Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-09-27

with the morning sun shining on its
restless waves
We got to Dover without accident,
and two hours after the express landed
us in London, and we drove at once to
our appointed rendezvous, the Terminus
hotel, London bridge. We had no news
of George, but that evening, opening
the door in response to loud knock, he
walked in, receiving boisterous well
come.
The next morning we all drove to
Hampton Court, the creation Of Wolsey,
and when tired we went to the Star and
Garter. There we talked over matters
and came to the conclusion we must
have 100000 apiece before we could
afford to settle down at home.
We resolved to send off the percent
age" to Irving & Co., and to pay all
debts we were owing at home
This matter settled, we determined
to have little recreation by taking a
tour in Italy. After studying guide
books and routes we resolved to take a
steamer from Southampton to Naples,
spend a few days there in seeing the
town and visiting Pompeii, etc., then
north to Rome.
We had made considerable preparation
for our tour, when circumstance arose
that not only changed our plans, but in
the sequel changed our lives as we'll
We had been paying another visit to
Hampton Court, and in place of dining
at the Star and Garter we returned by
boat on the Thames and dined at the
Cannon Street hotel Before going to
the hotel we took a stroll down Lom-
bard street, and, arriving at the inter-
section of streets opposite the Bank of
England, we came to a halt. While
watching the human whirlpool in that
center of throbbing life I turned to my
friends, and, pointing to the Bank Of
England, said, boys, you may depend
upon it, there is the softest spot in the
world, and we could hit the bank for a
million as easy as rolling off log. !"
No response was made at the time, and
the casual remark was apparently for
gotten. Well for US if it had beenl
The next day we went for drive to
Windsor and were to dine at famous
old roadside inn. On arriving we Of
course visited the castle, and while
viewing the decorations in the stately
throneroom Mac stopped George and
me with the remark that something I
had said the day before had been stick
ing in his mind He went on to say
that we wanted 100000 apiece in Or
der to return home in good shape, that
the Bank Of England had plenty to
spare, and it was we'll for the lightning
to strike where the balances were heavy.
The bank would never miss the money,
and he firmly believed the whole direct
crate of the fossil institution was per-
meated with the dry rot Of centuries
The managers were convinced that their
banking system was impregnable, and,
as a consequence, it would fall an easy
victim, provided, as we suspected, the
bank had really been managed by hered-
itary asses.
Here was a picture indeed-three
American adventures, two Of them
barely past their majority, standing in
the throneroom Of Windsor castle and
plotting to strike blow at the money
bags of the Bank of England!
The idea grew on us rapidly. After
dinner we sat in the twilight Of that
old inn and discussed the Old Lady Of
Threadneedle street from point Of view
from which she had probably never been
discussed before. can imagine with
what scorn the puffed and bepuffed
magnates of the bank would have re-
garded US had they known Of our dis
cussion.
They boasted to me, and had boasted
for century, that their system was per-
feet, and as proof that it was so they
widely proclaimed they had not changed
it in 100 years. They had proclaimed so
loudly and so long its absolute invul-
nerability that they not only believed
it themselves, but all the world had
come to believe it as we'll. "Safe as the
bank" was proverb everywhere un-
derlying the English tongue.
In our discussion we speedily came to
the conclusion that any system of
finance unchanged in detail for cen.
tury, belief in the perfection of which
was an article of faith not alone with
the officials charged with its manage
ment, but with the people Of England
at large, must, in the very nature of the
case, lie wide open to the attack Of any
man bold enough to doubt its impreg-
inability and resolute to attack.
What a fgment of the imagination
this boasted impregnability Of the Bank
of England was the sequel will show.
And as for those masters of finance,
those earthly Joves Of the financial
world, who sat serene above the clouds,
"the governor and company of the Bank
of England, they soon had the whole
money world shaking with laughter
when they stood revealed the Simple ST.
mons they proved to be.
We wanted 100000 apiece now and
had resolved to get it from the Bank of
England. Such was our confidence that
we never thought failure possible. Tru-
ly if there ever was plan laid in lgno-
rant enthusiasm this was one. Here we
were, absolutely without any knowl-
edge of the inner workings Of the insti-
tuition, strangers in London, being un-