“Is there an indication of the nature of those activities that have led him to be vulnerable, Mr Michael?”
“None that you might wish to be aware of, Mr Robert! I had heard rumour, and have since read a detailed deposition and would much prefer that I had not. Suffice it to say that he has been an intimate of the Prince Regent and has shared certain of his proclivities, without, however, displaying his discretion.”
Robert was none the more certain, though it seemed to strengthen his guesses. The Prince had been accused of every perversion from buggery to bestiality and general opinion was to side with the accusers rather than to give Prinny the benefit of the doubt. The existence of a deposition made it certain that one or more of the intelligence operations in London had compiled files on the Prince Regent and his intimates, possibly at the behest of government, perhaps on their own initiative. It meant as well that France, Prussia, Austria and probably Russia would have the information, the British services being famously leaky. It was annoying to think that a French banker would probably know more about what was happening in London than he did.
“He has a sufficiency of political support in both Houses to remain as Foreign Minister for the while, I believe, Mr Michael.”
“He has, Mr Robert. There is no reason to suppose that he will be supplanted in the normal course of events. He is a man of shining parts, one might say, intelligent, well-liked overseas, of good judgement, able to give advice and be listened to by the likes of Metternich and very willing to support the Duke of Wellington in his desire to bring peace and stability to the whole of Europe. Yet, he has this tragic flaw, this sexual darkness, that will inevitably destroy him.”
A pity, but as long as he lasted another year or two he could serve the bank’s purpose quite satisfactorily.
Less than a month later Mostyn’s Bank received an invitation from the Honourable East India Company to consider whether it might not wish to establish a branch in each of the three Presidencies in India. Business expansion in the east was being hindered by a lack of modern financial facilities, it seemed, and Great Britain’s colonial, Christianising, civilising mission could best be served by stretching the hand of the City of London out to the furthest-flung of her servants.
“What exactly does that imply, Mr Robert?”
“Certainly that one at least of the Company’s Board in London is a pompous windbag, sir. Other than that? Well, sir, we know that the Chinese are a damned nuisance with their demands for silver bullion and I would suggest that they are stretching John Company’s liquidity to its very limits. Very simply, they are short of the readies, and we have got them and even a relatively small amount of pressure has been sufficient to bring the Company to tolerate an interloper.”
Robert debated whether he should explain that Mostyn, being a Jew, was so much an outsider as not to set a precedent for the rest of the City. It was easier not to, he felt, and he might, just possibly, be attributing motives that did not exist.
“Three branches, one, the senior, run by a member of the family, the others by two of the most trustworthy of our men, an almost entirely free hand and no expectation of profits returning to London for a decade at least, and we may become pre-eminent amongst the merchant banks, sir.”
Mostyn agreed, his natural conservatism overwhelmed by the combination of ambition and desire to be well-in with the government of his adopted country.
“I would suggest as well, sir, that in five or so years, provided the Indian experience is good, then we might consider an expansion to the Cape, to Botany Bay, even to the drab wilds of Canada if the Hudson’s Bay Company will permit.”
“You are saying that we should be present wherever the Union flag is flown, Mr Robert?”
“Where the traders go, the military will follow and we should be hard on their heels, sir. The navy has created the possibilities of colonies on a heretofore unknown scale, and the Flag and Trade must go hand in hand, and the bank with them. Before too many years are passed there will be ports on the Chinese mainland which have come under our control and we should certainly be there, for China has wealth. What of the Sugar Islands, sir? When slavery finally goes, in a very few years time, one trusts, then the plantations will need be brought onto a proper business basis. The bank could do well in times of change.”
India first, Mostyn thought, discover the difficulties of working overseas before indulging in wild expansionism. Three branches, a foothold in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, and then a cautious growth, that would be wisest.
“There will be tea plantations in Ceylon, sir, growing rapidly I suspect from all my father tells me. A branch in Colombo, or perhaps a correspondent reporting to one of the mainland three, would make good sense.”
Mostyn smiled in superior fashion – the English predilection for the insipid wash that was tea never failed to amuse him. With milk, as well!
“Who should go to India, Mr Robert?”
“Mr David Mostyn, sir, your third son.”
“It cannot be Jonathan, I agree, as heir he must stay in England. But what of Saul? He is senior in status and might be said to have the right.”
Robert sought for the best words, those that would avoid offence.
“Saul is a good man, sir, intelligent and learned. Is he a good banker?”
The second son was a fine, upright, devout, sober young man. Born to another family he would almost certainly have become a rabbi, a teacher and an ornament to the faith.
“He is a very bad banker, as you have certainly observed, Mr Robert. He would make loans to the good and refuse even to talk to the wicked, which is admirable, but not a source of profit. I cannot make good use of him in England and now you say not in India either, and I really must agree with you. What to do with him, I know not!”
Inspiration struck Robert, memory of conversation over tea with his father and Frances.
