o the Bank Charter, they were safe and
their treasury full of bullion, but it appeared that everybody else
must fall, for in four-and-twenty hours the machinery of credit would
be entirely stopped. The position was frightful, and the government gave
way. They did that on the 25th of October, after houses had fallen to
the amount of fifteen millions sterling, which they had been counselled
to do by Lord George Bentinck on the 25th of April. It turned out
exactly as Mr. Thomas Baring had foretold. It was not want of capital or
deficiency of circulation which had occasioned these awful consequences.
It was sheer panic, occasioned by an unwisely stringent law. No sooner
had the government freed the Bank of England from that stringency,
than the panic ceased. The very morning the letter of license from
the government to the Bank of England appeared, thousands and tens of
thousands of pounds sterling were taken from the hoards, some from boxes
deposited with bankers, although the depositors would not leave the
notes in their bankers' hands. Large parcels of notes were returned to
the Bank of England cut into halves, as they had been sent down into the
country, and so small was the real demand for an additional quantity of
currency, that the whole amount taken from the Bank, when the unlimited
power of issue was given, was under L400,000, and the Bank consequently
never availed itself of the privilege which the government had accorded
it. The restoration of confidence produced an ample currency, and
that confidence had solely been withdrawn from the apprehension of the
stringent clauses of the Bank Charter Act of 1844.

These extraordinary events had not occurred unnoticed by Lord George
Bentinck. The two subjects that mostly engaged his attention after the
general election were the action of the Bank Charter and the state of
our sugar colonies. Perhaps it would be best to give some extracts from
his correspondence at this period. He was a good letter-writer, easy and
clear. His characteristic love of details also rendered this style
of communication interesting. It is not possible to give more than
extracts, and it is necessary to omit all those circumstances which
generally in letter-reading are most acceptable. His comments on men and
things were naturally free and full, and he always endeavoured, for the
amusement of his correspondents, to communicate the social gossip of the
hour. But although all this must necessarily be