54 THE PERPETUAL COMPANY OF THE INDIES. chap, the shops of the jewellers and upholsterers had been ' exhausted, people invested their realisations in groceries 1720. and even books. Any investment was preferred to the now discredited paper. To so great an extent had it fallen, in an incredibly short space of time, in public estimation, that in March, shopkeepers advanced their prices 50 and 100 per cent, when paper was presented to them for payment. Meanwhile Law, still confident, endeavoured, by fresh artificial and arbitrary measures, to keep up the value of paper and to lower that of specie. To effect this purpose edict followed upon edict. It was for- bidden to employ silver in making payments above ten francs, or gold above three hundred. The wearing of diamonds, pearls, and precious stones was forbidden, and the manufacture of articles of gold and silver was confined to the narrowest limits. A decree of the 28th January directed a lowering of the standard of the coinage above a certain value, with a view to recall all such pieces in circulation into the Treasury. Another, of the 27th February, forbade the possession by anyone of more than 500 francs in silver, and directed that all payments above 100 francs were to be made in bank- notes. On March 11, gold was entirely recalled from circulation from May 1 following, and the use of silver, the small pieces excepted, forbidden with effect from August 1. In the same month, to prop up the Royal Bank, Law united it to the Company of the Indies. The saleable value of the shares of this latter was fixed, irrevocably, at 9,000 francs each, and two offices were opened for the conversion of shares into bank-notes, and vice versa, at this rate. The office for the conver- sion of shares into bank-notes was at once crowded. Taking the notes, men rushed to sell these at a depre- ciated value for cash, or sent them for sale in the pro- vinces where they were still accepted. The proceeds they invested in any sort of tangible property.
