The company was now assuming bulky proportions, and a re-arrangement of its capital was necessitated by the requirements of its wide and varied interests, and by the prospect of still further acquisitions under negotiation. Accordingly in May, 1719, a decree was published which conferred upon the Company the new and more pretentious title of the Company of the Indies; permission was given to increase the capital; and to the rights already possessed was added the monopoly of trade “from Guinea to the Japanese Archipelago, of colonising especially the Cape of Good Hope, the East Coast of Africa, that which is washed by the Red Sea, all the known islands on the Pacific, Persia, the Mougal Empire, the Kingdom of Siam, China, Japan, and South America.” The increase of capital was fixed at 27,500,000 livres divided into 50,000 shares of 550 livres each, payable in monthly instalments of 27½ livres per share. The magnitude of these transactions was now so great and unprecedented as to blind the public entirely to all other considerations, and enthusiasm for the foreigner was more than ever highly pitched. A mad scramble soon ensued for possession of shares which would produce so handsome returns as those promised by the great financier. Dividends of 200 per cent. were indicated as certain to accrue from the company’s operations, and it is said that no fewer than 300,000 applications for shares were received from eager crowds of speculators. An unfortunate hitch, however, postponed the allotment to successful applicants. Parliament was still unwilling to follow Law into all his schemes. They were always ready to place obstacles in his path. Accordingly the decree authorising the issue of additional capital was refused endorsement, and six weeks elapsed before the difficulty could be removed. This untoward incident, however, by no means dampened the ardour of Law or of the general public. The previously issued shares of the company which Law had been himself under necessity of converting from a discount to a premium were now in so great demand that they rose without his interference in the market. Artificial gave way to natural inflation of value through keen competition from without, and Law with that capacity for using every advantage with quick and ready skill turned the public feeling to immediate account. On 20th June he placed an absolute condition upon the acquisition of the newly authorised shares. With the ostensible object of laying down a standard for distribution of the new shares amongst applicants, but really of maintaining and if possible of increasing the price of the old shares, he expressed his intention of allotting the new shares in the proportion of one to four of the old shares held by the applicant. The purchase of the requisite amount of the original issue was a necessary preliminary to a favourable consideration of a further subscription. A great demand for original shares at once followed the issue of this