shadow of britain

Chapter 84 London's Financial King

Rothschild, a name that often appears in the news of British newspapers and various satirical cartoons.

Although in these reports, the name Rothschild is often associated with bad images such as bribery, corruption, treachery, and cunning.

But no matter how various newspapers belittle and satirize this family, at the end of the article, they will always mention the amazing wealth of this financial family.

As a huge financial family across the continent, even though the Rothschild family has achieved great success in Paris, Frankfurt, Naples and Austria, their branch family in London is still the wealthiest one.

During the Anti-French War of 1811-1815, the British government paid a total of 4200 million pounds in aid to the allies of the Anti-French Alliance, and the Rothschild family participated in about 800 million pounds of it.

By borrowing from other companies and negotiating, they relieved the urgent needs of the cash-strapped British government, and then provided financial intermediary services for the Anti-French Alliance, earning a large amount of commissions and currency exchange spreads.

In the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, they made a thrilling bet on the Duke of Wellington and made a profit of more than 20 pounds by buying British treasury bonds at a low price.

Relying on the advantage of wealth accumulated over the past ten years, they made a decisive move in the financial crisis of 1825 and provided the Bank of England, which was suffering from a gold run, with gold reserves worth 1100 million pounds, helping them successfully survive this crisis. crisis.

Through this series of events, the Rothschild family successfully gained the trust of the Tory Party, so they successfully obtained the qualification to issue part of the British national debt on behalf of them.

In addition, they also used their growing reputation to gain the confidence of the newly independent Brazilian government and issued Brazilian bonds worth 300 million pounds on their behalf.

It can be said that since 1825, Nathan Rothschild, the speaker of the London branch of the Rothschild family, has become the king of the entire City of London.

Caricatures often picture him alongside other City bankers, who claim that 'Nathan's sneezing can set off an earthquake in the City'.

But the Rothschilds' political status has remained relatively low compared with their growing wealth.

On the one hand, it is because their image of the nouveau riche is too popular. After all, it is only two or thirty years since the Rothschild family officially made their fortunes. Before that, their ancestors were just antique dealers from Frankfurt.

On the other hand, it is because of their special status - Jews.

In almost all parts of Europe, discriminatory policies are adopted against Jews. They are restricted to live in designated Jewish gathering areas, and their political power to vote and be elected is limited.

In Britain, even the Irish are better represented in the newspapers than they are.

In order to improve this unequal relationship between wealth and political power, and at the same time to expand their sources of information, the Rothschild family has been committed to clinging to various powerful political figures for more than a decade.

Arthur had seen cartoons in newspapers more than once that satirized Nathan Rothschild's bribery of Prime Minister Duke Wellington and King George IV.

They are so concerned about the Duke of Wellington and the king, of course they will not neglect the Duke of Sussex who has always advocated equal treatment for the Jews.

The Lionel standing in front of him must have been sent by Nathan Rothschild to contact the Duke of Sussex, right?

Facing this big man in the City of London and a small man in the British political circle, Arthur really didn't know how to face him.

After all, my deposit is only 14 pounds, 6 shillings and 1 pence. There should be no stocks with such a small denomination on the London Stock Exchange, right?

But he still chose to hold the opponent's hand. After all, multiple friends are better than multiple enemies, and maybe it will be useful in the future.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Rothschild."

"No no no."

Lionel winked at Arthur, and he smiled, "You can just call me Lionel. To be honest, I have wanted to get to know you for a long time. You are the pride of the entire Scotland Yard , I am delighted for the work that has inspired the whole of the UK.

Your presence also speaks to the validity of the Catholic Emancipation Act.The times are changing, and in this era of change, it is not beneficial to the progress of the society to hold the old and backward concepts.You should also agree with this point of view, right? "

After hearing this, Arthur finally understood what kind of medicine was sold in the other party's gourd.

Both Jews and Catholics fell into the Thames, and everyone wants to go ashore, so helping each other is helping yourself.

