coleman-the-rothschild-dynasty

The Rothschild Dynasty 61
brother Nathan to London, but instead, Amschel sent him to
Paris. He left Frankfurt for that city in March of 1811. His arrival
in Paris did not go unnoticed by Finance Minister Mollien who
reported it to Napoleon: A Frankfurt man who is now in Paris and
who calls himself Rotschild (sic) is occupied mainly in smuggling
guineas from the English coast to Dunkirk.
Francois-Nicholas Comte Mollien was Napoleon's top
advisor holding the post of Minister of Finance from 1806-1814.
The arrival of James must have been an event of
importance for Napoleon, who could not have known what great
a part James Rothschild was to play in his downfall, and of course
the Rothschilds were engaged in more than smuggling, although
that activity was a widespread and very lucrative business for
them. When the British blockaded France, Mayer Amschel saw it
as a golden chance to make a fortune, and he did, in gold.
At twenty-two years old, James was a rather unattractive
young man who was almost servile in mannerisms. Some
of his contemporaries were not so kind. Castellane, who
along with Mirabeau and Clement-Tonnerrre were the
high nobility of Paris, found James frightfully ugly, even
though he is the Adonis of the Rothschilds'. (Baron
James, Anka Muhlstein, page 61)
Others were even harsher:
A monstrous visage, the flattest, squattest, most
frightful kind of batrachian's face with bloodshot
eyes, swollen lids, and a slobbery mouth slit like a
piggy bank, a sort of a satrap of gold, that's
Rothschild.
(Goncourts, Journal Paris 1854 Vol. Ill, 7)