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FIRE IN THE EARTH
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Royal
Bank of France, a company which had grants of land in Louisiana and
which was expected to realize immense sums of money by colonization and
commerce. The bank was successful for a time, but the overissue of
paper money, which Law had advocated zealously, and government
opposition caused its tall.
This
man Law was a Scotchman, but he should be considered no more a
reflection upon his race than Hitler should be considered a reflection
upon the Austrians, or Quisling upon the Norwegians. His idea was not
to save but to exploit. He selected a country which in spite of its
heritage, its inherent greatness, its contributions to culture and the
subh'mity of mankind, has been and is one of the most exploitable
countries in the history of the world. Through Law, the Pitt was sold
to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France during the minority of Louis
XV. It became a part of the crown jewels and in return for the
transaction Law realized a commission of about $50,000, while Pitt
himself received about $500,000. (The total sale price of the diamond
to the French was about $700,0000 and then it became known,
appropriately enough, as the Regent)
When
Louis XV was finally -crowned Jang he wore the Regent in his crown
until the notorious theft of the Garde Meuble, already recounted. Next
we learn it was pledged to German bankers as security for "horse
furniture," meaning cavalry equipment, and was redeemed from them in
1797 and again pawned in 1798 to an Amsterdam banker. There it
remained, says Robert Shipley, until released by Napoleon in 1802. He
goes on to add:
It
has been authoritatively stated that the Regent loan was thus of
infinite aid to Napoleon after he assumed the dictatorship as First
Consul in 1799. Perhaps it helped him to win the decisive
(210)
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