scontinue further proceedings. The Chamber of
Justice was suppressed, and a general amnesty granted to all against whom
no charges had yet been preferred.

In the midst of this financial confusion Law appeared upon the scene. No
man felt more deeply than the regent the deplorable state of the country,
but no man could be more averse from putting his shoulders manfully to the
wheel. He disliked business; he signed official documents without proper
examination, and trusted to others what he should have undertaken himself.
The cares inseparable from his high office were burdensome to him. He saw
that something was necessary to be done; but he lacked the energy to do
it, and had not virtue enough to sacrifice his ease and his pleasures in
the attempt. No wonder that, with this character, he listened favourably
to the mighty projects, so easy of execution, of the clever adventurer
whom he had formerly known, and whose talents he appreciated.

When Law presented himself at court he was most cordially received. He
offered two memorials to the regent, in which he set forth the evils that
had befallen France, owing to an insufficient currency, at different times
depreciated. He asserted that a metallic currency, unaided by a paper
money, was wholly inadequate to the wants of a commercial country, and
particularly cited the examples of Great Britain and Holland to shew the
advantages of paper. He used many sound arguments on the subject of
credit, and proposed as a means of restoring that of Prance, then at so
low an ebb among the nations, that he should be allowed to set up a bank,
which should have the management of the royal revenues, and issue notes
both on that and on landed security. He further proposed that this bank
should be administered in the king's name, but subject to the control of
commissioners to be named by the States-General.

While these memorials were under consideration, Law translated into French
his essay on money and trade, and used every means to extend through the
nation his renown as a financier. He soon became talked of. The confidants
of the regent spread abroad his praise, and every one expected great
things of Monsieur Lass.[6]

[6] The French pronounced his name in this manner to avoid the
ungallic sound, _aw_. After the failure of his scheme, the
wags said the nation was _lasse de lui_, and proposed that he
should in future be known by the name of Monsieur He_las_!