The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-23 00:00:00

The Thellusson Bank,

Of the six millionnaire bankers of the last cen-
tury, the last-named, Mr. Peter Thellusson, rose
into fame in a very singular manner. Mr. Thellusson
was born at Paris, in 1735, the son of Mons. Isaac
Thellusson, a native of Geneva, who was established
as banker in a good way of business, which he ex-
tended considerably by the assistance of a clerk,
afterwards famous in history as M. Necker, the
Minister of Finance during the French Revolution.
Mons. Isaac Thellusson, appreciating the value of
his clerk, admitted him after a time into partners
ship, so that the firm thenceforth became Thellusson
and Necker. When Peter Thellusson had grown
up into manhood, he was likewise admitted es mem-
ber of the Paris firm ; but the first throes of the
revolution which were felt ever after made hire
restless at his desk, and he resolved on emigrating
to London and establishing an English branch bank
in connection with the house of Thellusson and
Necker. A man of great sagacity and extraordinary
perseverance, coupled with a desire for making
money which amounted to an all-absorbing passion
Mr. Peter Thellusson found success at his door, and
in a few years built up one of the first banking
establishments in the British metropolis. But,
however great his wealth, he still yearned for more ;
and pondering day and night over this one great
object of his life, he at last hit upon an extraordi-
nary expedient for multiplying the fortune amassed
by him to an unheard of extent. In April, 1796,
he put his name to a last will and testament which
made the house of Thellusson for ever memorable.
Under this will several legacies were left by Mr
Peter Thellusson to his wife, his three sons nod
three daughters, amounting together to about
£lOO,OOO, and the rest of his fortune, valued at
above £600,000, was made over to trustees, to'
accumulate and to be laid out by them in the pur-
chase of estates in England, until such time as all
his children, and the male children of his sons and
grandsons should die, after which the whole pro-
perty was directed to go to the nearest lineal male
descendants bearing the name of Thellusson.
Among these descendant*, the property was then
to be distributed in the following manner :—The
immense estate—grown up into gigantic dimensions
by the action of interest and compound interest
was to be divided into three equal shares : the first
to go to the male descendants of the testator's eldest
son, another to the second son's male descendants,
and the remaining to the male heirs of the third.
In case of failure of male descendants of any one of
the three his share was to go to the other two; and
if there was a failure of two, then the whole three
lots was to be consolidated into one vast property,
constituting by far the largest territorial fortune
ever known in Europe, or indeed in the world.
Finally, in the event that there should
remain no lineal male descendants, the teste.tor
rected that the whole estate should be sold, and the
proceeds applied to pay off the national debt.
was the grandest of all the grand schemes of Mr'
Peter Thellusson—to pay off the public debt d
Great Britain ! The very idea is bewaderilag to
the ordinary mind.
Peter Thellusson's calculations seemed beaut if nl.-17
correct; and evidently not the shadow of a doubt
existed in his mind that by the simple accumu lite
tion through three or four generations his weAtli
would swell into dimensions compared with which
the fortunes of Kings and Emperors would be
mere beggarly trifles. Unfortunately, the te6"
tater had left one item out of calculation-0°
fact of the existence of a British institution called
the Court of Chancery, at the shrine of w htch
there worship a host of long-winded gentlemen, tlu
anxious to participate in the pleasing action of ill'
terest and compound interest. In July, 1797, )11.:
Peter Thellusson shut his eyes, directed, no doubt'
eagerly towards the future and the countless wealth
accumulating for other Thellussons after generation-
to come ; but after little more than a year, in tie
month month of December, 1798, two bills were alreal
filed in the Court of Chancery against the will'
the one by the widow and her sons and three
daughters and the husbands of the two then sari
ried, and tha other by the acting trustees °e,
the bulk of the property. The validity of the viii;
was established by the Lord Chancellor and judgesat
the Court of Chancery ;;nevertheless, the gentlsir
of the long robe were not all inclined to give up bblis,
valuable prize. For years and years to comet
applications, and injunctions in re Thellusson k'elrs
cropping up in the law courts, and legal n3ili
os
kept digging into the wonderful estate witb,sid
hearty energy as any miners in the Australian evna
fields. Poor Mrs. Thellusson got sick over it, El it,
died of a broken heart—or a broken Purs
January, 1805, seven years after her ale
_ ulat
il
o
husband. All the three sons of Pettr Thellus'th d e
had seats in the House of Commons,an .
eldest, Peter Isaac Thellusson, obtained an
peerage, and changed into Baron Rendle:oshep—;
For all this the family not did greatly,ses
in the world, and having once got into the niecti;t3
of the honourable Court of Chancery, never
r,..,„0
out of them again. Under the assiduous wo
ghtY 11
of the gentlemen of the long robe, the ei

hundred millions sterling which Peter Thellusson
had calculated upon for his great-great-grandchil-
dren dwindled down to very modest proportions,
not at all conspicuous among the thousands of first
class fortunes at present assessed to the income tax.
There are now no more millionaire Thelluseens ; no
more members of the family in Parliament ; and no
more banking establishments bearing the famous
name. Peter Thellusson, besides overlooking the
Court of Chancery, made one fundamental mistake
in his calculation. He did not remember, or perhaps
did not know, that large wealth, as it must be
acquired, so must be kept together, by active human
brains and industrious human hands. Interest and
compound interest alone will not do it.—. Railway
News.