This is satisfactory. 180,000,000 are brought to the support of
sterling. The civilized world would naturally dread a collapse of the pound not for our sake alone. But ours has been the responsibility for the actual crisis of the moment. We can claim to have helped others in like case in the past, but to-day we have to be humbly grateful and have no false pride about it. What we are thankful for is not the end of our troubles here, but a breathing space that allows us to turn round from the slippery descent and the edge of the precipice and to begin to work our way up again. We are relieved of the immediate danger of panic, of a violent flight from the pound and so on. But none of this will be of any avail at the end of the term of these credits unless the whole country is united now in stern and very labori- ous effort. The restoration of British credit after such a shock must be a terrible task. It will only be achieved by steadiness and hard work, of which it will be the result as it has been the symbol : just as the pound sterling is a symbol of our trade, industry, and what is known as " wealth." A mere breathing space, however great the relief, is no happy prospect of ease at hand.
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