The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-04 00:00:00

NATHAN MAYER ROTHSCHILD.

(From a Correspondent of the Times.)
The death of this gentleman, which was made known
yesterday morning, is one of the most important events
for the City, and perhaps for Europe, which has occurred
for a very long time. His financial transactions have cer-
tainly pervaded the whole of the continent, and may be
said for years past to have exercised more or less influence
on money business of every description. No operations on
an equally large scale have existed in Europe previous to
his time, for they were not confined to his own capital and
resources, which are well known to have been immense,
but were carried on in conjunction with his brothers in
Paris, Frankfort, Vienna, and Naples, all of whom pos-
sess colossal fortunes of their own. Besides this essential
co-operation, he had agencies in almost every city either io
the old or the new world, all of which, under his directions,
conducted extensive business of various kinds. He had
also, as well as his brothers, hosts of minor dependent ca-
pitalists, who participated in his loans and other exten-
sive public engagements, who placed implicit confidence
in the family, and were ready at all times to embark
with them in any operation that was proposed. Nothing,
therefore, was too great or extended, provided the project
was a reasonable one, for him to undertake. Within the
last 15 years, the period during which his character for sa-
.„cracity may be said to have been fully established, there has
been, in fact, no limit to his means, taking the indirect as
well as the direct means into account. MI the brothers of
Mr. Rothschild are men of great capacity and knowledge
of business, but it is generally admitted that they deferred to
his judgment in all their undertakings, and that he was the
moving principle of the great mass of capital they repre-
sented. Mr. Rothschild may be said to have been the
first introducer of foreign loans into this country ; for,
though such securities did at all times circulate here, the
payment of the dividends abroad, which was the universal
practice before his time, made them too inconvenient an in-
vestment for the great majority of persons of property to
deal with. He not only formed arrangements for the pay-
ment of the dividends on his foreign loans in London, but
made them still more attractive by fixing the rate in sterling
money, and doing away with all the effects of fluctuation in
exchanges. All these operations were attended with a
most remarkable degree of good fortune ; fur though many
of the countries which made loan contracts in this country
became bankrupt, not one of those with whom Mr. Roths-
child entered into contracts ever failed in their enmage-
ments. For this he was indebted occasionally as much to his
own good management afterwards as for his judgment in
the original selection. If the dividends were not ready at
the time appointed, which was the case in some few in-
stances, his resources always enabled him to make the re-
qtfsite advances, while his influence and perseverance after-
wards uniformly enabled him to recover the money which
had been advanced. Whatever may be said, therefore, of
the ruinous effect of foreign loans, cannot with any justice
be charged on Mr. Rothschild : on the contrary, they
have proved to be the source of great national profit, as
nearly all the stocks of the continental Powers originally
created here have passed over for investment into the
countries for which they were raised at an advance of 20
or 30 percent., or more, on the contract price. Besides
his loan contracts, Mr. Rothschild was a purchaser and a
large dealer,iii all the pre-existing European Government
securities. .Stock of any description, however unmarket-
able elsewhere, could always be bought or sold at his
counting-house, and at fair prices. Besides his contracts
with foreign Governments for loans in money, he entered
into numerous others, for conversion into stocks, bearing a
lower rate of interest, and had various projects for further
reduction under consideration at the time of his death,
which he probably was alone able to carry through, and
which will therefore fall with him.
Mr. Rothschild's loan contracts were not uniformly suc-
cessful in the first instance. He was exposed to several
very severe reverses, which would have proved fatal to
houses of inferior means. One of these was Lord Bexley's
loan or funding of Exchequer Bills in a 3. per cent.
stock, the first of that denomination introduced into the
English market, and by which alone he is said to have lost
500,0001. At the time of the Spanish invasion by France,
in 1823, he was largely engaged in the French loans of
that period, by which he was placed in great jeopardy, but
his resources enabling him to hold the stock, he came off ul-
timately without loss. The same cause shook violently the
contracts with other European States then in progress in
this market, and the stock of Naples in particular under-
went so severe a depression that most of the subscribers,
after the deposit, refused to go on with the instalments.
The London house was left, in consequence, to bear the
whole weight of that contract. Another event by which he
was exposed to great danger was the project of M. de Vil-
lele for the conversion of the Rentes. Fortunately for him,
the measure was lost by a single vote in the Chamber of
Peers ; but had it been carried, the convulsion in the mo-
ney-markets in Europe which shortly followed it would pro-
bably have proved fatal to him with such a burden on his
shoulders, notwithstanding all his vast resources. Indeed,
it was a common remark of his own at the time, that nei-
ther he nor the houses engaged in the undertaking with
him could have stood the shock. Another most perilous
contract for Mr. Rothschild was the 4 per Cent. French
loan made with M. de Polignac, just previous to the
" three days," and which fell afterwards 20 or 30 per
cent. or more. In fact the stock was for some time in
such bad odour, that no purchasers could be found
for it. This conttact was more detrimental in propor-
tion to his subscribers than to himself, as the greater
part of it was distributed among them, and it was at the
time a matter of severe reproach against him that he did
on this occasion leave his friends completely in the lurch.
But this was answered by the remark that he had always
been in the practice of dealing liberally with his subscri-
bers in sharing his contracts among them, and that the re-
volution which followed aad made this so ruinous an opera-
tion, was one that could not possibly have been foreseen by
him. Since that period he has been in a constant course of
successful operations, with the exception perhaps of that in
Portuguese stock, which, however, was to him of very small
amount and consideration.
Mr. Rothchild's great success in loan operations made it
a matter almost of rivalry with all those States who wanted
to borrow money to obtain his co-operation. He uniformly
refused, however, to enter into any such contracts for Spain
or the American States, previously the colonies of Spain.
He contrived literally to steer clear of all the bad bargains
which were made during the fifteen years, which may be
called the zenith of his career as a banker and a financial
merchant.

