of a Stock receipt for thirteen hundred
pounds Consols at the price of 47¾ per cent.
That being within a fraction of the lowest
point to which Consols had ever fallen.

The history of the British funds shows that
their falls have always been more sudden and
of greater extent than their recoveries. Hence
it is seen that the greatest improvement in
the funds was on the concluding of the Peace
of Amiens, when they rose ten per cent.:
whereas, when hostilities recommenced in
eighteen hundred and three, they fell seventeen
per cent, in one month. The effects
produced on 'Change by different events
are not without interest. The first outbreak
of the French Revolution depressed
the funds two and a half per cent. The war
with Russia, in eighteen hundred and seven,
sent them down two per cent. The landing of
Napoleon from Elba caused a decline of eight
per cent, and the refusal of William the Fourth
to dine with the Lord Mayor, in eighteen
hundred and thirty, sent them down seven per
cent. Whilst on the other hand the Battle of
Waterloo raised them but six per cent.

The terms Contango, Backwardation, and
Continuation, are applied to arrangements
connected with Time Bargains. The
Contango is the rate of interest (generally about
three-sixteenths per cent.) incurred by a buyer
to postpone payment until the next settling
day, when he has not the means or the inclination
to pay for it at once. For instance: taking
the price of the day at which the bargain was
made at 94¾ for the December account, the
buyer has three-sixteenths per. cent, added
to this quotation for the accommodation of
deferring actual payment for the stock until
the settling day in January. Backwardation
reverses the transaction. In that case, the
buyer receives a per-centage on the
condition of not compelling the seller to deliver
the stock at the next day of reckoning, but to
retain possession to the succeeding account, or
for any other future day agreed upon. The
Continuation consists of an additional per-
centage paid by either party for keeping open
the transaction, should he not be in a condition
to close it at the time specified when the
bargain was struck. These, and all other
incidents of Time Bargains, are rank gambling.

There have been Bulls and Bears other
than those of the Alley, if we are to believe
all that is handed down to us in the shape of
gossip of the day. Members of the Government
high in office, Peers of the realm, are
said to have jobbed in connection with 'Change
men upon the strength of official information:
and it is even said that Ministers of State
have sold important news, known only to
themselves, for large sums of money to jobbers
who did not fail to turn it to profitable
account: and in those days, when steam and
electricity were agencies of communication as
yet undreamt of, the value of early intelligence
must have been unlimited.

The great Marlborough was not proof
against the tempting bait held out to him by
the Rothschild of his day, one Medina, who
paid the commander six thousand a-year
during his campaigns for the privilege of
accompanying him, and forwarding to his friends
in the Alley the important events of the war
by the government courier. By this means
the celebrated battles of Oudenarde, Blenheim
and Ramillies, were turned to a golden
account by the skilful stockbroker.

It is a matter of notoriety that the first
forgery of Exchequer Bills, and which occurred
in the year following their introduction,
was committed by Members of Parliament,
some of whom were ordered to pay a fine of
two hundred thousand pounds for the offence;
although it is very doubtful if the penalty
was enforced.

To look into the history and proceedings of
our Stock Exchange without a glance at the
career of its greatest member, Baron Rothschild,
and of his co-labourer Mr. Baring, would
be indeed a grave omission. The Capel Court
Baron may be said to have brought the science
of financing to its present perfection. The
elder and original Rothschild, the father of
the great man, was a merchant of Frankfort;
where, with his four sons, he drove a thriving
business. Towards the latter part of the
last century, Nathan Meyer, the eldest of the
brethren, came over to this country with the
view of enlarging their connexion. For some
years he carried on a prosperous business in
Manchester; until, at the commencement of
this century, having quadrupled his capital,
he made London his head-quarters, and at the
same time began to give more attention to
financing than to trade. He was not long in
becoming a man of repute on 'Change; and,
aided by the very best advices from his
brothers who were then corresponding with him
from Paris, Vienna, and Frankfort, he
succeeded in laying the foundation of that
fortune and fame which were afterwards to
become a part of European history.

It is not a little remarkable that the
first English loan for which Rothschild
contracted, went at a discount. This was
in eighteen hundred and nineteen, and the
amount being twelve millions, appeared likely
to prove a serious stumbling-block in the
path of this rising man. But his genius
saved him. By consummate address and
management, he contrived to back out of this,
his first essay, free from all loss. Henceforth,
his career was one of unexampled prosperity;
and although it is not our intention to do
more than glance at the footsteps of this
monarch of 'Change, an anecdote illustrative
of his strategy may not be out of place.

The movements of such a man as Rothschild
was were watched by the jobbers of the
day, who, conscious of his superior information
and judgment, were ready to take their cue
from his proceedings. But the wary financier
was usually an overmatch for the crowd.
When he received some intelligence, which