Year: 1877

Oh England.


In 1857 bill of exchange for large
amount was drawn by Anselm Roths-
child of Frankfort, on his brother Ma
than of London. When the gentleman
who held it arrived in London, Nathan
was away, and he took the bit of paper
+ to the Bank of England and asked them
/ there to discount it. The managers were
very stiff. With naughty assurance
/ they informed the holder that they dis
counted only their own bills; they want
ed nothing to do with the bills of "pri-
/ vate personsw They did not stop to re-
/ fleet with whom they had to deal Those
shrewd old fellows in charge of the realm
I should have known and remembered that
that bit of paper bore the sign-manual
of firm more powerful than they; more
powerful because independent of the
thousand and one hampers that rest upon
them.


Umph!" exclaimed Nathan Roths-
child when the answer of the bank was
rel eated to him. "Private persons! |
will give those important gentlemen to
know with what sort of a private per-
SON they have to dealn


And then Nathan Rothschild went to
work. He had an object in view to hum
BILE the Bank of England-an he meant
to do it. He sent agents upon the con-
tinent, and through the United King
| dom, and three weeks were spent in
gathering up notes of the smaller de-
nominations of the banks own issue.
One morning, bright and early, Nathan
Rothschild presented himself at the bank
at the opening of the teller's department,
and drew from his pocket five pound
note, which he desired to have cashed.
Five sovereigns were counted out to him.
The officers looked with astonishment
upon seeing the Baron Rothschild
troubling himself personally about so
trivial a matter. The Baron examined
the coins one by one and, having satisfied
himself of their honesty i'll quality and
weight, he slipped them into a canvass
bag, and drew out and presented another
five pound note. The same operation
was gone through again, save that this
time the Baron took the trouble to take
a small pair of scales from his pocket and
weigh one of the pieces-for the law gave
him that right. wo-three-tcn-
twenty-one hundred-five hundred five
pound notes were presented and cashed.
When one pocket had been emptied an
other WAS brought forth; and when
canvass bag had been filled with gold, it
was passed to a servant who was in wait
ing. And so he went on until the hour
arrived for closing the bank. At the
same time he had nine of the employees
of the house engaged in the same work.
So it resulted that ten men of the house
of Rothschild had kept every teller of
the bank busy seven hours, and had ex-
changed somewhere about twenty-five
thousand pounds. Not another customer
had been able to get his wants attended
to.


The English like oddity. Let man
do something original and piquant, and
they will applaud even though their own
flesh is pricked. So the people contrived
to smile at the eccentricity of Baron
Rothschild, and when the time came for
closing the bank they were not a tenth
part SO much annoyed as were the Gus
toners from abroad whose business had
not been attended to. The bank officials
smiled that evening; but


On the following morning when the
bank opened, Nathan Rothschild ap-
peared again accompanied by his nine
faithful helpers, this time bringing with
him as far as the street entrance four
heavy two horse drays, for the purpose
of carting away the gold-for to-day the
Baron had billsof a larger denomination.
All, the officers of the bank smiled no
more; and a trembling seized them when
the banker monarch said, with stern
simplicity and directness:


"Ahl these gentlemen refuse to take
my bills. Be it so. am resolved that
will not keep one of theirs. 1t is the
house of Rothschild against the Bank of
England"


The Bank of England opens its eyes
very wide. Within week the house of
Rothschild could be demanding gold
which it did not possess. The gentleman
at the head of affairs saw very plainly
1 that in determined tilt the bank must
90 to the wall. There was but one way
out of the scrape, and they took it. No
tice was at once publicly given that
/ thenceforth the Bank of England would
cash the bills of Rothschild as well as
/ those of their own.