Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-11
JOHN BULL BANKRUPT,
The British Government Was Once
Unable to Pay It's Debts.

From the London Mail.
John Bull bankrupt sounds strange to-
day and the chancellor can afford to smile
at the idea as he reckons up the nations
balance sheet for 1899; but it was not all
ways so. Once, indeed-on this very day
102 years ago-the Bank of England virtual
ly declared the British government bank
rupt!
1t came about in this way: Five years be-
fore the eighteenth century closed France
declared war against Great Britain and
Holland, and there was great drain on the
gold of the country. The most anxious
man in Britain was Pitt, The minister of
finance, whose resources Were strained to
the utmost.
For months Pitt had only obtained ac-
commodatiOn from the Bank of England by
bringing great and constant pressure to
bear upon that institution, but nobody was
more astounded than Pitt when the odd
Lady of Threadneedle street" cook it into
her head to threaten England with bank
ruptcy
A year or two before the bank had re-
fused the paper of "a private banking firm
and compelled it thereby to stop payment
the next day for a million sterling and in
the universal sensation and confusion
which overwhelmed the financial world a
hundred country banks suspended payment
Then the government stepped in and saved
the situation.
But now the government itself was in
peril. The treasury had sent pills to the
bank for payment amounting to over f20O-
| 600, and there not being sufficient gold in
the country the bank resolved on a coup
d'etat to save the situation.
The court of chartered moneychangers
met in Threadneedle street, and resolved
that the bills should not be discharged I'M
| less money was sent down for the purpose
The meaning of such a resolution as tho e
versed in the ways of fnanciers will not
need to be told was nothing more nor less
| than that the government could not meet
| it's liabilities
Pitt trembled when the news was brought
| to him. and everybody, from the king on
! the throne to the man in the street talked
! of this and nothing else. How people
asked OF one another, could the government
| get along without money?
| The bank, of course, had promised to pay
| gold for its notes when demanded and by
| refusing to do so it had bronen its promise
| But for the government to have pressed the
| bank would have intensified the trouble a
/ hundredfold, as the government owed the
| bank an enormous debt.
The king and the ministers were sum-
| moned to town on Sunday morning; a privy
| council was held at Whitehall and a meet
| ing of ministers in Downing street both of
| which the king attended. There was only
one course by which the country could he
| saved, and, daring as it was, it had to be
| taken.
| bank and its creditors, and commanded the
| bank to withhold all cash from the public
| until parliament had met and come to some
| decision. The prohibition was ordered to
| remain in force for six months after parlta-
ment met, and during that period small
bank notes were issued. and We're generally
accepted as cash everywhere.
Matters In this way righted themselves
| and the wheels of government went round
| again.