"Rothschild and Waterloo." Building a Fortune on the Great Battle— A Feat Worthy of a Latter-Day Newspaper Reporter.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1935, 29 November 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

"Rothschild and Waterloo." Building a Fortune on the Great Battle — A Feat Worthy of a Latter-Day Newspaper Reporter.

Meyer Anselh had five sons, and all of these inherited the thrifty habits and sound judgment of their father. There was no prodigal among them, and all of them applied themselves as diligently as their faher could have wished to the business of money-getting. The Jews 1 Lane, and even all of Frankfort was much too small for their operations. While the eldest remained in that city, one of the others opened a branch house in Vienna, another in Naples, another in Paris, and another in London. The ban of the despised race was lifted from them, and they became the favored guests of diplomats and princes. All of them were sagacious. All of them were successful. A father never had sons more after his own heart, but one of them had more than his father's genius and passion for creating and multiplying riches. The others were pre-eminent in the cities where they established themselves, but he was potent everywhere, in every money market, in every cabinet. All ships loading in the West with produce, and the East with teas and spices, were, to some extent, at his command, and his influence reached wherever capital existed. This man, who made the history of the house of the red shield (the sign of the house whioh, being in German, rothschild, was adopted by Anselm as a surname) a matter of universal history, was the third son of Meyer Anselm, and his name was Nathan Meyer Bothschild. To give a detailed account of his career would be but to recall one fortunate investment and profitable loan after another. Instead of following this record, let the reader look back to the Jews' Lane, and fix the picture of it in his mind— the high, overhanging, gloomy houses, with the bustling inmates visible at every window. The dark, narrow street, with its bars and iron chains ; the scorn and penalties that were visited upon those who lived within these precincts. Here Nathan Eothschild had his origin. Now, let us look upon the field of Waterloo, with the armies of Wellington and Napoleon gathered upon it. Nathan has become the first banker in the world, and is in close relations with the British Government. He has invested a large portion of his fortune in English securities, and his fate depends upon the result of the battle. Should the army under Wellington prove victorious, then his millions will be more than quadrupled. Should Napoleon win, then the house of the red shield will be overthrown. Until now Nathan has been in London receiving news of the movements of the army, by means of carrier-pigeona despatched to him, with cipher messages under their wings, by agents on the field. Burning with impatience, he has come to see the decisive battle for himself. He could not even wait the little time it took the doves to wing their way across the channel. He might as well be in London, for all he can see of the battle as the day wears on. The carnage is hidden by the smoke that hangs over the field, and he frets himself as conflicting reports come to him of what is being done. But at sunset this veil is blown off, the superb army of Napoleon, shattered and reduced, is in retreat, and the victory belongs to England — and the Eothschilds! Nathan spurs his horse into Brussels, and there a carriage is in waiting to bear him to Ostend, the nearest point from which he can reach London. He is maddened with impatience to get there. His purpose now is to arrive in the city before the news of the battle becomes public, and to take advantage of the uncertainty in buying more securities while they are low. There is no danger in investments of that sort now, and he is anxious to put every penny that he can command to this use. In a few hours the couriers will be on the road bearing the official despatches, and his object ia to get to the great metropolis in advance of them. There are no railways, no telegraphs, no steamers on the Channel; each traveller must find his own conveyance. The journey to Ostend is quickly made, but then the Channel has to be crossed, and Nathan's heart sinks with despair when he finds that a iurious gale is blowing, in whioh no vessel will put to sea. He offers five hundred, a thousand, two thousand francs for a boat to carry him across the Channel. Two thousand francs is a tremendous sum in the minds of the poor fishermen of Ostend, and one of them cannot resist the temptation. He will carry the gentleman over. So, after a perilous voyage, Nathan reaches London, and finds the city in a prolound gloom. Business is stagnant, pending the result of the war, and there are fears that the country is on the eve of national bankruptcy. He says nothing about Waterloo, nothing about Ostend. He appears as dejeoted as any merchant on the Exchange. But meanwhile his agents are secretly buying up all the securities they can get hold of at a low rate of discount, and there are plenty of them for sale, for the public confidence has been shaken. Two days afterwards— two days later than Nathan's arrival — the official messengers bring tidings of Wellington's victory with his young and untrained soldiers over the splen-didly-disciplined army of Napoleon, and instantly the securities, which have been bought at a large discount, advance to a premium over their par value. There is rejoicing everywhere in Great Britain, and especially in the house of the red shield, which has benefited to the extent of at least five million dollars by that day whioh Nathan spent on the hill of Hongonmoth, — Youth's Companion.