The above is a copy of the German Imperial Decree, printed in English, which was posted by unknown German agents in London, and which appeared everywhere throughout East Anglia and in that portion of the Midlands held by the enemy.
This was the appalling question on everyone’s tongue all over the country, for it now became generally known that upon this line of defence four complete and perfectly equipped German army corps were ready to advance at any moment, in addition to the right flank being exposed to the attack of the XIIth Saxon Corps, entrenched on the Essex coast.
It was estimated that no fewer than two hundred thousand Germans were already upon English soil!
The outlook grew blacker every hour.
London was in a state of absolute stagnation and chaos. In the City, business was now at an entire standstill. The credit system had received a fatal blow, and nobody wanted to buy securities. Had people kept level heads in the crisis there would have been a moratorium, but, as it was, a panic had been created that nothing could allay. Even Consols were now unsaleable. Some of the smaller banks were known to have failed, and traders and manufacturers all over the country had been ruined on account of credit, the foundation of all trade, having been swept away. Only persons of the highest financial standing could have dealt with the banks, even if they had remained open.
The opinion held in banking circles was that if the invasion should unfortunately prove disastrous to England, and Germany demand a huge indemnity, there was still hope, however small. The experience of the Franco-German War had proved that though in such circumstances the Bank, for a considerable period, might not be able to resume cash payments, yet, with sound finance, there was no reason that the currency should greatly depreciate. During the period of suspension of cash payments by the Bank of France the premium on gold never went above 1.5 per cent., and during most of the period was 5, 4, or even less per mille. Therefore what the French by sound banking had been able to do, there was no reason why English bankers could not also do.
At the outbreak of the war of 1870, on August 1 French Three per Cent. Rentes were at 60.85, and Four and a Half per Cents. at 98. On the memorable day of Sedan, September 2, they were at 50.80 and 88.50 respectively, and on January 2, 1871, Three per Cents. were down to 50.95. At the commencement of the Commune, on March 18, they were at 51.50 and 76.25, and on the 30th of that month down to 50.60 and 76.25 respectively.
With so little money in England as there now was, securities had fallen to the value at which holders would as soon not sell as sell at such a great discount. High rates and the heavy fall in the value of securities had brought business in every quarter all over London to a standstill. Firms all over the country were now hard put to it in order to find the necessary money to carry on their various trades. Instantly, after the report of the reverse at Sheffield, there was a wild rush to obtain gold, and securities dropped even a few more points.
Therefore, there was little or nothing for the banks to do, and Lombard Street, Lothbury, and the other banking centres were closed, as though it had been Sunday or Bank Holiday. Despair was, alas! everywhere, and the streets presented strange scenes.