Those balances are no doubt in a state of constant fluctuation; and very possibly during the time that the German money was coming in some other might be going out.

Any sudden increase in the bankers' balances would be a probable indication of new foreign money, but new foreign money might come in without causing an increase, since some other and contemporaneous cause might effect a counteracting decrease.
This is the first, and the plainest way in which the German Government could take, and did take, money from this country; and in which it might have broken the Bank of England if it had liked.

The German Government had money here and took it away, which is very easy to understand.

But the Government also possessed a far greater power, of a somewhat more complex kind.

It was the owner of many debts from England.