10. Gentile friends of the Rothschilds

Arnold Leese

Gentile Folly: the Rothschild's

THE Rothschild family cunningly and perseveringly insinuated itself into “society” and particularly into relationships with politicians who wielded power in the affairs of Europe. It would of course be impossible to indicate more than a few of the most important of these “friendships,” together with some of less importance which, however, may be of special interest to my readers.

Lord Palmerston. 1784-1865.

Prime Minister, 1855; many times Foreign Secretary. Described in Occult Theocracy, Vol. I., p. 264 (Lady Queenborough) as the “patriarch of European Freemasonry.” Intimate friend of Kossuth and Mazzini; supporter of the 1848 French Revolution; influenced Napoleon III. to appoint Prince Murat, Grand Master of the Grand Orient Masons, as King of Naples; enemy of Russia, and prevented Austria from joining Russia in the Crimean War, thus ensuring Russia’s defeat. Censored by Queen Victoria for forming important decisions without consulting her.

In a letter written by H. Reeve to Chas. Greville, he states “Rothschild says:

‘Lord Palmerston is a friend of the House; he dines with us at Frankfort, but he has the disadvantage of depressing the funds all over Europe without giving us notice.’” (X, letter 20th December, 1845).

The Jewish Encyclopædia (B, Vol. IX., p. 454) writes of the Jew Don Pacifico who lived in Athens,

“When the Easter burning of Judas Iscariot customary in that city was given up in 1847 at the request of the Rothschilds, the mob in revenge burned down Pacifico’s house, whereupon he claimed compensation to the amount of £26,618. When this rather preposterous claim . . . . was not treated seriously by the Greek Government, Lord Palmerston sent a British fleet to Piraeus (1850) and seized all the ships in the harbour.” This led to the withdrawal of the French Ambassador from London. As a consequence of all this, the Government was defeated by 37 votes, but in spite of that the Cabinet decided to do nothing about it. In the debate, “Such shuffling, special pleading, and paltry evasions were never before heard from public men of their eminence and character” (K, 19th May, 1850).

It is likely that Lord Palmerston used the Rothschilds at least as much as they used him. He was a friend of Hon. Henry Fitzroy whose wife was a Rothschild, and he spoke in 1840 at the Mansion House meeting of protest against the threatened execution of the Jewish Ritual Murderers of Damascus (see p. 53).

Lord Macaulay. 1800-1859.

This impecunious historian became an M.P. for a pocket borough and in 1833 for Leeds. In the latter year he was the principal supporter of Sir R. Grant when the latter successfully steered a Bill for Jewish emancipation through the House of Commons (but it was stopped in the Lords). Presumably for this service to the Jews, Macaulay obtained within a year a seat on the Supreme Council of India, with a salary of £10,000. His chief works were written subsequent to this period and we may be sure they would not err on the side of “anti-semitism.”

In 1839 he became Secretary for War, and that was the first year of the Afghan War; he remained in office for nearly two years.

He was a favourite guest of Nathaniel Rothschild.

J. T. Delane. 1817-79.

Delane was Editor of The Times, 1841-77. He was a personal friend of Lord Palmerston, who has already been dealt with (see p. 47).

Delane was intimate with the Rothschild family and a constant and welcome visitor to their houses; so intimate indeed, that (quoting from The Times, 23rd Nov., 1926) the two daughters of Sir Anthony Rothschild often rode with Delane in Rotten Row, as well as in Buckinghamshire, “and he took a kindly interest in their lessons.” He was described by Lady Battersea (Constance Rothschild) as “a dear friend.” (Her Reminiscences, p. 106). He was a frequent guest both of Mayer and of Lionel Rothschild; it was at the latter’s house that he first met Disraeli in 1863, and he was present at the wedding of Alphonse.

Delane was Editor of The Times before he met the Rothschilds, but in 1847 (26th Jan.) his diary shows that he “sat up late and went to Mayer Rothschild’s house in Piccadilly to assist him in preparing his address” (election address, and Mayer was duly returned).

A. I. Dasent, in his John Delane, 1908, Vol. II., p. 341, gives the whole thing away:—“For eleven years Delane fought for him (Lionel Rothschild) the battle for the admission of the Jews to Parliament.”

In the section on the Press, specific instances are given as to Rothschild influence over Times policy.

W. E. Gladstone. 1809-98.

Gladstone did not fall for the Rothschilds in early life. As in the case of Queen Victoria, they literally wore him down. He strongly supported Jewish emancipation in 1847, having previously been opposed to it.

His social acquaintance with the Rothschilds began in the late fifties, when he used to visit Lionel Rothschild at his Piccadilly home (W, p. 239), where he was also a frequent guest of Nathaniel after Lionel’s decease. Nathaniel was then professing to be a Unionist, and his was the only Unionist house in London at which the Gladstones were wont to dine. Gladstone was intimate with the two daughters of Sir Anthony Rothschild, whom he first met about 1879; by 1888 he was calling Mrs. Flower by her first name, and in 1889 got so far as to go on a cruise on Mrs. Yorke’s yacht. Gladstone tried to induce Queen Victoria to make Lionel a Peer in 1869 but failed; he succeeded however in 1885 in getting Nathaniel made a Baron of England.

