the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
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THE RISE OF tHE ROtHScHILDS 29<br />
it gave <strong>the</strong>m advance knowledge <strong>of</strong> great power foreign policy as it was being<br />
formed, and this in turn allowed <strong>the</strong>m to make better-informed investment<br />
decisions. It also gave <strong>the</strong>m a chance to pursue <strong>the</strong>ir own political agenda (which<br />
generally aimed at averting war between <strong>the</strong> great powers because <strong>of</strong> its negative<br />
financial consequences). Given that <strong>the</strong>y dominated <strong>the</strong> international bond market<br />
and <strong>the</strong>refore had substantial leverage over most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> major European states<br />
– none <strong>of</strong> whom could contemplate war without resorting to borrowing – <strong>the</strong><br />
Rothschilds were plainly more than mere messengers.<br />
Of course, if <strong>the</strong> Rothschilds had relied solely on <strong>the</strong>ir own five houses for<br />
intelligence, <strong>the</strong> system would have been very limited. But <strong>the</strong>y soon developed<br />
a ‘reach’ which extended far beyond <strong>the</strong>ir original European bases. As none <strong>of</strong><br />
Mayer Amschel’s grandsons wished or was allowed to establish a new foreign<br />
‘house’, this was done by building up a select group <strong>of</strong> salaried agents employed<br />
to take care <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> bank’s interests in o<strong>the</strong>r markets: principally Madrid, St<br />
Petersburg, Brussels and later New York, New Orleans, Havana, Mexico and San<br />
Francisco. The lines <strong>of</strong> communication with <strong>the</strong>se agents formed a complex new<br />
intelligence and business network. Men like August Belmont in New York or<br />
Daniel Weisweiller in Madrid inevitably enjoyed considerable autonomy because<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir remoteness and <strong>the</strong>ir greater local knowledge; but although permitted to<br />
trade on <strong>the</strong>ir own account <strong>the</strong>y always remained Rothschild agents and were not<br />
allowed to forget it. Nor was this network <strong>of</strong> formal influence all; <strong>of</strong> comparable<br />
importance was <strong>the</strong> larger but looser network <strong>of</strong> links to o<strong>the</strong>r banks, as well as to<br />
stockbrokers, central banks and financial newspapers.<br />
In 1826, <strong>the</strong> liberal Fournier-Verneuil made <strong>the</strong> first <strong>of</strong> many claims that<br />
<strong>the</strong> French government – in this case Villèle’s – was <strong>the</strong> corrupt puppet <strong>of</strong> ‘<strong>the</strong><br />
aristocracy <strong>of</strong> finance, <strong>the</strong> most arid and least noble <strong>of</strong> all aristocracies’ at whose<br />
head stood none o<strong>the</strong>r than ‘M. le baron R...’. 121 Two years later, <strong>the</strong> Radical MP<br />
Thomas Duncombe complained in <strong>the</strong> British House <strong>of</strong> Commons about ‘a new,<br />
and formidable power, till <strong>the</strong>se days unknown in Europe’:<br />
master <strong>of</strong> unbounded wealth, he boasts that he is <strong>the</strong> arbiter <strong>of</strong> peace and<br />
war, and that <strong>the</strong> credit <strong>of</strong> nations depends upon his nod; his correspondents<br />
are innumerable; his couriers outrun those <strong>of</strong> sovereign princes, and absolute<br />
sovereigns; ministers <strong>of</strong> state are in his pay. Paramount in <strong>the</strong> cabinets <strong>of</strong><br />
continental Europe, he aspires to <strong>the</strong> domination <strong>of</strong> our own. 122<br />
In <strong>the</strong> mid-1830s, an American magazine gave a similar assessment, though in less<br />
pejorative terms: ‘The Rothschilds are <strong>the</strong> wonders <strong>of</strong> modern <strong>banking</strong> . . . holding<br />
a whole continent in <strong>the</strong> hollow <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir hands. . . . Not a cabinet moves without<br />
121<br />
M. Fournier-Verneuil, Paris: Tableau moral et philosophique (Paris, 1826), pp.<br />
51–2, 64f.<br />
122<br />
Hansard, New Series, vol. XVIII, pp. 540–43.