Chapter 84: The King of Finance in London
Chapter 84 The King of Finance in London
Rothschild, a name that appeared from time to time in the news of the big and small newspapers of Britain, as well as in all kinds of satirical cartoons.
Although in these reports, the name Rothschild was often associated with bad images such as bribery, corruption, duplicity and cunning.
But no matter how much the newspapers belittled and satirized the family, at the end of their articles they always mentioned the staggering wealth held by this financial family.
As a huge financial family spanning Europe, even though the Rothschilds have had great success in Paris, Frankfurt, Naples and Austria, their London branch is still the richest of them all.
The Rothschilds had a share of about £8 million of the £42 million paid by the British government to its allies in the 1811-1815 war against France.
By borrowing and negotiating with other companies, they relieved the cash-strapped British government of its immediate needs, and subsequently earned large commissions and currency exchange differences by providing financial intermediation services for the Antifa.
And in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, they were thrilled to bet on the success of the Duke of Wellington, and earned more than 200,000 pounds of profit through the low purchase of British government bonds.
With the advantage of wealth accumulated over the past ten years, they were decisive in the financial crisis of 1825, for the Bank of England suffered a gold run wave of gold reserves worth 11 million pounds, to help them successfully through the crisis.
Through this series of events, the Rothschild family succeeded in gaining the trust of the Tory party, so they successfully obtained the qualification of issuing part of the British national debt on behalf of them.
In addition to this, they were also able to gain the trust of the newly independent Brazilian government by using their growing reputation to issue £3 million worth of Brazilian bonds on their behalf.
Since 1825, Nathan Rothschild, the head of the London branch of the Rothschild family, had been the king of the City of London.
Satirical cartoons often depicted him alongside other bankers in the City, claiming that ‘a sneeze from Nathan could cause an earthquake in the City’.
But the Rothschilds’ political status has been relatively low compared to their growing wealth.
This is partly because their image as a wealthy family is so well entrenched – after all, it’s only been 20 or 30 years since the Rothschilds made their official debut, and before that their forebear was just an antiques dealer from Frankfurt.
On the other hand, it is because of their special status – Jews.
In almost all parts of Europe, Jews were subjected to discriminatory policies, living in designated ghettos, limiting their political power to vote and to be voted for, and so on.
In England, even the Irish were portrayed quite a bit better than they were in the newspapers.
In order to improve this unequal relationship between wealth and political power, but also to expand their own sources of information, the Rothschild family has been committed to climbing the ranks of various powerful political figures in the last decade or so.
Arthur, for one, had seen more than one newspaper cartoon satirizing Nathan Rothschild’s bribes to the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, and King George IV.
They were so attached to the Duke of Wellington and the King that they certainly didn’t leave out the Duke of Sussex, who had been advocating for equal treatment for the Jews.
This Lionel standing in front of him must have been sent by Nathan Rothschild to liaise with the Duke of Sussex, right?
Facing this big shot of London’s financial city, a minor figure in the British political circle, Arthur really didn’t know what kind of attitude to use to face him.
After all, his own deposit is only 14 pounds six shillings and one penny, London’s stock exchange should not have such a small denomination of stock, right?
But he still chose to hold each other’s hands, after all, more friends are always better than more enemies, maybe in the future to use it.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Rothschild.”
“No, no, no.”
Lionel winked at Arthur as he smiled, “Just call me Lionel. To tell you the truth, I’ve been wanting to make your acquaintance since forever. You are the pride of all of Scotland Yard, and I am happy for you that the whole of Britain is energized by the results of your work.
Your presence also illustrates the rightness of the Catholic Emancipation Act. Times are changing, and in these times of change, holding on to old and backward ideas is not conducive to social progress. You should very much share this view, don’t you?” Hearing this, Arthur finally understood what kind of medicine the other party was selling in his gourd.
Both the Jews and the Catholics had landed in the Thames, and everyone wanted to get ashore, so to help the other was to help oneself.
The Red Devil put his arm around Arthur’s shoulder and scowled, “Look at that! What did I say? Mammon’s come to your door, Arthur, and look ahead, big money beckons. With Rothschild on your side, your personal fortune will soon be a thousand miles ahead of you.”
