Overends, determined to show the Bank that it was not omnipotent, allowed their account at the Bank of England to run largely into credit, and one day suddenly demanded three millions in cash. Their ruse failed. Indeed it was as stupid as the resolution which goaded them into making the effort; for, of course, were the Bank to refuse to assist the bill brokers during a panic, it would only be adding fuel to the flames and increasing its own difficulties. Small wonder then that so absurd a decree created intense irritation, for, upon examination, it is evident that the Bank of England is as dependent upon the bankers' balances in a time of panic as are the bill brokers upon the institution which holds them. Then what folly to advertise such a decision! Naturally, the Bank is not pleased at the thought that it must help its rivals over the stile, but the peculiarities of our banking system compel it to, whether it like the task or not. Therefore, it was an error of judgment on the part of the directors of the Bank to pose as the champions of the banking community, and to declare that the bill brokers must, in future, accumulate reserves of their own, when they knew quite well that the nature of their business utterly precluded such an attempt. During a panic the Bank of England can only save itself by advancing freely against certain securities and good bills. The credit so created, however, swells the bankers' balances in its own books, and consequently the amount standing to the credit of the bankers increases appreciably. But, at such a moment, the bankers call in large sums from the bill brokers, and, unless the brokers can obtain advances from the Bank of England against good bills and gilt-edged securities, they will be unable to satisfy the demands of Lombard Street. By declining to advance to the bill brokers, the Bank, in reality, would be refusing credit to Lombard Street (bankers' balances); and, as the Bank itself could not live were Lombard Street to withdraw its balances at so critical a time, it follows that it must lend to the bill brokers in order to enable them to repay the bankers. It simply dare not refuse to assist them, for, if it did, the banks might decline to support the Bank which left them in the lurch just at the height of the storm. The bill brokers (the outside market) come within our present credit system, and if, when a state of panic prevails, they were left to their fate, in every probability the system of which they form a part would collapse with them. The brokers may not be essential to the system, but it is always dangerous to "swop horses whilst crossing a stream."