RISE OF ROTHSCHILD - 3. The Great Napoleonic Crisis and Its Exploitation by the House of Rothschild - Count Egon Caesar Corti - SECRETS OF POWER: Masters of Politics, Strategy & War

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Rise of the House of Rothschild seventeen seventy to
eighteen thirty by County gon Caesar Cordy, Chapter three, The
Great Napoleonic Crisis and its exploitation by the House of Rothschild.
Since the French Revolution, the continent of Europe had been
continuously suffering from the turmoil of war, while large territories

(00:21):
were subjected to the horrors of the actual battles between
the opposing armies. On the other hand, Seagurd England, although
she exerted a powerful political influence upon the continental groups,
was able to devote her principal attention practically undisturbed, to
the development of her commerce and the prosperity of her citizens.
Through his financial reforms, which had assisted the capitalistic development

(00:44):
of the state, the Younger pit had brought order into
Britain's internal affairs and thereby made it possible for England,
out of her growing wealth, to advance very considerable sums
of money to her allies, who were waging war on
the continent with the wealth and the blood of their citizens.
Towards the close of the eighteenth century, England was indisputably
the most important commercial power in Europe, and the House

(01:06):
of Rothschild had made an exceedingly clever move in arranging
that one of its sons, and the most talented one
at that, should take up his residence in that kingdom.
Nathan had first settled in Manchester, the center for the
manufacture of all kinds of cloth, as he had long
had business connections with that city. In view of the
numerous armies that had to be clothed, the cloth trade

(01:27):
offered opportunities of making exceptional profits. The sum of money
he brought with him pound twenty zero zero zero, which
constituted a very respectable capital sum in those days, gave
the stranger an assured position from the start, although he
could not speak a word of English. Nathan therefore came
to Manchester not as a small tradesman, but as a

(01:49):
fairly important representative of an established commercial firm on the continent.
With money at his command, he entered upon his commercial
activities with all the enthusiasm of youth, at the same time,
showing a business acumen remarkable in one so young. He
first carefully studied his environment and his neighbour's methods of
making money, and ascertained that profits were made on the

(02:10):
purchase of the raw materials necessary for the manufacture of cloth,
and on the issue of these materials for dying purposes,
as well as on the sale of the finished article,
each of these activities. In England being the province of
a separate merchant, Nathan determined to secure for himself the
profit at each stage in the process. He bought the
raw materials on his own account, had them died, and

(02:32):
then gave them out to undergo the further processes of manufacture,
and finally himself handed them over to the trade. Nathan
did not confine himself exclusively to cloth. He bought everywhere
and anything that he thought was good and cheap. Thus
he bought all kinds of fancy goods, as well as
colonial produce such as indigo, wine, sugar and coffee. He

(02:56):
was not troubled about finding a market, as the parent
firm at home required all these things. The capital which
he brought with him was soon doubled and trebled. While
his father and brothers derived the greatest benefit from Nathan's
presence in England, he enjoyed the life in that country,
which struck him as extraordinarily free and unfettered compared with
the oppressive conditions in Frankfort. As his business grew, Nathan

(03:21):
naturally began to establish contact with the capital, which is
the heart of Great Britain, and in which all the
financial interests of an extensive empire are concentrated. Determined to
settle in England for good, he left Manchester in eighteen
o four for London, where he would be in closer
touch with those political developments which were producing such profound
effect upon commercial life. He realized at once that the

(03:43):
fact that he was a foreigner was a great hand
decap in business, and therefore, as early as the summer
of the year eighteen o six he applied for naturalization
as a British subject. His wish was readily granted, as
the applicant had resided for six years in the country,
and even if he had not yet attained a very
prominent position in the business world, he was already honored

(04:04):
and respected, favored by the keen demand for goods on
the continent. Nathan carried on his business in London with
great success until the year eighteen o six. His intimate
experience of English life and character, and his sympathy with
the spirit of resistance to Napoleon's plans of world domination,
which inspired the whole country, soon caused him to adhere

(04:25):
completely to English modes of thought, but he avoided publicly
identifying himself with any political cause which might have damaged
his family Frankfort, and all his actions were guided first
and foremost by business considerations. Nathan was now twenty nine
years old and was contemplating marriage. He had made the
acquaintance of the daughter of a rich Jewish family. Her father,

(04:49):
who had emigrated from Amsterdam, had several small business dealings
with Nathan, but their relations had not been sufficiently intimate
to enable him to form an accurate estimate regarding the
suitor's financial position. In general business qualities, the fact that
Nathan was living abroad made investigations of this nature more difficult. Nathan, however,

(05:09):
with skill and directness, managed to set his future father
in law's doubts at rest, while the information which the
latter obtained from Frankfort confirmed the fact that the Rothschild
family were prosperous and respected. Nathan gained his object, and
through his marriage, was enabled to increase his own fortune
by the amount of his wife's substantial dowry. His position
was also strengthened by the influence of a father in law,

(05:31):
who was a wealthy and respected merchant in the city
of London. Moreover, his wife's sister, Judith Cohen, shortly afterwards
married the rich and well known Moses Montefiori, who was
thus brought into close association with Nathan, and whose energy, foresight,
and sound business sense in regard to all the vicissitudes
of the continental wars which so intimately affected financial operations,

(05:53):
Nathan had constant occasion to admire. Nathan had as yet
nothing to do with the Elector's investments in England, although
his father at Frankfort was endeavoring to get him this business,
and had repeatedly urged him to cultivate relations with the
Elector's planet potentiary in London. The intimations of the Elector's
wishes hitherto received by Count Laurence had not been favorable

(06:15):
to such an arrangement, but this in no way discouraged
Meyer Amskill at Frankfort or Nathan in London from continuing
their efforts. As has already been stated, the Elector soon
changed his opinion, and we are now entering upon the
period of the investment of large sums in English stocks
as recommended by Nathan. In view of his intimate relations

(06:35):
with Meyer Amskell, the Elector could not continue to object
to the employment of his son Nathan in transacting the
business in London. Another factor in Nathan's favor was the
difficulty of getting possession of the document certifying the purchases
of stock, this being not so difficult for Nathan to
arrange in view of his numerous Jewish and non Jewish connections.

(06:56):
Thus Nathan came to be interested in the enormous financial
operations of the Elector, and as considerable periods of time
could be made to intervene between the purchase and the
payment of the securities, he sometimes had temporary control of
very substantial sums of money which he could employ in safe,
short term transactions, such as, for instance, the purchase of bullion,

(07:16):
which was constantly rising in value at that time. It
was not known in England how Nathan came to have
such sums of money temporarily at his disposal. For the
purchases of English stocks on the Elector's account were officially
made in the name of Rothchild and apparently for the
benefit of that firm, as the elector's funds in England
had already been sequestered once The credit of the House

(07:38):
of Rothschild and of Nathan certainly gained greatly from these
enormous purchases, and he came to be entrusted with transactions which,
even if he could not immediately meet his obligations in cash,
he did not like to lose, as they offered good
prospects for the future. Nathan was particularly skillful at exploiting
the abnormal conditions of the period, conditions such as always

(07:59):
give those with a gift for speculation and opportunity of
enriching themselves, while those who stand by passively are reduced
to poverty. Through his Continental Blockade, Napoleon had revolutionized the
whole commercial outlook of England. Then, recognizing that his measures
had a boomerang effect, he modified them and actually negotiated
with the smugglers, whom the English government encouraged with prizes

(08:21):
for breaking through the Napoleonic blockade. The Decree of June fifteenth,
eighteen ten practically officially regularized this illicit trade. Certain goods
that were required in France, and then gold and silver
were allowed to be brought to France in limited quantities
French products being sent to England in exchange. In order

(08:42):
to prevent the smuggling of undesirable articles, there was a
special railed off inclosure at Gravellen for the officially recognized smuggling,
the captains of smuggling vessels being required to remain exclusively
within this enclosure and to load and unload their goods
under police control. Nathan took advantage of this officially sanctioned
commerce between England and hostile France to do business on

(09:04):
an extensive scale, both on his own account and on
account of the parent firm at Frankfort. But it soon
became apparent that it was essential to have an absolutely
reliable man at Paris too to deal with this business.
Nathan had written to Frankfort to this effect, and old
Meyer Amskill had decided to profit by his good relations
with Dalberg's French regime at Frankfort to obtain a Paris

(09:26):
passport vice from the French officials for one of his sons,
to whom alone he was prepared to entrust so important
a position, and also to obtain a letter of recommendation
for him to one of the higher French treasury officials
A particularly favorable opportunity for this occurred when Dalberg set
out for Paris in March eighteen eleven with the money
advanced by Rothschild. It is certainly no mere coincidence that,

(09:49):
according to the French police records, James, who was then
nineteen years old, started to Paris via Antwerp and took
up his residence in a private house there. It isticularly
worthy of note that Count Maullion, Napoleon's finance minister at
the time, had been informed of young Rothschild's arrival and
knew of his intention to receive and forward large sums

(10:10):
of ready money that were expected from England. A Frankfurter,
the minister wrote to Napoleon on March twenty sixth, eighteen eleven,
who is now staying in Paris with a frankfort passport
and goes by the name of Rothschild, is principally occupied
in bringing British ready money from the English coast to Dunkirk,
and has in this way brought over one hundred thousand
guineas in one month. He is in touch with bankers

(10:33):
of the highest standing at Paris, such as the firms
of Mallet of Charles Davlier and Hattinger, who give him
bills on London in exchange for the cash. He states
that he has just received letters from London, dated the
twentieth of this month, according to which the English intend
in order to check the export of gold and silver coins,
to raise the value of the crown from five to

(10:54):
five and a half shillings and the value of the
guinea from twenty one to thirty shillings. Such operations would
be on a par with the practices of the Austrians
or the Russians. I sincerely hope that the Frankfort Rothschild
is well informed of these matters, and that ministers in
London will be sufficiently foolish to act in this way.
This letter reveals much. It shows that while James Rothschild

(11:18):
may have been in Paris before the twenty fourth of
March eighteen eleven without the permission of the police, as
soon as he officially arrived, that is, as soon as
he reported to the Paris police, he must have had
an interview with the Minister or with one of the
officials of the Treasury, this being no doubt due to
Dalberg's introduction. Although in sending the guineas to Frankfort, Nathan

(11:38):
was generally acting in accordance with quite definite plans that
suited the British government. James, in order to gain the
support of the French departments for these operations, pretended to
the ministry at Paris that the English authorities viewed the
export of cash with extreme displeasure and did everything possible
to prevent it. He succeeded only too well in hoodwinking Maulion,

(11:58):
and through him Napoleon. The French government, says Marian, viewed
with satisfaction the arrival of English guineas at the Channel ports,
because they regarded this both as a proof and as
a cause of the progressive decay of England. It is
true that in his memoirs Mallian afterward tried to suggest
that he did not share this view and that Napoleon
derived it from others, but the letter quoted above clearly

(12:21):
shows that the Finance minister also believed Rothschild. Nathan wanted
just at this time to send exceptionally large sums of
ready money to France, having the secret intention that these
should ultimately be destined for Wellington's armies, who were fighting
the French in Spain. That general had suffered great financial
embarrassment since the beginning of the English campaign in Portugal

(12:42):
and Spain. It was not only that the blockade made
it difficult to transport large sums by sea, but the
devastating storms in the Bay of Biscay were a serious
menace to the cumbrous sailing ships of those times. Such
consignments were therefore liable to grave risks, and the insurance
charges were exceedingly heavy. As early as eighteen o nine,

(13:03):
Wellington had had occasion to write to his government in
the following terms, we are terribly in need of funds.
The army pay is two months in arrears. I feel
that the ministry in England is utterly indifferent to our
operations here. It would be much better for the governments,
he added some time later, entirely to give up our
operations in Portugal and Spain if the country cannot afford

(13:26):
to continue them. This state of affairs continued for two years,
and Wellington had to have recourse to highly dubious bankers
and money lenders in Malta, Sicily and Spain, from whom
he had to borrow money at the most usurious rates,
giving them bills of exchange, which had to be cashed
by the British Treasury at great loss. The measures taken
by the Treasury for satisfying the requirements of Wellington's army

(13:49):
were always quite inadequate. Finally, the British commander wrote indignantly
to London that if matters continued, thus his army would
have to leave the peninsula, which would relieve France of
important military commitssments on the continent and expose England to
the danger of having a hostile force landed on the
island itself. Then his Exalted Monarch and his subjects would
experience in their own country something of the horrors of

(14:11):
war from which they had hitherto had the good fortune
to be spared. A year later, things were not much better,
and on being reproached for having two casually drawn bills
on the English government, Wellington replied with some heat, writing
that he was sorry to have to state that sick
and wounded British officers at Solomanca had been forced to
sell their clothes in order to keep body and soul together.

(14:33):
Such were the conditions under which the British Army was
fighting in Spain. When an energetic movement in its support
was started in London, which at first was directed by
Nathan Rothschild. On his own account. He had acquired very
cheaply a large proportion of the bills issued by Wellington
and proceeded to cash them at the British Treasury. The cash,
which he thus received, generally in the form of guineas,

(14:55):
he sent across the channel to France, where it was
received by one of his brothers, generally by James, but
in eighteen twelve sometimes by carl or Solomon, and then
paid into various Paris banking firms. The brothers obtained from
the Paris banker's bills on Spanish, Sicilian or Maltese bankers,
and they contrived through their business connections to get these

(15:17):
papers to Wellington, who duly received the cash from the bankers. Thus,
the cash sent from London actually only had to make
the short journey from London to Paris, and thence through
the intricate network of business firms who were mostly Jewish,
it finally reached the English commander in Spain through the
heart of the enemy's country. As time passed, however, the

(15:37):
supply of cash and precious metal began to be scarce
even in England. Nathan, who had concentrated his attention principally
upon business in specie and bills of exchange since the
blockade had made ordinary commerce so difficult, closely watched for
favorable opportunities of acquiring any consignments of specie that might
be available. When the East India Company once offered a

(15:59):
considerable amount of bullion for sale, Nathan Rothschild was one
of the first customers in the field, and he was able,
through having recently received large sums of money for investment
from the Elector, and through mobilizing his whole credit, which
stood very high, to acquire the whole of this stock
of gold for himself. At that time, John Charles Harry's

(16:19):
was Commissary in Chief, an office that had been created
in order to supply both the British Army at home
and the troops fighting on the continent with the necessary funds.
He was not able alone to meet the demands made
upon him. A sailing ship carrying money had again been
held up somewhere for weeks, and another consignment, which had
arrived safely at Lisbon, encountered extraordinary difficulties in its further

(16:41):
transportation the British government and especially Harry's were in the
greatest distress. They then heard of Nathan Rothschild's purchase of
gold from the East India Company, and the almost unknown
man who had acquired it was sent for by the Treasury.
Nathan sold the gold to the government at a heavy price,
and at the same time requested that he should be

(17:03):
commissioned to convey the money through France to Wellington in Spain,
as he had already been doing to a limited extent
at his own expense, asking that he should now do
it on a large scale on account of the British Government.
Very substantial sums of money indeed were involved, which were
sent across the channel from England to France, as is
shown by a letter from James in Paris to Nathan

(17:23):
in London dated April sixth, eighteen twelve, which was intercepted
by the Paris police. Nathan had at that time sent
twenty seven thousand, three hundred English guineas and two thousand
two Portuguese gold ounces in six separate installments through six
different firms to James at Graveleen. James acknowledged the receipt
of these amounts and of bills on the firms of Hattinger, Davlier,

(17:46):
Morrel and Faber to the amount of sixty five thousand,
seven hundred and ninety eight pounds. He added that he
was glad that it had been possible to send him
this money without effecting the rate of exchange, and urged
his brother to let him have any commercial news at
the earliest possible moment. Both brothers naturally watched the rate
of exchange very closely, ceased buying bills when it rose,

(18:08):
and acquired them when it fell. All these transactions were
carried through in agreement with the Chief French Department and
Finance Minister Moullion. He was flattering himself that England was
in great difficulties, that the rate of exchange was against
her and was constantly getting worse through the drainage of gold,
while the Bank of France was consolidating its position and

(18:28):
France's currency stood highest in the world. Meanwhile, gold pieces
were trickling through in complete security under the eyes and
indeed under the protection of the French government, across France itself,
into the pockets of France's arch enemy Wellington. But though
Mollien was deceived, the activities of the Jewish emigrants from
Frankfort were being watched with great suspicion in other quarters.

