Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1850-03-08
ROthschiItls the Elder.

Great is the power of money!
Princes feasted with him; ambassadors
attended him TO the tomb; and yet, for all
we can learn, he was not equal, in moral
worth to the meanest pauper in the work.
house. He would occasionally give a
guinea TO street beggar, not for the OBJ
ject OF relieving his wants, but to enioy
the joke of seeing him run away, under
the apprehension that the donor had been
mistaken in the coin His wealth was
gained by chicanery, and augmented by
systematic deceit; and yet attend to the
words of the chroncler: .-
''Peers and princes of the blood sat at
his table; clergymen and laymen bowed
before him; and they who preached loud
est against mammon, bent lowest before
the mamnon-wo worshipel. Gorgeous plate,
fine furniture, an establishment such as
many noble of Norman descent would
envy, graced his enterta nments. With
out social refinement, with manners,
which offensive in million, were but
brusque in the millionaire; he collected
around him the fastidunus members of
the most fastidious aristocracy in the
world. He saw the representatives of
all the States in Europe proud of his
friendship. By the democratic envoy of
the New World, by the ambassador of
the imperial Russ, was his hospitality
alike accepted; while the man who war.
red with slavery in all its forms and
phases, was himself slave to the golden
reputation Of the Hebrew. The Ian
guage which Mr.. Rothschild could use
when anger overbalanced his discretion.
was a license allowed to his wealth; and
he who, when placed in position which
almost compelled him to subscribe to a.
pressing charity, could exclaim, "Here,
write check-I have made one-fool of
myself y was courted and caressed by
the clergy, was feted and followed by
the peer, was treated as an equal by the
first minister of the crown, and more
than worshiped by those whose names
stood foremost on the roll of commercial
arlstocracy. His mode of debating let
tiers was characteristic of a mind entirely
absorbed in money-making; and his ra-
wings when he found bill unexpectedly
protested, were translated into mercantile
language before they were fit TO meet a
correspondents eye. 1t is painful to
write thus depreciatingly of man who
possessed so laige development of brain;
but the golden gods of England have ma
ny idoiators, and the voice of truth rare
ly penetrates the private room of the
English merchant.' -
Poor as Lazarus NAV be, let him not
envy the position of Dives. Even in
this world, riches cannot purchase happi-
ness. Any pecuniary loss was enough
to drive Rothschilds to despair. His
existence was fnther embittered by the
dread OF assassinatlon-no uncommon
symptom, when the mind is rarely at
ease; and those who knew him best, said
that he was often troubled with such
thoughts, and that they haunted him at
moments when he would willingly have
forgotten them. "Happy!" he said, in
reply TO the compliment of a guest-"me'
happy! What happy when, just as
you are going to dine, yon have a letter
placed in your hands, saying. if vou do
not send me $500, will blow your
brains ont9 Happy!-me happyv We
are not compassionate enough to wish
that 1t had been otherwise. Such thoughts
are The foreshadowing of the end of
those who have failed in making even
that negative expiation, which conscience
sometimes extorts from The apprehensions
of unscrupulous men, Blackwood's
Magazine.