CHAPTER II

The Rothschild Family During the Napoleonic Era

TH

HE turn of the century coincided with an important part of the wars against the French Republic, arising out of the revolution. The Peace of Lunéville, concluded in 1801, had set the seal on the brilliant Bonaparte's territorial victories, thereby giving France the leadership on land, while, however, England's preeminence at sea was confirmed. Although Bonaparte had overcome all his other enemies, he was bound to admit that sea-girt England had maintained its position. The Treaty of Amiens, which followed upon that of Lunéville, merely marked a transition stage, and was bound to lead to a resumption of the struggle, until one of the two great opponents should lie bleeding on the ground.

This struggle was the predominant feature of the next fifteen years, and converted almost the whole of the mainland of Europe into a theater of war. The result was that innumerable substantial firms, banks, and private persons lost their property, while on the other hand persons possessing industry, energy, and resource, with a flair for turning opportunity to account, were enabled to gain riches and power.

At any rate within their own caste, the Rothschild family had at that time achieved a position in which their future was bound to be profoundly affected by political developments. As early as 1800 their father Meyer Amschel had been the tenth richest Jew in Frankfort; the only question was as to the attitude that the head of the business house and his sons would take in the stormy times that were to follow.

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The Rise of the House of Rothschild

This family was of Milanese extraction; in Italy it was known as della Torre, in France as de la Tour. It had invented the idea of a post, and had introduced a postal system in the Tyrol, toward the end of the fifteenth century. In 1516 it was commissioned by the Emperor Maximilian I to inaugurate a mounted postal service between Vienna and Brussels. Even at that early date the dignified rank of postmaster general was conferred upon one of its members.

That was the starting point of the impressive development of the Thurn and Taxis postal system, which came to embrace the whole of Central Europe. The head offices of the system were at Frankfort, but the family were not satisfied with the normal development of their undertaking. They turned the information obtainable from the letters entrusted to their charge to profit.

The end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries saw the development of the practice of opening letters, noting the contents and then sending them on to their destinations. In order to retain the postal monopoly, the House of Thurn and Taxis offered to place the emperor in possession of the information. derived from the so-called secret manipulation of letters. If, therefore, one were on good terms with the House one could easily and swiftly obtain news, and also dispatch it.

In the course of time Meyer Amschel had come to realize that it is of the greatest importance to the banker and merchant to have early and accurate information of important events, especially in time of war. As his native town was the headquarters of the postal and information service, he had had the foresight to get into touch with the House of Thurn and Taxis, and had transacted various financial matters to their great satisfaction. It was on this fact that he relied when he appealed to the fountainhead of the Imperial Postal Service at Frankfort, his Imperial Majesty himself.

In a petition to his Majesty that he and his sons should