coleman-the-rothschild-dynasty

The Rothschild Dynasty 15
the brothers decided to establish themselves in England, they sent
Nathan to settle in Manchester, a grimy northern industrial town,
rather than in London. The reason was that the Rothschilds had
important commercial plans for the cloth trade there, which they
intended to exploit to the full before moving their operation to
London. Most of the fabric needed to make uniforms for the
British Army and Navy originally came from Germany. Thanks
to the "postal intelligence" provided by the Von Thurn and Taxis
mail monopoly, the Rothschilds learned that war with Napoleon
was imminent. Nathan was quickly dispatched to Germany to buy
up all stocks of such cloth.
When the Manchester manufactures were given contracts
by the British Government to make uniforms for the army and
navy, they sent their agents to Germany to secure the necessary
fabric stocks, as they had always done, only to learn that all
production had already been sold to Nathan Rothschild, from
whom they were now obliged to buy.
When the news reached Manchester, there followed
violent uproar. At one stage Nathan feared for his safety. After
five years in Manchester, in 1805 Nathan moved to London.
Actually, "fled" would be a better description as indeed he was
forced to do when public wrath against his dealings began to
mount.
One of the principle reasons for Nathan's great success
was that he realized that fast communication was the key to
beating out competitors. He employed the fastest riders, ships and
even carrier pigeons to communicate. He avidly sought "inside
information," which he kept from his competitors and from
governments. He had his secret agents in all of the capital cities
of Europe.
This loyal group never hesitated to ride through the night,
winter and summer. They kept the best breed of carrier pigeons
and sailed on the fastest packet boats, sometimes buying all
passages between France and England to block competitors.