alfo may be shipped fo near the hill, that a ladder may be used from the land to the veffel; and near the fand are many small rocks, which fecure the ship at anchor from the S.E. and S.W.

We compleated our watering very early from the number of rills which emptied themselves into the harbour; we were likewife as foon fupplied with wood,

We paid great attention to the tides, and found them to be as regular as in Europe.

We made repeated obfervations with regard to the latitude of this,' harbour, and found it was exactly 41 degrees and 7 minutes N. whilft we fuppofed the longitude

to be 19 degrees and 4 minutes W. of S. Blas.

We had thus thoroughly invef tigated every thing which relates to this harbour, except the courfe of a river which came from the S.W. and which appeared whilft we were at the top of the hill. We took therefore the boat on the 18th, and found that the mouth was wider than is neceffary for the discharge of the water, which is loft in the fands on each fide, fo that we could not even enter it except at full tide. However we left our boat, and proceeded a league into the country, whilft the river continued of the fame width, viz. 20 feet, and about five deep.

On the banks of this river were larger timber trees than we had before feen, and we conceived that in land-floods the whole plain (which was more than a quarter of a league broad) must be frequently covered with water, as there were many places where it continued to fagnate.

We gave this river the name of

Pigeons, because at our first land. ing we faw large flocks of thefe, and other birds, fome of which had pleafing notes.

On the fides of the mountains we found the fame plants and fruits, as in the more immediate neighbourhood of Trinity-harbour.

An Account of John Law and of the Miffipi Scheme, projected by bim in 1717-from the private Life of Lewis 15th, translated from the French, by J. O, Juftamond, F. R. S.

OHN Law was a Scotchman,

Jo

the fon of a goldfmith of Edinburgh. Never did man poffefs, in fo a perfect a degree, the power of calculating and combining; and he cultivated these talents, by fol lowing the bent of his inclination. He applied himfelf to every thing that related to banks, lotteries, and to the trading companies of London; he ftudied the means of fupporting them, of animating the hopes and confidence of the public, by keeping up their expectations, or by increafing their zeal. He penetrated into the inmoft fecrets of thefe matters; and increased his stock of knowledge ftill more, from the new company, eftablished by Harley Earl of Oxford, for paying off the national debt. Having afterwards obtained the employment of fecretary to fome agent of the refi dent's in Holland, he made himfelf acquainted upon the fpot with the famous bank of Amsterdam with its capital, its poduce, its refources; with the demands individuals had upon it; with its variations, its intereft; with the

modę

fo

mode of lowering or raifing its ftock, in order to withdraw the capital, that it might be diftributed and circulated; with the order that bank observed in its accounts and in its offices; and even with its expenditures and its form of administration. By dint of reflecting upon the information he had acquired, and of combining many different ideas, he form ed a fyftem which was admirable for its order, and the concatenation of the various operations which conftituted it; a fyftem founded at least as much upon the knowledge of the human heart, as upon the science of numbers; but from which good faith, equi, ty, and humanity, were totally banifhed, to make way for perfidy, injuftice, violence, and cruelty. And indeed the author of it was himself an unprincipled wretch, bound by no ties of morality or religion. Having flain or murdered a man, he was oblig ed to fly from Great Britain; he brought away with him another man's wife, with whom he lived many years as if he had been his own. His avidity was infatiable, and it was to gratify this paffion, that all his extenfive combinations were made to concur. In that exhausted state to which the war had reduced all the European powers, he forefaw that they would neceffarily endeavour to reeftablish their finances, and he conceived greater hopes of fucceeding than ever, by the allurement of his fyftem, which was calculated to feduce any power that would not fcruple to prefer the fpedieft method of exonerating itself, to that which was most honeft. The object of his plan,

therefore, was neither trade nor the facility of levying taxes with out diminishing them, nor the retrenchment of expences, nor the cultivation of the foil, nor the confumption of provifions, nor even the circulation of the fpecie. He had built up his fyftem with a view that a fovereign fhould pay his debts, not only without encroaching upon his profufion or his luxury, but alfo by attracting to himself all the gold and filver of his fubjects; and fuch was to be the illufion, that the fubjects fhould give it up voluntarily; nay more, fhould be eager to bring it in, fhould infift upon its being received, fhould confider it as a favour to be preferred; and that when they were rouzed from this dream, if they should find themfelves bereft of their property, they should not be able to lay the blame on any thing but their own avidity. A project of a most alarming nature to the human mind, and which every other man, except this daring genius, would have rejected as a chimera, if it had fuggefted itself to him!

