Page:A thousand years hence. Being personal experiences (IA thousandyearshen00gree).djvu/119

 the way. First, there was the hugeness of the total to be dealt with; and, second, the fact that much the larger part of the amount required a twelve months' notice to the national creditor. As to the first obstacle, then, the idea of attacking so great an amount, if it were to be done in any piecemeal fashion, appeared all but hopeless of final and complete result; while, as to the second, however favourable any present moment of the market might seem for the projected conversion, who could answer, in those shifting, unpredictable times, for the monetary conditions twelve months later?

The simple course eventually taken, and the easy success which attended it, showed how needless were the many fears and hesitations which preceded this great public measure. For example, instead of the largeness of the amount being a difficulty, it proved, as was foreseen by the practical minds consulted, to be the chief cause of ensuring and facilitating the operation. The State, in offering to its creditors a two and a half per cent, stock in exchange for a three per cent., must offer, of course, the alternative of a money payment. But any large amount of such money payments, seeking simultaneously other investments, must so violently disturb the market, comparatively limited as it would be in other like suitable securities, as soon to make such other investment difficult or impossible on advantageous terms. And, besides, there was the probable fact that the larger part of consols' holdings were bound to that particular security, and would thus be maintained, even under the proposed reduction of the interest rate.

The other difficulty remained, namely, the practical