The secret of the delay was in the financial condition of the nations. Both France and Russia had for years been acting strictly upon the line of policy suggested in Lord Beaconsfield’s remark. To put it in more direct language, _Gold is the arbiter of war_. It was belief in this principle which had impelled France to wage a relentless tariff and trade war against Italy for five years. It was this which had led Russia to cram her treasuries with gold far above her peaceful needs. For the last two years both nations, the one by a customs campaign and the other by financial operations, had been striving to weaken the monetary resources of Germany and Austria. Opinion was divided as to the immediate object of this policy. If England was to be the first victim of the dual hatred of the allies, then if possible the Triple Alliance must be so weakened that it would not voluntarily interfere in the quarrel with Great Britain. At all events, Italy had been impoverished and Germany and Austria had suffered considerably from the hostile policy of their opposite neighbors. In attacking the financial position of England, the French and Russian bankers had not accomplished much. Financial England is never at the mercy of foreign bankers. Bad management, colonial losses, South American ventures, great domestic frauds, may spread distress throughout the country, but Great Britain never had cause to fear the plots of the political financiers of Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and St. Petersburg. The manipulations and scheming of the past few months had had no other effect in London than to accentuate somewhat the uneasiness over the prevailing hard times. The Bank of England had been reorganized in respect to some of its methods, by reason of public criticisms a few months before, and it was now stronger than ever. There was reason for believing that it had not been idle in the great scramble for gold in which all Europe was engaged. Its resources were, of course, unknown, for such information was guarded as a deep financial and state secret.