“When Mayer died, headship over the family fell on Nathan (Mayer) Rothschild of England. Even though Nathan was not the oldest, the five brothers had voted unanimously that he was the most capable to lead them. Nathan was an intelligent, uneducated, self-absorbed jerk. Though he was an impolite, foul-mouthed man (…’he could swear like a trooper’) his money got him into the high society of England. His cold view on life and power is seen in his response to an English Major who was being sentimental about the horrible deaths of the large number of soldiers that had died in the war.
‘Well,’ said Rothschild. ‘If they had not all died, Major, you presumably would still be a drummer.’ There is a story that says one of Nathan’s sons asked him how many nations there were in the world and Nathan replied: ‘There are only two you need to bother about. There is the mishpoche [Yiddish for family] and there are the others.’ This story may be false, but the attitude is real.
Nathan first settled in Manchester, England, the center of cloth manufacturing. In 1804 he moved to London. As his wealth and his reputation began to grow he was able to marry Hannah Cohen. The Cohens were a wealthy Jewish family from Amsterdam, and Hannah’s father, Salomon Cohen was a respected merchant in London. Nathan served with him as Warden of the Great Synagogue (the Rothschilds relationship to the Jews will be discussed later on). Hannah’s sister, Judith, married the powerful Jewish Freemason Moses Montefiore (the Montefiores were of ‘ancient’ and extremely ‘aristocratic Jewish stock’, probably another Cabalistic family), who was friends with Nathan (Nathan’s sister Henrietta married a Montefiore, so did his second son, Anthony, and his brother, Salomon’s great grandson, Alphonse married a Sebag-Montefiore in 1911). Nathan’s social life revolved around the Cohens. Nathan was a Freemason. He was a member of London’s Lodge of Emulation. Nathan’s accumulation of wealth was incredible. His money-making exploits were unbelievable. He was smuggling English goods past the French blockade during the Napoleonic conflict, and making great profits. This smuggling required an agent in Paris, so Mayer, through his Dalberg connections, got his son James a passport and James went to live in Paris. A large amount of the Landgrave’s money was sent to Nathan in England, on the advice of Buderus, for the purpose of buying stock. But Nathan, as he and Buderus had planned, used the money as capitol for other ventures. When the exiled Landgrave began asking for a proof-of-purchase, Buderus and the Rothschild brothers had to come up with all sorts of excuses to protect Nathan’s thievery. Eventually the Landgrave demanded to see receipts, so Nathan quickly bought some stock (the Landgrave had told him to buy the stocks at 72, but their price when he ended up buying them was 62, Nathan pocketed the savings) and they snuck the receipts through the French blockade to the exiled Prince. The Landgrave was satisfied, he had no idea what had really been done with his money. Nathan began making connections in the British government. Probably his greatest early connection was to the Treasury official John Herries. Herries aided Nathan’s rise to power in every way possible. He became an intimate friend or Nathan’s and eventually a proxy for Rothschild in the British government. Their dealings were kept secret and the public had no idea as to the enormity of Nathan’s power.”
The Rothschild – Nathan Mayer Rothschild (part one)
“When Mayer died, headship over the family fell on Nathan (Mayer) Rothschild of England. Even though Nathan was not the oldest, the five brothers had voted unanimously that he was the most capable to lead them. Nathan was an intelligent, uneducated, self-absorbed jerk. Though he was an impolite, foul-mouthed man (…’he could swear like a trooper’) his money got him into the high society of England. His cold view on life and power is seen in his response to an English Major who was being sentimental about the horrible deaths of the large number of soldiers that had died in the war.
‘Well,’ said Rothschild. ‘If they had not all died, Major, you presumably would still be a drummer.’ There is a story that says one of Nathan’s sons asked him how many nations there were in the world and Nathan replied: ‘There are only two you need to bother about. There is the mishpoche [Yiddish for family] and there are the others.’ This story may be false, but the attitude is real.
Nathan first settled in Manchester, England, the center of cloth manufacturing. In 1804 he moved to London. As his wealth and his reputation began to grow he was able to marry Hannah Cohen. The Cohens were a wealthy Jewish family from Amsterdam, and Hannah’s father, Salomon Cohen was a respected merchant in London. Nathan served with him as Warden of the Great Synagogue (the Rothschilds relationship to the Jews will be discussed later on). Hannah’s sister, Judith, married the powerful Jewish Freemason Moses Montefiore (the Montefiores were of ‘ancient’ and extremely ‘aristocratic Jewish stock’, probably another Cabalistic family), who was friends with Nathan (Nathan’s sister Henrietta married a Montefiore, so did his second son, Anthony, and his brother, Salomon’s great grandson, Alphonse married a Sebag-Montefiore in 1911). Nathan’s social life revolved around the Cohens. Nathan was a Freemason. He was a member of London’s Lodge of Emulation. Nathan’s accumulation of wealth was incredible. His money-making exploits were unbelievable. He was smuggling English goods past the French blockade during the Napoleonic conflict, and making great profits. This smuggling required an agent in Paris, so Mayer, through his Dalberg connections, got his son James a passport and James went to live in Paris. A large amount of the Landgrave’s money was sent to Nathan in England, on the advice of Buderus, for the purpose of buying stock. But Nathan, as he and Buderus had planned, used the money as capitol for other ventures. When the exiled Landgrave began asking for a proof-of-purchase, Buderus and the Rothschild brothers had to come up with all sorts of excuses to protect Nathan’s thievery. Eventually the Landgrave demanded to see receipts, so Nathan quickly bought some stock (the Landgrave had told him to buy the stocks at 72, but their price when he ended up buying them was 62, Nathan pocketed the savings) and they snuck the receipts through the French blockade to the exiled Prince. The Landgrave was satisfied, he had no idea what had really been done with his money. Nathan began making connections in the British government. Probably his greatest early connection was to the Treasury official John Herries. Herries aided Nathan’s rise to power in every way possible. He became an intimate friend or Nathan’s and eventually a proxy for Rothschild in the British government. Their dealings were kept secret and the public had no idea as to the enormity of Nathan’s power.”