What with Disraeli and Gladstone both in their hands, Rothschild policy was easy to enforce upon a British Government.

Sir Bernard Eric Barrington. 1847-1918.

Whilst attending the Berlin Congress (1878) he was writing intimately on politics to the Rothschild, Mrs. Flower (M, p. 148). He was precis writer to the Foreign Secretary. Later he became Private Secretary to Lord Salisbury. In 1906 he was Assistant Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

Viscount Morley. 1838-1923.

Was Secretary of State for India, 1905-10, and Lord President of Council, 1910-14. Before that, ardent supporter of Gladstone.

From about 1890, “the happiest days of his life were passed” at the home of Lord Battersea. (W, p. 173). On one occasion in 1892, Morley accepted free quarters and coals from Cyril Flower, but in thanking him for this he writes: “but I cry out for Mrs. Flower and Lady de Rothschild.”

Morley was also a guest at Tring Park, Baron Nathaniel’s country seat.

Rt. Hon. Augustine Birrell. 1850-1933.

He was Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1907-16, and was made scapegoat for the deplorable exhibition of slackness and sluggishness which left lawlessness unchecked and fomented the Rebellion of 1916; his Assistant Secretary was the Jew Sir M. Nathan.

From 1890, Birrell was an intimate of Lord Battersea and his Rothschild wife.

Rt. Hon. H. H. Asquith. 1852-1928. Earl of Oxford.

Asquith was Prime Minister 1908-16, and Secretary for War, 1914.

It was Cyril Flower, husband of a Rothschild, who helped to push Asquith forward into influential circles. (W, p. 268). He attended Asquith’s second wedding (to Margot Tennant).

In 1892, Lady Anthony Rothschild had Asquith’s five children to stay at her residence for Christmas! (M, p. 224).

Asquith was an occasional guest at Tring Park, Nathaniel Rothschild’s seat and “at one period, Alfred Rothschild used to go to 10, Downing Street every morning to see Asquith, another close friend, who set great store on his advice.” (L, p. 159).

In Asquith’s Memoirs and Reflections, he speaks of “our friends Jimmy and Dolly,” referring in these intimate terms to James Rothschild and his wife. Lady Oxford (née Margot Tennant) writes of her “week-end visits” to the Rothschilds and of her “dear friend,” Alice Sassoon. (Y, p.p. 84 and 124).

Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour. 1848-1930.

Offered Palestine as a National Home for the Jews in 1917, as the price for getting the United States of America into the War.

He was a regular visitor at Baron Nathaniel Rothschild’s Ascot house. (L, p. 229). He was himself host to Lady Battersea in 1911. His brother Gerald was described by the latter as “a close friend of my husband and myself.”

Cecil Rhodes. 1853-1902.

His connection with the Rothschilds is dealt with under the section “Diamonds and Gold” (see p. 61).

A. B. Freeman-Mitford, later 1st Lord Redesdale. 1837-1916.

He was in the Diplomatic Corps at St. Petersburg, Pekin and Tokyo, and when he came home in 1873 he was one of Lionel Rothschild’s weekly visitors.

Lady Snowden. 1881 . . . Wife of Sir Philip Snowden.

Sir Philip Snowden was “Labour” Chancellor of Exchequer, 1924 and 1929-31.

At a Jewish charity meeting in London on 19th March, 1935, Lady Snowden said “For over fourteen years she had counted Lady Rothschild as her best friend” (this was Nathaniel’s wife).

Viscount Haldane. 1856-1928.

Secretary of State for War, 1905-12; Lord High Chancellor, 1912-15.

In Lord Haldane’s autobiography, he says:—

“I was also very intimate with the Rothschild family. At Tring Park, I had a room which was always reserved for me, and I paid week-end visits to Lord and Lady Rothschild with great regularity. With them both I was very intimate. Towards the end of his life, in 1915, I was in temporary charge of the Foreign Office while my colleague Grey was on holiday. It was ascertained that a steamer had sailed from South America, and that, although neutral, there was reason to believe that she contained supplies intended for the Germans. There was no material to act on, and the only way was to use private influence. I motored to Lord Rothschild’s house in Piccadilly, and found him lying down . . . . . But he stretched out his hand before I could speak and said ‘Haldane, I do not know what you have come for, except to see me, but I have said to myself that if Haldane asks me to write a cheque for £25,000 and ask no questions, I will do it on the spot.’ I told him it was not for a cheque, but only to get a ship stopped that I was come. He sent a message to stop the ship at once. I knew his brothers and other members of the Rothschild family also very well, and used to stay at their houses and dine with them very much. My friendship extended to the Paris Branch of the family, and to Princess Wagram and Baroness James de Rothschild, Lady Rothschild’s sisters. Every year I used to go to the Chateau Gros Bois near Paris to spend a week-end before Christmas with Prince and Princess Wagram.”

