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220 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. 1884 ^^ Spent nearly 70,000,000 francs in taking up the forced currency, but unfortunately the very next year Delyannis lost his head in a fili- bustering fit (into Roumelia), mobilized the forces, and provoked a new blockade by the powers. Of course he brought back the forced currency, which is now larger than ever. M. Beckmann, in summing up his study of Greek finance, says: "Though Greece has borrowed a large amount of money, she has something to show for it. Thessaly, many miles of road, rail- ways, a respectable little army, and a very rapidly developing commerce. Her budgets have been gradually improving and are now in a stable equilibrium. But since 1893 a new situation has super- vened. Then the premium on gold was sixty per cent, as against thirty per cent in 1891 ; it reached ninety per cent when Beckmann pub- lished his pamphlet. The purchase of gold to meet the demands of the foreign debt (in the budget of 1893, 35,468,596 francs) was a disas- trous operation, and commerce was paralyzed by the condition of the money market. Then the glut in the current market of the preceding sea- son cut off the only surplus gold revenue of the nation, and the payment of cash in January be-