Another letter is from the unfortunate cause of the trouble. William Brock writes: "You have received, or will receive shortly, a letter from our assignees, desiring to be informed in what manner the debt, which appears in our books as owing by you, is to be liquidated. Too well do I know, my dearest Isaac, your inability to pay it off yourself. It now amounts to something above three thousand pounds. The assignees will not, I believe, take any unpleasant steps to enforce the payment, yet it will be natural that they shall exact some sort of security from you. It was reported that legal proceedings were commenced against you, {166} and upon this report, a young man lately from Canada, a Mr. Ellice, called on Charles Bell to enquire if it were so, and told Bell that rather than anything unpleasant should happen to you, so great was his esteem and friendship for you, that he would contrive to pay the debt himself. Besides his attachment to you, he told Bell you were so beloved in Canada that you would not want friends who would feel pleasure in assisting you to any amount, if necessary. I know your love for me, and shall therefore say a little about myself. Savery was in London when the house stopped, and never shall I forget what I owe him for the warmth and interest he has uniformly shown in this hour of need. Do not, I pray you, my dearest Isaac, attribute my former silence to any diminution of affection, but to a depression of spirits which this final catastrophe has in some measure relieved, as a reality of misfortune is probably less painful than the preceding anxiety of it. Let us pray the prospect may again brighten. In you is all my present pride and future hope. Savery has within the last few days sent me a copy of your welcome letter of September 10th, from Montreal, and most cheering it is to our drooping spirits. May this find you well and hearty in your new honours at York." [Sidenote: Depression in England] The state of affairs in England at this time (1811) is told in a contemporary letter from Thomas G. Ridout, who was then on a visit there. He writes to his father, the surveyor-general of Upper Canada: {167} "Trade is at a total stand here. In July and August the merchants made a desperate effort to get off their goods, and loaded eight hundred ships, which they sent to the Baltic for Russia, Sweden and Prussia, under an insurance of forty per cent. Some were lost on the sea, others taken by privateers, and the remainder got into ports where they were immediately seized and condemned. In consequence, most of the insurers at Lloyd's have failed, along with many rich and reputable houses. The foreign trade is almost destroyed, the Custom House duties are reduced upwards of one half. Of such dreadful power are Bonaparte's orders or edicts which have of late been enforced in the strictest manner all over the continent, that the commerce of England has been almost ruined."[1]