Jekyll_text

•
we
226 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA 227
At a dinner party in later years, Nathan casually summed up
At least one friendly biographer claims that Nathan's first act
the episode as though it were merely a good piece of routine
was to deliver the news to the Prime Minister, but that government
business. He said:
officials were hesitant at first to believe it, because it ran contrary to
reports they had received
The East India Company had £800,000 worth
previously
of
telling
gold to of
sell. I went
serious British
to the sale and bought it all. I knew the Duke of Wellington must
setbacks. At any rate, there is
have
no doubt that Nathan's second act of
it. The government sent for me and said they must have the gold. I sold
the morning was to set off for the stock exchange to take up a
the gold to them, but they didn't know how to get it to the Duke in
position at his usual pillar.
Portugal. I undertook all that and sent it through France. It was the
All eyes were upon him as he slumped dejectedly, staring at the
best business I have ever done.
floor. Then, he raised his gaze and, with pained expression, began
to sell The whisper
THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO
went through the crowded room, "Nathan is
i selling?"
The final outcome of the battle at Waterloo between
"Nathan is
Wellington
selling*" "Wellington must have lost." "Our
government bonds will
and Napoleon was crucial to Europe both politically and never
economically.
If Napoleon had been victorious, England would have
be repaid/' "Sell them now. Sell. Sell!"
Prices tumbled, and Nathan sold again.
been
Prices plummeted, and
still Nathan sold. Finally, prices
in even greater economic trouble than before. Not only would
collapsed
she
altogether and, in one
quick move, Nathan reversed his call
have lost international power and prestige, but even at home,
and
her
purchased the entire
market in government bonds. In a matter
subjects would have been further disgruntled over
of just
such
a
great
few hours, he
had acquired the dominant holding of England's entire
personal and financial wartime sacrifices. Her defeat almost surely
debt at but
a tiny fraction of its worth.
would have resulted in not being able to repay the great amounts
she had borrowed to conduct the war. In the London stock SIDONIA
exchange, therefore, where British government bonds were traded
Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of England, wrote a book
in
along with other securities, everyone waited anxiously for news of
1844 called Coningsby. It was a political novel in which the author
the outcome.
expressed his views about contemporary issues. One of the strong
It was well known that the Rothschilds had developed a private
characters in the book was a financier named Sidonia, but every
detail
courier service that was used, not only to transport gold and other
of Sidonia's actions was an exact replica of the real Lord
Rothschild,
tangible cargo, but to rapidly move information that could be useful
whom Disraeli greatly admired. In the guise of a novel,
we read
in making investment decisions. It was
about
expected, therefore, that
Rothschild's emigration from Germany, his family
and banking ties
Nathan in London would be the first to know the name of the victor
throughout Europe, his handling of the gold for
Wellington, and his financial
after the cannon smoke had cleared from the battlefield. And they
coup after Waterloo. Then Disraeli
wrote:
were not to be disappointed. The first news of Wellington's victory
arrived in Brussels around midnight on June 18, 1815, where a
Europe did require money, and Sidonia was ready to lend it to
Rothschild agent named Rothworth was waiting in readiness. He
Europe. France wanted some; Austria more; Prussia a little; Russia a
few
immediately mounted a fresh horse and set off for the port of
millions. Sidonia could furnish them all....
It is not difficult to
Ostend where a boat was standing by to speed him across the
conceive that, after having pursued the career
have intimated for about ten years, Sidonia had
channel to London. In the early hours of June 20, the exhausted
become one of the
messenger was pounding on Nathan's door, a full twenty-four
* The New York Times, in its April 1, 1915, edition, reported that Baron Nathan
hours before Wellington's own courier, Major Henry Percy,
Mayer de Rothschild had attempted to secure a court order to suppress a book
vvntten by Ignatious Balla entitled
arrived.
The Romance of the Rothschilds on the grounds that
£e Waterloo story about his grandfather was untrue and libelous. The court ruled
pt the story was true, dismissed the suit, and ordered Rothschild to pay all court
1. Morton, p. 45. costs. r J