io8" A. D. 1720. 



On the I il ot Sepcember the duke-regent of France pubhihed a ge- 

 neral ftate of the public debts of France at the death of King Louis XIV, 

 amounting to upwards of 1,977 iiiiHions of livres, and their interefl to 

 very near 90 millions per annum : inftead of which great lum (near 

 100 millions fterling), the king (fays this flatement) now owes fcarcely 

 340 millions. 



N. B. Of the firfl: vafl debt the India company had paid off 600 mil- 

 lions by difcharging fo many bank-notes, which the king mud have 

 otherwife paid, or funk : and that bank was thereby entirely at an end 

 and fhut up. The reft, by different chicaneries between the regent and. 

 Law, were wiped off. 



That general ftate farther acquaints the public, ' that fince the duke 

 ' of Orleans's acceflion to the regency, the royal finances have been 

 ' augmented above 83 millions of livres per annum. And yet,' (be- 

 lieve it who can), ' the people have within that time been eafed of 

 * taxes or imports to the amount of upwards of 52 millions per annum !'" 

 Be this as it may, he certainly got rid of fo much national debt, to the 

 ruin of thoufands of families, by the ways before mentioned. We ftiall 

 only add, concerning the vaft French India capital ftock, that it gradu- 

 ally dwindled in value till it fettled in their prefent Eaft-India company ; 

 which, by dint of application, &c. has fince made fo great a figure, as 

 well in India as in Europe, fo as greatly to interfere with the interefts • 

 of the other European nations trading to the Eaft-Indies ! And that the 

 regent's chief inftrument. Law, being now obliged to leave France, died 

 in obfcurity, without having acquired any thing very confiderable for 

 himfclf ; though he had it once in his power to have been the richeft 

 fubjed in Chriftendom ! 



We return now farther to confider the unfortunate fituation of the pro- 

 prietors of the Britifli national debt,fubfcribed into the South-fea company 

 in the year 1720, and of the purchafers of South-fta ftock by money- 

 fubfcriptions at high prices. Toward the clofe of that year, thefe began 

 clearly to perceive the fad ftate they were reduced to by their own cre- 

 dulity, as well as by other caufes already noted ; and that all the fchemes 

 propoied for raifing the ftock to its former high price were perfedly, 

 viiionary. Their main refource now was, by the alliftance of the legif- 

 lature, to obtain an equal or fair diftribution among them, of the un- 

 divided South-fea ftock, as far as that would go : yet even that was at- 

 tended with fundry difficulties, needlefs to be enlarged on at this dif- 

 tance of time. The redeemable creditors who had fubfcribed, and alfo 

 the money fubfcribers, were indeed in a fad way. Neverthelefs, to en-- 

 large on all the reafonings of thofe, as alfo on thofe of the long-annuity 

 proprietors, would require more room than is confiftent with our gene- 

 ral fcope ; as the pieces publiftied on that occafion, which we have 

 bound up, confift of fundry confiderable volumes of feveral fizes. We 



