Law was alive to the prejudicial effects of all these factors upon the industrial prosperity of the country, and also upon the general well-being of the people, and endeavoured as far as possible to remove or at least to modify them. His ideal was the adoption of a single tax to be levied in proportion to the wealth of the individual. Too many vested interests existed however for the accomplishment of so sweeping a reform, and he had to satisfy himself with measures more moderate in their sweep. It is a tribute to his fearlessness that during the winter of 1719–20 he introduced innumerable changes in the method and incidence of taxation, and that in spite of the overwhelming opposition of those who were thus deprived of continuing the old extortionate system to their own pecuniary gain. By wholesale modification of duties and charges, he succeeded in effecting substantial reductions in the price of such necessaries as grain, corn, coal, wood, butter, cheese, and eggs. Inland protective duties were abolished on all articles classed as necessaries or as raw material, and on one item of import--English coal--the tariff was removed for the benefit of French manufacturers, whom Law was most anxious to encourage. But Law’s horizon was not bounded by the commercial and industrial interests of the country. He recognised the great part which education plays in the progress of a nation, and determined to give such facilities as would place the highest education within the reach of every one. He accordingly appropriated a twenty-eighth part of the postal revenue for the endowment of free education in the University of Paris. He thus conferred upon France a benefit of the most invaluable character, and by this measure alone merited the reputation of an enlightened and broad-minded statesman. CHAPTER IX Law’s designs against England’s political and industrial position.--Earl of Stair’s correspondence with Mr. Secretary Craggs.--Stair accused by Law of threatening the safety of the Bank.--Stair’s recall intimated.--Lord Stanhope sent to conciliate Law.--Threatened rupture between England and France over question of evacuation of Gibraltar.--Stair endeavours to justify his hostile attitude towards Law.--His apprehensions as to Law’s purpose in acquiring South Sea stock.--The humiliating nature of Stair’s dismissal. [Illustration]