THE CAREER OF THE ROTHSCHILDS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4332, 6 February 1875, Page 3

THE CAREER OF THE ROTHSCHILDS.

The career of the Rothschilds serves to point that great moral truth—so often quoted and so seldom acted on—that honesty is the best policy. The princes of Germany confided their wealth to an old man residing in the Juden Gasse of Frankfort when the armies of Napoleon were sweeping over the Fatherland, and he returned it to them with interest. That old man founded a family, which has become the wealthiest in Europe, and which deserves all it has got, for in its dealings with mankind it has followed the example of its ancestor, and no one, rich or poor, can complain that it has defrauded them of one farthing. Of the Jewish race, they are not ashamed to belong to the most ancient people on the face of the globe. They neither deny their creed nor their nation. In the Middle Ages, when all who engaged in trade were despised by the thick-pated barons, whe dwelt in castles and robbed their poorer neighbors, the Jews were hated because they were traders, and they were pillaged because they were rich. Their religion was but a pretext for spoliation. Had we lived in those times and been a baron, we confess that we should have been inclined to imprison an Israelite in some dungeon, and to force him to pay us a ransom to escape our vengeance. There is a simplicity and straightforwardness in the proceeding which recommends itself to us. Our banker, who is a Christian, frequently mutters disagreeable truths to us, in which we often distinguish the word “ overdrawn,” and these interviews are followed by a refusal on the part of his minions to cash our cheques. We never leave his office without regretting that the usages of modern society do not allow ns to tie him up to a post in our cellar, and extract a molar from his jaw, whenever we require £50,000. We are not naturally of a cruel disposition, but we apprehend that he would have but few teeth in his head when he relinquished the hospitality of our cellar. We should not, however, pretend that we were doing Heaven as well as ourselves a service. The prejudice against the Jews in the Middle Ages solely owing to their wealth, and it was encouraged by churchmen to serve their own purposes. That prejudice has happily died out. No one now thinks worse of a man because bis ancestors, some two thousand years ago, committed a judicial wrong in a remote Eastern valley, any more than he would turn his back on a Calvinist because Calvin murdered Servetus, because he ventured to differ from him respecting the doctrine of predestination. The greatest philosophers, the greatest musicians, and the greatest statesmen of modern days have been Jews. In every walk of science, art, and literature, this people has excelled. To our minds they are a noble and a glorious race. They were great and powerful when this country was inhabited by savages or by wild beasts, and to-day our Prime Minister is a Jew ; the prima-donna, whose wondrous notes enthrall us, is a Jewess, and the music which accompanies her is traced by a Jewish hand. The only cavalry commander who distinguished himself during the siege of Paris was a Hebrew, and he died bravely fighting at the head of his horsemen. Search the world ovei, and no race will be found which contains so many distinguished men or so many beautiful women. The family of the Rothschilds is the representative family of this wondrous people. They have houses of commerce in all the great European capitals, and their name is a household word in all parts of the earth. Of the sons of the Frankfort banker, James, who resided in Paris, was the most distinguished. Belt conime un millionaire lost its point, as long as he lived, for he was witty as he was rich. . When in 1818 a deputation of Communists waited upon him, and invited him to divide his wealth equally -with all mankind; after making some rapid calculations upon a piece of paper, he handed to each member a centime, and then proved to them that this was their exact share. When some one told him that Mires was to he made a baron, “ Non, non,” he said, “ dans la haute finance on fait des barons, dans Tiudustrie des chevaliers.” The jovial old cynic roamed over Europe, closeted one moment -with a minister, and chaffing the next moment with an actress, equal to either occasion. We remember seeing him one day approach the gambling-tables at Homburg. There was a pause, and all waited to see what the great baron would stake. Solemnly and slowly he drew a five-franc piece from his pocket, and placed it on the red. When black appeared, and it was swept away, he turned to leave the table. “What,” cried some bystander, “only five francs ?” “ Chacun joue selon ses moyens,” he replied ; and with this reproof to the impecunious herd, who were staking their year’s incomes, he went off to his dinner. On his death-bed, when his physicians announced that there was no hope, he is reported to have turned to his secretary, and to have said, “ Sell Lombards, there will be a fall when I die,” but this story is perhaps only hen trovato. Cynic, however, as he was, he gave plentifully to the poor. His wife was the most charitable woman in Paris, and he lavishly furnished her with the means to succour all the distressed who applied to her for assistance, to found schools, and to establish hospitals. His son, who is now head of the Paris branch of the family, is an Orleanist in politics, and both in his appearance and his tastes is more English than French. His mode of life is rather that of a great English nobleman than a French banker ; hut he is, nevertheless, an excellent man of business. It is easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to get into society in London. This is only the case, where, as with us, there is a wealthy aristocracy, which is the nucleus round which society is grouped. In Paris, a man becomes a bright particular star of the fashionable world if he drives four horses in the Bola de Boulogne and freely spends his money, no matter whether he has made it by the slave-trade, or by-keeping a bagnio. Thatthe Rothschilds of London have thoroughly established themselves aspartandparcel of “society,” speaks volumes of their tact and mvoirfaire. They are wealthy without being ostentatious. It is easy to say that a very rich man should not give himself airs; but how few men, were they as rich as the Rothschilds, would not give themselves airs ! The tendency of all rich men'is to live in a circle of henchmen and toadies, and to endeavor to attract, by profuse and vulgar hospitality, people with titles to their houses. These persons seldom overstep that icy . harrier within which the English aristocracy takes refuge from the intimacy of parvenus. Well, within that harrier the Rothschilds are established. They do not court the. visits of grandees, or angle for dukes and statesmen, for they are themselves social grandees. With one voice the city of London elected a Rothschild to represent it when the iniquitous Jewish disabilities were removed by the Legislature. When another Rothschild won the blue ribbon of the turf the delighted crowd at Epsom cheered him to the echo, for they knew that his horses were never tampered with, and that they might hack _ “ the Baron ” without fear of being swindled. By a singular chance a daughter of the house was one of the prettiest girls in London, and when she married her French cousin, her departure to her foreign home was the only instance of England being defrauded of one of her most beautiful jewels by her family. In the city, the Rothschilds reign supreme ; not so much because they are rich, as because they are honest. When their name appears npon a security, it is stamped with a guarantee that tells the most cautious of investors that ho may purchase it with safety. No high commissions from impecunious governments can tempt them to issue a loan which they believe to be worthless. No promoter with a scheme to defraud the public ever darkens their doors, whilst the city of London is yearly becoming more and more a sink of iniquity, whilst robberies are more openly plotted, and whilst the standard of commercial morality is assimilating itself to that of a pirates’ den, and men of wealth fish for the money of the poor and the unwary with absolute impunity, tho Rothschilds stand forward not only as tho representatives of their rape, but tho representatives of the sterling integrity that once was the characteristic of tho British merchant. —The World.