Part 202

Section 243.

HOW THE BANK OF ENGLAND WAS HUMBLED.

Once, many years ago, a bill of exchange for a large amount was drawn by Anselm Rothschild, of Frankfort, on Nathan Rothschild, of London. When the gentleman who held it arrived in London, Nathan was away, and he took the bit of paper to the Bank of England and asked them to discount it.

The managers were very stiff. With haughty assurance they informed the holder that they discounted only their own bills; they said they had nothing to do with the bills of private persons. They did not stop to reflect with whom they had to deal. Those shrewd old gentlemen in charge of the bank of the realm should have known and remembered that that bit of paper bore the signature of a man more powerful than they—more powerful, because independent of a thousand-and-one hampers that rested upon them. “Umph,” exclaimed Nathan Rothschild, when the answer of the Bank was repeated to him. “Private persons! I will let these important gentlemen know with what sort of private persons they have to deal.”

And then Nathan Rothschild went to work. He had an object in view—to humble the Bank of England—and he meant to do it. He sent agents to the Continent and through the United Kingdom, and three weeks were spent in gathering up notes of the smaller denominations of the Bank’s own issue.

One morning, bright and early, Nathan Rothschild presented himself at the Bank, and drew forth from his pocket-book a five-pound note, which he desired to have cashed. Five sovereigns were counted out to him, the officers looking with astonishment upon seeing Baron Rothschild troubling himself personally about so trivial a matter. The baron examined the coins one by one, and, having satisfied himself of their good quality, slipped them into a canvas bag, and then drew out and presented another five-pound note. The same operation was repeated, save that the baron took the trouble to take a small pair of scales from his pocket to weigh one of the pieces, for the law gave him that right.

to draw a bill of exchange, +einen Wechsel ziehen+.

+Er hatte sich das Ziel gesteckt.+

+und er wollte alles daran setzen, dies Ziel zu erreichen.+

in gathering — issue, +die auf kleinere Summen lautenden, von der englischen Bank in Umlauf gesetzten Banknoten aufzukaufen+.

Section 244.

HOW THE BANK OF ENGLAND WAS HUMBLED.

II.

Two—three—ten—twenty—a hundred—five hundred five-pound notes were presented and cashed. When one pocket-book was emptied, another was brought forth; and when a canvas bag had been filled with gold, it was passed to a servant who was in waiting. And so he went on until the hour arrived for closing the Bank; at the same time he had nine of the employés of his house engaged in the same work. So it resulted that ten men of the house of Rothschild had kept every teller of the Bank busy for seven hours, and exchanged somewhere about £22,000. Not another customer had been able to get his wants attended to. The English like oddity. Let a man do anything original, and they will generally applaud. So the people of the Bank contrived to smile at the eccentricity of Baron Rothschild, and when the time came for closing the Bank, they were not a tenth part so much annoyed as were the customers from abroad whose business had not been attended to. The bank officials smiled that evening, but—

On the following morning, when the bank opened, Nathan Rothschild appeared again, accompanied by his nine faithful helpers, this time bringing with him, as far as the street entrance, four heavy two-horse drays, for the purpose of carting away the gold, for to-day the baron had bills of a larger amount. Ah! the officers of the Bank smiled no more, and a trembling seized them when the banker monarch said, with stern simplicity and directness:

“Ah! these gentlemen refuse to take my bills! Be it so. I am resolved that I will not keep one of theirs. It is the House of Rothschild against the Bank of England.” The Bank of England opened its eyes very wide. Within a week, the House of Rothschild could be demanding gold which it did not possess. The gentlemen at the head of affairs saw very plainly that in a determined tilt the Bank must go to the wall. There was but one way out of the dilemma, and they took it. Notice was at once publicly given that thenceforth the Bank of England would cash the bills of Rothschild the same as its own.—TIT-BITS.

= cashier, +Kassierer+.

contrived to smile = smiled.

they — were, +ärgerten sie sich nicht halb so sehr, wie+.

‘the customers from abroad’ seems to be used here in the sense of ‘the numerous customers’.

= was opened.

+Es handelt sich darum, ob das Haus Rothschild oder die englische Bank den Sieg davon tragen wird!+

= struggle, +Kampf+, m.

to go to the wall, +den kürzeren ziehen+.

+Es wurde öffentlich angezeigt.+

Section 245.

MORGAN PRUSSIA.

Morgan, the gay and handsome son of a low Irish farmer, tired of home, went to take the chances of the world, and seek his fortune. By what means he traversed England, or made his way to France, is not told. But he at length crossed France, and, probably without much knowledge or much care whether he was moving to the north or the south pole, found himself in the Prussian territory. This was in the day of Frederick William I. (1713-1740), famous for his tall regiment of guards. He had but one ambition, that of inspecting twice a day a regiment of a thousand grenadiers, not one of whom was less than six feet and a half high. Morgan was an Irish giant, and was instantly seized by the Prussian recruiting sergeants, who forced him to “volunteer” into the tall battalion. This turn of fate was totally out of the Irishman’s calculation; and the prospect of carrying a musket till his dying day on the Potsdam parade, after having made up his mind to live by his wits and rove the world, more than once tempted him to think of leaving his musket and honour behind him, and fairly trying his chance for escape. But the attempt was always found impracticable; the frontier was too closely watched, and Morgan still marched up and down the Potsdam parade with a disconsolate heart, when one evening a Turkish recruit was brought in; for the king looked to nothing but the thews and sinews of a man, and the Turk was full seven feet high.