(18:52):
Letters from a local merchant to one of the Rothschilds
at Dunkirk, which were intercepted by the French police, revealed
the nature of their activities. A police official sent a
detailed report on the matter to Marshal de Voust, who
was hen military governor of Hamburg. After carefully examining the letters,
he fully appreciated the nature of the Rothschild transactions in France.

(19:14):
As the Marshal considered the matter to be exceedingly grave,
he decided to report on it direct to Emperor Napoleon.
He pointed out, incidentally that the arguments in favor of
withdrawing money from England under which the plotters concealed their
maneuvers lose their force when one considers that the English
do everything possible to facilitate its export. The Emperor took

(19:36):
note of the report, but did not pay any further
attention to it. He no doubt said to himself that
Devoust was a splendid soldier, but that this did not
imply an understanding of financial matters in which mayan's opinion
must be more reliable. The Chief Commissioner of Police, however,
continued to concern himself with the Rothschild family, of whose

(19:56):
relations with Hesse he had long known, and he determined
to get to the bottom of their activities. Kohler fawnd.
He forwarded Davoust's report to Police Prefect Desmerets, instructing him
to furnish accurate dates regarding the family, and at the
same time wrote in similar terms to Graveleen. This was
in February eighteen twelve, when Karl and James were both

(20:18):
in Paris. Desmerets had them watched and asked the French
Commissioner of Police at Mines to report regarding the political
sympathies of the House of Rothschild, its commercial relations abroad
and its speculative transactions, as well as the extent, if any,
to which it was involved in contraband trade. The Police
Commissioner at might set a detailed report in reply, in

(20:39):
which he emphasized the confidential relations between the Rothschild House
at Frankfort and Dalberg, stating that these were so intimate
that Dalberg refused practically no favor that a Rothschild asked
of him. He added that Dalberg's entourage had certainly given
the Rothschild family previous warning of the domiciliary search which
was conducted in eighteen o nine, and conclin luted with

(21:00):
the words as regards Rothschild's political leanings, they are far
from being all that they should be. He does not
like us French at all, although he pretends to be
devoted to the French government. At the same time, the
report from Graveleen came in which confirmed the constant presence
amounting practically to the data blistment of a Rothschild at

(21:20):
Dunkirk and referred to his brother and partner in London.
The Prefect of Police count Real pointed out that the
mere fact that Rothschild was a foreigner was sufficient reason
for not allowing him to stay on the coast. How
could this man be anything but suspect, he continued indignantly.
What could have been in his Majesty's mind when he

(21:40):
permitted the smugglers to trade? Surely it must have been
with the intention that this trade should benefit French industry,
an object which will not be achieved if London firms
can maintain correspondence. Not to mention branch offices in Paris
what are we to think of this Rothschild sojourn on
our coast, a man who has a stabtablished his brother

(22:00):
in London, with whom he actually has common interests Riel
therefore recommended that Rothschild should immediately be asked to leave
the coast. The Paris Prefect of Police reported the result
of all these inquiries to the Chief Commissioner, and at
the same time proposed that the Rothschild, who was living
in Paris mold be arrested, but the protection of the

(22:21):
French Finance Minister prevented this. Indeed, how could the government
suddenly allow persons to be arrested whom it needed for
carrying out its own business operations, and from whom the
French treasury accepted reports and advice while it also entrusted
them with commissions. The brother's Rothschild had cleverly made their
position absolutely secure before they ventured to Paris into the

(22:42):
Lion's Den, and in spite of all the suspicions of
the military and the police, they remained entirely unmolested. Nevertheless,
the position was certainly not without its dangers. Sentiment in
high quarters might suddenly change, in which case a Napoleon
would have made short work of the brothers Rothschild. A
further incident occurred to alarm the French police, and it

(23:05):
caused General Savary to institute a further investigation. A letter
which was being forwarded to James Rothschild by a business
firm at a special charge independently of the post bag,
which was controlled by the Bologne Police, was intercepted in
the course of its journey. The infiries was drawn that
the brother's Rothschild frequently attempted to evade the censorship, but

(23:25):
the writer of the letter and the responsible police commissioner
of the department asserted that the letter had merely been
sent by special messenger after the regular post as it
was urgent. The matter was not further pursued, but the
police commissioner for pot Decalais was severely reprimanded his chief,
giving him to understand that the luxury of his household
and his general extravagance were highly suspicious circumstances. The business

(23:49):
of the two brothers Rothschild a cheval the warring powers
of England and France, was so important that it was
absolutely essential for the brothers to be continuously on the
spot and Even after the death of their father on
September nineteenth, eighteen twelve, only one of the two brothers
who were in France at the time, namely Solomon, returned
to Frankfort, whilst James remained in France and was constantly

(24:10):
oscillating between Paris and the coast. James had won the
esteem of the Paris business world through the enormous transactions
which he always carried through punctually and accurately. It was
at once noted whether he was buying bills or not,
and the exchange was immediately affected when there was a
rumor that he was going to buy. He set great
store by his personal reputation. When a business man once

(24:33):
slandered him to one of Nathan's employees, accusing him of
an action unworthy of a man of integrity, he never
mentioned the matter to the person concerned, since, as he
wrote to Nathan, he considered it far beneath his dignity
to discuss such a matter. Great events were now brewing
on the continent. Napoleon had not been able to keep
up the myth for long regarding his victorious march to Moscow,

(24:55):
that historic burning of that city robbed him of his
only resources. Winter was already approaching when Napoleon was forced
to decide upon retreat, which meant that the remnants of
his army would have to traverse hundreds of miles through
ice and snow, pursued by the enemy, across country, most
of which had been laid desolate. The crossing of the
Beresina completed the disintegration of the Grande Army, and on

(25:17):
December third, two days before Napoleon left it in order
to return as quickly as possible to Paris, the famous
twenty ninth bulletin was issued, which, while generally admitting the
destruction of the army, laconically reported that the Emperor's health
had never been better. The whole world received this news
with great emotion, and new hopes sprang up in the
European states which were under French dominion, but it was

(25:41):
not possible to estimate what the future consequences of the
catastrophe would be. The reports from Russia made a particularly
profound impression at Frankfort. The unexpected news was so disconcerting
that at first there was a tendency to regard it
all as highly exaggerated. The newspapers had been allowed to
report only what the French sides ship passed, but soon

(26:02):
stray survivors arrived, who told of the inconceivable hardship suffered
by the army. Frankfort was particularly interested in the complete
collapse of Napoleon's schemes. On the practical side, it is
true contents of the secret report of the Paymaster General
of the Grande Army were still unknown. He had set
out for the campaign with fifty five cart loads of cash,

(26:24):
drawn by four horses apiece and seventy eight clerks. He
had been able to rescue only one cart load containing
two millions in gold, which he hoped to get safely
to Koenigsburg. But he was not even prepared to guarantee
that my staff, he reported, no longer exists. They have
all perished from cold and hunger. Some of them, whose

(26:46):
hands and feet have been frozen, have been left at Vilna.
All the account books have been taken by the enemy.
Nobody thinks of anything except saving his own skin, and
it is quite impossible to stem the panic. Amschkyl Rothschild,
the eldest son and now head of the Frankfort firm,
was just engaged in building a new banking house in

(27:06):
the Bornheimerstrass at Frankfort. He was enormously excited by the
news of Napoleon's collapse. In view of the firm's extensive operations,
which ranging from Spain to Denmark and from Prague to London,
already embraced the half of Europe. Such sudden changes affecting
the distribution of power on the continent of Europe were
bound to have most far reaching consequences. It is true

(27:28):
that his firm had friends in both camps, but it
was important that if either of the political structures collapsed
or showed serious signs of instability, the center of gravity
of the firm's business should be rapidly shifted to the
victorious side. However, things had not yet reached this point.
Through his enormous energy, Napoleon succeeded in rapidly improvising a

(27:50):
new army with which he meant to turn the tide
of events. Frankfort continued to be occupied by the French,
and Rothschild had to go very warily. It is true
that everywhere in Germany people smelled freedom in the air.
In the public streets of Hesse, the cry was heard,
long live the elector long live Russia, Napoleon's so called allies,

(28:11):
and the Russian campaign fell away one after the other.
Prussia allied herself with Russia and declared war on France,
and Napoleon felt exceedingly uncertain even about the attitude of Austria.
In April, Napoleon was again campaigning in Saxony, and in
the operations of the year eighteen thirteen, he won one
or two brilliant victories, but could not drive his enemies

(28:33):
completely out of the field. The bond between these became
closer as time went on. England again offered Prussia and
Russia her all powerful financial support. In the Treaty of
Reichenbach of June fourteenth, eighteen thirteen, she offered Prussia six
hundred and sixty six thousand, six hundred and sixty six
pounds as a subsidy if that kingdom would put eighty

(28:55):
thousand men in the field. Russia received twice the amount
for twice the amount of men. On August tenth, after
Medenik's world famous interview with Napoleon, Austria's attitude was also decided.
The minister, who had completely changed his policy, left the
Emperor of France, whom he had once made the son
in law of his emperor in the lurch, and Austria

(29:17):
joined the coalition against Napoleon. The Elector of Hesse also
watched the course of events with satisfaction. From his exile
at Prague. He again requested the Emperor of Austria to
reinstate him as speedily as possible in his dominions. He
felt that the end of his sufferings and persecutions was
at hand. He who had so often begged the Emperor

(29:39):
and Marie Louise to intercede with Napoleon on his behalf,
now spoke of himself as the German prince who had
remained true to the cause, and as the protagonist of
the German nation perfected de tutchen Reiches. He certainly did
not forget to remind the Emperor of the undertaking that
he was to be guaranteed against any loss. He was, however,
glad to contribute temporarily to the common war chest and

(30:02):
to send troops to reinforce the allies. Butterus was instructed,
in spite of the general shortage of money, to obtain
the sums necessary for this purpose. He applied to the
House of Rothschild and received one hundred thousand sailers, which
enabled the Elector to make several payments to the allies.
The unity of front which had thus been established, led

(30:23):
to some success in the further course of the campaign.
In spite of her constant financial embarrassments, Austria played an
important military part in the war. England also came to
her assistance, and under the Treaty Alliance of Teplets of
October third, eighteen thirteen, she contracted to pay after October
of that year a million pounds in monthly installments, in

(30:45):
return for which Austria undertook to place one hundred and
fifty thousand men in the field. The Day of Leipzig
October eighteenth, eighteen thirteen was the final turning point in
Napoleon's career. The great general was forced to yield to
the Power Coalition. At one blow, the whole of Germany
was liberated up to the Rhine. The Confederation of the

(31:06):
Rhine fell to pieces, the King of Westphalia fled, and
Dalbert voluntarily resigned his grand ducal dignity at Frankfort. The
exiled princes now returned to their states, and on November eleventh,
the Elector of Hesse also left Prague and reached Castle
soon afterwards, where the Populace received him with acclamations. These

(31:26):
events were propitious to the business policy of the House
of Rothschild. The prince to whose riches they owed their prosperity,
and with whom they stood on such a unique footing
thanks to the assistance of Butus, had now been reinstated.
He immediately set about making good as financial losses and
re establishing his position amongst the princes of Germany. This

(31:48):
naturally reacted favorably upon his court banker. In other respects,
the position that Frankfort left much to be desired. The
fall of Dalberg did not mean merely the loss of
a personal patron. The Jews lost the man who had
sold them rights which had placed them on an equality
with other citizens. The final payment was not yet due,
and there was the risk that the Senate, which consisted

(32:10):
of members of the old patrician families, would, on getting
into power again, revoke all the concessions that had been
so dearly bought. The old municipal constitution was re established,
but without regularizing the legal position of the Jews, and
it was a bad sign that the redemption of the
debentures which were falling due under the contract for the
purchase of their freedom was refused. There was only one

(32:31):
way of dealing with the situation. The House of Rothchild
would have to prove itself so useful through its financial
services to the most important powers of the victorious coalition,
that the victors would call the citizens of Frankfort to
order if they should really proceed to act with hostility
against the Jews. While the first principle of the House
of Rothschild was to amass wealth, the liberation of the

(32:53):
race from oppressive restrictions contributed indirectly to this end, since
it would facilitate intercourse with the rest of the world
and thereby increased the possibility of financial gain, which in
turn would serve to increase its power. At this critical time,
the most important services were rendered to the Frankfort firm
not by its new chief, but by his incomparably more
talented brother, Nathan in England, whose flare for finance amounted

(33:16):
to positive genius. He now enjoyed the Elector's full confidence.
When in eighteen twelve the Prince region of England seemed
to be inclined to repay one hundred thousand pounds. Nathan
was instructed to receive this amount and to invest it
in consuls. This transaction brought him into immediate touch with
the private finances of the royal family. As Great Britain

(33:39):
was the financier of the powers which were fighting on
the continent, and was also maintaining armies of her own abroad.
Enormous demands were made on the British treasury in eighteen thirteen.
The officials were not equal to the task of raising
the money or of sending it to the continent. It
had already been necessary for a naturalized foreigner to demonstrate
that there were other ways of raising and sending money

(34:01):
than for Englishmen abroad to draw bills on England. That
method had a very bad effect on the English rate
of exchange, which at the end of eighteen thirteen had
already fallen by one third. Harris, who was charged with
the sole responsibility for sending money to the continent, again
called in Nathan Rothschild to his assistance. While his principal

(34:22):
problem was to supply the enormous sums that England had
to provide under the subsidy contracts that she had just
concluded it was even more urgent and more important for
the final overthrow of Napoleon to afford every possible support
to Wellington, who was still pressing for money, but who
was now free to advance into French territory as Napoleon
had transferred his best troops and generals to Germany. Harris

(34:44):
invited Nathan, whose name was still almost always wrongly spelled
by the British Treasury, to a conference regarding the measures
to be taken. The English official was completely convinced by
the clarity and logic of the scheme for sending money
which Nathan submitted, and requested him to to draw up
a memorandum for the Chancellor of the Exchequer explaining the
methods to be adopted for rendering prompt financial assistance to

(35:06):
the Duke of Wellington. The technical problem was now somewhat different,
since Wellington attached most importance to being supplied with French
currency in the interests of England as well as of
his own pocket. Nathan had hitherto worked almost consistently against Napoleon,
but he had done it as inconspicuously as possible, for
fear of compromising his brothers on the continent. Even now

(35:29):
that Napoleon was retreating and was soon to be fighting
within the former frontiers of France itself, he still kept
well in the background, although he adopted the anti Napoleonic
cause with all the more enthusiasm since the Russian disaster
and the defeat at Leipzig seemed to imply the end
of Napoleon's power. Lord Liverpool, First Lord of the Treasury
and Prime Minister, and Van Sittert, Chancellor of the Exchequer,

(35:53):
approved the scheme submitted by Harry's and in a secret letter,
entrusted its execution to Nathan's experience and discretion. Nathan Rothschild
thereupon proceeded personally to Holland and collected in close co
operation with his brothers the French metal currency with which
the continent was flooded, but which owing to the blockade,
was naturally unobtainable in England. James also acquired French cash

