Investors seeking interest rather larger than Consols have this week
suffered a new misfortune. They have been heavily hit by the failure of the Argentine Republic, of the Portu- guese Treasury, and of so many Australian banks ; and now it seems probable that Greece will be compelled to offer some financial compromise. Greece had been trusted a little too readily under M. Tricoupi, and a loan had been arranged sub- ject to the condition that a portion of the revenue should always be paid into a caisse under English management. The national pride of the Greeks, however, took fire at this ; the French protested against an arrangement which, they said, involved for Greece "the deadly English embrace," and the King refused his consent either to the seises or to a reduction of interest. M. Tricoupi therefore resigned, and Greek Stocks sunk on all Bourses by some 15 per cent.,—a remarkable measure of the confidence placed in English financial management. The King, it is said, though unable to find an alternative, still hopes to control the situa- tion and avoid bankruptcy, and he has one unusual source of power,—he ardently desires to quit Greece and live in the "caller air" of Copenhagen ; and as the politicians do not like that prospect at all, they must just do what he bids them.
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