A hundred years ago
The death, on Tuesday, of Baron Lionel Nathan Rothschild, the last of the four sons of the founder of the firm, and the ultimate head of the House — which is believed to be governed, like an Eastern family, by a family council, with a veto reserved to the eldest male — is a considerable event, even in politics. All great measures require money, and the Rothschilds take the initiative in finding money for all great Governments except that of Russia. The head of the House is, therefore, necessarily consulted in large affairs, and has an influence which may be best weighed when we remember the Jewish clauses of the Treaty of Berlin. This influence is believed to have been specially great with Lord Beaconsfield, a life-long personal friend, and may well be imagined to have been exerted in favour of the Turkish interests, which the Jews of Europe have, in the late struggle, steadily upheld. Influence of that kind is only partly transmissible, and the Baron's death will, we suspect, be severely felt in Constantinople.
Spectator, 7 June 1879
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