(36:16):
on the spot in Paris and managed to smuggle it
across to his brothers in Holland. The sums thus collected
were then shipped from the Dutch coast to Wellington's headquarters,
this transaction becoming easier as his troops advanced from the
west coast of France. In this way, a constant stream
of gold and silver in current French coin flowed to
the British Army, which was thus enabled to pay in

(36:38):
French money, whilst the allies advancing from the east were
deprived of any such cash resources. In the interests of
the brothers Rothchild the secret was exceedingly well kept. Harris
had every reason to be satisfied with his and his
country's relations with the foreign jew and did not grudge
him the enormous profits which he was making. In later years,

(36:59):
Nathan had stated that this was the best business he
had ever done. Meanwhile, the victorious Allies had advanced beyond
Frankfort and had established their general headquarters in that city.
The Emperor Alexander of Russia, the King of Prussia, and
the Emperor Francis met in the ancient city where the
Holy Roman emperors were crowned. Medinich came with them, rejoicing

(37:21):
in the triumph of his policy. The outward signs of
the great change in the political situation were therefore particularly
apparent at Frankfort, the home of the Rothchilds. It is
not surprising that the family regulated their future conduct accordingly.
As yet they had had no relations with Austrian statesmen,
But the brothers Rothchild now proceeded to sound members of

(37:43):
the imperial entourage with a view to getting an opening.
Accompanying Medinik was a previous acquaintance of Theirs Barbier, vice
President of the Austrian Treasury, who was responsible for the
financial arrangements of the Austrian Army. It was with him
that the unsuccessful negotiations were regarding the electoral loan had
been carried on. Amschkill accordingly called on him and attempted,

(38:05):
although at first with little success, to secure his interest
and that of his powerful master, Count Vaughan Metdinich. The
name of Metdterinich was now on everybody's lips. The success
of his policy had enormously strengthened the minister's position. It
was a fair assumption that in the future he would
exercise a very decisive influence in all matters affecting Austria,

(38:26):
even in financial matters, although they did not come strictly
within his province. In spite of his other outstanding qualities,
Medinich had not a sound economic sense, either in public
matters or in his private affairs. He spent money rather
thoughtlessly and extravagantly on his private account, and his natural
inclination was to make finance secondary to foreign policy rather

(38:48):
than the reverse. The Emperor Francis had repeatedly come to
the rescue of his minister with personal loans and had
waighed their repayment later. Medinich had also frequently had recourse
to varvarious bankers, including such Frankfort bankers as Bethman and
the brothers Milen. As far as can be ascertained, he
had had neither official nor personal relations with the Rothschild

(39:10):
family before the year eighteen thirteen. Medinich was conscious of
his own uncertainty in financial matters, and therefore relied largely
on the advice of his indispensable secretary and counselor, the
brilliant publicist Frederick Vaughan GenZ. This man had got to
know the Count intimately during the years eighteen o two
to eighteen o three, while he was still in the

(39:31):
Prussian civil service, and Medinich, who recognized his distinguished literary talent,
was ambassador at Dresden, and it was Mederinich who induced
him to transfer to the Austrian Civil service. Ghens was
even worse than Mederinich at managing his private affairs, and,
unlike the Count, was completely inscrupulous in getting money from
anybody he could, from his own or from foreign states,

(39:52):
from persons who desired orders or titles, and wherever opportunity offered.
In spite of this, and of the fact that he
often managed to earn considerable sums of money with his pen,
he was in a constant state of financial embarrassment owing
to his extravagant manner of life, and was repeatedly on
the verge of complete ruin. This, however, did not prevent

(40:13):
him from being always on the most intimate terms with
all the great men of his day, with poets and statesmen,
with princes and the higher nobility, as well as with
Jewish bankers and merchants. Humboldt knew him well, and Gerda
was interested in him too. Humboldt wrote to Gerda on
one occasion, you have perhaps heard that a few weeks
ago poor against when completely bankrupt. It is weakness and

(40:37):
not extravagance, that has brought him to this pass. Later
events were to give the lie to this statement of
Humboldt's it would scarcely have been possible for any one
to dissipate money more thoughtlessly and extravagantly than Gens. In
spite of these personal characteristics, Gense had a bent for
political economy and had taken a very good course in
that subject in England, where he stayed for some time.

(41:00):
While studying in that country, he had made the personal
acquaintance of Harry's, who translated several of his writings into
English and maintained a correspondence with him. He also told
him of the firm of Rothschild. Ghens did not stay
with Medinich at General headquarters, but he corresponded with him
constantly on financial matters. The Austrian state was again urgently

(41:21):
in need of funds for continuing hostilities, as it had
been decided to carry the war into the enemy's country
across the Rhine. The immediate problem was to convert into
cash the remaining installments of the subsidies from England. This
had been done hitherto by the four Viennese banking firms,
but the government was not very satisfied with their services,
and Ghents, for personal reasons, apparently was not on good

(41:45):
terms with them. He therefore wrote to Medinich to say that,
as far as he was aware, the four Viennese firms
had no exclusive right to conduct the financial affairs of
the state, and recommended the Frankfort banker Vaughan Hurs, But
he too proved to be very disapointing. He succeeded in
making several hundred thousand for himself, but got rid of
the bills at absurdly low rates, thereby also damaging English credit.

(42:09):
The problem as to who should carry through these transactions
still remained to be solved. A letter from Count Ugarte
to Mettinik indicated how much they were exercised. As to
the best means of getting the English money over, Ugarte
observed that in the past the English government had generally
sent the subsidies in cash and in gold and silver bars,
while only a small portion of them had been realized

(42:31):
through morcantile channels. Now, however, that the precious metals were
scarce in England too, this was difficult to arrange. We
have to reckon. He wrote that on the average at
least a third of the subsidies will be lost on
the rate of exchange, and this is another reason for
trying to get the amount of the subsidies increased to
as high a figure as possible, since if, for example,

(42:53):
six millions are sent over, we shall only be able
to realize four millions at the outside. This mark of
one of the highest Austrian government officials clearly reveals how
governments were taken advantage of in such transactions and what
huge profits were derived in the course of remitting these
sums from England to the continent. Now there were several
cogent reasons for the employment of Frankfort firms, they naturally

(43:17):
did what they could to bring influence to bear in
this direction. On Metternich and his advisers and Ambassador Baron
Vaughan Hugel pleaded the cause of the Frankfort bankers. He
had already on a previous occasion written to Count Stadium
to say that of all the cities in Germany, Frankfort
ought to be specially considered in connection with the financial
measures of the Imperial Court. He said that there was

(43:39):
no commercial center in Europe that would collaborate as readily
as Frankfort in efforts to improve Austria's credit to Crown
all Mednick simultaneously received a dispatch from the ambassador in London,
Baron Vaughan Wessenberg, stating that the four Vienna firms had
hopelessly mismanaged the realization of the English bills of exchange.
They had made the mistake of instrum directing no less

(44:00):
than four firms on the same day and in the
same market, to obtain bills on Paris and Amsterdam, so
that their joint action naturally forced up the rate of exchange.
The Imperial Treasury had thereby incurred a loss of thousands
of pounds, which would have been avoided if the business
had been carried through by a single firm, which would
not have feared the competition of its rivals. In accordance

(44:22):
with a memorandum of Metternichs, the Emperor Francis issued a
letter in which he strongly enjoined the person's concerned to
expedite the realization of the English subsidies as far as
this could be done without incurring substantial loss. He also
commanded that careful investigations were to be made as to
the most advantageous method of procedure, adding that since he
understood from a trustworthy source that the four firms had

(44:43):
not handled the matter in a practical way, and the
business could be carried through much more profitably from Frankfort.
No further contracts should be made with those firms unless
it could be shown that that was the best and
most certain method of achieving the desired object. Ugarte had
requested the four banking firms to send in a written
reply to the statement contained in Wessenberg's report, since he

(45:04):
himself was inclined to support them as they charged a
commission of only one quarter percent, and he instructed Barbier
at Frankfort to report as to whether the bills could
really have been cashed at a much higher figure in
that city. At this point Medinich intervened, also urging that
Frankfort should be considered. Thereupon, Ugarte summoned a secret commission
at Vienna, and this commission naturally pronounced in favor of

(45:27):
the four well established local banking firms, whose credits stood
high and who could be controlled more effectively as they
were on the spot. Meanwhile, Imperial headquarters had been shifted
to Freiburg in Switzerland, where against joined Medenich that iron
view of the conflict of opinion, The Emperor Francis dealt
with the matter by instructing Ugarte to do nothing for
the present. But as in the early months of eighteen fourteen,

(45:50):
the Allied armies advanced into France from all directions, and
the statesmen of the Allied powers were busily engaged alternately
in fighting and negotiating with Napoleon. It was all that
they could do to raise the money necessary for the
further conduct of the war. The firm of Rothschild at
Frankfort made every effort to get into touch with the
Austrian government, which was so sadly in need of funds,

(46:11):
and they knew through Nathan that it received large sums
from England. Nathan did all he could to achieve this object,
and had already secured the support of Harry's At the
beginning of eighteen fourteen, Amschkill Rothschild at Frankfort succeeded in
obtaining the order to issue the pay of the Imperial
officers who were passing through or stationed in Frankfort, the
accounts to be settled by the Austrian paymasters. That was

(46:34):
at any rate of start. Meantime, the shortage of money
at Army headquarters in Freiburg had become acute. The army
needed as much as two million golden a month, so
that further English subsidies which the English government had agreed
to under the Treaty of Chalmut, were exceedingly welcome. Austria
was to receive one million, six hundred and sixty six thousand,

(46:55):
six hundred and sixty six pounds two thirds, or a
monthly payment of one hundred and thirty eight thousand, eight
hundred and eighty eight pounds two thirds. In point of fact,
there was never occasion to pay out this sum, for
the Allies soon gained a decisive victory over Napoleon and
entered Paris on March thirty first, whereupon, after Napoleon's abdication,
the first piece of Paris was signed. The Elector immediately

(47:19):
sent his sincerest congratulations to the Emperor as the liberator
of Europe, as usual, accompanying this expression of feeling with
a request that he should be compensated for his losses.
The Elector had been a profitable example to the Rothschild family.
He was always importuning the authorities to protect his interests,
but he did so in rather an aggressive manner, whereas

(47:40):
the Rothschild brothers, though no less persevering, always contrived so
to frame their requests that they seemed to be concerned
only for the interests of the state or the person
with whom the decision lay. Austria had already received the
English payments due to her for the first three months
of the year. The installments for April and May were
still due, as well as a two payments for the

(48:01):
return of the army, a total of five hundred fifty
five thousand, five hundred and fifty five pounds one third
the remittance of which amount had to be arranged. The
firm of Rothschild put in for this business, and in
order to support it, Harries had proposed to Vienna that
Austria should arrange for the money to be sent through Frankfort.
In agreement with Nathan Rothschild, the Englishman, who regarded Frankfort

(48:23):
as the most important financial center in Germany, had appointed
his own plenipotentiary in that city, a certain Chevalier Vaughan Limberger,
who was to conduct any negotiations regarding subsidies. He was
a German Jew and the proprietor of an important tobacco
factory in Leipzig, but he enjoyed the confidence of the
English commissary General Harry's. Meanwhile, the Rothschild brothers had been

(48:46):
ceaselessly urging Barbier, who was still staying at Frankfort, to
avail himself of the services of their firm for the
financial affairs of the Austrian Imperial Government. They now decided,
with the assistance of Harry's and Limburger on life, launching
a final attack. On July twenty eighth, eighteen fourteen, two
of the Rothschilds called on Barbier on behalf of the

(49:08):
firm in general, and informed him that they had received
instructions from the Chevalier Vaughan Limberger, the plenipotentiary of the
English Commissary General, to ask whether Harry's proposals regarding the
settlement of the balance due to Austria of the English
subsidies for eighteen fourteen had been accepted at Vienna or not.
At the same time, the brother's Rothschild handed him a
letter in which they offered their services in that connection.

(49:31):
The letter was, Your Excellency, in accordance with the permission
graciously granted to us, we have the honor to offer
Your Highness our most obedient service and most humbly beg
your Excellency to honor us with your high confidence and
to commission us to realize your claims on London. As
our brother is himself established in London, we can easily

(49:52):
make use of bills on that city and enjoy many
advantages which enable us always to obtain the best price.
Your Excellency has had occasion to observe that we have
acquired large sums from London and Vienna with the intention
of ourselves profiting by such exceptional circumstances. If your Excellency
will lend a favorable ear to our petition, we shall

(50:12):
undertake most faithfully to serve your interests and to prove
the high value that we attach to your Excellency's gracious goodwill.
And in return for our efforts and our services, we
shall be absolutely satisfied with the Customary Trade Commission, Comforting
ourselves that you will favorably accede to our request. We
beg to remain with all due respect your Excellency's most

(50:33):
obedient servants, Meyer, Amskill, Wrothschild and sons. Not long afterwards
they wrote again, more succinctly, we beg most submissively to
inform your Excellency that today we are paying at the
rate of one hundred thirty two to the pound on
July twenty eighth, it would only have been one hundred
and twenty seven, and that we are appropriating two hundred
thousand pounds for this purpose and beg your confirmation of

(50:55):
our action. Barbier forwarded the two communications to guard Vienna
and felt it his duty to add that, in his opinion,
the offer should not be accepted, as Viennese firms and
Austrian subjects were entitled to be considered. He suggested, however,
that the proposals of Harry's and Limburger should be considered
even if the Rothschilds were not. Barbier did not know

(51:18):
at the time that the motive behind their proposals, although
hitherto they had only recommended Frankfort in general and had
not specifically mentioned the firm of Rothschild, was to secure
that the whole business should be taken over by the
House of Rothschild. He was soon to be enlightened on
this point. Karl Rothschild left him no peace. On August fifth,
he had another interview with Barbier and gave it as

(51:40):
his opinion that the English rate of exchange was then
very favorable. He stated that he had received a communication
from Limburger on the previous day, and in accordance therewith
he desired to make a definite and advantageous offer in
writing regarding the realization of the further subsidies due to Austria.
Barbier reported this offer to Vienna, adding that he had

(52:00):
taken no steps to conclude the arrangement, and ended by saying,
the House of Rothschild now does more business in English
paper than all other firms put together, and this may
be largely due to the fact that one member of
the firm is established in London and another in Paris,
and that the firm has to carry through several substantial
remittances of money on account of the English government itself.

