Chapter XI

Chapter XI

There, on the horizon in front of which the road and the coach seemed to speed along the endless plain, was the first mound in the start of the journey from Amsterdam. The drive through the idyllic green and blooming Dutch fields befit a melodious symphony guided by the highest point of the coach. The coach driver sitting at the top and, with the skill of a famous conductor, was dictating the pace of the horse trot, which spun the coach wheels an hour more moderately or an hour faster. The rhythmic shaking, creaking and squeaking, mixed with the wind whistling and the horse snorting, created harmonious sounds that intertwined and slowly wove into a symphony. Here, on the road in the middle of the greenery, the coach driver’s gift had a special echo. Konstantin, hunting with his eyes through the windows from the inside, was looking at the beautiful landscape. Amsterdam, the place where he was returning from, was in the southern corner of the charming and flat Soyder Bay Valley. The waters there were collecting into so many canals that it seemed like the entire city was separated by them. There were many bridges that connected the streets and they looked the same. Most striking was the large harbour from which cargo ships set sail for the North Sea and for the Atlantic, and even more arrived from there. Konstantin and two of his associates from the bank were trading and also helping an important customer in bidding on goods that were arriving by sea.

It was May 13, 1818 and spring was already in full swing. The green grass was growing, the flowers bloomed, the trees and groves were green and water was plentiful in puddles, lakes and canals. Spring was also visible in the windmills shaped like huge mushrooms, with their powerful blades sitting idle along their axis at the top of the cap. Arranged in rows along the roadside and looking like humble giants, they dominated the scenery. Two centuries ago they numbered in the tens of thousands and were used for all kinds of purposes; to dry flooded land, to grind grain, extract mustard,

squeeze oil and process paint. Now their numbers had been reduced but Holland still made use of wind power through them. South Flanders was different from central Holland which, along with Friesland to the north, was grassy. Here, when a person relaxed from seeing the sights they get intoxicated by the fresh vapours of the ocean waters and aromas from the flowers, grasses and canopy greens.

Konstantin cherished that feeling for a long time, as long as it took the coach to pass through the country. After that, his obsession with this magic seemed to diminish being replaced with different thoughts as indicated by the wrinkles on his forehead. It seemed to him that the roads he traveled on and the lands he passed through were intertwined with meetings, encounters and events, but also with worries, troubles, desires and other feelings. They all started with that first barely visible wrinkle that appeared on his forehead. It was more like an expression than a thought that came to his mind that instant: “Today, exactly one summer ago”!

Yes, on this very day last year, 1817, Konstantin received a certificate from Emperor Franz I, who recognized his noble status. That day Konstantin became Baron Konstantin von Belio. His ceremony, full of splendor and rituals, had been held earlier, on February 24, 1817. That’s when he joined the council of barons and a glorious and noble life, which was not easy to achieve because glory and ruin were separated by a thin line. He, who had not tasted fame, didn’t know the alternative or the price of progress. You’re required to raise an altar and offer innumerable sacrifices so that people could worship and respect you because you had now become master of their destinies. But Belio had learned to think about people differently long before he became a baron. He wasn’t like the masters who were guided by the thought that people were born to serve them. People like that didn’t deserve to be nobles, even though they were counted among the nobles. They simply followed the salon logic: “If there are no people - there are no masters. If there are no people - there is no God, because who is He for, if not for the people?! People live thanks to God in the heavens and to the lords on earth!” Blinded by that thought, they also referred to the Holy Scriptures, interpreting them in their own way. After He first created everything for them, God created people on the sixth day out of

great love. He created them in his image out of that love and gave them an opportunity on Earth. He created them as equals but in time differences appeared in them from other deeds and acts... The bitter truth didn’t touch those masters. Their servants and serfs could survive without them, but the masters without the servants and serfs would certainly perish.

