who for most of their money give security. But we have no concern
now with these differences of detail. The bill brokers lend most of
their money, and deposit the remnant either with the Bank of England
or some London banker. That London banker lends what he chooses of
it, the rest he leaves at the Bank of England. You always come back
to the Bank of England at last. But those who keep immense sums with
a banker gain a convenience at the expense of a danger. They are
liable to lose them if the bank fail. As all other bankers keep
their banking reserve at the Bank of England, they are liable to
fail if it fails. They are dependent on the management of the Bank
of England in a day of difficulty and at a crisis for the spare
money they keep to meet that difficulty and crisis. And in this
there is certainly considerable risk. Three times 'Peel's Act' has
been suspended because the Banking Department was empty. Before the
Act was broken--

In 1847, the Banking Department was reduced to L 1,994,000
1857 " " L 1,462,000
1866 " " L 3,000,000

In fact, in none of those years could the Banking Department of the
Bank of England have survived if the law had not been broken. Nor
must it be fancied that this danger is unreal, artificial, and
created by law. There is a risk of our thinking so, because we hear
that the danger can be cured by breaking an Act; but substantially
the same danger existed before the Act. In 1825, when only coin was
a legal tender, and when there was only one department in the Bank,
the Bank had reduced its reserve to 1,027,000 L., and was within an
ace of stopping payment.