THE ROTHSCHILDS.

Kumara Times, Issue 900, 19 August 1879, Page 4

THE ROTHSCHILDS.

[iONDON CORRESPONDENT OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE.] At the funeral of the late Baron Lionel de Rothschild the first three spadefuls of earth were thrown in by the eldest son of the deceased, " so that he night fulfil the daty of burying his dead." The other kinsmen followed in their order, then members of the congregation. As the coffin was lowered into the grave those present joined in the words: "May he come to his appointed place in peace," and plucked a few blades of grass before they left, saying in acknowledgment of the resurrection: "And they shall blossom forth from the ruins like the dust from the earth." It used to be alleged that the Baron had had a paralytic stroke. He never had anything of the kind, save at the last, perhaps, for the papers describes the Bhock which carried him off as internal paralysis ; which I doubt. But f>r seventeen years he has been a cripple from a disease in the nature of rheumatic gout, affecting the joints of the lower limbs. During all that time he has Beldom walked. At first he was able to move about, but the least exercise caused him so much pain that he gradually gave it up altogether. But he never gave up business, nor relaxed f;he iron control which belongs by tradition to the head of the great house of money-changers. He was usually carried or supported from one room to another by two attendants. On his best days he would sometimes struggle along for a few Bteps on his own legs, but these occasions of late were very rare; and the pain he suffered was distressing. He had to bear violent headaches also. He came down to breakfast sometimes saying he had not slept, and that as his head wa3 worse than usual, and as soon as breakfast was over he would be lifted into his carriage as soon as breakfast was done. That was his idea of relaxation, or his notion of a remedy for his ills. Excepting on Saturday or Sunday, the Jewish and Christian Sabbaths, when all the business of the house stopped, or on such other holidays as closed the Exchange, he was not absent from business during all these years of illness and misery. He saw much company, but latterly it was the two elder sons. Sir Nathaniel and Alfred, with whom the outer world came most often in contact.

It is part of their success that they are so closely united and so perfectly disciplined. No individual seta up his will against the will of the family. No one house takes a line against the joint opinion of all the houses. They are to all intents and purpose, a clan, ruled by a chief and a council, and are the standing exception to the maxim that councils of war do not fight. Inside the London family, the discipline is Baid to have been, if anything, more strict than abroad. The Baron exacted from his sons absolute, unquestioning, almost servile, submission —not merely in relation to business matters but in ever relation of life. A marriage of one of the sons against his will would have been impossible. Anyone familiar with the gossip of society can give you a striking instance of this filial docility. And society is already beginning to wonder whether the Baron's death will make any difference in this case—whether the son in question still wishes and if. he still wishes will be permitted, to marry the lady whom his father denied to him. It is supposed the prohibition holds even after death, and that the will of the dead man is stronger 4han -the passion of the living. Family control extended even to the turf. Mr Leopold Rothschild, as you have no doubt heard, is the "Mr Acton " who won the Derby last week with Sir Berys, a despised outsider, and whcie gains on that event are put down at the comfortable figure of 250,000 dollars. Everybody who knew anything about racing matters knew who it was who hid himself under this pseudonym, and if there had been any secret about it, the of the Rothschild colors worn by his jockeys would have disclosed the owner's identity. Racing, moreover, has long been a family habit, and Mr Leopold Rothecbild is not a man who need set up any mystery in such a matter. However it suited his father that the son's nnme should not appear in the papers or in the official lists as owning and runnino horses It suited him, none the less, to continue racing as a commercial speculation, and it is understook that the expenses of Mr Rothschild s stud appear as an item in the family ledger, whence it follows that his winnings would .also have to be divided with his kin. Leopold is the youngest son. It is one of the customs of this family that the youngest son, who m other families usually has to work the hardest, should be relieved of most of the cares and toils of business. The elders have slaved in New Court ever since thev grew up, which has not prevented Sir Nathaniel from going into politics, nor Alfred from becoming an ornament of society and a friend of the Prince of

At a meeting held at Ross on Monday, followingresolution was carried :-" That this meeting having full confidence in the ™:?f™ Gisborne for his faithful Sll'r' *wo years as repreaen tativcforthe j otara district, pkdgo theniwives to support huu in the forthwX election, if opposed." An old mining hand named Richard David M'Donald, formerly of New Z, aland, was found dead in his hut at Young, New South Wales last week, having cut his throat wM, a knife. There waa found on him L?2 in cash, and bank deposit receipts for LSOO He waa a Canadian, and it is thought he had mo relations m the Colony. Perhaps this may attract the attention of some ono who ifinaw him m New Zealand. .