The most remarkable thing about the above extract is its candour.

Lord Kitchener. 1850-1916.

Lord Kitchener was “on terms of the deepest intimacy” with Alfred Rothschild from the time of Kitchener’s first Egyptian years. (L, p. 158). He received valuable presents from this Rothschild. (L, p. 242).

General Ludendorff said of Kitchener, in a letter on view in the United Services Museum in Whitehall:—

“His mysterious death was the work neither of a German mine nor of a German torpedo, but of that power which would not permit the Russian Army to recover with the help of Lord Kitchener because the destruction of Czarist Russia had been determined upon. Lord Kitchener’s death was caused by his abilities.”

The following is an extract from The Diary of Lord Bertie; 1914-18 (P, Vol. I., p. 134):—

“The Dardanelles expedition was known only to the Inner Ring; Louis Mallet heard of it at a dinner from Leo de Rothschild, who had learned it from Alfred de Rothschild, who may have picked up the information in the course of his daily visits to Kitchener at the War Office and 10, Downing Street. There is no such thing as a secret nowadays.”

Nor would anyone expect secrecy under such circumstances!

At the Dardanelles, the Turks were ready for us, and we lost thousands and thousands of our best men, and the chief object of the expedition to boot.

Lady Cynthia Mosley. 1898-1933.

This was the first wife of Sir Oswald Mosley, and granddaughter of Levi Leiter of Chicago. She died 1933.

At her memorial service, among the numerous Jews present were Mr. James de Rothschild, Emil Cohn, Lady Melchett (representing Lord Melchett), Mrs. Edward Cahan and Mr. Beddington-Behrens (Times, 20th May, 1933).

Rt. Hon. Sir Auckland Geddes. 1879 . . .

Chairman of two Rothschild companies, viz.:—(1) Rio Tinto Co., Ltd., the Spanish copper mines (see p. 58) and (2) Rhokana Corporation, Ltd., the Rhodesian copper mines; the debentures of both these companies are secured by trust deeds dated 1931, to L. N. and A. G. Rothschild.

Sir Auckland Geddes was Ambassador to the U.S.A. 1920-24.

His brother, Sir Eric Geddes has held innumerable key appointments.

Count Ciano, Fascist Foreign Minister in Italy. 1903- . . .

Count Ciano was a friend of the Rothschilds and stayed with them when he came over to this country on a political visit.

His father, Admiral Constanzo Ciano, is stated in Rabbi S. S. Wise’s paper Public Opinion, Nov., 1939, p. 6, to have married a Jewess; this statement was made in an article by a Jewess, Gina Lombroso. Italian anti-Jewism is rather an anæmic affair, as the Fascist Government contains several members of Jewish blood.

Anthony Eden, Minister for Dominions, 1939.

This politician, like his war-mongering colleagues, Winston Churchill and Duff Cooper has many friends among the Jews.

Eden used to sit next the Rothschilds at public dinners, and his seat, or rather the one reserved for him, at the Jubilee Procession of George V. was also next the Rothschilds.

“Eden and Philip Sassoon are close friends. They share a love of pictures, and oriental poetry. In London, they sup together several times a week,” Cavalcade, 18th April, 1936.

Sir Philip Sassoon’s mother was a Rothschild.

“Eden and Sassoon have been friends for years” said the News Review, 21st July, 1938, in discussing the fact that Sir Philip Sassoon had become involved in controversy with Mr. Chamberlain. “Mr. Chamberlain discovered that Sir Philip had been allowing Anthony Eden and his satellites to hold meetings in his room at the House of Commons.”

When Anthony Eden flew back from Geneva via Paris in August, 1935, after the League of Nations had been discussing Italy’s attack on Abyssinia, he landed at Hythe to visit first his friend Sassoon.

“The voice that breathed o’er Eden” evidently spoke Yiddish.

Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson. 1881 . . . .

This fanatical Jew-lover, whose antics with a shot-gun during Professor Einstein’s visit to this country as a refugee so amused the anti-Jewish world, has been from childhood a friend of the Rothschilds, particularly of Lady Battersea.

It may be remembered that the Commander was Russian Representative of the Ministry of Information in 1915, just after the Bolshevik Revolution. His “Hands off Britain” campaign against the Soviets (which had confiscated the Rothschild oil wells at Baku) never once mentioned that Bolshevism was Jewish. Who financed that movement? When the movement collapsed in 1933, the Commander advertised that he had £960 worth of badges, sleeve-links, hat-clips and gramophone records, collectively described as Loyalist Emblems, to dispose of!

In 1933, the Commander brought in a Bill “to promote and extend opportunities of citizenship for Jews resident outside the British Empire.”

In 1936, when the Government decided to prosecute the author of this book for speaking the truth about the Jews, it was Locker-Lampson who was chosen to be the official spokesman in Parliament to bring the frightful crime to its notice.

The Quaker families of Gurney, Pease and Buxton have always been on very friendly terms with the Rothschilds.