A PRINCE OF FINANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12910, 5 July 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

A PRINCE OF FINANCE.

THE STORY OF THE- CAREER OF THE LATE BARON ALPHONSE DE ROTHSCHILD. The death of Baron Mayer Alphonse James de Rothschild on May 26, at the age of 78, removes from view a great personality in the world of finance, and recalls once again the career of the famous family of which he was the senior member; In the ancient, squalid Judengasse (now the Borne Strasse), at Frankfort-on-Maine, in the House of the Red Shield—from which the family afterwards took its surnamewas born in 1743 Mayer Anselm, son of Moses Anselm Bauer, a Jewish dealer in' curios and coins. The father died when Mayer Anselm was eleven, and the boy, trudged off to Hanover, whero he bought and sold and learned banking, and then returned to Frankfort. • His success hi finance and his magnificent services in the Elector of Hesse-Cassel during the Napoleonic wars are matters of history. He left five sons, of whom the eldest remained at Frankfort, while the others founded branches in Vienna, London, Paris, and Naples. To Englishmen, Nathan, of the Londonbranch, is the most familiar figure among these sons—-Nathan who staked every; ." thing on the overthrow of Napoleon, :>vl"< . witnessed Waterloo, and hurried back to London with " exclusive information,"' and: made a million by it, and who could boast of having multiplied his capital 2500 times in five years. THE FRENCH BRANCH. Frenchmen are naturally most interested in Baron. James, who began business in. Paris in 1812. His marvellous financial ability was not hindered by too fine feeling; l he fought to win, and many victims testified to his success. Loans, banking, railways— contributed to swell his wealth., : And as his power grew, he took revenge for many old snubs. His Hunt speaking often passed the limits of ordinaay rudeness. He was neves popular, and received little credit for hi* really great generosity. When he died in 1868, his second son,Alphonse, whose death is now announced,came to the financial throne. Born in 1827, he had a very careful training during the lifetime of his father, and this, coupled with his great financial talent, made him a worthily astute successor to Baron James. His skill was very soon tested, for when the Franco-German war ended, in 1871, the payment of the indemnity to Germany was undertaken by the Paris firm under , his management. To the anxieties of this threat work were added the terrors of the Com-! mune. Baron Alphonse actually serve! as a volunteer on the ramparts, as he had done in 1848, to divert the anger of the Communards from so capitalistic a family as his own. It is said that his hair turned white in a single night during the excesses that marked this outburst of Parisian delirium. In 1895 his life was attempted by means of an explosive contained in a letter addressed to him and marked " personal." The letter was opened by his private' secretary, who was badly injured by the.explosion which followed. POLITICAL INFLUENCE. The influence of Baron Alphonse on the ■ French Government was always considerable, but it-must be remembered that pressure from the Paris firm meant pressure from' the whole family. • He was a great supporter of the "powers, that be,", and incurred , great unpopularity with the French aristocracy by refusing to finance the Orleaifists and Boulangists.' One' of the last injunctions of '• Mayer Anselm to his ' five : sons was, - "Remain united until the end," and, at the, risk of being thought cosmopolitan, his descendants' have always followed this plan, ■ with the result that their influence is enormous.

It radiates in every direction and agitates every Bourse and Exchange in the world. It was this influence which withheld financial help from Russia in 1891 because cut the persecution of the. Jews, and so assisted to form the Franco-Russian alliance, and which, later, at the tame of the Fashoda, crisis, did much towards 1 making France adopt counsels of moderation. Baron Alphonse was head of the great' banking house in the Rue Lafitte, Governor of the Bank of France, President' of the Northern Railway of France, and a partner, with his brothers in great electrical and oilmining works. He was a Commander of the Legion of Honour. Like ' all the Rothschilds, he had a great passion for collecting, not merely in the financial, but also in the artistic sense of the word. A keen- connoisseur, he' leaves art treasures which are almost priceless at Ferrieres, .which, in 1871, after the fall of Pans, was the headquarters of the Emperor William and Prince Bismarck. Among them is the famous portrait of Caesar Borgia,, which cost the Baron £24,000. ;

' ' A SPORTSMAN. . He was a great supporter of the turf, and; the Grand .Prix, the. French Derby, the, French' and the Lincolnshire Handicap of 1894 (whpn he ran Le Nich&ni) were among. his triumphs. He never won the ' English Derby, but Le Nord ran second to Sainfoin in 1890. His colours were the sain (5 as those of Mr. Leopold de Rothschild—, blue jacket and- yellow cap. As to his philanthropy, it can bo said that it was always sound, discriminating, and generous. Lately the Paris firm created a fund of £400,000 for the housing end im-; provement of the working classes. j Like all the Rothschilds, Baron Alphonse was a steadfast Jew, and his Judaism was unaffected by the vigorous anti-Semitisms that shook France during the course of the " Affaire Dreyfus." In 1857 Baron Alphonse married Lorcli Rothschild's beautiful sister, Leonora, and the Baroness has been for many years a brilliant figure in Parisian society. > He is succeeded by his only son, Edouard, who recently married Mile. Germainet Halphen. His surviving daughter is Mm©. I Ephrussi. His brother, Baron Gustave, is the father of Lady Sassoon and of lime.. Lambert, whose husband will probably now; assume the management of the Paris house. The fortune of the late Baron Alphon&i is not known to. the outside world. Many estimates will be made, and all will ba different. His actual private fortune cannot lie less than fifteen millions sterling. The money toe , Paris firm controlled under his leadership would probably amount to two hundred millions sterling.