Mr. Rothschild also avoided with great care the nume-
rous joint-stock companies which had their rise and fall in
his time. He might be said, however, to take the lead in
their formation, by the introduction of the Alliance Insu-
rance Company, which took place in 1824, just before the ge-
neral mania, and which was peculiarly successful ; with that
exception, we are not aware of any in which he had been
directly engaged.
Mr. Rothschild's operations in bullion and foreign ex.;
changes have been on a scale probably little inferior to his
loan contracts, and, devolving wholly upon himself and the
family circle of his transactions of a similar kind, have
.formed, we suspect, a still more important feature in his
general scale of profits. They continued at all times and
under all circumstances, and were subject to none of those
reverses which occurred in his foreign loan contracts. His
management of the business in exchanges was one of the
most remarkable parts of his character. lie never hesi-
tated for a moment in fixing the rate, either as a drawer or
a taker, on any part of the world, and his memory was so
retentive, that, notwithstanding the immense transactions into
which he entered on every foreign post day, and that he never
took a note of them, he could dictate the whole on his re-
turn home with perfect-exactness to his clerks. His libe-
rality of dealing was another conspicuous feature of
these operations, and many merchants whose bills were
objected to elsewhere found ready assistance from him,
and his judgment was proved by the very small amount
of loss which he incurred in consequence of such
liberality. To this class at any other time his death
might have been productive of considerable embarrassment,
but as trade is prosperous, and the state of credit good,
little inconvenience is anticipated. This is under the sup-
position, too, that the business would now cease, but, though
no arrangements can of course be yet made, it seems to
be expected that it will be continued under the manage-
ment of his sons, who have been for some time attachedto
e-
ma-
the house, and have acquired, notwithstanding their •
mense prospects in point of wealth, the habits ()-
f the best
-
trained commercial men.
Mr. Rothschild's death took place on Thursday last, at
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, at five
o'clock in the afternoon.
He was only 59 years of age. His visit to
at
made for the purpose of being the
tgewas
present of
his son, and it is now some
weeks since he was first at-
tacked with the illness which has proved fatal. He was
sensible to the last. He
had a strong presentiment, it is
said, that he should not return alive to this country, but
there is an impression abroad, which, if true, is a very
that
melancholy one,better surgical assistance than that
which was to be
found
on the spot might have saved him.
Mr. raa. ers, it seems, was not sent specially to attend him,
no suspicion at that time existing of his danger, and when
he arrived,
which was only two days before his death, all
assistance was too late.
The rise of Mr. Rothschild's fortune is all within the
present century, and it did not make any decided progress
till some time after it had commenced. It was not until
the breaking out of the war in Spain, in 1808, that his
extraordinary means, which were displayed in making
the remittances for the English army in that country,
were developed to any extent, so as to be known to the
mercantile world in general. He came to England in
1800, where he acted as agent for his father in the pur-
chase of Manchester goods for the Continent. Shortly
afterwards, through the agency of his father, for the Elector