(52:21):
The fundamental idea at the back of Harry's mind, a
plan that Nathan had inspired, was that, in view of
the English government's unfortunate experience of the methods of middlemen,
it should itself control the realization of the subsidies and
thereby prevent the frustration of its efforts for improving the
English rate of exchange. Whilst Nathan supported Harry's in these efforts,

(52:42):
he profited by the occasion to get his firm established
with the Continental powers, and to induce Harry's to entrust
him with the remittance of the English subsidies to the
three greatest powers, mindful that the connections thereby resulting would
enable the firm, in the course of time, to secure
other important business with the financial administrations of those powers
that I n this way, he hoped gradually to secure

(53:02):
for his firm a privileged position as state bankers to
the four principal powers that were engaged in defeating Napoleon.
A letter from the firm of Rothschild to Barbier, dated
frankfort August eighth, eighteen fourteen, while making constant defenses to
Harry's and Limburger, already entered into details concerning the remittance
of the remaining five hundred thousand pounds. This serving as

(53:24):
an introduction to the following proposal, which concluded the letter.
If your Excellency should be prepared to regard this unofficial
proposal as acceptable, we would not fail to inform her
von Limberger of your views, after which we may be
in a position most dutifully to submit a formal offer.
Whereas Barbier and the Treasury official Schwinner, who was on

(53:45):
his staff, had hitherto dealt only with such firms as Bethmann, Metzler,
Wertheimber et cetera. The firm of Rothschild had now entered
the field with the determination to drive all rivals out
of it. The offer was duly sent in and forwarded
to v Vienna by Barbier. At the same time he
observed to Rothschild that it was too vague to be accepted,

(54:06):
and that this was not an ordinary banking transaction subject
to the usual business risks, but was based on the
proposal of the English Commissary General, and was therefore of
an official nature. Rothchild replied that Limburger was shortly coming
to Paris, and that he had therefore not been able
to frame his proposals. More definitely, the Austrian Treasury would
not have to pay any commission in respect to such transactions,

(54:29):
although in all similar business which his firm had had
to carry through for the English government it had received
a commission of two percent. All he wanted was an
opportunity to demonstrate his zeal on behalf of the Imperial Court.
Rothchild proceeded to enter into details as to the method
by which he proposed to carry through the transaction, as
he was hereby able, incidentally to relate that the firm

(54:51):
of Rothchild had already carried through similar business on an
enormous scale for Russia and Prussia. At that time England
had to pay ten million failers to Russia and five
million to Prussia. She agreed that this payment should not
be immediately affected by bills of exchange, but should be
made in monthly installments of a million thailers. It was

(55:11):
further indicated that if the two states required the money
at an earlier date, bankers could temporarily advance the amount.
Knowing of this term in the contract, Nathan had told
his brothers at Frankfort immediately to advance money to Prussia
and Russia. These advances were actually made, so that at
his interview with Barbier, Rothschild was able proudly to inform

(55:32):
him that his firm had advanced to the Russian court
four million gulden in cash, and that his elder brother
Solomon had gone to Berlin to carry through this important business.
A few days later, Rothschild further informed Barbier, with the
object of impressing him that his firm had received payments
of the value of seven hundred and fifty thousand francs
in English crowns, and that this amount could also be

(55:53):
applied to a settlement of the subsidies in the meantime,
countu Guarte's reply to Barbier's communications of July twenty eighth
and August first, in which Barbier had first informed him
of Rothschild's offers, was received as your excellency quite rightly,
observes wrote the Count. It will be more profitable and
safe for Austria, in realizing the English subsidies, to use

(56:15):
native firms that enjoy the protection of her government than
to have recourse to foreign firms over which her government
has no control and in which one cannot have the
confidence necessary for such extensive operations, as one would have
no control over their activities and they would not be
able to offer security for the very considerable sum zentrusteedto them.

(56:37):
Bugarte also expressed the view that in any case, it
would appear more advantageous to discount the English bills at Vienna,
as the pound in that city was dealt in at
nine golden three kreutzers, whereas according to the latest report
it was only worth nine golden at Frankfort. There can
therefore be no question, he continued, of accepting the firm

(56:57):
of Rothschild's offer to take over twenty thousand pounds durling
at the price they have suggested of eight point four
to eight gulden. The Wrothchild proposal was therefore declined for
the time being. Bugarde had failed to be convinced, and
even Barbier had not been won over by the brother's Rothschild. However,
they did not lie down under this refusal. As they

(57:19):
knew that the English government was working through Commissary General
Harry's on whom Nathan was bringing all his influence to bear,
to get these financial transactions entrusted to them. They never
thought of relaxing their efforts in that direction. Limburger had
just arrived at Frankfort with new instructions from England, and
Amskill thereupon wrote personally to Barbier, most honored, Sir Gracious

(57:42):
Vice President, we have the honor most dutifully to inform
your Excellency, in accordance with instructions, that the Chevalier Vaughan
Limberg has arrived here with the purpose of negotiating with
the three ministers or commissars sick of the high powers
regarding the outstanding subsidy. We repeat our request for your
high commands, and are with great respect and devotion your

(58:04):
Excellency's most obedient servants, Meyer Amskill, Rothschild and Sons, Frankfort,
August twenty second, eighteen fourteen. The uneducated style of this letter,
written by a member of the second generation of the family,
since it had risen into prominence, contrasted strongly with other
communications from the firm, which were only signed by one

(58:25):
of the chiefs. Such communications, indeed, in contrast with the
practice of most bankers of that time, were always models
of style and calligraphy, and therefore very easily read and understood,
a fact which made a good impression on the government departments,
who appreciated them as being above the usual standard. When, however,
a Rothschild unexpectedly took the pen into his own hands,

(58:48):
his style and spelling immediately revealed the low standard of
education obtaining in their father's house. This did not, however,
proved to be the slightest obstacle to the development of
their commercial dearth. It merely provoked understanding smiles from the
diplomats and highly placed persons with whom they had to deal.
As Austria was not inclined to accept the Rothchild offers,

(59:11):
greater pressure had to be brought to bear by England,
and it was decided accordingly to send Limburger to Vienna.
The statement that Karl Rothschild had made to Barbier regarding
his firm's financial dealings with Prussia and Russia was in
accordance with the facts. Harries had gone to Paris to
carry through the subsidy negotiations with the representatives of the
powers personally, and to convert them to Nathan's system, under

(59:34):
which the subsidy payments would not be effected by drawing
bills on London at considerable loss to both parties, but
through payments quietly carried through by the brothers Rothchild on
the continent. In Paris, James Rothchild, who was most familiar
in that city, had placed himself at the disposal of
the Commissary General, and he was in turn introduced by
Harris to the representatives of the victorious powers who were

(59:57):
staying there. As a negotiator was required for the discussions
at Berlin, Solomon was instructed to travel from Frankfort to
the Prussian capital and carry on the detailed negotiations there.
In this way, the five brothers played cleverly into each
other's hands, and, just as their father had contemplated, gave
one another complimentary support in all undertakings. France had undertaken

(01:00:20):
under a convention dated May twenty eighth, eighteen fourteen, to
pay the Allied powers twenty five million francs as a
lump sum representing contributions that had not been levied in
stores that had been left behind. Austria's share of this
money was eight and two thirds million francs. France deposited
as securities for this amount papers known as Bone's Royal,

(01:00:41):
and the firm of Rothschild immediately applied for the business
of caching these in Paris at a commission of one
half percent. Rothschild again called on Barbier and attempted to
secure this business for his firm as far as Austria
was concerned, too. He was careful to mention that he
had already been entrusted with a sisimilar transaction by Russia,
and that two hundred and fifty thousand new Dutch ran ducats,

(01:01:04):
which were destined for Russia, had already been deposited with
his firm. He brought a written application in support of
his suggestion, and submitted to Barbier letters from the most
important business firms in Paris, from which it appeared that
monetary conditions were so easy that the bonds could be
negotiated at a very desirable rate at that time, if
you should be graciously pleased, the letter ran to take

(01:01:26):
advantage of these favorable circumstances and to entrust us with
the discounting of the bones royo belonging to the Royal
and Imperial government. You shall have no cause to complain
of the industry and care with which our brother, who
is living in Paris, will carry through this business. We
would always duly pay over to your Excellency exactly what
we received for the securities, subject to the customary commission

(01:01:48):
of one half percent, with which we should be fully satisfied.
Without replying to the brother's Rothschild, Barbier submitted this letter
with some relevant observations of his own, to Ugarte, adding
that certain other firms, including beth Man, had also applied
for the business. The Rothschilds were endeavoring at the same
time to secure a third piece of business, which was

(01:02:10):
just then offered. An agreement had been arrived at between
the Prussian Finance Minister and the Austrian Governor General of
Belgium under which a sum of nine million, five hundred
thousand francs was to be paid by the Belgian treasury
to the three Eastern Powers in equal proportions on account
of the expenses of occupation. Knowing of this arrangement, one
of the brothers dropped the remark casually in the presence

(01:02:32):
of Barbier that the firm of Rothschild had recently sent
eighty thousand gold napoleons to Brussels and would shortly have
to transmit to that city further large sums of money
on England's account. Barbier recollected the fact that Austria was
to receive this payment in Belgium, and in view of
what he had just heard, he thought it would be
well for the firm of Rothschild to deal with this matter,

(01:02:53):
and asked whether they would undertake the business. Rothchild immediately
pledged himself to pay out any amount with which she
received in Brussels in franks, in thailers or good bills
of exchange at Frankfort after deducting one half percent commission.
Barbier was entirely dependent on Vienna. In such matters, he
had first to report to Count Ugarte and wait for

(01:03:14):
his decision. At that time, quite an interval had to
elapse before a reply could be received to a letter,
and government departments were also exceedingly slow in dealing with correspondents.
The brothers Rothschild submitted a detailed plan to Barbier regarding
the remittance of the money from Brussels on July twenty ninth,
concluding with the words, we shall request your excellency one

(01:03:36):
half percent commission for our expenses and trouble, beyond which
you will not have to bear any further expense whatever.
If on the arrival of the money here we can
secure more favorable terms for your excellency, we shall certainly
not fail to furnish you with such proofs of our disinterestedness.
The use of the word disinterested is not entirely to

(01:03:57):
be sneered at, often, especially when as in this instance,
they desired to gain a new customer. The firm of
Rothschild was wont to emphasize that it was particularly concerned
with the interests of the other party to the transaction,
and business was often undertaken at a quite modest profit,
sometimes even at a loss, with a view to securing
much more important business at a future date, whereby any

(01:04:18):
such loss would be made good. It was exactly the
same principle that old Rothschild had applied in his dealings
with the Elector of Hesse, when, at the beginning of
their connection he sold him coins and antiques far under
their real value. This principle had paid for by eighteen fourteen,
the Rothschilds were doing business that ran into millions. Barbier

(01:04:39):
faithfully transmitted to Vienna all the offers that were made
to him, and received Ugarte's reply a month later. This
was not favorable to the foreign Jews and showed a
preference for relying on native bankers. He could not, however,
entirely ignore Barbier's suggestion regarding the transfer of the money
from Brussels. He therefore wrote to say that he considered

(01:05:01):
Rothschild's offer to be generally acceptable, but limited the amount
which they were to handle to about one half of
the total, and in order to avoid all risk, he
instructed Barbier to arrange with the firm of Rothschild that
the receipt for payment at the treasury in Brussels should
not be handed to them until the sum had been
paid in cash or in good Augsburg bills, or appropriate
security had been furnished. Barbier hastened to arrange an interview

(01:05:24):
with the firm of Rothschild and with the firm of Gaunted,
who were collaborating with them, but he could not persuade
them to agree to carry through the business on such terms.
In spite of their desire to enter into relations with Austria,
they wanted at least to have the advantage of being
able to dispose of such a large sum for a
short space of time, during which they could have employed
it very profitably within the scope of their numerous activities.

(01:05:48):
They were also somewhat offended at such a demonstration of
lack of faith. The heads of these firms observed to
me on this point, wrote Barbier to Ugarte, that these
conditions were not at all customs in such transactions, and
might indeed be prejudicial to their credit. That certainly no
other firm would accept such conditions, and that in a
business in which they were charging only an exceedingly modest Commission,

(01:06:11):
they could not make advances in cash, especially at a
time when they had so many other opportunities of employing
their funds much more profitably. Rothschild further remarked that much
greater sums were entrusted to him by the English government,
and that other governments also did not fail to accord
him similar confidence, while several millions of gulden that belonged

(01:06:33):
to the Elector of Hesse Castle and were invested in
government loans in London, Vienna, et cetera, were simply inscribed
in his name. Barbier admitted the general justice of the
Rothschild's contention, but said he could not take bills that
had not been accepted or endorsed by a substantial firm,
as in that case he would have no security except
the property of the drawer. Although, as he wrote, the

(01:06:54):
firm of Rothschild, as well as that of Gaunt It
are known to have very solid resources, and, together with
several other firms in them second class as regards their resources,
enjoy a very good reputation and a no less extensive credit. Bethman,
with whom Barbier next negotiated, stated that he would be
doing the business at a loss, and that he must

(01:07:16):
ask for a higher commission. On Barbier pointing out that
Rothschild had only asked for one half percent, and that
Bethman must therefore realize that it would be difficult to
get a higher commission approved. Bethman replied that Rothchild could
carry through the business much more easily than he could
because he had to make considerable payments to the English
troops in the Netherlands on account of the English government. Limburger,

(01:07:39):
also to whom Barbier applied, refused to handle the business,
since his authority extended only to the payment to the
three allied courts of the English subsidies still outstanding. At
the same time, he remarked that in accordance with the
instructions which he had received, he was leaving the subsidy
business to the direction and personal supervision of the firm

(01:07:59):
of Rothschild, since these transactions required the co operation of
an active banker with very good connections, and that that
firm had actually to make considerable payments for the English
troops and would therefore be able more easily than any
other to deal with the remittances in question. In spite
of this new offensive in favor of the house of Rothschild.
The business was entrusted to Bethman on the ground that

(01:08:20):
the property of that house was well known to be
so great as to require no other security than a
duly binding contract or a debenture. This was a triumph
of Bethman over Rothchild, and it was due to the
fact that the importance and financial greatness of the firm
of Rothschild, which at that time was still a very
recent date, was not appreciated at Vienna, and even Barbier

(01:08:41):
had more faith in the old Christian firm of Bethman
than in the upstart Jewish firm. Nathan was annoyed at
this failure, but was all the more obstinately determined to
gain his object. However, before this could happen, Bugarte would
have to make way for a new man at Vienna,
Count Stadion and Barbier would have to be one over,
which was not accomplished until eighteen fifteen in Paris. For

(01:09:05):
the moment, the assiduous attempts of the firm of Rothschild
to obtain big business with Austria had failed, and it
had to content itself with the modest duties of handling
the Austrian War Commissariat account at Frankfort, which indeed served
to maintain its connection with the financial departments of the
Austrian government. From the foregoing description of the nature of
the business transactions of the Rothschild family, it is evident

(01:09:27):
that they were mainly concerned with overcoming the tremendous difficulties
to which international monetary dealings were subject, owing to the
political conditions of those days and the backward state of communications.
Baron Vaughan Hugel's elaborate report as to the way in
which a sum of eight thousand, three hundred and fifty
three gulden and seventy four Kreutzers could most safely and
cheaply be sent from Frankfort to Vienna make strange reading today.

(01:09:51):
At first he wanted to entrust the amount to a
non commissioned officer who was leaving for the Imperial City
with a consignment of official documents. But on reflection, he
thought it was too dangerous to entrust such a large
sum to a soldier, as one could never tell what
chance accidents might befall him on the way, and in
danger the property confided to him. After such pondering, Hugo

(01:10:11):
finally had recourse to the Rothchilds and asked them whether
they could not issue a bill on Vienna for the amount.
The firm replied that they were prepared to issue such
a document and to make it a bill payable at sight,
but that they would have to charge a commission of
one percent a sum of eighty three point three zero Gulden,
which sum was certainly less than the cost of sending
the remittance by post chaise. Such special circumstances yielded opportunities

(01:10:36):
of profit, which the Rothchild family most skillfully exploited by
establishing a kind of clearing house between the three brothers
in London, Paris and Frankfort, and this system was soon
extended to Vienna. Nathan was the father of this idea.
Although the third son, he was more and more tending
to become the directing brain of the firm. His association

(01:10:58):
with Harry's, who relied upon him to an increasing extent,
although concealed from the public, became increasingly intimate and more profitable,
both politically and financially. The services rendered by Nathan not
only covered an extensive field, but were also most varied
in their nature. After the fall of Napoleon, to which
Nathan's financial measures in support of the Allies and of

(01:11:19):
Wellington had contributed not a little. His business expanded in
a quite unprecedented manner. Thereupon, he immediately availed himself of
every opportunity of rendering services to the Bourbons, who had
returned to France with the support of the Allies, thus
smoothing the path for his brother James in Paris. The
exiled Bourbonair, who was later King Louis the eighteenth, had

(01:11:40):
been living at Hartwell in Buckinghamshire since eighteen o seven.
When the Allies invaded France in eighteen fourteen, he appealed
to his divine right to the throne and decided to
go to Paris immediately after the fall of Napoleon. However,
he lacked the money necessary to undertake the journey and
make his appearance in France with the magnificence proper to

(01:12:00):
a king. The King applied to the English Treasury requesting
it to advance the necessary capital, as French currency and
bills on Paris were required. The application was sent to
Harries to deal with, and he called in Nathan. Nathan
was delighted to have such an early opportunity of proving
himself useful to Louis the eighteenth, and with the assistance

(01:12:21):
of his brother James in Paris, he acquired bills payable
in that city to the value of two hundred thousand
English pounds. He placed them speedily at the disposal of
the new king, and thus made it possible for him
to land at Calais on April twenty sixth, eighteen fourteen,
and to enter Paris on May third, Although to Harry's
considerable satisfaction, Nathan carefully preserved the close veil of secrecy

(01:12:45):
covering his activities and let Harris get most of the credit,
whilst he contented himself with the commercial profit and the
fact that the transactions served to introduce him to other governments.
On this occasion, Nathan was careful to see that the
newly established monarch learned of his share in the transaction,
for this seemed to him to be of great importance
for the future position of the firm of Rothschild in France.