“My father and his new lady have the intention to build an orphanage for some of the street urchins, sir. A charity foundation, of course, and probably the first of several. They are at their wits’ end to discover a proper person to be Principal of the largest and Overseer of them all, a man who could keep a discipline amongst the staff as much as the boys, and one who would be able to speak with the highest in the land. A man who could stand before a Committee of the House of Commons or make his case before a Royal Commission would be worth his weight in gold to them.”
“And he would do the name of Mostyn no disservice, I presume, Mr Robert.”
“Just so, sir.”
“I will speak to your father, if I may, Mr Robert, and offer my second son’s services, gratis, of course, and provided he has no objection. His stipend will be mine to pay. I think he will do better in such a post than in the City.”
Robert was relieved that he had had to argue no further. He wanted David as head of the new enterprise because he had had to come to the young man’s rescue twice since he had married his sister and knew that he was definitely not suited to become a minister of any sort of religion. David was as clever as either of his brothers but was much less well-endowed in the department of moral scruples. Robert had had to go in person to Mrs Hubbard’s house where he was being held by her heavies, having spent a long night with two of her most expensive girls before ‘discovering that he had left his purse at home’. David had preferred not to send a message to his father, expecting that his brother by marriage might prove more understanding. A month later Robert had paid two hundreds in sovereigns to a man from a Pall Mall gambling den, an illegal gaming house, one which would happily have seen David’s legs broken as a hint to pay up.
He had explained to David that he was not willing to play banker to him again, that a third demand would be placed before his father, but he did not expect the young man to change his ways while he was more or less at a loose end in England.
David worked in the bank, but had little responsibility as yet and was under no illusion of inheritance. Sending him out to India, to be the master
with none to gainsay him and a high income to spend or save or speculate, would either be the making of him, or would destroy him in months. Mostyn knew nothing of his son’s peccadilloes, officially, but he had his own sources of information and could guess at Robert’s calculations.
“We take a risk in appointing David to a place where neither of us can keep a close eye to him, I believe, Mr Robert.”
“It is a risk, sir, but not, I believe, a very great one. I have seen a lot of Mr David Mostyn, being closest in age to his sister and her favourite, and I am sure that he has it in him to be a man of resolution and purpose.”
Mostyn agreed, but feared that he might become a most resolute and purposeful criminal. No matter, he was family, and that came first.
“With your permission, Mr Mostyn, I would wish to speak with David at some length before sending him overseas. He must be familiarised with the workings of John Company, and that is a topic I must know more about than you, sir, having grown up with them, you might say.”
Mostyn was happy to agree, ‘horses for courses’, so the English said, although he was not entirely certain what that meant, or why, but it seemed apposite.
David Mostyn tapped on the door of Robert’s office, wondering just why he had been summoned. The note sent by hand of one of the twelve year old office boys had merely asked him to see Robert ‘at his early convenience’. That could be no more than simple caution – office boys were both literate and bribeable and should never be allowed access to any information – but it could signify something more serious. He cast back in his mind, reviewing the past week’s activities. He had watched a prize fight, the Game Chicken, a lightweight who was being touted as a new Mendoza but did not seem to him to be of that quality, and he had lost twenty guineas over the afternoon; he had been to the races at Epsom and had won fifty guineas there, and that had funded evenings at Mother Hubbard’s, where he was welcome only if he paid in advance. All in all he did not believe Mr Robert Andrews had occasion to be cross with him, but his sister might not be pleased, and he did not wish to cause her pain, she was such a very good girl, and gentle-hearted.
“Please take a seat, David. Thank you for coming so promptly. I rather hope you may be pleased to hear why I have asked you to see me in my office, on a formal basis. Briefly, I do not believe you are happy in your existence in Mostyn’s in England. Amongst other factors, you must feel that I have to great extent usurped your place in the family, and that is quite true, but was inevitable if Mostyn’s was to be a success in London – my name is worth money, sir.”
David nodded – it was quite obvious that, in the English term, ‘his nose had been put out of joint’, which was an interesting expression because he had never discovered a joint in his nose and therefore it could not be interpreted literally. One day, when he was an old man with nothing better to do, he would chase that meaning down. He brought his mind back to business, apologised for his momentary inattention.
“The opportunity has arisen, David, for the bank to open three branches in India and for a member of the family to take charge of them, necessarily almost independent because of the distance involved.”
“Me?”
“Your father believes you to have a sufficient knowledge of banking and to be a man of safe character and strong resolve. You would expect to stay in India for many years, a decade at least, quite possibly much longer, until you retired, in fact. You would earn far more than would be possible in England, and would have the opportunity to trade and speculate on your own behalf. As well, you could contribute greatly to the well-being of the family.”
Wealth and the opportunity to be more than a wastrel younger son – both prospects that appealed. David accepted instantly.
Over the following few days Robert arranged for David to meet some of the East India Company board members and gave him an outline of business life in India.
