Mention has been made of the failure of the Western Bank of Scotland in 1857. This institution, besides advancing indiscreetly at home, helped to finance the gamble in American securities; consequently, when the crisis occurred in the United States, the bank found itself saddled with huge blocks of unsaleable stocks and shares. Subsequent investigation disclosed a most discreditable state of affairs. In 1856 the Royal British Bank, after a short life of continual fraud, came to the ground; and in 1857 the public learned that the notorious Colonel Waugh had fled to Spain with considerable sums belonging to the Eastern Banking Company. A little later, when it was discovered that bank directors and auditors who, for a consideration, would attest such statements as those issued by the Western Bank, could be found in Scotland, the public came to the conclusion that a balance sheet is worth little more than the paper upon which it is printed; and a run at once began upon the rest of the Scotch banks, which promptly arrested the panic by guaranteeing the notes of the insolvent Western Bank of Scotland. The City of Glasgow Bank, though it closed its doors temporarily during this period of fraud and distrust, succeeded in weathering the storm, only to fail badly in 1878. The relations between England and France were severely strained in 1859. A plot was hatched in London by an Italian secret society against the life of Napoleon III., whose publication of a denunciation of British hospitality sent a thrill of passionate resentment through this country, which replied to his threat of invasion by the inception of the volunteer movement. The call met with immediate response, for nothing kindles enthusiasm so quickly as hate, and England, for the first time in her history, created an army of citizen soldiers. At the height of the frenzy there were ominous rumours, and for a little while a state of panic prevailed; but the alarm soon subsided, and the next year a commercial treaty was enacted with France.