Despite his icy looks, Baron Belio was not one of them. He was a good man. He was compassionate and cared for people, especially for the helpless and poor. He was also recognized for his nobility and for performing noble acts in helping society. He and his brother Stefan sent aid to the victims in Banat and Hungary. They sent caravan loads of clothes, fruit and other foods to the people hit by the floods. Disaster struck at the end of 1816, when the waters in the plain rose, especially around the mighty Muresh. Rain and torrential downpours swept through it, from the eastern Carpathians to Transylvania, and headed downhill. When Muresh reached the bottom of the Pannonian Plain, its waters poured out destroying and demolishing houses and other buildings. It destroyed all the fields. It dragged trees, roots, sand and silt. On top of the Belio brothers helping in general they also helped many of their compatriots who had settled there. Some of the villages and properties belonged to Count Nako, like those at Rudna, Nakovo, Senmilotosh, Komlosh and others. Nako was also one of the people who had influenced the emperor to make Konstantin a Baron. The emperor recognized Konstantin but not only because of Nako’s influence. He recognized him for his other good deeds too. Whatever it was, the inscription on his certificate said: “…For his care and love of Austria and its people” which sufficiently confirmed and acknowledged him.

Well, that too was in the past. Now Belio was on his long journey throughout Europe. While riding in the coach with his two passengers, Konstantin occasionally talked about various topics outside of banking, but every conversation had to end. At that point Konstantin’s thoughts took him back to his own world. He was now worried about his brother Stefan. Everything Stefan did was fast and without measure. He was seduced by a comfortable life and had indulged in lust and greed. He had deceived and possessed widows taking their material goods and money. It seemed like he wanted to possess all of Walachia because there wasn’t any place where he

didn’t own property. He had been most active the last two summers. He’d built a palace, a big church and other buildings in the village Gostinu, near the river Ardzhes. He transferred all the lands in Pistsania and was transferring properties in Negreni, Tamasheshti and some other villages. Initially, when he started the transfers, the people rebelled. Who was this freeloading stranger from nowhere that had become their owner? But they had no one to complain to. He was now the “logothet” for justice. (Chancellor (for justice), a high office in the Ottoman Empire) The transfers of property were made by his trusted bookkeepers Mihail Popov and Jovan Sokolov from Pitesti. They were careful because nothing escaped Stefan. He himself was experienced in bookkeeping and when he was younger he kept books for some businessmen in Kraiova. Stefan was also determined to implement ideas that the environment didn’t understand or agree that they were good. This was how Stefan acquired the village Peretum two summers ago. To get hold of the village lands he decided to move the people from the hill to a valley. Stefan hired the famous Austrian engineer Otto von Moritz, who was in Bucharest at that time, to draw up a plan for him. After the engineer drew up the plans Stefan began to build the new village but with solid houses; not like the one on the hill. Austrian systematic precision was built into everything, from access, streets, sidewalks, waste, etc... This was the first such village in Walachia. Stefan cut down the forest around the hill and sold the trees so that he could finish everything faster. He also used the building of the church to appease people. Unfortunately the villagers were not content and they complained to Karadzha, but their complaints were in vain. Karadzha was worse than Stefan when it came to greed and pillaging. As a freeloader himself, Karadzha knew that he was there temporarily and didn’t care about these kinds of complaints. If he lost his power, even for a short time, due to suspicion or from being slandered, he could be punished - persecution or beheading. That wouldn’t be the first time. That kind of punishment was handed down to Hangerli in February 1799, after only a summer on the throne. They slandered him for Osman Pazvantoglu Vidinski defeating the Sultan Selim. Many had suffered from defamation. Many were accused of having ties with Russia; that was the safest card to use to remove a rival from power. Defamation was most useful and worked fast in the Orthodox countries; especially if their rulers were aligned with Slavs.

