His own country seemed to offer a suitable field for his financial ability, and we find him back in Edinburgh in the closing year of the seventeenth century, the legislative independence of Scotland affording him all necessary safety against arrest for the murder of which he had been guilty five years previously. CHAPTER II Unsettled condition of Scottish politics in 1700.--Financial and commercial insecurity of country.--Law’s solution of difficulties.--Land Bank.--Supported by Court party.--Rejected by Parliament.--Again resorts to gambling.--Returns to Continent.--Expelled from Holland.--Visits Paris.--Discusses finance with Duc d’Orleans.--Expelled by Lieutenant General of Police.--Submits proposals to Louis XIV. without success.--Again attempts to secure adoption of proposals by France.--Financial condition of France.--Earl of Stair’s friendship with Law. [Illustration] Scotland at the time of Law’s return was in a very unsettled condition, politically and commercially. The projected union of the two Kingdoms was beginning to emerge from the sphere of discussion into that of practical politics. The change was recognised as likely to be attended with results of the greatest consequence, but was not by any means enthusiastically supported by public opinion. What, however, was obviously impossible by means of conviction, was ultimately accomplished by methods of bribery, and the Act of Union stands as a striking instance of the great success of a policy universally condemned, but carried by dishonourable means in spite of the opposition of those who were chiefly concerned. The minds of the people, however, in 1700 were more disturbed by the feeling of financial insecurity that was gradually asserting itself. The air had been for some years laden with all kinds of fanciful schemes advanced by men who had the public ear, and who had succeeded in calling up visions of easily won wealth in the imaginations of a nation at that time, as now, characterised by caution and business prudence to the degree of frugality. Banks, colonisation schemes, and all sorts of extravagant and even ridiculous proposals followed close upon one another in one continuous stream, but almost invariably bringing ruin in their train. The most notable, as it was the most disastrous of these, was the Darien Scheme launched by William Paterson, founder of the Bank of England. Patronised by all the nobility and people of money as well as by numerous public bodies, and possessing all the superficial elements of success, it produced a fever of financial excitement and a mad race for the acquisition of holdings in its capital. Its collapse caused widespread disaster, and was in reality a national calamity, entirely destroying that confidence essential to industrial and commercial stability.