For a considerable number of years, many, who, not members of the Stock Exchange, yet dealt in its securities and acted as brokers, employed the Rotunda of the Bank of England for their transactions. The broker who had no counting-house made it his place of business; and his clients waited there until the transfer was ready, or the business was arranged. As a theatre for jobbing, it interfered with the Bank; but Mr. Curtis, governor of that establishment, turned them out somewhat unceremoniously; and, when he afterwards failed in business, so great was his unpopularity with those he had summarily dismissed, that the news of his bankruptcy was received with three cheers by the members of the Stock Exchange. It is impossible to give a fact more suggestive of the manners of the men from whom so disgraceful a token of triumph emanated.
The great increase in the business of the foreign funds called for additional space; a room was, therefore, opened for the dealers; and from this arose the Foreign Stock Exchange, which for some years maintained a separate committee, chairman, and deputy-chairman. It now forms part of the edifice known as the Stock Exchange.
The number of members varies. It has reached 1,000, it has descended to 400, and it now numbers about 800.
CHAPTER XVI.
Sketch of the Life of Rothschild.—Comes to England.—Introduction of Foreign Loans.—Large Purchases.—Anecdotes concerning Rothschild.—His Difficulties and Annoyances.—His Death and Burial.—Last Crisis on the Stock Exchange.
The eminent abilities of Nathan Meyer Rothschild were inherited from his father, who, educated for the synagogue, distinguished himself as a financier, and, though engaged in the uncongenial sphere of a counting-house, became a learned archæologist. Frankfort, Berlin, Vienna, London, Naples, and Paris, have alike witnessed the prescience of the money-making Rothschilds; and it is reported that the first great success of Meyer Anselm, the father of the house, originated in the possession of the fortune of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, which he saved from the grasp of Napoleon, and which must have been to a commercial man of the utmost importance.[7]
By his own report, Nathan Meyer Rothschild came to Manchester because Frankfort was too small for the operations of the brothers, although the immediate cause was some offence to a customer; and it is characteristic of the intrepidity of the man, that, with scarcely any hesitation, and with an absolute ignorance of the English language, he came to the country in which he realized such great results. On Tuesday he told his father he would go to England, and on Thursday he started. With £20,000 he commenced his career; and in a short time his capital was trebled. At Manchester he soon saw there were three profits to be made,—in the raw material, the dyeing, and the manufacturing. It need hardly be added, that his great mind had stomach for them all, and that, having secured the three, he sold goods cheaper than any one else. This was the foundation of that colossal fortune which afterwards passed into a proverb; and, in 1800, finding Manchester too small for the mind which could grapple with three profits, Rothschild came to London. It was the period when such a man was sure to make progress, as, clear and comprehensive in his commercial views, he was also rapid and decisive in working out the ideas which presented themselves. Business was plentiful; the entire Continent formed our customers; and Rothschild reaped a rich reward.
From bargain to bargain, from profit to profit, the Hebrew financier went on, and prospered. Gifted with a fine perception, he never hesitated in action. Having bought some bills of the Duke of Wellington at a discount, to the payment of which the faith of the state was pledged, his next operation was to buy the gold which was necessary to pay them, and when he had purchased it, was, as he expected, informed that “government required it.” Government had it, but doubtless paid for the accommodation. “It was the best business I ever did!” he exclaimed triumphantly; and he added, that, when the government had got it, it was of no service to them until he had undertaken to convey it to Portugal.
In 1812, Meyer Anselm, the head of the house, died at Frankfort. A princely inheritance, unbounded credit, and solemn advice never to separate, were left to his four sons. From this period, Nathan Meyer Rothschild was regarded as the head, though not the elder of the family; and skilfully did he support and spread the credit of the name. Previous to the advent of Mr. Rothschild, foreign loans were somewhat unpopular in England, as the interest was receivable abroad, subject to the rate of exchange liable to foreign caprice, and payable in foreign coin. He introduced the payment of the dividends in England, and fixed it in sterling money, one great cause of the success of these loans in 1825.