The American panic appears to have ended, and seems to
have been mainly confined to a few banks which had made advances too readily to Western Railroads, and to some stock-jobbing houses. The excitement is described by the papers as tremendous, and no doubt almost produced a suspension of payments, but the extra- ordinary feature of the case to Englishmen is the twopenny- halfpenny character of the whole affair. It was whispered about with a sort of awe that Messrs. Jay Cooke and Co. in their three American houses had deposits amounting to fire million dollars, —say a million sterling, and we cannot see evidence that even the Treasury could command more than eight millions. Not one firm failed which in England would be considered of the first class, and the Gold Exchange and Clearing House were tem- porarily closed, in fear of engagements which did not exceed those of many joint-stock bankers in this country. Business of immense amount is transacted on the smallest possible amount of cash, and a man who, like the late Mr. Brassey, could walk into a room with half a million in Exchequer bills in his hand would be bowed down to as a mighty potentate. The drain on the Bank of England has not exceeded half a million, and has been scarcely felt in England. It was quite a " despisable " panic, and will not raise the reputation of any of the Rings concerned. Jay Gould, if he was in it, might have done as well at Homburg.
Previous page