Now Walachia was boiling and as soon as Baron Belio arrived in Vienna he would have to journey to Bucharest. Karadzha needed his help to untangle himself from the knots he had created, supposedly due to Stefan’s escapades. And how had this come about? Well, Karadzha was cunning and held the throne in Bucharest for the sixth summer, but he’d been followed by misfortune. A fire broke out in the city during the summer of l817 which burned many storehouses filled with harvest. Many were left destitute and hungry. People began to believe that the fire was just another of Karadzha’s evils. And it was true, ever since Karadzha had taken the throne the people experienced nothing but misfortune. The moment he settled himself in the palace a fire broke out and consumed it and half the city. The plague, which brought death to the city, was blamed on him. They called it the “Karadza plague”. Then an earthquake struck and here again the fire it caused left people dead, destitute and hungry. It was God’s will but also man’s will. It was people who started the riots in Ploiesti in 1813, and in Bucharest in 1816, when the leaders of the Divan (Turkish term for Council or Government), along with some prominent boyars, rose up, cut off heads and seized properties. As if that wasn’t enough, Karadzha introduced new taxes for the villagers and guilds, and also sold boyar titles, mines and other properties. His income rose and so did the complaints to Istanbul. Those whom he could bribe were not poor and miserable but nobles. What spilled his cup, on the other hand, were the blows to his honour for his vile adulterous acts and blackmail of the nobles. If he happened to like a certain woman he would take her away from her lover, husband, family… and send them to distant duties or imprison them under false accusations. He did this through cunning gossip, with blackmail, and cunning lies. He led women to such despair that they often asked him to intervene and save their loved ones. They said his son followed in his path. Ironically, perversion was a crime under the strictest moral laws passed by Karadzha himself; with heavy fines and penalties for disrespect. That was a cruel policy designed to fill his coffers from fines and from bribes. Now, something was being plotted in Istanbul against him. He had been in enough trouble to make him distrustful of people and recently he’d started watching over everyone. Evil roared in him and there was no one to confide in. He was seeking salvation from the outside, like he was doing now from Austria. He also reached out to Prince Metternich, who

had an account with him. He appointed Baron Belio as mediator in the negotiations, accompanied by his nephew Kocho, ambassador to Vienna, and his brother who was in the Walachian Divan.

The coach was nearing the inn where they were going to take their rest. Baron Belio was still thinking about the insatiable Karadzha and the sticky problems he was getting him into. He pictured him from a meeting he’d had with him, bent over in his ruler’s chair, looking like a hyena staring at him. Karadzha murmured slowly and quietly when he addressed people and seldom smiled, and when he did smile he somehow looked warm to those who didn’t know him. He rarely smiled because he knew people couldn’t read his cold and gloomy face when he was not smiling. Mistress Karadzha, on the other hand, did the same with her servants and her daughters. All of them were typical phanariots and the one thing they had on their minds all the time was money…! They had respect only for those who had money, or for those who could bring them money. This is why Karadzha was considerate to the baron and the baron knew it. Konstantin remembered how Karadzha had acted when he was a contender for the throne; that’s why he set conditions for him before lending him the money to purchase it. Among the conditions he set was to appoint his brother Stefan to the highest positions available, to grant Konstantin trade privileges and to pay back the loan with interest. And, as the saying goes, “The greater the greed the more the gains when the risks are high!” And “Ask for a lot from the powerful because a lot or a little, the opportunity will pass. Look for a lot one time so that you won’t be asking for a little many times!” Outside of Karadzha the worst Phanariots were Hangerli and Patriarch Arsenja, who decided the fate of the Ohrid Church Throne. Baron Belio always had that in mind and wisely chose to play with them Byzantine style. He pretended to respect them and used their authority to its limit. They in turn took their authority from Istanbul by playing worse games. The difference was that he didn’t crawl before them like they crawled before Istanbul.

“Dear Baron, what can you tell us about the new bank in Vienna belonging the Kamondo brothers?” asked one of his companions, which took Belio out of his thoughts and back to the banking business.

“Isaac and Avram Kamondo from Constantinople started a banking business in Vienna late. Vienna by then had many banks and with the wars the risks had increased... They could have been more successful elsewhere.

“Avram Kamondo was in London and Paris, looking to do the same!”

“Look, the Ottomans are locked in the old monetary system. They don’t know and don’t follow the news with regards to securities and interest. Besides, for them everything is out of the way of money... The Kamondos, being Ottoman subjects with the greatest banking sense, can be their bank representatives in Vienna, Paris and London only if they get permission from the Ottoman government, and then they can be successful!”

“Others have opened banks in London and Paris. The Rothschilds opened banks there,” interrupted the second passenger.

“Yes, the Rothschilds!” replied Belio stretching out the name as if starting a difficult subject, only to say, “London and Paris have chosen them because they are with many colonies from Africa to Asia and America. Fresh money is needed to get goods from there faster.”

“Dear Baron, these are risky investments owing to revolutions and secession…! There we have slaves creating a state on the island that Paris lost (meaning Haiti in Central America).”

