But the remaining case is still more glaring in its character. For, should the war be protracted for several years in succession, it will necessitate, not merely a single drain of gold to the extent of some £8,000,000 or £10,000,000, but a continued series of annual drains, every one of which may extend to that amount. In this case, therefore, under the Act of 1844, the currency will be subjected either to one continuous strain throughout the whole duration of the war, or else to a succession of violent oscillations from deficiency to excess, and from excess to deficiency, according as the bullion imported exceeds that exported, as would probably be the case during the winter months; and as the bullion exported may exceed that imported, as would probably be the case during the summer months. Should the amount of bullion received during the winter be equal to the amount exported during the previous summer, we should then have an excess of currency with high prices, and a low rate of interest in every spring, followed by a deficiency of currency with low prices, and excessively high interest in every autumn, except so far as this rule might be interfered with in the case of those commodities, the supply of which would be diminished through the rupture of our commercial relations with the hostile country. But should the influx of gold during the winter, fall short of the previous efflux, the effect would be, that the currency would be subjected to a permanent deficiency; and we should only have to look forward to low prices and enormous interest throughout the whole continuance of the war, with the not improbable contingency of the spread of general panic at every period of unusual pressure. And to this it must be added, that should any serious deficiency in some staple article of domestic consumption occur in the meantime, requiring the importation of an adequate substitute from abroad, the additional efflux of treasure which this would necessitate, might not only lead to a suspension of cash payments by the Bank of England, but be the means of throwing the whole commercial affairs of the nation into extreme, if not irreparable, disorder.