Upon the death of Johann Philipp Bethmann in 1793, his son Simon Moritz became head of the House of Bethmann. His peers called him "Frankfurt's premier citizen", while in France some called him "le roi de Francfort". His financial dealings gained him entrance to nearly all the ruling families of Europe, and he exploited these contacts on numerous diplomatic missions on behalf of his hometown. In 1802 he negotiated successfully with France for a reduction of her demand for contributions to the cost of war. In the negotiations on the German mediatisation, he bargained for and achieved the secularization of ecclesiastical assets within the territory of Frankfurt for the benefit of the imperial city. In 1802 he was appointed Russian consul for Frankfurt, followed by his appointment in 1807 as Russian Consul General and Staatsrat or Russian Counselor of State. In 1808 he received the patent of an Austrian nobleman from Francis I, Emperor of Austria. Thenceforth, he and his descendants would be named "von" Bethmann. However, to the people of Frankfurt his "Russian" title of "Staatsrat" stuck, and so even after he returned that commission to Tsar Alexander I he was simply known as the "Staatsrat". On 31 October 1813 the retreating Emperor Napoleon spent the night as an unannounced guest at the Bethmanns' garden house. Bethmann's negotiating skills managed to persuade the French to withdraw their army without further bloodshed from Frankfurt.