since 1844, Lombard Street is so changed that we cannot judge of it without describing and discussing a most vigorous adult world which then was small and weak.  On this account I wish to say as little as is fairly possible of the Act of 1844, and, as far as I can, to isolate and dwell exclusively on the ‘Post-Peel’ agencies, so that those who have had enough of that well-worn theme (and they are very many) may not be wearied, and that the new and neglected parts of the subject may be seen as they really are.

The briefest and truest way of describing Lombard Street is to say that it is by far the greatest combination of economical power and economical delicacy that the world has even seen.  Of the greatness of the power there will be no doubt.  Money is economical power.  Everyone is aware that England is the greatest moneyed country in the world; everyone admits that it has much more immediately disposable and ready cash than any other country.  But very few persons are aware how much greater the ready balance—­the floating loan-fund which can be lent to anyone or for any purposeis in England than it is anywhere else in the world.  A very few figures will show how large the London loan-fund is, and how much greater it is than any other.  The known deposits—­the deposits of banks which publish their accounts—­are, in

London (31st December, 1872) 120,000,000 L
Paris (27th February, 1873) 13,000,000 L
New York (February, 1873) 40,000,000 L
German Empire (31st January, 1873) 8,000,000 L

And the unknown deposits—­the deposits in banks which do not publish their accounts—­are in London much greater than those many other of these cities.  The bankers’ deposits of London are many times greater than those of any other city—­those of Great Britain many times greater than those of any other country.

Of course the deposits of bankers are not a strictly accurate measure of the resources of a Money Market.  On the contrary, much more cash exists out of banks in France and Germany, and in all non-banking countries, than could be found in England or Scotland, where banking is developed.  But that cash is not, so to speak, ‘money-market money:’  it is not attainable.  Nothing but their immense misfortunes, nothing but a vast loan in their own securities, could have extracted the hoards of France from the custody of the French people.  The offer of no other securities would have tempted them, for they had confidence in no other securities.  For all other purposes the money hoarded was useless and might as well not have been hoarded.  But the English money is ‘borrowable’ money.  Our people are bolder in dealing with their money than any continental nation, and even if they were not bolder, the mere fact that their money is deposited in a bank makes it far more obtainable.  A million in the hands of a single banker is a great power; he can at once lend it where he will, and borrowers can come to him, because they know or believe that he has it.  But the same sum scattered in tens and fifties through a whole nation is no power at all:  no one knows where to find it or whom to ask for it.  Concentration of money in banks, though not the sole cause, is the principal cause which has made the Money Market of England so exceedingly rich, so much beyond that of other countries.