This fyftem confifted of a bank, the real capital of which was to be the revenues of the ftate, and the accruing capital, fome unknown kind of commerce. This benefit being calculated to keep pace with the imagination in its increase, was to be a wonderful spur to those gamefters who wifhed to partake of it, by means of fhares, which were to be made out fucceffively, in proportion to the eagerness of the parties.

Thefe fhares, in fact, which were at first few in number, could not fail of rifing to an enormous price on account of their scarcity,

and

and the rapidity of the circulation; this would not only facilitate, but even neceffitate the making of other fhares, and at an advanced premium.

This new paper, bringing the old into difcredit, would furnish an excellent mode of distributing it; because the old paper would be received at par, but always with a certain proportion of money.

In order to engage perfons to get rid of this old paper, the value of it was to be made uncertain by frequent fluctuations; thus the poffeffors of it would be apprehenfive that it might become of no value in their hands; when it fhould be raised, one would readily convert it into shares, to fecure the advantage; and when it should be lowered, one would fear that it fhould become lower ftill.

The bank, on the contrary, were to make all their payments in bills, whofe value being invariable, would keep up the confidence in them, and would render them more negotiable, and preferable to fpecie.

The difcredit brought upon money would lower the intereft of it, and the prince was to avail himself of this reduction to make his loans, and thus difcharge part of his debts without any difburfement; for the individuals, not knowing what to do with it, would bring it back to him.

If the individuals wifhed to lay out their money in more folid acquifitions, lands, provifions, and merchandize would increase, and confequently fo would the receipt of the taxes and the customs.

This phantom of fortune dazzling the eyes of every one, the feveral claffes of citizens, in their

eagerness for partaking of it, would intereft themselves in the keeping up of the bank fo much the more; as a number of individuals either more fortunate or more dex. terous, neceffarily making enor mous profits, would excite the general cupidity, nearly in the fame manner as the highest prize in a lottery keeps up the hopes of the adventurers, of whom the greater part must nevertheless be lofers. Now, what fort of com petition would there not be in this inftance, where every one would be certain of winning, by increaf ing the dividends à propos?

Let this illufion be kept up only for a few years, and the fo vereign will have paid off all his debts, and will have drawn into his coffers, the greatest part of the fpecie of his own, and even of other kingdoms.

Such were the axioms and the corollaries of Law's fyftem: an infernal theory, deduced certainly from facts, and which he had never ventured to confider coolly in all its horror: let us fay more, a theory that was not even to be conceived; but the regent and he, hurried away, in spite of themselves by the rapid motion of this political machine, were obliged to yield to its impulfe, till it broke to pieces by its own efforts.

However this may be, the au thor of this plan, whether more or lefs digefted with respect to its confequences, perceiving that it could not be carried into execution in any ftate except where the fovereign enjoyed abfolute authority, confidered France as the kingdom moft fit for his defign. Befides, he knew the people; that

they

they were fond of novelty, that they adopted it without confideration, and gave themselves up to it with a kind of frenzy. It has been afferted, that he first propofed his fyftem to Lewis XIV. who, notwithstanding his being in want of fuch a fcheme, upon the bare expofition of it, rejected it with a kind of abhorrence. The author was not difconcerted, but produced it again to the Duke of Orleans. That prince, more determined, more enterprizing, and certainly lefs fcrupulous, confidered it as very useful to his views; he was moreover preffed by circumftances; he wished to avail himself of the fhort time he had to govern, to remedy the evils of the ftate, which required a neceffary crisis. He therefore adopted this fyftem; he would not allow himself to think of the violent convulfion into which he was going to throw the ftate, and flattered himself, that his genius would be able to put a ftop to its effects, whenever they hould become too fatal. Nevertheless, as he was not the abfolute mafter, and that he was obliged to act with a great deal of caution, he adopted it only flowly, and by degrees.

