HOW THE ROTHSCHILD FAMILY BECAME SO POWERFUL.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVI, 25 November 1857, Page 3

HOW THE ROTHSCHILD FAMILY BECAME SO POWERFUL.

[From the Jewish Chronicle].

We translate from the Novellenzeitung, of Leipsic, the following account : — Towards the last days of September, 1 793, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel saw the banners of the French republic unfurled close to the frontier of his dominions. He then hastily collected his most precious valuables, consisting of jewels, and gold, and silver, besides three millions of dollars, and went with them to Frankfort, where he hoped to deposit them in safety. Having arrived in the ancient city, where formerly the successors of Caesar were crowned, he knocked at the modest door of a Jewish banker, called Meyer Rothschild, richer in children than in dollars, but who was an excellent archaeologist and a distinguished numismatist. The landgrave, passionately fond of antiquities, had a high opinion of the knowledge of the Hebrew, who, for the la3t five or six years, with the title of medallist to his highness, had supplied him with curiosities. "Meyer," said the landgrave to him, handing over to him his valuables, " I know you as a man of integrity and conscientiousness. Here I confide to you all I possess ; take it all, and in better times return it to me."

" Such great confidence honours me highly," replied the Hebrew ; " but consider that within eight days at the utmost we shall have the republican army at our gates." " Let happen what may, dear Meyer," said the prince, " I do not want any receipt of you ; I depend entirely upon your good faith." Having said so, the prince, without attending any further to the representations which the merchant was about to make, who seemed to be most anxious to free himself from this trust, entered his carriage, leaving the box in the house of the Jew. Scarcely a week passed when that which Meyer had foreseen really happened. Frankfort surrendered to the French, and the house of the banker was pillaged, he having been denounced as a bod citizen, and as one who had dealings with many a tyrant.

But scarcely had the conquerors turned their backs upon Frankfort when Meyer opened again his bank, obtained credit first from his co-religionists, and then also from others, and soon seemed to be better off than before. In 1802 he was considered as the most respectable banker of all Germany. At that time the crowned heads had a kind of truce. The princes who afterwards became members of the Rhine confederation were under Napoleon's protection. Having assumed, by the will of the French conqueror, the title of Elector of the German Empire, the landgrave now returned to his dominions. He took his road through Frankfort. The prince was not unacquainted with the misfortune which had befallen Meyer, and he believed that the precious casket had become the prey of the Jacobins. Nevertheless, he paid a visit to the numismatist, in order to assure him of his unaltered esteem and confidence.

" Good morning, Meyer," said the prince, shaking him cordially by the hand. At last we have got peace, my old friend ; but I had to pay high for it. You see now a man before you as poor as Job." " Your highness poor?"

" Certainly, for those rascally sans culottes have with your dollars pilfered mine. I now want you to advance me a little money upon the indemnities which I have to receive at Cassel."

" Your highness has no occasion for any advance. Whatever you entrusted to me is still in my charge." "What!" exclaimed the prince, astonished, " has your house not been plundered V "It is true ; but they took my property and not yours. I took care not to offer any resistance, or they would have searched every nook and corner, and thus found your diamonds and your dollars, which I had concealed in the cellar."

"Is it possible?" "So it is. My non-resistance was a stratagem which succeeded perfectly, for the hidingplace was not discovered. For nine years I have traded with your money, which replaced my own. All my undertakings have been most successful, so that I now am in a position to restore you the whole of your amount, together with five per cent, interest." The prince was almost moved to tears by this unspotted integrity. "Friend Meyer," he said, "you are the most honest man I know. Keep the money, trade with it, and repay me in two years, with two per cent, interest." Meyer Rothschild thus became a millionaire. Old Meyer departed this life in 1812. Before his death he called his five sons, Joseph, Solomon, Nathan, Charles, and James, blessed them, and made them swear they would for ever remain faithful to the religion of their fathers, that they would, under no pretext whatever, divide their interests, and would never undertake anything without first consulting their mother. "If you will conscientiously observe these three points," he concluded, "you will soon become the richest of the rich, and the world will be yours."