the world of private banking

16
THE WORLD OF PRIVAtE BANKING
both the Frankfurt and Paris houses had grown so rapidly as to outstrip that of the
London house. On the other hand, Nathan’s personal share continued to be counted
as more than a quarter of the joint capital, which now stood at more than £4 million.
Moreover, although Salomon and Carl had by now effectively settled in Vienna
and Naples, their houses were not given equal status with the original three, and
continued to be treated as mere ‘branch establishments’ of the Frankfurt house. This
was probably intended to check the fissiparous tendencies which developed as the
brothers saw less of one another. Revealingly, the partners now bound themselves
‘mutually [to] inform each other . . . of all the transactions of whatever nature they
may be which have occurred’ on a monthly rather than weekly basis. 53
The next accounts drawn up in 1828 revealed that, though the partners’ personal
shares remained formally unchanged, the relative importance of the London house
had continued to decline. Its share of the total capital was now just over 27 per
cent, compared with 42 per cent in 1818. 54 This share increased only very slightly
in the eight years which intervened before the next such meeting in Frankfurt. As
a result, the continental partners were able to request new and potentially more
favourable terms for the distribution of profits. The final agreement was that
Nathan should receive 60 per cent of the profits of the London house but just 10
per cent of the profits from Frankfurt, Naples and Vienna, while his brothers would
each get 10 per cent from the London house and 22.5 per cent from the continental
houses. 55 This rule clearly increased the relative autonomy of the London house.
The fact that, despite numerous conflicts of interest and profound centrifugal
forces, this system continued with only minor modifications until the 1870s and
was still formally in operation until 1904 was a triumph of collective familial
consciousness. Of all Mayer Amschel’s achievements, this was the greatest; for
it was his last commandment – to maintain family unity – which provided the
inspiration for later generations to transcend their personal or political differences.
Salomon once attributed ‘all our luck to the benediction which our father gave
us an hour before he passed away’. 56 Amschel remembered his father telling him
on his deathbed: ‘Amschel, keep your brothers together and you will become the
53
CPHDCM, 637/1/8/1–7; also RAL, RFamFD, B/1, Articles of Agreement between
Messrs de Rothschild [Amschel, Nathan, Salomon, Carl, Jacob and Anselm], 31 Aug. 1825. See
also AN 132 AQ 1, Unsigned, unheaded document, apparently the draft ‘Testament’, 31 Aug.
54
CPHDCM, 637/1/6/44, 45, No. 4 General Capital, 26 Sept. 1828; CPHDCM,
637/1/6/17, General Inventarium . . . des gesamten Handelsvermögens, 26 Sept. 1828;
CPHDCM, 637/1/6/31, [untitled deed signed by Anselm and the five brothers], 26 Sept.;
CPHDCM, 637/1/7/48–52, Abscrift [Partnership agreement], 26 Sept.; AN, 132 AQ 3/2/No
5, General Inventarium, 26 Sept.
55
A clause was added, however, which stated that if the profits of the Paris, Frankfurt,
Naples and Vienna houses exceeded those of the London house to the point that 22.5 per
cent of their total profits exceeded 60 per cent of the London house’s, then the division of
the profits would revert to the old system of equal shares of the whole.
56
RAL, T64/158/2, Salomon, Berlin, to Amschel, Nathan and James, 24 Feb. 1818.