antoin Murphy’s recent scholarly analysis of Law’s economic theories and policies. The following notes detail the chief sources for the narrative. Fuller details of these and other relevant publications are listed in the bibliography that follows.

C
HAPTER
1: A Man Apart

Law’s gambling activities in Paris: du Hautchamp,
Histoire du système.

Rules of faro: Wykes,
Gambling.

D’Argenson’s personality: Saint-Simon,
Memoirs.

Expulsion from Paris because of paper-money scheme and Torcy’s interest in Hamilton,
John Law of Lauriston.

C
HAPTER
2: Gilded Youth

Family background: Fairley,
Lauriston Castle;
Wood,
Life of John Law of Lauriston.

Edinburgh: McKean,
Edinburgh;
Defoe,
Journey Through the Whole Island of Great Britain.

Goldsmith banking: Chandler,
Four Centuries of Banking;
Williams,
Money:
A History;
Galbraith,
Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went.

Lithotomy operations: Lister,
A Journey to Paris in the Year 1698;
Pepys,
Diary.

Description of Law: du Hautchamp.

Law’s professed dislike of work: ms. Méjanes

Lockhart’s reminiscence of Law: Lockhart:
Memoirs.

Journey to London: Hibbert,
The English.

C
HAPTER
3: London

London life: Ward,
London Spy.

History of Bloomsbury: Chancellor,
The History of the Squares of London.

Mrs. Lawrence:
Proceedings of the King and Queen’s Commissions.

Thomas Neale: Ward; Hyde,
John Law: the History of an Honest Adventurer; Dictionary of National Biography.

Probability: Bernstein,
Against the Gods;
Ashton,
History of Gambling in England;
Wykes.

Royal Mint: Chandler,
Four Centuries of Banking.

“Public lotteries are less bad than private ones . . .”: AS Turin Law to the Duke of Savoy, December 7, 1715, quoted by Hamilton and Murphy.

C
HAPTER
4: The Duel

The events leading to the duel:
Proceedings of the King and Queen’s Commissions.

Wilson: Evelyn,
Diary.

“took a great house . . .”: Gray,
The Memoirs, Life and Character of the Great Mr. Law and his Brother at Paris.

Description of prison life: Ward,
London Spy;
Anthony Babington,
The English Bastille.

“The mixtures of scents . . .”: Ward.

Lovell’s personality: West,
The Life and Surprising Adventures of Daniel Defoe.

Legal procedures: Baker,
The Legal Profession and the Common Law;
Beattie,
Crime and the Courts in England 1660-1800.

“An accidental thing, Mr. Wilson drawing first . . .”
Proceedings of the King and Queen’s Commissions.

C
HAPTER
5: Escape

“Mr. Laws knows best how he made his escape . . .” PRO SP 35/20.

Dueling: Kiernan,
The Duel in European History.

William’s order to keep Wilson’s family informed: State Papers April 22, 1694.

Warriston letters, detailing Law’s trial and escape: PRO SP 35/18 fo 118; PRO SP 35/20-21.

Appeal trial reports recorded by: Leach; Skinner; Carthew; Comerbach.

Traditional version of Law’s escape: Gray,
The Memoirs, Life and Character of the Great Mr. Law and His Brother at Paris.

Escape attempt: Luttrell,
A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs.

Escape theories:
The Unknown Lady’s Pacquet of Letters;
Hyde; alternative version discussed in Murphy,
John Law.

C
HAPTER
6: The Exile

Law’s travels: du Hautchamp; Gray; Wood.

Bank of Amsterdam: Williams; Galbraith; Angell,
The Story of Money.

Swedish banking: Williams.

American banking: Angell.

“The present poverty . . .”: ibid.

Paris in the late seventeenth century: Lister; J. Black,
The British Abroad;
C. Hibbert,
The Grand Tour.

“a perpetual diversion . . .”: Lister.

“It is a great misfortune for a stranger”: Andrew Mitchell quoted by Hibbert,
Grand Tour.

“never carried less than two bags filled with gold coins . . .”: du Hautchamp.

Katherine Knowles: Gray; Wood; Hyde; Murphy,
John Law;
Saint-Simon.

“a man is in general better pleased . . .”: S. Johnson, quoted by Hibbert,
Grand Tour.

Law’s problems with authorities, and elopement with Katherine: Gray.

“Women, men and persons of all conditions . . .”: Evelyn,
Diary.

“They dismiss the gamesters . . .”: quoted by Hibbert,
Grand Tour.

Queen Anne petition: HMC Portland vol. VIII, pp. 320-21.

Money and Trade Considered:
reprinted in Harsin (ed.),
Les Oeuvres complètes de John Law.

Greg report and account of duel: HMC Portland vol. IV, pp. 195, 208-9.

Miniature of Law: Earl of Derby’s collection, Knowsley; interestingly the miniature is recorded as having been acquired (lot 46) at the famous Horace Walpole Strawberry Hill sale in 1842, when a Rosalba Carriera pastel of Law was also sold (and subsequently lost). Literature: George Scharf,
Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures at Knowsley Hall,
1875.

C
HAPTER
7: The Root of All Evil

Conditions in France: Cronin,
Louis XIV;
Perkins,
France Under the Regency;
Charlotte Elizabeth,
Letters.