“You will meet Major Wolverstone of Roberts and will find him to have been instructed to be of use to you, David. You will also meet many others of the English community, businessmen and adventurers both…”
Robert gave an outline of the trade in opium to China and slaves to the Persian Gulf, mentioned in passing that both were highly profitable fields of endeavour, such as the bank might be interested in during its first years in a new country.
David noted all that he was told, and recognised what was unsaid. London was in some ways staid and stuffy but there was no great need to be so overtly scrupulous in one’s business life in India, it seemed. That would present no difficulty at all.
One of Quarrington’s people from the Welsh Marches was persuaded that the demands of public life appeared to be too much for him. Resignation was not allowed to members so he sought the Chiltern Hundreds, an office of profit under the Crown that debarred him from membership of the House of Commons, and his seat in a rotten borough became vacant. The ex-member was pensioned off to a set of lodgings in Bath on a generous allowance and James stood as sole candidate for his seat. There were only twenty voters, each a tenant of the Quarrington estates, and the election proceeded without fuss and bother, James not ever having to be present in the constituency, being informed by letter of the actual event.
He took possession of his new house in London. Eight bedrooms and six reception, properly in Mayfair, staffed with butler, housekeeper, cook and five maids and his groom, Donnelly, because he would need his own town-carriage in his peculiar circumstances. Murphy and Hewett remained as major-domo and valet, having a claim on his generosity for life and being necessary to his comfort. A household of eleven seemed quite adequate whilst he was single; on marriage he would add Nurse and nursery-maid, his wife’s maid and probably a second-cook and a footman as they would be entertaining frequently.
The Writ was returned to the Speaker of the House of Commons and James was bidden to be present for four o’clock of a Monday afternoon. He was properly dressed in frockcoat and pantaloons, all colour forbidden, black and white severity the order of the day. The leg presented a difficulty, but he could not possibly wear trousers when first taking his seat, and there was no harm in informing the few who would be unaware of his disability.
He was met by Clapperley and Mr William Huskisson, a member with an interest in things industrial. Clapperley’s presence announced Mr James Andrews to be one of the Andrews and Huskisson was also a Minister of the Crown, an unusual friend for so young a man which would further alert back bench members to his existence and significance. His sponsors waited for prayers to be completed, a very brief delay, and paced slowly at his side to the Table where they bowed to Mr Speaker and introduced James as the Gallant Member for Church Stretton. He signed his name on the official register and was unobtrusively scrutinised by various of the porters and servants of the House, his face memorised as one who had a right to be there. He was led then to a seat well at the rear of the benches on the government side and was left to his own devices until he chose to make his way to the Member’s rooms – bar and dining room essentially. He had been warned to remain in the Chamber for at least an hour, to show willing, and then to sit with a glass for a while to allow those who would undoubtedly wish to make his acquaintance the opportunity to greet him.
It was expected that former soldiers would make the effort to speak to him, having been announced as ex-military by the courtesy title always granted to such MPs. Even Radical Whigs would be expected to be courteous on his first day in the House, though they might never choose to acknowledge him again if he showed uninteresting.
His father had sat down with him earlier in the week to explain the nature of the factions in the Parliamentary Party, had warned him that all would seek to recruit him to their cause, and that the more conservative of the Whigs would suggest that he might support some of their policies.
“The various groupings who call themselves Tory, more or less, are united behind Lord Liverpool, and will remain so, not for any love of him but for inability to support any other as First Lord of th
e Treasury. Castlereagh detests Canning, the feeling being mutual, Goderich is ambitious for himself and is of little other interest, Wellington is felt to be too much in his brother’s pocket yet but must eventually succeed to power, and Peel, the most able of them all, believes in the need for reform and for the government to intervene in the most obvious abuses. Besides which, of course, Peel’s father is, like me, a self-made millionaire. I would advise you to follow the lead of Mr Huskisson, who will be a sponsor. Under no circumstances should you ever take any advice given by Mr Clapperley without first speaking to Robert, and be polite but very cautious in your dealings with any he introduces to you. He is a dangerous man, one who has been of great use to the family in the past, and will possibly be so again and you must always be glad to see him, but avoid any intimacy with him!”
James was also aware that he would be the only manufacturing Tory in the House, other than Peel who was anxious to remove the dirty-handed stigma in any case.
There were only sixty or so members present in the House that day, most of them there to make up a quorum at a friend’s request so that a particular local Bill could be passed. The Commons sat typically from the beginning of February to early July and the bulk of members were elsewhere during the hunting and shooting seasons. James offered an item of interest on a boring afternoon and he had barely requested his glass from a waiter before he was accosted by a burly fifty years old county member, obvious as such from the ruralities of his dress, he was wearing a green coat and riding boots!
“Gosford, Mr Andrews! One of the Leicestershire members, don’t you know. I believe you have Lutterworth now, sir.”
Privilege Preserved (A Poor Man at the Gate Series Book 5) Page 12