(01:13:07):
The development of this branch business was to be entrusted
to James, who had already made himself at home in Paris,
and who was widely traveled. Although he was only twenty
two years old at the time his appearance, it is true,
was not exactly prepossessing. He looked very Jewish. He had
red hair and deep set eyes and a good complexion,

(01:13:27):
but he had a wide mouth, a prominent, hooked nose,
and pursed up lips. During his earlier years in Paris
he showed an almost servile politeness to every one. He
had obviously acquired the habit at Frankfort, where the status
of the Jews was very low, but as he grew
more successful and his position improved, he gradually lost it. Moreover,

(01:13:49):
James was an exceedingly acute, honorable, and clever banker, whose
talents can be rated only a little below those of
his brother Nathan. Above all, he had a fair share
of the others abundant energy in the life of feverish
activity which developed in Paris after the conquest of that city,
when officers, diplomats, bankers and business men flocked to it

(01:14:10):
from all sides. James was absolutely in his element. He
was seen everywhere in government offices as well as on
the bourse and in diplomatic circles, and made great efforts
to establish himself in society. He actively supported Harris and
his brother Nathan in their efforts to cache the English
subsidies without depressing the rate of exchange, and Nathan was

(01:14:31):
able to show in a report to the English Treasury
that hundreds of thousands were saved by the new method.
Under the Paris Treaty of May tenth, eighteen fourteen, the
French government had undertaken to meet certain obligations incurred by
responsible officials, either in France itself or in the conquered territories.
To collect these amounts, the creditors found it necessary to

(01:14:52):
employ middlemen. James was appointed as the agent of numerous
banks and organizations that had claims of this nature, and
d he was also engaged in the interests of the
Elector of Hesse and other minor German princes. His personal
mode of life was exceedingly modest. He lived above a
small courtyard. Although his business dealings had not only won

(01:15:13):
him the respect of commercial circles but had also brought
him substantial profit, he had already decided ultimately to settle
in Paris, just as Nathan had taken up permanent residence
in England. He was, however, not in such a hurry
as his brother to get naturalized, partly because he wanted
to watch the course of developments in France after the
stormy time of the Revolution and the Napoleonic period, and

(01:15:36):
since France could not at that time place any obstacles
in the way of a subject of the victorious Powers,
he wanted to register his own firm in Paris if
occasion should arise. The powers were always ready to exert
diplomatic pressure in favor of their subjects. James did, in
fact register his business without getting naturalized, his name appearing
in the Paris Trade Almanac for eighteen fourteen as resident

(01:15:59):
in the Rue de Place. Whilst the House of Rothschild
was getting well established in Western Europe through the activities
of the two brothers in its native town, it had
to fight for recognition owing to the aversion of the
citizens to the Jews. The growing wealth of the Rothschild
family at the expense of Christian firms was viewed with
displeasure at Frankfort. Butterus had completely succeeded in eliminating their rivals.

(01:16:24):
The firm of van Notton at Amsterdam had put up
a fight longest, but that firm also failed to survive.
Butterus's systematic propaganda with the Elector. In a letter dated
May thirteenth, eighteen fourteen, Butterus had written to the electoral
Planetpotenchiary Lornz at London, expressing his dislike of that firm
in the following words forty nine. The worthy bankers van

(01:16:46):
Notughton must be small minded people. On one occasion, when
I was very hard pressed because I was waiting for
assistance from England, I drew thirty five thousand pounds on them.
They showed the most extraordinary anxiety about the repayment of
this sum. I hope they are now easy in their minds.
The Rothschild bankers at Frankfort, on the other hand, have

(01:17:08):
advanced over half a million and have rendered services of
every kind in a cheerful spirit. Deuterus did not fail
to express similar views to the Elector, so that the
rivals of the brothers Rothschild had the ground completely cut
from under their feet. As far as the Hessian Prince
was concerned, the Frankfort Jews had nothing to fear from
Austria and Prussia. When Grand Duke Dalberg left Frankfort, the

(01:17:31):
firm of Rothschild was a creditor of his for considerable sums,
including the following items twenty two thousand, nine hundred golden
for supplying flower to France, seventy one thousand, one hundred
eighty one golden advanced in connection with the transactions affecting
the fold of property, and fifty thousand golden advanced to
Dalberg on account of the Jewish tax commutation payment which

(01:17:52):
was not yet due. Baron Vaughan Hugel, who after the
occupation of Frankfort, took part in its civil administration, charged
all these claims to the city budget. On Amschkik's application
to the Great indignation of the Senate, the city finances
were in a state of confusion, but the claims of
the House of Rothschild seemed to have been satisfied. The

(01:18:13):
inhabitants of Frankfort particularly grudged the Jews the equal political
rights which they had obtained. It was held by methods
of indirect bribery. The threatened attitude of their native town
caused the brothers Rothschild to be seriously concerned about the
future of the parent company on which their power was founded.
They decided to make every effort to prevent the Jews

(01:18:33):
of Frankfort from losing any of those rights which they
had bought during Dalberg's regime. The new constitution of Frankfort,
and therefore the decision regarding the future status of the Jews,
was one of the questions to be settled by the
Vienna Congress, which was to meet on October first, eighteen fourteen.
The choice of Vienna was not very acceptable to the Rothschilds,

(01:18:54):
for Austria was the state which had hitherto so obstinately
refused to enter into close business relations with them, and
her statesmen such as Ugarte still did not really trust
the upstart Jewish firm at Frankfort. Moreover, the Rothchilds well
knew the strict police control to which foreign Jews were
subjected at Vienna, and how greatly all Jews were restricted

(01:19:15):
in their freedom to do business in Austria. As they
were determined, however, to secure the desired business connections with
the Austrian state, they were not tempted to make the
realization of their plan more difficult through possible conflicts with
the police authorities at Vienna. Such considerations caused the House
of Rothschild to refrain from sending a member of the

(01:19:35):
family there. The Frankfort, Israelites sent old Bourns, Jacob Baruch
and J. J. Gumprecht as their representatives. They were closely
watched by the Viennese police. Indeed, their expulsion was ordered
and sanctioned by the Emperor himself, but Medinick intervened and
prevented this from being carried out. Medinich's intervention was probably

(01:19:57):
due to the fact that he had known Baruk when
he was ambassador at Frankfort. There is no proof that
Rothschild had any particular influence with the minister. At that time,
the Jewish representatives at Vienna adopted the method of giving presents.
Thus they offered Humble three magnificent emerald rings or four
thousand ducats presents, which he refused, whereas against gladly allowed

(01:20:19):
himself to be bribed. The brothers Rothschild had of course
contributed to these funds, but they still kept quite in
the background. The general discussions of the proud assemblage of
princes and diplomats at Vienna took their course and sometimes
went through critical phases. At one time, indeed, it seemed
as though two main groups of powers would form, the

(01:20:40):
differences between which threatened war This seemed to Napoleon, who
was fully informed at Elba of all developments, to be
a suitable moment for putting into execution his plans of
returning and regaining the throne. On March first, he landed
on French soil with a handful of faithful adherents. Weeks later,
the magic of his name had reinstated him in the

(01:21:02):
Palace of the Tilleries in Paris Louis the eighteenth, and
his court had fled from the capital. Napoleon hoped not
only that the Congress of Vienna would collapse, but that
some of the powers represented there would adopt his cause. Actually,
nothing of the kind occurred. While negotiations at Vienna had
hitherto hung fire, it was now clear to everybody that

(01:21:24):
delay was dangerous and that quick action was essential. The
powers unanimously turned against the disturber of the peace and
determined on concerted action. The other matters were settled hastily,
and half measures were sanctioned, such as the constitution of
the German Confederation. This formed thirty nine communities into a
confederation of states, each one of which was to remain

(01:21:47):
independent while having a common governing body with Austria, presiding
over the Federal Diet, whose seat was to be Frankfort.
On the main, it was in Metternich's interest to keep
Germany disunited controversial men matters such as the Jewish problem,
were to be discussed later by the Federal Diet, while
in the meantime existing arrangements were to remain unaltered in
the individual states. Medinik informed the plenipotentiaries of the Israelite

(01:22:12):
communities in Germany of this decision, assuring them that the
Federal Diet would respect the welfare of the Israelites and
that he himself would urge that full rights of citizenship
be conferred on the Jews. This was good news, and
the delegates hastened to send a copy of Medinik's statement
to the House of Rothschild, anxiously waiting tidingsat Frankfort. However,

(01:22:32):
the time had not yet come to raise this question.
It was far more important to overthrow Napoleon, who was
again collecting his military resources in France. On March twenty fifth,
eighteen fifteen, the four principal powers had renewed their alliance.
Each of them undertook to provide one hundred and fifty
thousand men, except England, which undertook to send subsidies instead

(01:22:55):
of the full amount of troops. Napoleon was to be
finally destroyed by a joint effort. It was therefore again
necessary to arrange to transfer the subsidy payments from England
to the various continental powers, and substantial sums would have
to be paid to Prussia and Austria. Prussia particularly was
again in great financial embarrassment, and unless this were immediately relieved,

(01:23:17):
her future military action would suffer. Harry's and Nathan now
redoubled their feverish activities. Toward the end of April, Nathan
sent in one installment the sum of two hundred thousand
pounds to the Prussian government. It was conveyed by Solomon,
who traveled to Berlin for this purpose. When this amount
proved inadequate, Solomon, without previously consulting Nathan, granted a further

(01:23:41):
advance of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds on the
security of the English subsidy, at a rate which was
certainly very profitable to himself. Harries retrospectively sanctioned this operation.
Not only did he make no objection, but he also
allowed England to assume the considerable loss on exchange which
Solomon's high rate of profit had meant for the Prussian government.

(01:24:03):
His profit was not Solomon's only gain on this transaction.
In return for his ready willingness to advance such a
heavy sum on his own responsibility, the Prussian government conferred
on him the title of commercial Adviser, a distinction that
raised him above the majority of his rivals. Meanwhile, in Austria,
a change had taken place in the direction of the
government's finances. Count u Garde had retired, his place, being

(01:24:26):
taken by Count Stadion, the gifted and eminent statesman, who
was such a bitter opponent of Napoleon. Having hitherto been
engaged exclusively in diplomatic matters, he had not as yet
made himself familiar with finance. He therefore entered upon his
new office with some misgivings. Grill Partzer, who thought so
highly of Stadian that he described him as having more

(01:24:48):
character than any other person he had ever met, noted
in his diary that Stadian had himself admitted to possessing
very little knowledge of finance, in spite of his greatness
in other directions. A finance dance ministers such as this
would naturally seem an easy mark for clever bankers and
financiers who were out to get business. In view of
the change of atmosphere at Vienna and the added prospect

(01:25:10):
of new English subsidies, the brothers Rothschild immediately made themselves
felt again, both indirectly through Harry's and Limburger and by
direct applications to the Austrian government. However, Stadian as yet
knew little about them, and as Nathan's heavy transactions were
still purposely kept in the background, he had no information
about these either, so that his whole knowledge regarding the

(01:25:32):
origin and business of the House of Rothschild was exceedingly vague.
He suddenly noticed that Meyer, Amskill and sons described themselves
as I and are Crown agents in a letter and
signed themselves as such. Stadian inquired at the Foreign Office
about this from Metternich, who had been advanced to the
rank of Prince after the Battle of Leipzig, stating that

(01:25:52):
he could not understand their signing in this way, since
the Treasury had no knowledge as to when and in
what connection the Rothchilds had acquired this title from the
Austrian Court. In view of the inferences that might be
drawn from its use, he felt it his duty to
ask Medenich for further information on the matter. The following
reply to this note was received. With reference to your

(01:26:13):
inquiry regarding the title of Imperial Royal Crown Agents assumed
by the Frankfort business firm of Rothschild, the Secretary of
State has the honor to inform you that there is
no record in his department of that title having been
granted to the said firm, and that he has no
information whatever on the matter. The fact was that the
Rothchilds had not signed as Imperial royal as Stadian thought,

(01:26:34):
but as Imperial Crown Agents, as they were entitled to
do in accordance with the decree of January twenty ninth,
eighteen hundred, issued by Emperor Francis in his then capacity
of Roman German Emperor. In any case, the incident showed
the extent to which the Rothschild family were distrusted in Austria.
In Frankfort, also, they met with every kind of opposition

(01:26:56):
in order to hinder them in the development of their
constantly increasing business. Attempt was made to force the two brothers,
who were living at Frankfort into the army. In view
of the special efforts being made to raise men to
resist the return of Napoleon, they turned anxiously to Nathan
for help, and he determined to use this opportunity of
intervention for addressing a homily to Austria, as he realized

(01:27:17):
that very definite pressure would have to be brought to
bear from England if Austria were at last to be
roped in as a customer. The House of Rothschild had
already established a virtual monopoly in carrying out the subsidy
arrangements of the island Kingdom. Nathan went to Harris and
acquainted him with the situation, and Harries induced the Foreign
Office to make representations to her Vaughan Newman, Austrian Councilor

(01:27:39):
of Embassy in London, in accordance with which Newman commended
the House of Rothschild to Baron Vaughan Hugel, the Austrian
plenipotentiary at Frankfort. His letter ran as follows, Sir, the
English Government has requested me most particularly to command to
your Excellency's consideration, the House of Rothschild at Frankfort, which
carried out the transfer of our subsidies. This firm is

(01:28:03):
represented by several brothers, one of whom is established here
and is employed by the British Government in connection with
all their principal financial operations on the continent. By reason
of the confidence which he enjoys and the extensive nature
of his operations, both he and his brothers have incurred
the envy of the Frankfort bankers to such an extent
that an attempt has been made to torment torment here

(01:28:25):
than by forcing them to do military service. As the
English government appears to be most anxious that this firm
should not be annoyed in any way, and as this
appears to be a matter that directly concerns our service,
I felt that I ought not to fail to transmit
this request. I therefore ask your Excellency to grant that
firm every help and protection that lies in your power.