Louis XIV’s financial problems and difficulty raising loans: Murphy,
John Law.

Visits to Paris and letters: Harsin.

Character of Orléans: Pevitt,
The Man Who Would Be King;
Charlotte Elizabeth; Saint-Simon.

Drummond letter: April 1713, HMC Portland vol. 5, p. 287.

Lotteries in Holland: Hamilton.

Desmarets’s letters: Harsin.

“A Scot named Law . . .”: quoted by Hamilton.

Stair’s visit and petitions, February 1715: Murray,
Stair Annals,
p. 265; Hardwicke,
State Papers.

Halifax letter February 14, 1715:
Stair Annals,
p. 264.

Stanhope’s fury: ms. Méjanes, 79v-80.

C
HAPTER
8: The Bank

“Your Royal Highness . . .”: Harsin.

Public opinion about the bank: Barthélemy,
Gazette de la Régence.

“an intruder put by the hand . . .”: Saint-Simon.

Economic problems and debts: Murphy,
John Law.

“We found the estate of our Crown . . .”: Pevitt, p. 180.

“The convenience will be such . . .”: Saint-Simon, vol. 4, p. 68.

Duc d’Antin support: quoted by Murphy, p. 143.

“I could still be useful”: ibid., p. 245.

“I have need of nothing having enough . . .”: ibid.

“If Spain had ceded the Indies . . .”: ibid., p. 265.

Visa: Perkins; Murphy,
John Law;
Hyde; Mackay,
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions.

Revaluation of currency: Murphy, pp. 152-53; Mayhew,
Coinage in France from the Dark Ages to Napoleon.

Galleys: Perkins; Evelyn.

Structure and progress of the bank: Saint-Simon; Murphy,
John Law;
Hyde.

“The bank promises to pay . . .”: Wood.

Attempts to exhaust reserves: Hyde; Murphy,
John Law.

C
HAPTER
9: King of Half America

“But the bank is not the only . . .”: Harsin, p. 37.

Pitt diamond: Saint-Simon.

Mississippi colony history: Heinrich,
Louisiane;
Perkins.

Launch of Mississippi Company: Hyde; Murphy,
John Law;
Wood; Mackay.

“Natural love of indirect ways . . .”: Saint-Simon, p. 137.

“The Parlement are still doing all they can . . .”: HMC Stuart, vol. 7, 24 August 1718.

“sent immediate orders to the foot and horse guards . . .”: HMC Stuart, vol. 6.

C
HAPTER
10: Finding the Philosopher’s Stone

Takeover of bank: Steuart,
Principles of Oeconomy;
Murphy,
John Law;
Shennan,
Philippe, Duke of Orleans.

Law’s acquisitions: Buvat,
Journal de la Régence.

William Law: Healey,
Coutts & Co;
Wood.

Tobacco: Minton,
John Law, Father of Paper Money.

“jealous of the credit . . .”: Harsin.

“On Monday night I did not sleep . . .”: Harsin.

Tax system: Shennan; Murphy,
John Law;
Black,
Dictionary of Eighteenth Century History.

Opposition to Law: Murphy.

“The public had run upon this new subscription . . .”: Hardwicke,
State Papers.
Anthony Morse is discussed by Edward Chancellor in
Devil Take the Hindmost.

Contemporary descriptions and anecdotes of rue Quincampoix: Defoe; Buvat; Barbier; Saint-Simon; Charlotte Elizabeth, etc.; Wood, Cochut and Mackay also relate many.

“It is certain that the commerce . . .”: PRO SP78 166/88a.

C
HAPTER
11: The First Millionaire

Anecdotes about Law: chiefly in Wood; Saint-Simon; Charlotte Elizabeth; Mackay.

“Every day I had a hundred impertinent demands . . .”: ms. Méjanes, 195v.

Rumors of Law’s infidelities: Soulavie; Barbier; Buvat.

“never discussed politics with a whore . . .”: quoted by Pevitt.

“Law is in love with Mlle de Nail . . .”: HMC Stuart vol. 6.

“If you want your choice of duchesses . . .”: Wood.

Law’s freedom of Edinburgh:
Political State,
September 1719.

Investments recorded in Buvat, Barbier, etc.; diamonds: Healey.

Art:
Journal de Rosalba Carriera.

Design of ceiling: Buchan,
Frozen Desire.

Economic reforms: Buvat; Shennan; Perkins.

“the people being generally so oppressed with taxes . . .”: Veryard,
An Account of Diverse Choice Remarks.

“When it pleases Your Majesty to create an office . . .”: quoted by Cronin.

Abolition of offices: Shennan.

“the richest subject in Europe . . .”: Law frequently describes himself thus in ms. Méjanes, e.g. 149v.

Share price rises: Murphy,
John Law.

“had built a seven-storey building . . .”: quoted by Perkins.

Throws money to the crowd: Soulavie.

Stair’s growing animosity: Hardwicke,
State Papers;
Murray,
Stair Annals.

“The Regent has already reaped many solid advantages . . .”: letter from Bladen to Stanhope October 16, 1719, PRO 78/166 38.