“Fresh money is needed!” replied Baron Belio again becoming aware that this subject required clarification. He continued, “Money is needed for both; an old country like France and a new country like that of the slaves! In these kinds of troubles both countries lose but not the Rothschilds. Other people’s troubles are opportunities for them, according to their motto ‘Buy where blood is shed!’ In situations like these they buy low-priced properties from the impoverished saibs ((Turkish sahip) - owners, masters of property) who want to run away only to save their heads. As soon as the war is over, the Rothschilds are there handing out securities to old and new states, which didn’t cost them anything, nor are they valued by real

value; and with interest. When the economy starts up the needs after the war are big especially with the reconstruction. At such times everything the Rothschilds took for practically nothing, from properties to mines, they rent out or sell for a lot of money... They invested in Napoleon and also in his opponents; after the stock market released falls news about Waterloo and Napoleon having Britannia.” (Waterloo is a city in Belgium where Napoleon’s last battle was fought, with his new army in 1815 which he raised in February after escaping from exile.)

As they listened to the baron talk, his two companions only slightly nodded their heads. They kept quiet as, through his words, the world began to change before their eyes, being transformed through great games of speculation in which new states sprouted and old ones fell apart. The old nobility was deserted and a new one was created and no noble blood of inheritance was needed. It appeared that money made blood noble where it never existed before. Money paid the popes and patriarchs to seek and affirm kinship with old noble tribes. Yes, there was a process of complete realignment everywhere causing burning chaos with revolutions starting from Napoleon’s in France to the colonial ones, all operating under the humane motto of brotherhood, freedom and independence. But it appeared like they all fell under the same shadow that was cast over them, that of Rothschilds in particular. This has been ongoing ever since Mayer Rothschild, father of the five brothers, circulated in Frankfurt among state leaders. Old and especially new states returned or gained power with concessions. Just like Karadzha who paid Baron Belio for the service he provided, giving him the money to purchase the Walachian throne. Nathan, the most skilled Rothschild, established a bank in London in 1805. Six years ago, Prime Minister Percival died during an assassination attempt. Old King George III was blind for years and was unaware that he was ruling. But those things didn’t stop the Rothschild plan. Nothing was left to chance; the Rothschilds had eyes and ears everywhere. Last summer Belio met one of them, Solomon Rothschild. The meeting appeared to be coincidental but Belio figured they were interested in Vienna. Solomon inquisitively asked him about his health, how he’d become baron, but also about Vienna seen through the eyes of a banker. Solomon’s trip to Vienna confirmed Belio’s suspicions that the Rothschilds were interested in Vienna. When Belio was trading

jewels in Amsterdam he learned of Solomon’s intention to settle in Vienna. Belio figured they were preparing to take this European capital and turn it into their base. Belio knew how they were going to do it too; they would go through Metternich. He had the power of decision. They were not going to waste their time with others. If he wasn’t with the Rothschilds before, he would be if he rose together with Napoleon.

Just like the many who aspired to take over interests in the Austrian Kingdom the bankers too were facing a struggle for supremacy by old and new groups. Also among them were the Macedonians. Besides Kiril Nikolich, Simon Sina and Baron Belio there were other bankers like Dimitri Kazanov, Stamat Radokonachiev, brothers Anastas and Naum Lazarev and some more recent arrivals. The most prominent of them was Simon Sina, whose father was Giorgi. Giorgi left Solun and went to Sarajevo and from there to Vienna. Two summers before 1800, they set up the company “Simon Sina and Partners”. First they traded in Hungarian grain, wool, wood, coal, cotton and linen, and started up a paper mill in Lower Austria and later they started a bank. By 1810 Simon had become the richest banker in Hungary. He bought the Hodosh and Kizdia properties in Timis County. In April this year, Emperor Franz made sixty-five-year-old Simon and his sons Giorgi and Jovan barons because the Sina family hadassisted in the wars against Napoleon; especially with military transport.

So, here we have Baron Sina, Baron Belio, Nikolich, Kazanov, the Lazarevs, Radokonachiev and the bankers from Rumelia who had arrived in Vienna a long time ago, along with the Rothschilds and other new bankers, waiting for a conflict to start so that they could get into some new agreements and interests. And, because new wars were on the horizon, no one knew how economies were going to fare and what the borders would eventually look like. Not to mention the disasters, plagues and other evils these wars would bring.