I walked from the
banking house to the Langham Hotel--four long miles. When I reached
there I found a messenger waiting breathless to hand me a sealed note
from the Barings. Bismarck had locked up a hundred millions in
Magdeburg. The financial world was panic-stricken, and the Barings
begged to say that under the circumstances they could not propose to
Mr. Baring to go on with the matter. There was as much chance that I
should be struck by lightning on my way home as that an arrangement
agreed to by the Barings should be broken. And yet it was. It was too
great a blow to produce anything like irritation or indignation. I was
meek enough to be quite resigned, and merely congratulated myself that
I had not telegraphed Mr. Thomson.
I decided not to return to the Barings, and although J.S. Morgan & Co.
had been bringing out a great many American securities I subsequently
sold the bonds to them at a reduced price as compared with that agreed
to by the Barings. I thought it best not to go to Morgan & Co. at
first, because I had understood from Colonel Phillips that the bonds
had been unsuccessfully offered by him to their house in America and I
supposed that the Morgans in London might consider themselves
connected with the negotiations through their house in New York.
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