money from the elector in exchange for Hanoverian territory. His fear of offending England caused him to refuse this offer, and thus the elector first gave offense to the Corsican. He had no true idea at the time how dangerous the Corsican might be. The quiet times for Frankfort and Hesse were now at an end. Stirred up by Napoleon's powerful genius Europe passed from one crisis to another, and in such circumstances it was exceedingly difficult for William of Hesse to administer his enormous property with foresight and wisdom. He felt the need more and more of Meyer Amschel's advice, so that Rothschild's journeys to Cassel became more and more frequent. His eldest son had for some months been residing permanently in that town. The preference shown to the Frankfort family aroused the envy and hatred of the Cassel Jews against this outsider. They complained that not merely did he steal their best business, but he was not even subject to the nightrate and poll-tax which other Jews had to pay. Meyer Amschel did his utmost to evade such payments as far as possible, but in the end he was forced to pay some of these taxes. In August, 1803, he found it necessary to apply to the elector for a letter of protection in Cassel for himself and his sons, so that, although resident in Frankfort, he should enjoy the same rights as the protected Jews of Cassel. This would certainly entail obligations as well. His request was granted on payment of 400 reichsthaler, but the document was not completed, possibly in accordance with Meyer Amschel's own wishes, for he would then have been liable to pay taxes in Cassel also. The Cassel Jews, however, soon got wind of this maneuver, and in the end Meyer Amschel was required to state in whose name he wished the letter of protection. made out, whereupon he wrote the following letter to the elector: 1 Most gracious Elector, most excellent Prince and Lord! Your Excellency has most graciously deigned to grant that in return for the payment of 100 florins I should be exempt from night-rate, and that on the payment of 400 florins one of my sons or I should be admitted to protection. I am now required to state in whose name the letter of protection should be made out, and this is causing me great difficulty, since the son for whom I had intended taking it out has been settled for some time with another of my sons in London, and is engaged in doing business with him there. I have therefore decided to take out the protection for myself, if I may be most graciously permitted to pay an annual amount similar to that paid by other Jews not residing in the town as I only do business here, and could do most of it quite as well from another place; as I have now held the office of Crown Agent for over forty years, your Electoral Highness having even in my youth shown me such gracious condescension, so I hope now, too, to receive your most gracious consent, and remain with deepest respect, your Electoral Highness My most gracious Prince and Lord's Cassel, 21st April 1805. This personal request, sent in by Meyer Rothschild in rather inferior German, provoked a certain amount of amusement at the electoral court. Meyer Amschel was informed that his request could not be granted unless he moved to Cassel with all his property; and that naturally he was not prepared to do. In the end the letter of protection was made out in the name of Amschel Meyer Rothschild, his eldest son. Although Meyer Amschel had to fight for his position in Cassel, his prestige at Frankfort rose, on account of his connection with the Hessian ruler, which was now becoming generally known. This was made manifest in various ways. When shops were put up to auction in the electoral courtyard, to which Jews, even resident Jews, were not admitted, an exception was made in favor of Meyer Amschel. One of the shops was definitely excluded from the auction and reserved for Rothschild. It is possible that ready money was a factor, as well as his prestige in this matter. This period saw the conclusion of the two last, and by far the most substantial Danish loans, of 700,000 and 600,000 thalers. In these transactions too, Lawaetz played a part of some importance. In spite of very friendly business relations, he was still somewhat reserved in his attitude toward the Rothschild family. Whilst in talking to his friends he often declared that he had found "Herr Rothschild always to be exceedingly prompt and businesslike and worthy of the most complete confidence," yet he felt that where such large amounts were at stake, one ought to be very cautious, even in dealing with Rothschild. The atmosphere then was full of suspicion, all the more so because the political barometer in Europe pointed to stormy times, and the capitalists were exceedingly uneasy as to the possible fate of their wealth. Bonaparte had already cast aside his mask and was boldly grasping at the imperial purple; toward the end of the summer of 1804 the whole of France was echoing with the shout "Vive l'Empereur!" The prestige of the German imperial system was suffering a corresponding decline, an obvious symptom of which was the proclamation on August 10, 1804, of Francis II as Emperor of Austria. Moreover, September, 1804, already saw Napoleon touring the newly won Rhine provinces. He appeared in full splendor and magnificence at Aix-la-Chapelle and Mainz as if he were indeed the successor of Charles the Great. It was on this occasion that, with the assistance of the Mainz Electoral High Chancellor, Dalberg, he laid the foundations of that union of German princes which was to be known as the Confederation of the Rhine. Napoleon was already adopting the rôle of their protector, and invited William of Hesse, too, to Mainz, an invitation which was exceedingly suggestive of a command to come and do homage. The elector pleaded a sudden attack of gout. Napoleon replied coldly; he was still polite, but he swore that William should pay for having failed immediately to adhere to the confederation which was being formed under Napoleon's protection. The French ambassador at Cassel had uttered the menacing words, when he heard that the prince was not going to Mainz, "On n'oublie pas, on n'oublie rien!" " The Elector of Hesse was left feeling rather uncomfortable, and he secretly threw out cautious feelers toward England and Austria-Austria was already showing a marked inclination to side against France. The occasion of the Emperor Francis' assuming the imperial title connected with his Austrian hereditary territories, afforded him an opportunity of expressing his most sincere and devoted good wishes to the "most excellent, puissant, and invincible Roman Emperor and most gracious Lord' for the continuous welfare of the sacred person of his Imperial Majesty and for the ever-increasing glory of the all-highest Imperial House." His pen was jogged by the need he felt for powerful support, and incidentally the letter was to serve the purpose of reminding the emperor of a request which the writer had made on November 22, 1804, and which so far had not been granted. The elector's first favorite, the apothecary's daughter Ritter, whom the emperor had raised to the rank of Frau von Lindenthal, and who was ancestress of the Haynaus, was now out of favor, since she had preferred a young subaltern to the aged landgrave. For over a year her place had been occupied by Caroline von Schlotheim, the beautiful daughter of a Russian officer whom the emperor had been asked to create Countess von Hessenstein. In May, 1805, Austria finally joined the coalition. against Napoleon. Napoleon gave up his idea of landing in the British Isles, and concentrated on Austria. This resulted in great shortage of money, for the Austrian Treasury had heavy burdens to bear from former wars; coin was scarce and paper money much depreciated. It was therefore decided that the interest on loans should not, as had hitherto been the practice, be payable in hard cash in all the principal exchanges in Europe, but should be payable in paper in Vienna only. This was hard for the elector personally, as he had advanced a million and a half gulden to the Emperor Francis; and he at once begged that an exception might be made in his favor since "ill-disposed persons had suggested to him that the Austrian state was going to go bankrupt, as far as all external debts were concerned." 8 The imperial ambassador Baron von Wessenberg, naturally wishing to turn the general situation to account, sent this request forward under cover of a private dispatch of his own in which he wrote: "Since avarice is the elector's great weakness, it might be possible, should you wish to do so, to obtain a still greater loan from him if you agreed that interest in future should be payable in cash. He would be more likely to fall in with such a suggestion if his Imperial Majesty would grant Frau von Schlotheim the title of Countess of Hessenstein, without payment. The granting of this request would particularly delight the elector." " In the second particular his wishes were granted, but it was not possible to make an exception in the matter of the interest charges. However, both Vienna and London endeavored to secure the elector's accession to the confederation, and he replied to these overtures with demands for subsidies. Yet he was hard put to it to find |