At first he contented himself with permitting Law to eftablish a bank, in order to accuftom the people by degrees to fuch a title, and to fuch an establishment. It was prefented under an appearance of public utility, and it would really have been attended with very great advantages, if it had been confined to the functions specified in the edict which fet it on foot.

The year following, in order

to give this bank a credit, which was to be anfwerable to the more extenfive undertakings it was to embrace, a decree of council was iffued, which ordered all those who had the management of the royal treasure, to receive and even to discharge the bills without difcount. By this decree, full of artifice, under the appearance of fimplicity, the bank was made the repofitory of all the revenues of the king. This was the first step towards that ideal fortune it was to make: it immediately fixed the intereft at feven and a half per

cent.

Some time after, a trading company was created, under the title of the Western or Miffifipi Company. Its object was the planting and culture of the French colonies of North America. The king gave to this company all the lands of Louisiana, and permitted French, as well as foreigners, to be concerned in it, by taking fhares of it, part of the value of which might be furnished in bills of ftate, which loft from fifty to fixty per cent upon the fpot. How was it poffible to refift fuch a bait, more especially as the country was reprefented as a Peru, more fertile in gold than that of the Spaniards! Even the parlia ment was taken in, and made no fcruple of registering. They yet faw nothing in this, but what might be ufeful to the state.

In 1718 the bank made further advances. It was announced under the title of Bank Royal, by a declaration of his majesty, which fignified, that the king had reimburfed in money the capitals of those persons who had fhares in the bank, which they had only

paid in bills of state, and that thefe capitals had been converted into fhares of the western company; and in a word, that the king was become fole proprietor of all the shares of the bank. Mr. Law was appointed director to it, under the authority of his majefty and the orders of the regent.

An Account of the Chevalier d'Eon.

T

From the fame.

HIS Chevalier d'Eon, who has fince been transformed into a woman, and who probably partakes of both fexes, deferves to be more particularly known. She relates her history in the following manner:-Born at Tonnerre, Mademoiselle d'Eon, a lady according to her own confeffion, was in the tendereft age endowed with a prudence capable of feconding the political views of her parents, who made her pass for a boy. She was fent to Paris, and placed at the College Mazarin, where we may conceive how much disgust, labour, and fatigue, the must have experienced, to go through the feveral exercifes of body and mind, without betraying the fecrets of her fex, which was never fufpected. To the ftudy of the belles lettres, fucceeded that of the laws. She was received Doctor in Civil, then in Canon Law, and afterwards counfellor. Already known by feveral works, fhe had an opportunity of introducing herfelf to the Prince of Conti, who honoured her family with a particular protection. Ruffia was then at variance with France; it was an important matter to reconcile thefe two courts:

a myfterious agent was wanted without a title, and yet capable of infinuation, and of fulfilling the delicate commiffion he was to be charged with. The Prince of Conti thought he had found in Mademoiselle d'Eon all the neceffary qualifications, and propofed her to Lewis XV. who was fond of fuch myfteries. He readily accepted the female negocia tor; who upon her approach to Petersbourg, affumed the drefs of her real fex, and fucceeded fo well in her bufinefs, that his majesty was pleased to fend her a fecond time into Ruffia, with the Che valier Douglas. She had then refumed her manly dress, and went through this fecond character with ftill more finesse, fince it is affirmed, that she was not even difcovered by the emprefs. The aim of her negotiations was, to determine Ruffia to form an alliance with the Courts of Vienna and Verfailles, rather than with Pruffia. When the treaty was figned, Mademoiselle d'Eon was commiffioned to carry the news to the king. She broke her leg upon the road. This accident, however, did not ftop her, and she arrived at Versailles fix-and-thirty hours before the courier who had been difpatched from Vienna at the inftant of her departure. The king, delighted, ordered his fur geon to take particular care of Mademoiselle d'Eon, and gave her a lieutenancy of dragoons, which the defired. She ferved in the laft campaigns, then re-entered the career of politics, and was fent fecretary of an embassy to London, where the made herself fo agreeable to that court, that his Britannic majefty, contrary to

cuftom