(01:28:46):
Baron Vaughan Hugel immediately forwarded this letter to Vienna, where
it was submitted to Medinek and Stadion, and it did
not fail. Of its effect. No further opposition was offered
to the Rothschild brothers undertaking the transfer of the subsidies,
and in general, the interstate financial transactions were all carried
through more easily since Stadian allowed his officials abroad much

(01:29:07):
greater scope than had Ugarte. The new Finance Minister was
inclined to leave more to their personal initiative and judgment,
as he realized that they, being on the spot, were
in a better position to know what conditions were, and
as the cumbrous methods of communication made it impracticable to
correspond on matters requiring an uny mediate decision. At this time,
Hems himself visited Frankfort, where his Commissioner Limburger was negotiating

(01:29:31):
with the Treasury Commissioner Shwinner in regard to the amounts
to be paid to Austria, which Stadian would have liked
to receive in coin or bullion. Harris emphatically demanded that
in this matter the House of Rothschild should be granted
as free a hand as possible. Napoleon's return had suddenly
upset their plans and made new measures necessary, and the
Commissary General and Nathan were kept exceedingly busy in the

(01:29:54):
campaign against the Bold Adventure. The most important thing was
to raise cash, an especially French currency, as they could
not obtain French coins anywhere. Harrys, on Nathan's advice, had
gold Lewis minted in order to supply the armies. In
the middle of June, Napoleon resumed the campaign. France was
supporting him only half heartedly, for after all these wars,

(01:30:16):
every one was longing for peace and was willing even
to put up with foreign invasion. Now, however, the French
were faced again with a demand for new sacrifices in
blood and treasure, and with a struggle against superior forces.
For a short time, the fortune of war seemed again
to smile upon Napoleon. But as early as June eighteenth,
eighteen fifteen, the Emperor of France met his fate at Waterloo.

(01:30:41):
He was completely and decisively beaten. Abdication, captivity, and banishment
to Saint Helena were the result. On the resumption of
hostilities in France, Harry's and Nathan had returned to London
and were anxiously awaiting news of the result of the conflict.
Nathan and his brothers had always made a particular point
of letting one another have news as speedily as possible,

(01:31:03):
either directly or through their business friends, of any important
event that might influence their business or be a determining
factor in new undertakings. Nathan had promised prizes for the
most speedy supply of news to boats sailing between England
and the continent. He also instructed his agents throughout the
world to give him the earliest possible report regarding the

(01:31:23):
outcome of the expected conflict. Such measures were of particular
importance at that time because none of the modern methods
of conveying news had been invented, the stage post, that is,
a series of messengers, being the usual way of obtaining
it quickly. Nathan's arrangements worked perfectly for the Battle of Waterloo.
One of his agents, whose name was Rothworth, waited at

(01:31:45):
Ostend for news of the result. He succeeded in obtaining
the first newspaper account of the successful issue of the battle,
and with a copy of the Dutch Gazette fresh from
the printers, he caught a boat just sailing for London.
He entered the British camp capital very early in the
morning of June twentieth and immediately reported to Nathan, who
conveyed the news of victory to Harry's and threw him

(01:32:07):
to the British government. The government were at first skeptical,
as they had not received any direct information, and Wellington's envoy,
Major Henry Percy, did not arrive with the Field Marshal's
report until the twenty first of June. The members of
the British government were tremendously impressed by Nathan's advanced knowledge
of such an important event, and when this became generally known,

(01:32:28):
the public, who were just beginning to learn of the
extent to which Nathan was employed by the English Treasury,
began to invent all manner of legends regarding the method
by which Nathan had acquired this knowledge and the manner
in which he had exploited it. Some said that he
had a private service of carrier pigeons, others that he
had been personally present at the Battle of Waterloo and
had ridden to the coast at top speed. In order

(01:32:51):
to make the story more romantic, he was said to
have found heavy storms raging when he reached the channel,
and to have crossed at the risk of his life.
Nathan was also alleged to have exploited the news on
the Stock Exchange, thus at one stroke, creating the enormous
fortunes of the Rothschilds. Nathan naturally applied the early information
that he had obtained to his own profit in his

(01:33:12):
business dealings. But the substantial part of the fortune of
the Rothchilds had been amassed through the profits realized in
the financial transactions which have already been described. The successful
issue of the Battle of Waterloo merely served to increase
it and to open up wider fields for profitable business
in the future. This was all the more so as
England had been victorious and Nathan had t ransforred the

(01:33:33):
center of gravity of the Rothschild business to her side.
In spite of the fortunate issue of the campaign, which
had lasted barely six days, England continued to pay the
subsidies to the Continental powers. The House of Rothschild was
for instance, instructed by the English Treasury, that is, by
Hems and Nathan, to pay Austria two hundred seventy seven thousand,

(01:33:55):
seven hundred seventy seven pounds on demand for the months
of August and September. This amount not to be subject
to any discount, so that Austria should receive it in full.
The commission due to the brothers Rothschild was paid by
England herself. The payments were continued up to and including December,
Stadion had expressed the wish that as much coin as

(01:34:17):
possible be sent. This made the transfer more difficult and
produced a fall in the exchange. It was due to
the continuing distrust which even Schwinner, Austria's representative at Frankfort,
was not able to dissipate. The English alone emphatically countered
this attitude, and the resulting correspondence clearly shows how highly
the wealth and position of the young firm of Rothchild

(01:34:38):
were already rated in England or at any rate in
the authoritative circles of Commissary General Harry's, as compared to
their standing in Austria. The exchange value of the pound,
wrote Schwinner to the Austrian embassy in London in November
eighteen fifteen, was constantly rising during the early part of November.
After the ninth it weakened because Rothschild, having reason to

(01:35:00):
believe that Austria would insist on receiving her considerable payments
in cash, refraining from purchasing bills offered by foreigners. This
circumstance would appear to justify the view of the English Commissioner,
Baron Vaughan Limberger, in which Commissary General her Vaughan Harris,
who was here a few months ago, concurred that the
more the House of Rothschild were granted a free hand,

(01:35:20):
the more certainly would the exchange value of English bills
be maintained. In this connection, the Firm of Rothschild have
offered bills with respect to the November and December installments
similar to those that have already been accepted and fully
cashed in previous payments, to the extent of several millions. Nevertheless,
in spite of the fact that the generally recognized standing

(01:35:41):
of the Firm of Rothchild should be sufficient guaranteed for
these instruments, I felt that I must adhere to those
rules which must always be strictly observed lest unexpected difficulties
should be met in cashing bills of exchange. I considered
that this condition was met when Baron Vaughan Limberger gave
a written undertaking on behalf of the English government that
government would in any case indemnify the Imperial and Royal

(01:36:02):
Treasury if any loss whatever were suffered in realizing the
bills accepted by Rothchild. Schwinner had on a previous occasion
expressed his misgivings to Limburger regarding his responsibility for any
loss resulting from the lack of solidity of the firm
of Rothschild. Limburger had on that occasion replied to him
in the following terms, I have the honor to acknowledge

(01:36:24):
the receipt of your valued communication of even date, that
I cannot possibly give the slightest credence to the rumors
which you have communicated to me, and which I regard
as malicious slanders deserving of severe punishment. In order, however,
completely to set your mind at rest, I have to
repeat to you, on behalf of my government the verbal
statement made to you by the Commissary in Chief, mister Harris,

(01:36:45):
that even if the accepted bills are not met, the
Imperial and Royal Austrian Government shall in no wise suffer loss,
but that they will be indemnified if there should unexpectedly
be any loss in caching the said bills. I have
to point out first that in a case of the
considerable amounts which you have already received in such bills,
no such occasion has occurred. In secondly, that the House

(01:37:05):
of Rothchild is itself too rich and too powerful not
immediately to make good any such loss without requiring the
intervention of my government. Schwinner transmitted the whole of this
correspondence to Vienna, where it was brought to the attention
of Metternich and Stadion, as they were both hearing such
completely satisfactory accounts of the firm of Rothschild from all quarters,

(01:37:26):
and more particularly were learning of the enormous credit which
that firm enjoyed. Confidence was completely established at Vienna. From
now onwards the firm of Rothchild was most extensively employed
by Austria, even in business which had nothing whatever to
do with the English subsidy. Thus Nathan had succeeded, while
remaining behind the scenes himself, in establishing his brothers on

(01:37:48):
the continent in the confidence of the Austrian treasury. This
was to be the starting point of an even more
intimate association with governing circles in the Imperial State, which
was to develop within the next few years. While the
position of the Rothschild family abroad became more and more
important and their wealth attained prodigious dimensions by reason of
the great interstate financial transactions which were entrusted to them,

(01:38:10):
they had to fight in the native town of Frankfort,
to secure the equal political rights of the Jews, which
have been granted during the period of French dominion. In
spite of the decisions of the Congress of Vienna and
in spite of Medenich and Hardenburg, this equality was threatened
by a hostile Senate. Now, however, emboldened by the position
which they had won with the Great Powers, the brothers

(01:38:31):
Rothschild felt in a position to make more definite efforts
on behalf of their fellows. The newly created Federal Diet,
which met at Frankfort, had an important voice in this matter,
and the Rothschilds determined to gain the responsible representatives of
the powers for their cause. From the first they had
a true friend in the representative of the Elector of Hesse,
who had already re established everything in his own territory,

(01:38:55):
including the soldier's pigtails, just as it was before, and
who was again at loggerheads with Hisses Estates regarding financial
matters and the question of the separation of the state
treasury from the Prince's privy purse. On October seventeenth, eighteen sixteen,
he had nominated as his envoy to the German Federal
diet the administrator of his financial affairs, the old supporter

(01:39:16):
of the Rothschild family, Butterus Vaughan Carlshausen, who in the
meantime had advanced to the dignity of Privy Councilor and
President of the Chamber. Vaughan Carlshausen had recently been in
Paris on business in connection with his master's claims for compensation,
and had specially commended the Elector's interests to James. He
was now to serve as a kind of liaison officer

(01:39:38):
between the Elector and the House of Rothschild, as indeed
he had always been, only positions were now somewhat changed.
Hitherto it had been the Rothchilds who had asked favors.
Now it was the Elector and Butterress who tried to
maintain a close connection. The brothers. Rothschild certainly did not
forget what they owed them, and endeavored as far as
possible to meet all their wishes. But the Elector's business

(01:40:01):
had fallen very much into the background, since the family
had got accustomed to transacting business running into millions with
the states of Europe. In any case, the first important
relationship of the Rothchild family had worked out to the
benefit of all concerned. The Elector had had his scattered
resources most ably shepherded during the confusions of the Napoleonic War,

(01:40:22):
Butterus had been made an exceedingly wealthy man, and the
extensive operations of the Rothschilds themselves had been made possible
through the moneys originally entrusted to them by the Elector.
They naturally urged Karlshausen to make strong representations in favor
of Jewish interests at the Federal Diet. Solomon and Karl
Rothschild next turned to the Prussian Chancellor, Prince Hardenberg, and

(01:40:43):
transmitted to him a copy of the letter that Metternich
had sent to the Jewish representatives at the Vienna Congress,
adding the following covering letter. In humble confidence, we beg
to submit to Your Highness the enclosed document which is
of such faithful import for the destinies of the Israelite community.
After all that your Highness has done for our community
in recent years, we cannot but hope that Your Highness

(01:41:04):
will not withdraw your powerful support at this decisive moment.
That and that alone can secure a tolerable existence to
the Frankfort Jews. Everything depends upon the commission nominated by
the Federal Diet proceeding according to just and reasonable principles
in dealing with this matter, and any influence exerted by
Your Highness in that direction cannot but have the most

(01:41:25):
satisfactory result. We therefore beg to submit our most humble
and relevant request that you will most graciously convey to
the Royal Prussian Ambassador at Frankfort as speedily as possible
those general instructions which are indicated in the enclosed letter.
This is the only means of salvation left to us.
This letter was necessary because there were definite signs that

(01:41:47):
the Senate was not likely to pay much attention to
the decisions of the Congress of Vienna. This fact had
financial consequences, for some of the debentures issued by the
Jewish community in connection with their liberation had not yet
been met. The Jews did not wish to pay the
money until it was certain that the rights which they
were thus purchasing would be secured to them. The firm

(01:42:08):
Meyer Amskill, Rothschild and sons wrote in similar terms to
Hardenburg and Metternich, saying that they had been informed that
all the duly acquired rights of each class of the
inhabitants at Frankfort would be maintained, and that there was
therefore no further obstacle to the debentures being redeemed, as
none of the principal magistrates at Frankfort, the letter continued,
have as yet taken any action in this matter, and

(01:42:30):
the holders of these debentures are pressing more and more
for their payment. We humbly request you to take the
necessary steps so that these obligations may be paid without
further delay. We venture to hope that our most humble
request will be graciously granted, since the necessary money has
long been available and it will be paid as soon
as the necessary action in this matter has been taken.

(01:42:51):
Before this money was paid, the Rothchilds wanted to receive
an assurance from the City of Frankfort that it would
not attempt to dispute the agreement with Dalberg of December
twenty eighth, eighteen eleven regarding the equal rights of the Jews.
Both the persons appealed to agreed, and Hardenberg wrote to
Metderinich that he considered the request to be right and
just that the city of Frankfort could not legally raise

(01:43:12):
any objection, and that it would be advisable for the
two courts jointly and emphatically to enjoin Frankfort to recognize
the agreement as binding in to fulfill it. Count Bulschoenstein,
Austria's plenipotentiary and therefore president of the Federal Diet, was,
in contrast to his superior Mettterinich, no friend of the Jews,
and had reported his views to Metdinich at Vienna. He

(01:43:34):
held that Grand Duke Dalbert had sold the rights of
citizenship to a crowd of Jewish families for a song. Trade,
wrote the ambassador from Frankfort, is still the only means
of livelihood which the Jews adopt. This nation, which never
amalgamates with any other, but always hangs together to pursue
its own ends, will soon overshadow Christian firms, and with

(01:43:56):
their terribly rapid increase of population, they will soon spread
over the whole city, so that a Jewish trading city
will gradually arise beside our venerable cathedral. Boll's attitude was
bound eventually to result in a conflict of opinion with Metternich,
but for the time being, no decision was made in
the Jewish question, and the question of the status at
Frankfort remained in the balance. Paris offered opportunities of important

(01:44:19):
new business, and all the members of the Rothschild family
were kept fully occupied, exploiting them as far as possible.
The victorious powers inflicted a heavy war indemnity on France,
appointing four commissioners of the Principal Powers to settle the
precise terms and receive the money. They met at Paris
under the presidency of the Austrian baron Vaughan Barbier. The

(01:44:41):
amount of the indemnity was fixed at seven hundred million francs,
to be paid within five years, and fifteen installments of
forty six million, six hundred sixty six thousand, six hundred
sixty six francs, commencing on December first, eighteen fifteen. At
once the difficulty arose of arranging for these payments to
be trended comitted to the powers. James, perceiving the great

(01:45:03):
possibilities of profit that the situation offered, advised as brothers
and urged them to do everything possible to get the
order for remitting this French tribute the brothers had to
meet heavy competition. Austria still employed her four banking firms,
which were represented in Paris, while Bearing in other big
firms in England endeavored in connection with the Paris banking

(01:45:24):
firm of Avrard to get the business. All the firms
were eager to exploit the opportunity to the utmost and
all the financial and banking world was considering the methods
by which the great indemnity could be settled. Barbier received
a proposal from the Bearing of Rard company, which was
unacceptable because, as Barbier reported, the bankers insist on enormous

(01:45:45):
advantages being assured to them without guaranteeing our principal objects,
namely complete security and advances before installments fall due. Austria intended,
among other things, to divert large sums to Colmar for
various poses, mainly of a military nature. The four Viennese
firms had very poor connections in Germany and it was

(01:46:07):
not practicable to make use of them. The question therefore
was whether the messageres the overland postal services could be
entrusted with this task, or whether recourse should be had
to bankers as an intermediary Barbier felt anxious about the
first method, the roads being exceedingly unsafe so soon after
the confusion of the war. This was indicated by the

(01:46:29):
fact that the postal company refused to accept liability for
less falls a main army after a mail bag had
been rifled on another journey. Barbier reported as follows to Stadion.
I am informed that the Frankfort bankers Rothschild and gud
that have undertaken entirely at their own risk, to transfer
certain sums of money required for the Wurdemberg regiments that
are remaining in France, and that they have been granted

(01:46:51):
a commission of one and a half percent for their services.
This amounts to exactly double the transport costs demanded by
the messagries. I have also heard that they have demanded
one and a quarter percent for sending money to the
Russian regiments. I suggested to them that they should remit
our money at their own risk for a commission of
one percent to cover all expenses, but they definitely stated

(01:47:14):
that the expense and the danger were too great for
this commission to cover them. I had therefore no alternative
after lengthy negotiations with them, except either to grant the
coalmission they asked, or to adopt the cheaper but somewhat
unsafe method of sending the money by the messages. The
messageries were certainly cheaper, but an accident to a single
remittance might make this manner of transport exceedingly expensive. Barbier

(01:47:38):
therefore closed with the firms of Rothschild and Gaunted, and
on January sixth, eighteen sixteen, they dispatched the final letter
regarding the transfer of the first amount of two million,
two hundred thousand francs to colmar allow Us. They wrote
to add the assurance that we shall apply our united
efforts to carrying out this to your complete satisfaction. We

(01:47:59):
could not offer for a lower commission because we cannot
yet accurately estimate the expenses involved. We shall, however, make
it our duty to reduce this commission in the case
of future remittances, if circumstances permit. We venture to trust
that your Excellency will be disposed to let us know
when future payments have to be made, in order that
we may be able to quote you the cheapest terms.

