the world of private banking

THE RISE OF tHE ROtHScHILDS 27
Naples. 107 From 1824, carrier pigeons were also used, though the brothers do not
seem to have relied on these as much as has sometimes been assumed. 108 This
system retained its edge until well into the 1830s, when the development of the
railway, the telegraph and the steamship opened a new era in more public forms
of communication. In one of his first references to ‘telegraphic communication’,
James complained revealingly to Nathan: ‘Over here people are too well informed
and there is therefore little opportunity to do anything’. 109
Closely connected with their enthusiasm for swift communication was a
penchant for secrecy. The five brothers almost always corresponded with one
another in Judendeutsch (German transliterated into Hebrew characters) partly to
make life difficult for the prying eyes of Metternich’s spies. When more security
was needed, they used simple codes. The first of these was used when Mayer
Amschel was looking after the finances of the exiled Elector of Hesse-Kassel, in
defiance of the French authorities in the Rhineland. Later, when gold was being
shipped semi-legally across the Channel to France in 1812–13, letters referred to
Nathan as ‘Langbein’, London became ‘Jerusalem’, and the transfers of bullion
across the Channel were codenamed ‘Rabbi Moses’ or ‘Rabbi Mosche’. 110 This
culture of secrecy was inculcated early. At the age of just eleven Salomon’s son
Anselm refused to let his teacher correct a letter he was writing to his father. ‘My
dear mother’, the boy explained, ‘how can I possibly divulge the secrets which I
share with my father to Mr Sachs?’ 111
The development of this network of swift and secure communication had a
number of ‘spin-off’ benefits. First, it allowed the Rothschilds to offer a firstclass
postal service to the European elite. While in London in 1822, Chateaubriand
received ‘an important despatch’ from the Duchess of Duras through her ‘protegé
Rothschild’. 112 The idea soon caught on. By 1823, ‘receiving news from Rothschild’
was an integral part of the Countess Nesselrode’s routine. 113 Perhaps the most
distinguished – if not the most powerful – enthusiasts for the Rothschild postal
107
Gille, Maison Rothschild, vol. I, pp.187f.
108
See e.g., RAL, XI/109J/J/36, James, Paris, to Nathan and his sons, London, 20
April 1836; RAL, T25/104/0/86, Isaac Cohen, Boulogne, to Lionel, 8 Sept. 1840. Cf.
Rothschild, Shadow, pp. 135–7.
109
RAL, XI/109J/J/36, James, Paris, to Nathan and Nat, London, 19 May 1836.
110
RAL, T27/63, Amschel, Frankfurt, to James, Paris, 17 June 1811; RAL, T27/60,
Amschel, Frankfurt, to James, 23 June; RAL, T27/15, XI/82/10/8, unidentified author to
Nathan, 15 Oct.; RAL, T27/73, XI/38/81a/6, 28 Jan. 1814.
111
RAL, T29/13, Gelche, Frankfurt, to Salomon, 23 March 1814.
112
F.R. Chateaubriand, Correspondance générale de Chateaubriand (Paris, 1913),
vol. III, pp. 663f.
113
D. Lieven, The Private Letters of Princess Lieven to Prince Metternich, 1820–
1826 (London, 1948), p. 237.