Arthur nodded and smiled, “I have also heard of the great name of the Rothschild family for a long time, but as you know, the City of London Financial City is not part of Scotland Yard’s jurisdiction, and there is a special City of London Financial City Police Department in the City of Financial City, so I have never had much of a chance to go there.”
“Never mind.” Lionel used two fingers to clip out a business card from his jacket pocket and handed it over, “As long as you have the time, you can always come to this place to find me. Whether it’s just a chat between friends or if you want some investment advice, I’m waiting for your arrival.”
“You’re very kind.”
Duke Sussex suddenly spoke, “Arthur, you came to me today because of the St. Giles Parish investigation case, right? That group of people is indeed too abominable!
I assure you that those doctors involved in the case, I will do my best in the House of Lords to put pressure on the relevant medicine and schools.”
Arthur said, “I thank you for your kindness and justice, but Your Highness the Duke, I didn’t come to Gresham College today just for that.”
He took out the investigative document from the handbag he was carrying.
“After my large-scale investigation and analysis, the missing persons should not only be linked to the murder and theft cases, I suspect that there is a high probability that there is also a nasty deal involved in luring the poor people into signing a contract agreement for the sale of their bodies.”
“Indentured servants?” When Sussex heard this, he immediately felt a fire sprang up in his chest.
All along, he had been one of the main supporters of the British abolitionist movement, and in 1807, in order to be able to successfully pass that Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill, he had spent a considerable amount of time lobbying in the peerage group of the House of Lords.
But the 1807 Act only outlawed the slave trade on British soil, but it remained legal in the British colonies.
In an effort to abolish slavery altogether, Sussex, along with a large group of abolitionist supporters of the day, formed the Anti-Slavery Society in 1827.
So when Arthur talked about the issue of indentured servitude, it was almost like stepping on Duke Sussex’s tail.
He rubbed his head and bounced up from the sofa, “Arthur, are you sure?”
Of course Arthur couldn’t say the words to death, he had to give himself a little leeway as well, “I’m just reasonably skeptical. After all, most of the missing people have had their bodies found, and the ones that couldn’t happen to be found happened to be young males.
Men in this age group are unlikely to be the target of body snatchers. Scotland Yard’s combined military and police this time have nearly turned over the whole of London, yet they can’t find any trace of them, so I can only guess that they’ve probably left Britain.
But with their level of wealth, it’s unlikely that they could afford a boat ticket to anywhere else, indentured servants are pretty much the only possibility left.”
Duke Sussex listened to Arthur’s analysis and nodded slightly, “You have a point. Alright, let’s do it this way, I’ll allocate all of my several private detectives for you to deploy. If you want them to investigate however you want, then you can investigate however you want. These assholes, they’re not allowed to sell black slaves, so they simply switch to selling white slaves? What a fucking thing!”
Hearing this, Arthur’s hanging heart slightly relaxed, and he added a question, “Your Highness the Duke, you should understand that a slave trader who can organize a fleet of ships is not something that can be compared to the kind of petty criminals like the Body Snatchers. If I encounter a certain degree of resistance during my investigation, then you ……”
Duke Sussex of course understood Arthur’s meaning, he spoke with a wave of his hand, “Don’t worry, as long as you get the decisive evidence, I’ll make sure that they don’t have a good time! The abolition of slavery is not something that I’m doing alone, I still have a lot of friends in the House of Commons.
If anyone dares to retaliate against you, I can provide you with protection and promise to mobilize the Whigs to campaign for you in the House of Commons. As Lionel said, the abolition of slavery is a historical trend of the progress of the times, and the sale of white slaves is even more disgraceful to society.
I believe that at this point in time, even a stubborn man like the Duke of Wellington should know which is more important! If he wants the Cabinet to fall as soon as possible, then he can go against me on this matter.
And even if he did, Lord Peel would not let him. Arthur, go ahead, and I and the Anti-Slavery Society will take care of you if anything happens!”
(End of chapter)