These  bank  deposits  continued  to  fulfil  their  functions  with
great  regularity  and  effectiveness.  In  large  transactions ,  such
as  the  payment  of  bills  of  exchange,  the  risk  appeared  to  be
reduced  to  the  lowest  possible  degree,  and  the  immense  trouble
with  coinage  was  wholly  overcome.
>  "  Universal  Merchant,"  by  Donald  Magens.  American  ed.,  p.  178,  &o.
••Stewart's  Pol.  Ecoo."  vol.  ii.,  p,  292,  4to  ed.
CIRCULATION    OF    RECIPIS8E8.  179

The  tank  received  its  first  serious  check  in  1672,  sixty-three
years  after  its  establishment.  When  the  French  army  had  entered
the  Low  Countries,  and  had  taken  Utrecht  and  many  other  places,
an  alarm  for  the  safety  of  the  deposits  in  the  Bank  of  Amster-
dam spread  over  the  whole  country.  The  depositors,  although
oot  strictly  entitled  to  draw  their  deposits,  in  what  they  deemed
the  imminent  hazard  of  the  bank,  demanded  coin  for  their
respective  credits.  The  demand  was  complied  with  promptly,
so  long  as  it  continued.  Those  living  at  a  distance  from  Am>
sterdam  sold  their  credit  even  at  a  discount  of  five  or  six  per
cent.,  which  was  equivalent  to  a  total  loss  of  ten  or  twelve  per
cent.,  as  these  credits  were,  at  all  ordinary  times,  worth  five  or
six  per  cent,  more  than  par.  The  alarm  was  soon  over,  and
the  bank,  not  having  been  violated  by  the  French  army,  was
soon  again  in  possession  of  all  its  treasures.
