Austrian affairs were chiefly left to Solomon. In midJuly of that year the firm of Rothschild had undertaken. jointly with Gontard to arrange for the transfer from Naples of large sums of money which that kingdom had owed Austria since the intervention of 1815. Also sums to the value of about three million francs, payable in satisfaction of Austria's claims upon France, were transmitted to Vienna, the firm of Rothschild receiving one percent of the payments effected.46 Finally, the brothers had heard from a confidential source in Milan that there was an amount of money in the state treasury there *7 which the government wished to transfer to Vienna. They immediately offered to carry this out.

47

It involved a transmission of two million lira in gold coins, and Solomon, who was again staying at Vienna, quickly got into personal touch with the treasury in order to discuss the best means of sending this sum from Milan to Vienna through exchange operations. The firm of Rothschild stated that they would undertake the transfer of any sum whatever at the cheapest rate possible, and that they could arrange the business to the greatest advantage of the imperial interests.48 For this service they and the firm of Gontard received one-half percent commission and one-eighth percent brokerage, so that for the simple transmission of the money from Milan to Vienna they received 12,933 lira in gold.

Their extensive transactions necessitated a voluminous correspondence, the rapid transmission of which was a difficult problem under the primitive conditions of those times. It was not only that posts were slow and far between; there were special dangers attached to the postal service because the contents of correspondence was not treated as inviolable. A large part of Germany was still served by the Thurn and Taxis post bureaus which were divided into lodges and non-lodges, according as their officials were or were not the confidential agents of the Viennese Cipher Service.

If a letter came to a lodge office, it was carefully opened before being sent on, read through, and any important passages were copied. As these "intercepts," as they were called, were always laid before the authorities, such action, often abused, was greatly feared. Even Count Stadion did not hesitate 50 personally to invent “intercepts" in order to ruin persons who were a nuisance to him. Sometimes the couriers themselves intercepted letters in transit.

"Such inspection," Bethmann wrote on the occasion of a visit to Vienna,51 "is inevitable, and Rothschild and Parish are as little able to avoid it as Herr von Geymüller, although the latter enjoys the full confidence of Prince Metternich. Solomon Rothschild yesterday told me that his brother had recently again received three letters from him in one day."

The brothers Rothschild naturally thoroughly understood the position. As they had a great deal to say to one another that they did not wish anyone else to hear and also attached great importance to the speedy receipt of news in advance of normal methods, they decided to have their own system of couriers. They would be reimbursed for the heavy expense of this arrangement at one stroke if their firm thereby received early news of any political event that might affect the exchange.

An example of this occurred when the Duke of Berry was murdered. The duke was the nephew of the King of France, and as Louis XVIII had no children, the hopes of the Bourbons were centered upon him. As he was leaving the opera on February 13, 1820, he was assassinated by a political fanatic who thought to save France by exterminating the Bourbons. According to Handel's statement 52 the Rothschilds heard of this long before anyone else; they made appropriate arrangements for themselves, and then made the event known. This resulted in an immediate fall in all state securities, and produced "general consternation."

The courier system was at first inaugurated between the three brothers in London, Frankfort, and Paris. When the business with Austria accumulated, and Solomon's visits there grew more and more lengthy, the couriers extended their route to include Vienna.

The Austrian representatives in London, Frankfort, and Paris, being in constant communication with the House of Rothschild, soon realized that reports could be more speedily sent in this manner and, as remarks on numerous documents showed, frequently entrusted the Rothschild couriers with the most important and secret letters, without considering whether the Rothschilds might turn the tables and themselves "intercept" the state communications. This certainly cannot be proved, but it is highly probable, for on one occasion, when the brothers entrusted a letter to an ambassador, the letter was immediately "perused." Proof of this is furnished by the following two letters: on November 28, 1819,53 Handel reported as follows to Metternich: "The banker Carl von Rothschild, who left for Vienna today, asked us to put several letters to various German ministers meeting at Vienna, which he had been asked to take with him, in a packet and seal it with the embassy seal, so that he could bring them over the frontier without risk. I made no difficulty about acceding to the request of Herr von Rothschild-who like other Jews is exceedingly timid but is a person of sound character-because this favor made it possible to see the contents of the letters. Rothschild duly sent them to me and although I had not time to peruse them all, I was able to scan the more important."

The other letter was from 54 Le Monnier, the secretary of legation at Frankfort, to the director of the secret service department at Vienna. It ran as follows: "Herr Rothschild [no doubt Amschel Meyer], whom I often meet at Count Buol's as well as at Baron von Handel's, has asked me to allow him to send his letters to his brother in my bag. I did not raise any objection as I did not

think it advisable to refuse; but I venture to suggest that you should inform the secret service department of this fact so that they may look out for these letters and intercept all those under my address."

It is not at all unlikely that the brothers Rothschild, who must be credited with a reasonable amount of intelligence, sometimes deliberately had letters sent through the embassies in order to put them in possession of facts which had been invented or adapted for definite purposes.

The financial position of all the states which had been engaged in prolonged military operations much needed to be set in order, now that peace and tranquillity had returned. In Austria, Stadion was dealing with this problem in collaboration with Metternich. Metternich was personally concerned to see that Stadion was profitably occupied in the financial matters, to which he had been sidetracked when the chancellor succeeded to the Foreign Office. His rival would then feel that he had plenty to do, and the financial strengthening of the monarchy would assist the policy of the chancellor. There were thus two men controlling the destinies of Austria who were well disposed to the Jews in general and to the House of Rothschild in particular.

In 1816, in addition to the interest-bearing state debt, there was an almost equal amount of paper money in circulation which was worth a quarter less than its face value. Stadion's efforts were directed toward preventing any further fall in value, through the issue of loans and other measures such as the founding of a national bank. The Métalliques loan, so called because the interest on the bonds was payable in precious metal, constituted a beginning. Stadion was in agreement with Metternich that the House of Rothschild should always be treated with consideration politically, with a view to inducing it also to participate in a loan. Since these were Metternich's plans, it is not strange that he should have been much

irritated by the anti-Jewish attitude of the city of Frankfort.

Frankfort was described as a center of unrest 55 in the reports from the delegates at this period. This was quite enough reason for Metternich, who scented revolution and upheaval everywhere, to feel displeased with that city. He accordingly intervened to prevent the diet from leaving the settlement of the Jewish problem to the municipal departments. Metternich and Stadion also decided to accede to the request made a year and a day previously that Nathan should be appointed consul in London. On March 3, 1820, the emperor gave his formal sanction in this matter.50

The ambassador in London, Prince von Esterházy, was instructed 57 to inform Nathan of his new sphere of activity, and to encourage him "through friendly advice and any other suitable means to carry out his duties in the manner which the state expected." Official instructions were simultaneously sent to Nathan in London 58 informing him not merely that he should duly carry out the duties imposed upon him by the I. and R. embassy, but that he should, without waiting to be asked, regularly convey to them any information he received regarding events that might directly or indirectly affect the government's policy.

On Metternich's instructions Handel, the minister at Frankfort, had in November, 1819,50 entered into negotiations with Rothschild for the big loan that Austria wanted to place with the firm.

Since that time the distinctions and favors already described had with deliberate intent been accorded to the House of Rothschild. Nathan now had a position in the consular corps of the British capital, a fact which was exceedingly valuable to him both socially and in business. He was able to give Amschel powerful support in his struggle for the rights of the Frankfort Jews.