(01:48:21):
Accepting responsibility for all risks of carriage, the two firms
undertook the transfer of these moneys from Paris to Colmar
for a commission of one and a quarter percent on
the payments made. This was not so serious for them
as it might appear, since they did not really transfer
any money at all, but through their extensive connections, acquired
the equivalents some at the place of payment itself. Thus,

(01:48:43):
without incurring any risk, they were able to book the
high commission as pure profit. After this system had been
in force for some time, the general commanding at Colmar,
Baron Fremont, who regarded the commission as excessive, intervened and
attempted to get the money over by military couriers. However,
after trying to do this for two months, he admitted

(01:49:05):
himself beaten and himself requested that these remittances and the
issue of officers pay should again be carried out by
the firms of Rothschild and Gaunted, as has already been
found to be the most reliable method in connection with
military payments at Frankfort. They did not confine themselves to
this business. Soon, payments running into millions were carried through
by Rothschild and Gaunted. On account of the French indemnity

(01:49:27):
to Vienna, the most important part of which was entrusted
to Eskals and game Holer. Nevertheless, the Austrian government continued
to give considerable orders to the four Austrian firms, and
in their competition with them, Rothschild and Gaunted had to
make exceptional efforts to be allotted even a small proportion
of the French indemnity to Hamburg. Competition was exceedingly keen.

(01:49:50):
At last, the brothers Rothchild succeeded in winning over Barbier,
Austria's financial representative in Paris, whose attitude toward them had
hitherto been neutral. As as time went on, he became
an ardent supporter of the Rothschild family and of the
Frankfort bankers who were working in conjunction with them. This
is revealed by the correspondence which passed between him and

(01:50:10):
Count's Stadion, who dealt with the matter in a thoroughly
businesslike and impartial manner. Stadian recognized the conscientious services rendered
by the Rothchilds in remitting the subsidies, and Nathan saw
that the Minister was fully informed from England of the
part which they had played with Napoleon a captive at
Saint Helena. The period of subsidy payments was completely at

(01:50:31):
an end, so it was no longer necessary to keep
this business a strict secret, nor did Nathan consider it
desirable to do so, since their credit and reputation would
gain if it were widely known that those enormous sums
had been handled by the house of Rothchild. We must
bear in mind that during the period between October eighteen
eleven and October eighteen sixteen, no less than forty two million,

(01:50:54):
five hundred thousand pounds had passed through Harry's hands. Almost
half of this had been forwarded to the various continental
recipients through the intermediary of Nathan and his brothers. In
Harry's memoirs published by his son, are extracts from a
memorandum prepared for competent authorities which speaks of Rothchild in
the highest terms. Of course, in praising Rothschild, Harry's was

(01:51:18):
indirectly taking credit for himself, since he, after all, was
responsible and would have had to bear the blame for
any mistakes. Harries wrote that it was possibly solely due
to the banking firm of mister Rothschild and his brothers
that he had been enabled to carry through the exchange
operations so successfully. He said that the greatest gratitude was
owing to these gentlemen who had devoted themselves entirely to

(01:51:41):
the public service, and that the reward which they would
receive would have been fairly and honorably won. Harries certainly
emphasized the fact that he had always kept Nathan strictly
under his control, had never allowed him to take any
steps without his express consent, and had had him almost
constantly with him in his room. But he also stated
in a private letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer

(01:52:01):
that he owed it to mister Rothschild not to miss
this opportunity of bearing witness to the skill and energy
with which he had carried out this service quite unobtrusively
and in such a manner that the rate of exchange
had not been unfavorably affected. Even if we regard Harry's
testimony as biased, there can be no doubt that Nathan
rendered magnificent financial services, from which it is true he

(01:52:24):
personally reaped substantial profits. The Austrian finance Minister, Count Stadium,
was just about to undertake the task of putting his
country's finances thoroughly in order reducing the amount of paper
money in circulation, and as far as possible, reducing Austria's
public debt. He required a large amount of ready money
for these purposes. This he had the prospect of obtaining

(01:52:46):
through the Austrian share of the French indemnity. But as
the payments were distributed in installments over a period of years,
and as he required money urgently, he decided that he
would try to obtain an advance on the amount due.
He therefore wrote from Moe Lawn to Barbier in Paris,
if your Excellency should receive any offers of an advance
on the security of the contributions due in the next

(01:53:06):
few years, I am of opinion that they should be considered,
for they would assure us the advantage of obtaining a
certain sum for the treasury at an early date. Barbier
replied to his minister as follows. As such an offer
could be expected to be made only by a very
substantial banking company. I contrived to introduce the subject in
the course of conversation with the firm of Rothschild, but

(01:53:29):
it awakened no response. Yet a short time ago young
Rothschild stated to me that it might now perhaps be
possible to arrange the settlement of the Austrian share of
the indemnity for the four last years at one stroke,
saying that if I had the necessary authority to undertake
such an operation, it might be possible to enter into negotiations.
I asked him to put his suggestion in writing, but

(01:53:50):
he replied that he was unable to do so until
a commissioner had been definitely instructed by Austria to enter
into such negotiations. This is as far as matters have
gone at present, and I am led to infer that
the proposal is at present merely a tentative suggestion on
the part of Rothchild, who would try to find partners
for the scheme if our Court would express an opinion
in favor of it. Rothchild spoke of the enormous discount

(01:54:14):
of forty percent. Barbier emphasized the fact that the entrepreneurs
were speculating on an enormous prophet and that Rothchild was
paving the way there too by mentioning this heavy discount.
Barbier estimated the loss involved through such advanced payments at
only about twenty percent. He stated that it would require
special considerations to make it desirable to incur a loss

(01:54:36):
exceeding twenty percent. It is true that the demands put
forward by the Rothchilds were extremely high, and the benefit
to be derived from such a transaction was positively enormous.
But the very offer, implying as it did that the
brothers Rothchild and their business friends were in a position
immediately to supply cash to the tune of countless millions
of francs, shows how strong the financial position of the

(01:54:58):
Rothschilds had now become. There was nobody else in the
field and financial transactions on this scale, and the Rothschilds
meant to turn their privileged position to account. Austria's urgent
need of money and the hope of getting better terms
for the advances from the brother's rothschild inspired Stadian to
a clever move. He would put the family, who handicapped

(01:55:19):
by their origin were making every effort to improve their
social position, under a special obligation. After the conclusion of
the subsidy transactions, the Rothchilds had repeatedly appealed to Baron
Vaughan Handel and to Shwinner at Frankfort to recommend to
the Emperor recognition of their services, and Schwinner had forwarded
this request to Count Stadion, the Minister of Finance. Stadion

(01:55:42):
gladly availed himself of the opportunity thus offered of the
subsidies amounting to approximately one million, eight hundred thousand pounds
fifteen million gulden, which were made available in the year
eighteen fifteen. The four Viennese discount houses first discounted an
amount of about two million, seven hundred and fifty thousand gulden,
for which the Austrian government paid a commission of one percent.

(01:56:04):
The money, however, was not forthcoming as speedily as had
been hoped, and the Austrian government was compelled to ask
the four banking firms for advances on the payments. On
these they had to pay interest at the rate of
six percent. They were therefore exceedingly pleased when the English
government consented to make the monies payable in large amounts,
and even to pay several months installments in advance through

(01:56:26):
the firm of Rothschild. Thus Austria no longer had to
pay any commission, and thereby saved one percent in that respect,
as well as saving six percent on any advances. In
the Finance Minister's report to Emperor Francis, the following passage occurred.
Count Stadion flatters himself that his Majesty will approve of
the manner in which this business was carried through. In

(01:56:50):
this connection, he feels it to be his duty to
recommend that the services of the Frankfort banking firm Meyer Amskill,
Rothschild and Sons should be recognized, since the efforts of
that firm contributed it in a special degree to securing
the prompt payment of the English subsidy moneies, and in
the present circumstances it may be necessary to have further
recourse to the good offices of that firm. The firm

(01:57:10):
has very large resources and enjoys an even larger credit.
It can carry through transactions that appear vast to a
private person on the continent because the British government employs
it in the most extensive operations and therefore supports it
with the necessary funds. An examination of the subsidy transactions
reveals the fact that the House of Rothschild alone paid

(01:57:31):
out twelve million, two hundred three thousand, eight hundred twenty
two point four to three florins with respect to one million,
four hundred forty two thousand pounds. The report of the
former High Commissioner, who was in charge of the subsidy
payments at Frankfort at the time, shows that Rothschild always
paid most punctually and that on various occasions, such as
in changing foreign coin and bills, he showed the greatest

(01:57:53):
desire to help without taking any undue advantage. After the
subsidy transactions have been carried through, the head of the firm,
expressed a wish that the services which he rendered might
be publicly recognized by your majesty, High Commissioner Shwinner was
asked for his opinion as to the form which such
recognition should take. He discussed the matter with the director

(01:58:14):
of the Gratz Police Gohausen, who was then at Frankfort.
Goehausen suggested that the head of the house should be
granted the honorary title of Imperial and Royal councilor a
like title, having been granted for similar reasons to the
brothers Kowlaw in Hanau and Stuttgart and to other Israelites.
The grant of a title of nobility, on the other hand,
would excite the envy of Christian banking firms and would

(01:58:36):
create a particular sensation at the present time, as the
rights of citizenship of the Jewish community at Frankfort are
the subject of negotiations. High Commissioner Shwinner does not recommend
that the title of eye and are counselor be granted,
as it is customary to confer this distinction upon eminent
public servants. He favors the granting of an imperial title

(01:58:57):
of nobility, believing the apprehensions of the Director of Police
to be unfounded. Since then, Rothschild has repeatedly asked for
some recognition as an encouragement, both to himself and to others.
Count Stadion begs to state, by way of recapitulation, the
services rendered by Rothchild are not of a kind that
may be suitably rewarded by conferring an order. But the

(01:59:18):
civilian medal would hardly come up to his expectations in
view of his own wealth. A reward in money or
money's worth would be even less appropriate, and such in
any case would have to bear some relation to the
high dignity of the donor, and would therefore have to
be very considerable. In the opinion of Count's Stadian orders
are more suitable as a reward for officials but as

(01:59:40):
Rothschild has already many officials under his direction, an order
is not likely to impress him. Count Stadion therefore requests that,
as a public mark of your Majesty's satisfaction with the
services rendered by the Frankfurt firm Meyer Amskill, Rothschild and sons,
your Majesty will graciously confer on the two brothers of
this firm resident here the German hered military title of

(02:00:00):
nobility free of all dues, and will authorize him Count Stadion,
to convey to the firm and a special letter your
Majesty's satisfaction. This report was sent to Privy Councilor Barton
Vaughan letter. He was the right hand man of Count Zichy,
the Secretary of State and Lord of the Privy Seal,
and had accompanied the Emperor when he fled from Napoleon

(02:00:21):
in eighteen o nine. On that occasion he had won
his confidence and affection. When the reorganization of Austria was
undertaken after the Congress of Vienna, Count Zichi was placed
at the head of the Central Office for dealing with
all matters affecting the reorganization, and it became his duty
to consider the suggestions that were made from various quarters,
and to express his opinion upon them. Although Stadian was

(02:00:44):
so enthusiastic about the services rendered by the Rothschilds, Letterer
remained comparatively unmoved. He regarded them simply as a calculating
family of moneymakers who were only concerned with their own interests,
and he accordingly sent in a detailed report in which
he arked argued against granting them a title of nobility.
At the beginning of his statement, Letterer gave a short

(02:01:05):
synopsis of the movements of the pounds sterling before and
after the Battle of Waterloo, based upon the payments actually
made by the Rothschilds in the year eighteen fourteen. It
was as follows, the pound sterling was worth on the
average eight eleven one eighth in eighteen fifteen before the
Battle of Waterloo, seven forty two three fifths in eighteen

(02:01:28):
fifteen after the Battle of Waterloo eight fifty three quarters,
taking the whole year eighteen fifteen eight twenty three one half,
taking the two years eighteen fourteen and eighteen fifteen eight
twenty one three quarters. Letters memorandum continues, I now pass
to the question of rewarding the two Brothers Rothschild raised

(02:01:52):
by the Minister of Finance in his report. In this connection,
two questions have to be considered. One, in this business
have they conferred a benefit on the Austrian treasury and
wherein does this benefit lie? Two? How can this benefit
be suitably recognized? As to the first, it was not
until June eighteen fifteen that the firm of Rothchild was

(02:02:15):
employed as the business agent of the English government. In
connection with the realization of the subsidies it looked after
the payments for that government, for which service it no
doubt received a liberal commission, its duty being to maintain
the rate of exchange between England and a covenant in
favor of England, and to improve it. The firm of
Rothschild never had any right to ask Austria for a

(02:02:36):
commission on the payments which it was effecting on behalf
of the English government. In acting wisely in this matter,
it deserved the complements of the English government whose intentions
it was carrying out. The rate of exchange at which
funds were transmitted before and after the Battle of Waterloo
indicates how far its success was due to fortunate circumstances,
and how far to its efforts in affecting the payments

(02:02:59):
accurately and punctually. The firm of Rothschild was but doing
its duty. Even the fact brought forward by Schwinner that
they made the payments to the Governor General at Frankfort
and to his military departments, payments for which the Austrian
Treasury was responsible out of the subsidy moneies, without charging
any special commission for these transactions, cannot, in my opinion,

(02:03:19):
be counted very much to its credit. It was paid
a commission on the whole amount by England, and it
cannot have been any more trouble to the firm to
divide the payments among the various departments than to pay
the whole amount into the Central Treasury at Frankfort. In
any case, I cannot conceive of a business firm doing
business except in its own interest. The business man undertakes

(02:03:40):
transactions in order to make a profit, and he should
not pretend to having conferred an obligation where he has
not done so. Count Stadion thinks it desirable to secure
the good will of a firm of such extensive credit
with a view to the future. I must confess that
I cannot see how this is to be obtained by
conferring any distinction whatever on the house of They will

(02:04:01):
carry through transactions for the Austrian financial administration again in
the future. If they see the chance of making a profit,
they will ask us for business. But if they do not,
they will decline to do business for us. Even if
the chiefs of the firm have been honored by Your Majesty,
the balance sheet is the first and most powerful factor
in determining the business man's attitude. However, since the firm

(02:04:25):
of Rothchild has carried through such considerable financial transactions for
the Austrian Treasury, whereby the payment of commission was saved,
I consider that it would be proper and consonant with
Your Majesty's dignity to give both brothers Rothschild a proof
of your favor. In this connection, I cannot agree with
the suggestion that a hereditary title should be conferred. Such

