e demands upon the Bank
were so great and increasing; that a Bank restriction was
expected by everyone. So determined, however, were Ministers
against this measure, that rather than yield to it they suffered
the Bank to run the greatest risk of stopping; for on the evening
of the day on which the alarm was at its worst there were only
8,000 sovereigns left in the till.[1] The next day gold was
poured in, and from that time things got better.

[1] [Mr. Baring (Lord Ashburton) stated in his pamphlet on
this crisis, 'The gold of the Bank was drained to
within a very few thousand pounds, for although the
public returns showed a result rather less scandalous,
a certain Saturday night closed with nothing worth
mentioning. It was then that the Bank applied to Lord
Liverpool for an Order in Council to suspend cash
payment. A conference took place between Lord
Liverpool, Mr. Huskisson, the governor of the Bank, and
Mr. Baring. The suspension of cash payments was happily
averted, chiefly as it was said by the accidental
discovery of a box of one-pound Bank of England notes,
to the amount of a million and a half, which had never
been issued, and which the public were content to
receive.' Mr. Tooke, however, states in his 'History of
Prices' (Continuation, vol. iv. p. 342) that the lowest
amount of the banking treasure was on the 24th of
December, 1825: Coin, L426,000; bullion, L601,000: in
all, L1,027,000. The passage in the text refers of
course to the banking department only.]

In the midst of all this the Emperor Alexander died, and after a
short period of doubt concerning his successor it was found that
Nicholas was to mount the throne. The first act of the Russian
Government was to communicate to ours their resolution no longer
to delay a recognition of the independence of Greece, and their
determination to support that measure if necessary by force of
arms. They invited us to co-operate in this object, but intimated
that if we were not disposed to join them they should undertake
it alone. The Duke of Wellington is gone to Russia, ostensibly to
compliment the new Emperor, but really to concert measures with
the Russian Ministry for carrying this measure into effect; and
it is remarkable that the Duke, upon taking leave of his fri