Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/305

Rh truth or falsehood of some rumours highly prejudicial to the credit of that institution, which were circulated with confidence in the city. The merchants respectfully applied to the directors for information on the subject, but instead of receiving the satisfactory answers to their enquiries which they had a right to expect, they were assured in a general way of the solvency of the bank; and it was intimated to them, that their enquiries were made only for the purposes of exciting alarm and adding to the public embarrassments.

A few years ago, the bank of Amsterdam was supposed to contain the greatest quantity of accumulated treasures in the world. It was accounted the store-house of Europe for the precious metals: and various estimates have been formed of its wealth, from the incredible sum of forty millions sterling, to the equally suspicious estimate of three hundred thousand pounds. The bank of