The main cause of the French Government moving in the matter of gambling at all had been the large increase of so-called gambling clubs in Paris entirely devoted to single tableau baccarat, from which an enormous harvest of gold had been gathered by those holding the banks. It was said that no less than 126 new establishments of this kind had sprung up in Paris, a state of affairs calculated to make the dead proprietors of the long-suppressed and very strictly regulated tables in the old Palais Royal turn in their graves. Many of these Clubs were frequented by women, and it was rumoured that many of the brightest stars of the French _demi-monde_ had lost almost everything they had. Paris began to be seriously alarmed. Drastic measures were adopted; the foreign proprietors of the gaming-places expelled from France; "La Faucheuse" forbidden throughout the country; and gambling generally placed upon the strictly regulated footing which has been described. The results of the very sensible action of the French Government appear to be highly satisfactory, for since the promulgation of the decree regulating play no scandals have occurred, whilst it is anticipated that in the course of time a sum well over two million pounds a year will be available for objects of public utility. Surely the wise regulation of what appears to be an irradicable evil is far more salutary, alike from a financial and a moral point of view, than the unthinking policy of drastic suppression, which, as experience teaches, has ever been powerless to extirpate gambling. X The Principality of Monaco--Its vicissitudes--Early days of the Casino--The old Prince and his scruples--Monte Carlo in 1858 and 1864--Its development--Fashionable in the 'eighties--Mr. Sam Lewis and Captain Carlton Blythe--Anecdotes--Increase of visitors and present democratic policy of administration--The _Cercle Privé_ and its short life--The gaming-rooms and ways of their frequenters--Anecdotes--Trente-et-quarante and roulette--Why the cards have plain white backs--Jaggers' successful spoliation of the bank--The croupiers and their training--The staff of the Casino--The _viatique_--Systems--The best of all. Many years before the tables at the German resorts were closed by the Prussian Government, M. Blanc was quietly seeking for a suitable spot where his roulette wheels might whirl free from interference and his croupiers deal in unmolested peace.