(02:04:46):
titles should be the reward of service. Only in this
case there is the special consideration that the brothers Rothschild
are Israelites. It is true that there have been cases
in which Your Majesty has decided to raise Israelites to
the ranks of aust Stry and nobility e g. Baron
Einsteiner and Rider Vaughan Eskils. On the other hand, the
claims of the Frankfort Jews to full rights of citizenship

(02:05:08):
are now the subject of discussion. And although I would
not venture to express an opinion as to whether honors
should be conferred upon Jewish business men when the result
of the negotiations in the Diet is pending, I suggest that,
if your Majesty is inclined to act upon Count's Stadium's proposal,
the views of the Minister for Foreign Affairs should first
be ascertained. Personally. I consider that the most suitable thing

(02:05:30):
would be that Your Majesty should make a gift to
each of the two brothers rothschild of a gold snuff
box bearing your Majesty's monogram in diamonds. Count Stadium might
be consulted as to the monetary value of such a gift.
Count Zichy, to whom this memorandum was submitted for his observations,
sent it on to the Emperor with the comment that
he considered Baron Vaughan Letterer's argument to be sound, but

(02:05:52):
that he could not immediately agree that the proposal should
be rejected. He suggested that, since Prince Mednick was best
informed as to the cause conditions of the Israelites in Frankfort,
and in view of the fact that the firm of
Rothschild had really rendered services to the Imperial Treasury, Prince
Mederinich should be asked to express an opinion. Emperor Francis
accordingly officially requested Mederinich to express his opinion regarding Stadian's proposal,

(02:06:16):
asking whether the existing circumstances of the Jews at Frankfort
did not make it politically undesirable to distinguish a Jewish
business firm in that way. The matter was therefore to
be decided by Medinich, the man, who, as has been stated,
was well disposed to the Frankfort Jews and who had
concurred in Stadians making the proposal. Mederinich reported verbally to

(02:06:37):
Emperor Francis in favor of ennobling the Rothschild family. Mindful
of the important financial and political considerations on which Stadian's
proposal was based and which were further emphasized by Mederinich,
the Emperor agreed, although he felt that the minor nobility
would view the ennoblement of foreign Jews with very mixed feelings.
The patent conferring the title of nobility on A. Nis

(02:07:00):
Hemskill and Solomon in recognition of their services in realizing
the English subsidies, was issued from Schunburne on September twenty fifth,
eighteen sixteen. Meanwhile, it had been pointed out to Stadian
that the two other brothers, Karl and James, whose services
were also required for the operations that were being planned,
might feel slighted, and a few days later Stadian recommended

(02:07:22):
that these two brothers should also be ennobled. Emperor Francis
issued an ordering Council to this effect, dated October twenty first,
eighteen sixteen. No sooner had the document been signed than
Ugarte had the fact recorded in the official Vienna papers.
Stadian expressly thanked the Chancellor for doing so, a fact
indicating the importance which he attached to the whole matter.

(02:07:45):
At the same time, he informed Dugarte that he had
asked both the brothers Rothschild to submit a design for
a coat of arms and to state whether they wished
to adopt a prefix of nobility. Stadian had informed Dugarte
of the reasons for conferring a title of nobility as
set out in his report to the Emperor, and added,
I do not consider, however, that the patent should enter

(02:08:05):
into any details as to the services rendered, but that
there should be merely a general statement to the effect that,
since the two brothers Meyer Amskill Sick Rothschild and Solomon
Meyer Rothschild have carried through a lonemost meticulously and punctually
the English subsidy transactions during the year eighteen fifteen, and
have also shown an exceptional readiness to render services outside

(02:08:28):
their actual duties, his Majesty has been most graciously moved,
et cetera, et cetera. In accordance with Stadian's request, the
brother's Rothschild submitted a design for a coat of arms.
This was enclosed with a letter written by Solomon Rothschild's
own hand explaining the design and reading as follows. First
quarter or an eagle sable surcharged in dexter by a

(02:08:50):
field gules, having reference to the Imperial and Royal Austrian
coat of arms. Second quarter duels a leopard passing proper
or reference to the English Royal coat of arms. Third
quarter a lion rampant with reference to the Hessian electoral
coat fourth quarter azure, an arm bearing five arrows, a
symbol of the unity of the five brothers. In the

(02:09:13):
center of the coat a shield gules. Right hand supporter
a greyhound, a symbol of loyalty, left supporter a stork,
a symbol of piety and content. The crest is a
coronet surmounted by the Lion of Hesse. In submitting the design,
the Rothschilds asked that a separate patent of nobility should
be prepared for each of the four brothers, as they

(02:09:35):
lived in different countries. The design was duly sent to
the Herald's College there was such an institution in Austria
at the time, with a request for their observations. The
college replied that they saw no objections to preparing four patents,
but that it was necessary to proceed with the greatest caution,
particularly in the case of members of the Jewish nation
for various reasons, and more especially because they are not

(02:09:58):
familiar with the prerogatives of nobiliy. They added that although
the usual fees were being remitted, they considered that the
Rothchild should pay one hundred fifty gulden for the special grant,
and that they could hardly resent this charge in view
of the great distinction that was being conferred upon them.
As for the coat of arms, the report continued, they
asked for a coronet, a center shield, supporters, the leopard

(02:10:21):
of England and the lion of Hesse. According to the
rules of heraldry, the gentry are entitled only to a helmet.
Their suggestion is entirely inadmissible, since otherwise there would be
nothing to distinguish the higher ranks, as coronets, supporters and
center shields are proper only to the nobility. Moreover, no
government will grant the emblems of other governments, as nobility

(02:10:43):
is conferred for services to one's prince and one's country,
but not for services to other countries. The lion is
a symbol of courage only, which does not apply to
the petitioners. A design such as the Herald's College, considered suitable,
was attached to the report even pointed coronet to which
the petitioners were not entitled, and which was no doubt

(02:11:04):
intended to express their wish for the title of baron
had disappeared, together with the heraldic animals supporting the shield
and the lions of Hesse and England. Only the half
eagle and the arm with the arrows remained, but the
hand was grasping not five but four arrows, this being
in accordance with the curious fact that Nathan, the brother
who behind the scenes had had most to do with

(02:11:25):
the English subsidies, was not yet recognized in any way.
The recommendations of the Herald's College were accepted in every detail,
and the designs submitted by them duly became for some
years the coat of arms of the Rothschild family, as
laid down in the patent dated March twenty fifth, eighteen seventeen.
Although the ennoblement only carried a modest Vaughan, the new

(02:11:47):
rank was of no little importance. We must remember that
at that period the higher nobility were dominant in almost
all the states of Europe. They occupied all the highest
positions in the state and were in a most favored
ps yusition financially as compared with other citizens. For a
Jewish family who had to fight hard for their position
in their native city, the Rothschild's imperial patent was a

(02:12:09):
particularly rare distinction and involved an important step forward in
their fight for social recognition. As soon as the nobility
had recovered somewhat from their annoyance, it became much easier
for the brothers Rothschild to make their way socially. The
event was naturally very helpful to the relations of the
House of Rothchild with Austrian statesmen. They did not take

(02:12:31):
over the business of paying the whole of the huge
French indemnity in advance installments, but partial payments were made
through them. They also transferred the monies to Kolmar, as
well as larger amounts sent to mines for the purpose
of building fortresses. Austria was owed three hundred thousand Dutch
ducats by Russia for advances made to Russian troops during
the Napoleonic Wars, and accordingly drew bills on the frankfort

(02:12:53):
firm of Rothschild, which were due in December eighteen seventeen
and January eighteen eighteen. In reply to Barbier's inquiry, James
Rothschild wrote a considerate letter saying that he could not
accept the bills because the order from the Russian finance
minister had not yet been received. If however, he wrote,
it is your Excellency's wish that these bills be accepted

(02:13:15):
by me. I am gladly prepared to do so, if
your Excellency will be so kind as to give me
an assurance that the bills in question are in order,
and that I will receive the report of the Imperial
Russian Ministry of Finance. The brothers Rothschild further offered, in
conjunction with Gaunted, to provide three hundred thousand ducats at
five percent interest in one percent commission a few months

(02:13:37):
before the due date. We flatter ourselves, they stated that
your Excellency will appreciate the reasonableness of our proposals, and
we venture to assure your Excellency that our principal desire
has been to give further proof to the eye and
our court of our constant zeal and their interests. Moreover,
we are prepared to modify our proposals if an alteration

(02:13:57):
in the rate of exchange in your favor should make
them possible at the time when your Excellency has occasion
to accept them. Barbier supported the Rothschild proposal, attacking the
four Vienna firms and observing that in his opinion, the
Rothschilds work better and more cheaply, but plans had now
been changed at Vienna, where the bills were wanted to
be paid only when they fell due, and inquiries have

(02:14:18):
been made of the four Vienna firms as well as
of Rothchild and Goded regarding the simple transmission of the
ducats to Vienna. The brothers Rothchild named their conditions and
went on to say, if the Treasury should later desire
to receive and advance the above mentioned amount of three
hundred thousand ducats, we shall always be ready to provide it. If, however,

(02:14:38):
we should make such an advance, your Excellency will find
it not unreasonable to grant us a commission of one
percent in addition to the interest rate of five percent
per annum. We flatter ourselves that your Excellency will regard
our various proposals as just, and venture to believe that
we have made every possible effort in our power to
furnish further proofs of how greatly we desire to continue

(02:14:58):
to be honored with the treasure confidence. The letters show
how cleverly the Rothchilds contrived to clothe their proposals in
polite phrases, and how they were always concerned to present
their case as if their one desire was to make
themselves useful, while the other party would derive all the
profit and advantage. While endeavoring to secure the custom of Austria,
the brothers did not neglect the other states. Similar advances

(02:15:22):
on account of the French contribution appeared to have been
suggested to Prussia and Russia, and in February eighteen seventeen
a loan of several millions was made to Prussia in
the name of Rothchild, the Elector of Hesse. It is true,
had a large share in this. The brothers Rothschild still
carried out really big transactions in conjunction with their patron

(02:15:43):
or with other firms, but the time was soon to
come when the five brothers would act alone, and one
great firm after another would fall before them. They were
now again concerned to secure their position in Frankfort. The
Jewish community had sent a request for assistance to Baron
Vaughan Humbold, the Frushian minister who was at that time
acting on the diet, and Rothschild had appealed to the

(02:16:05):
young German legal luminary in Statesman Sylvester Jordan, to use
his influence with Count Bull at Frankfort, who had known
Jordan since his earliest youth. The banker Rothschild Jordan accordingly
wrote to Boll, one of the richest bankers in Europe,
who has nothing to worry about except that he is
a Jew, has most emphatically implored me to commend to
your excellency the interests of the Jews in general and

(02:16:27):
of his house in particular. Hardenburg has already sent instructions
in his matter to Humboldt. The Senate of Frankfort is
determined to confine them to the Jewish quarter, which is
naturally distasteful to a banker who is worth millions. In
the middle of December eighteen sixteen, a printed memorandum with
no less than thirteen enclosures regarding the Jewish rights of

(02:16:48):
citizenship was sent to the Diet, amongst the signatories being
Amskill and Jonas Rothschild, as well as Jacob Baruch and
old Burns. Meanwhile, the brothers Rothchild were working a city
duously abroad to extend their influence within the countries where
they were living. In Austria, their persistence had met with
the greatest measure of success, and accordingly they redoubled their

(02:17:09):
efforts in that country to secure new honors and titles.
It did not take them long to realize that friendly
social relations were of the greatest use to them in
their business in each country. But it was just in
this matter that they often met with great difficulties. In
London and Paris, it was exceedingly hard for poorly educated
German emigrant Jews to get into the higher social circles,

(02:17:30):
even though they were rich. James had so far been
most successful at the excellent dinners which he gave. He
was already entertaining diplomats such as the Austrian ambassador Baron
Vincent and once even a Prince of the Blood, Royal
Paul Vaughan Wordenberg, but he also met with numerous rebuffs.
Nathan and James hit upon the idea of asking Austria

(02:17:51):
to grant them the dignity and office of honorary consul.
On receiving such a nomination, they would more or less
belong to the diplomatic corps, whereupon many doors hitherto closed
must necessarily be opened to them as persons of official standing. Moreover,
the title of consul of a great European power, such
as Austria was at that time, would be bound to

(02:18:12):
raise their prestige and their credit in the business world.
They wrote to Amskill at Frankfort, asking him to obtain
the title for them in Vienna, and he immediately wrote
to Metternich, most excellent Prince, most gracious Prince and Lord.
We have had the good fortune, on various occasions to
experience the proofs of Your Highness's most gracious good will,

(02:18:33):
and we are therefore emboldened most respectfully to make the
following proposal. Our brothers, the chiefs of the branches in
Paris and London, respectively, Jacob M. Vaughan Rothschild and Nathan M. Rothschild,
honored through the distinction recently received by our family and
their gracious elevation into the ranks of the nobility, are
inspired by the most zealous desire to be able to

(02:18:55):
devote their energies to the service of the Eye and
r Austrian government. They would feel they had found a
means of satisfying these natural desires if one of them
were nominated I and our Austrian Consul, a position which
is at present vacant, both in Paris and in London.
This position depends upon the nomination of Your Princely Highness

(02:19:16):
and we therefore most submissively venture to request that Your
Highness may be pleased to accede to our humble wish.
The Eye and our Government can find no more loyal, zealous,
and indefatigable servants than our brothers, and we flatter ourselves
that the connections which we have established with the governments
of France and England would make it easy for us,
both in a general way and in individual cases, to

(02:19:38):
be useful to the Eye and are trade with those countries.
We should be happy to be placed in a position
to do so in this honorable manner, and to receive
this further distinction. Amskill wrote to Stadium at the same time,
stating that it was not the desire for further honors
that caused him to ask that his brothers should be
nominated as consuls, but his sincere desire to prove himself

(02:20:00):
of ever increasing usefulness to the Eye and our Austrian Government.
He was certain that the relations which both brothers had
established with the governments of the countries where they were
living would aid them in being of use to the
Eye and are Austrian subjects, especially in commercial matters, and
that the granting of their submissive request would enable his
whole house to apply all their energies in the most

(02:20:20):
varied ways to the service of Austria's commerce. Karl Rothschild
also appealed to Count Zichi, whom he knew through business dealings,
informing him that the Austrian ambassador in London, Prince ester Hazi,
had written to Metkronitch in support of Nathan's nomination and
requested the same favor of him. Zichi forwarded Rothschild's letter
to Metternich with the remark that although the matter did

(02:20:43):
not come within his province, he ventured to observe that
this firm already appeared to have rendered important services to
the Austrian treasury, and would, through its riches and influence,
especially in England, be able also in the future, to
give pecuniary aid to Austria. It was to be a
long time before these requests were granted. The Austrian state
machine worked slowly, and several objections and difficulties cropped up,

(02:21:06):
which could be overcome only by years of work. It
was only through their close association with Metternich and Ghentz,
whom the brothers Rothschild cultivated. In the ensuing period of
congresses that they were enabled to smooth the way so
that three years later there was no further obstacle to
the desired nomination. Before they could achieve their object, however,

(02:21:27):
they had a long row to hoe. But the brothers
Rothchild worked assiduously toward any goal which they had set
themselves to achieve, notwithstanding all the difficulties that arose and
the years during which their patience was tried. In the end,
they got what they wanted. Their unremitting efforts and their
persistence in urging their cause, undismayed by any rebuffs, secured

(02:21:49):
for them the unique career that had been destined for
their family

All Episodes

RISE OF ROTHSCHILD - 3. The Great Napoleonic Crisis and Its Exploitation by the House of Rothschild - Count Egon Caesar Corti

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Fudd Around And Find Out

Crime Junkie

The Breakfast Club

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}RISE OF ROTHSCHILD - 3. The Great Napoleonic Crisis and Its Exploitation by the House of Rothschild - Count Egon Caesar Corti