Liabilities.

Sanderson and Co...................... L1,725,900

J. and S. Woolley ..................... 90,500

Reid, Irving, and Co................... 1,500,000

Gower, Nephews........................ 450,000

Cockerell and Co...................... 600,000

Bensusan and Co...................... 60,000

Perkins, Schlusser, and Mullens...... 150,000

Luall, Brothers, and Co................ 400,000

Philips and Co......................... 150,000

Prime, Ward, and Co................... 100,000

Robinson and Co......................... 96,000

Castellain................................. 100,000

Giles and Co............................ 160,000

Some of these persons, and many others who incurred like misfortune, had
been regarded as opulent merchants or bankers, and were men of position
and influence. Mr. Robinson was, at the time of his failure, a governor
of the Bank of England; Sir John Rae Reid had lately filled that
office. Mr. Gomer and Mr. Settle were bank directors at the time of
their stoppage.

The Bank of England not only raised its rate of interest to eight per
cent., but contracted the time of accommodation to thirty days. The
funds, always susceptible of the influence of an uneasy state of public
affairs, and of violent changes in the money market, were at this
juncture peculiarly so, falling as much as two per cent, in a single
day. Consols were as low as eighty-four. Railway shares suffered more
than any other kind of stock or scrip, becoming so depreciated in
the market as to be unsaleable. A great outcry was raised against the
monetary policy which had been initiated by Sir Robert Peel. "Peel's
bill" was the subject of unmeasured denunciation by all who were
accustomed to obtain bank accommodation, but to whom that advantage
was no longer open. Early in October a deputation from the city bankers
waited upon the government for the purpose of inducing some relaxation
upon the stringency of Sir Robert Peel's bill. The deputation consisted
of most influential men--such as Mr. Masterman, Mr. Abel Smith, Mr.
Glynn, Mr. Bevan, Mr. Barnett. The chancellor of the exchequer addressed
the deputation in terms which led them to expect that the object for
which they were deputed would be accomplished. Their expectations
were not disappointed, for the following letter wa