The red devil put his arm around Arthur's shoulder and winked, "Look! What did I say? Mammon came to find you on her own initiative, Arthur, look ahead, there are a lot of banknotes waving in front of you. As long as you catch With Rothschild, your personal wealth will soon go a long way."

Arthur nodded and smiled and said, "I've heard of the Rothschild family for a long time, but you know, the City of London is not under the jurisdiction of Scotland Yard. The City of London has a dedicated City of London Police Department, so I Never had a chance to go.”

"It's okay." Lionel took out a business card from his coat pocket with two fingers and handed it over: "As long as you have time, you can come to this place to find me at any time. Whether it's a chat between friends, or you want to Ask for some investment advice, I am looking forward to your arrival."

"You are very kind."

The Duke of Sussex suddenly said: "Arthur, you came to me today to investigate the case in the parish of St. Giles, right? Those people are really disgusting!
I assure you, those doctors involved, I will do my best in the House of Lords to put pressure on the medicine and schools involved. "

Arthur said: "Thank you for your kindness and justice, but Your Royal Highness, I came to Gresham College today not just for these."

He took out the investigative papers from the handbag he carried with him.

"After my large-scale investigation and analysis, the missing persons should not only be linked to the homicide case. I suspect that it may also involve a bad deal that lures poor people into signing contract agreements."

"Contracted slave?" Sussex felt a surge of anger in his chest when he heard this.

He has always been one of the main supporters of the British abolitionist movement. In 1807, in order to successfully pass the "Abolition of the Slave Trade Act", he did a long-term lobbying work among the aristocratic groups in the House of Lords.

However, the 1807 Act only made slavery illegal in the United Kingdom, but slavery was still legal in the British colonies.

In order to completely abolish slavery, Sussex and a large group of abolitionist supporters established the Anti-Slavery Society in 1827.

So when Arthur talked about the issue of indentured slaves, it was like stepping on the tail of the Duke of Sussex.

He bounced off the sofa in a jiffy: "Arthur, are you sure?"

Of course, Arthur couldn't talk to death, and he had to give himself some leeway: "I just have reasonable doubts. After all, most of the missing people have found their bodies, and those who couldn't find their bodies happened to be young and middle-aged men.

Men in this age group are unlikely to be the target of corpse snatchers.Scotland Yard's joint military and police searched all over London, but they couldn't find any clues. I can only guess that they probably left Britain.

But with their level of wealth, it is unlikely that they can afford a boat ticket to other places, and indentured slaves are almost the only possibility left. "

After listening to Arthur's analysis, the Duke of Sussex nodded slightly: "You are right. Okay, how about it, I will assign all of my private detectives to you. How do you want them to investigate? Then how to check. These bastards are not allowed to sell black slaves, so they simply changed to selling white slaves? What a fucking thing!"

When Arthur heard this, his hanging heart was slightly relieved, and he added a question: "Your Highness, you should understand that the slave trader who can organize a fleet is not a petty thief. It can be compared to a small-time criminal. If I encounter a certain degree of resistance during the investigation, then you..."

The Duke of Sussex certainly understood what Arthur meant. He waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, as long as you get conclusive evidence, I guarantee that they will have no good fruit! I am not alone in abolishing slavery. There are still many friends in the House of Commons.

If anyone dares to take revenge on you, I have your protection and promise to mobilize the Whigs in your House of Commons.As Lionel said, the abolition of slavery is the historical trend of the progress of the times, and the sale of white slaves is even more shameful to society.

I believe that at this point in time, even if you are as stubborn as the Duke of Wellington, you should be clear about which is more important!If he wants to bring down the cabinet as soon as possible, he can play against me on this matter.

And even if he wanted to, Sir Peel probably wouldn't let him do it.Arthur, you can do it with confidence, if something goes wrong, I and the Anti-Slavery Association will take care of it for you! "

(End of this chapter)