ThefollowingextractsarealsotakenfromtheparliamentaryReportonCommercialDistress，1847-48——Owingtothecropfailureandfamineof1846-47large-scaleimportsoffoodstuffsbecamenecessary。”Thesecircumstancescausedtheimportsofthecountrytobeverylargelyinexcessover……
exports……aconsiderabledrainuponthebanks，andanincreasedapplicationtothediscountbrokers……forthediscountofbills……Theybegantoscrutinisethebills……Thefacilitiesofhousesthenbegantobeveryseriouslycurtailed，andtheweakhousesbegantofail。Thosehouseswhich……reliedupontheircredit……wentdown。Thisincreasedthealarmthathadbeenpreviouslyfelt；andthebankersandothersfindingthattheywouldnotrelywiththesamedegreeofconfidencethattheyhadpreviouslydoneuponturningtheirbillsandothermoneysecuritiesintobank-notes，forthepurposeofmeetingtheirengagements，stillfurthercurtailedtheirfacilities，andinmanycasesrefusedthemaltogether；theylockeduptheirbank-notes，inmanyinstancestomeettheirownengagements；theywereafraidofpartingwiththem……Thealarmandconfusionwereincreaseddaily；andunlessLordJohnRussell……hadissuedthelettertotheBank……universalbankruptcywouldhavebeentheissue”pp。74-75。Russell’slettersuspendedtheBankAct——ThepreviouslymentionedCharlesTurnertestifies:”Somehouseshadlargemeans，butnotavailable。ThewholeoftheircapitalwaslockedupinestatesintheMauritius，orindigofactories，orsugarfactories。
Havingincurredliabilitiestotheextentof£；500，000or£；600，000
theyhadnoavailableassetstopaytheirbills，andeventuallyitprovedthattopaytheirbillstheywereentirelydependentupontheircredit”
p。81。TheaforementionedS。Gurneysaid[1664]:”Atpresent1848thereisalimitationoftransactionandagreatsuperabundanceofmoney。”——