05-08-2016, 03:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-08-2016, 05:19 AM by Scott Kaiser.)
Quote:"The next Peace Treaty, signed October 25, 1860, he assured the Sassoon exclusivity of the drug trade on the seven eighths of China. England succeeded in annexing Hong Kong as well as a number of other strategic areas within the nation. The multiplied, thanks to the contribution of Russell & Company, who armed himself with the family business on behalf of Sassoon commercial ships transporting opium from India to China by backing Tea charges.
The company (founded by the brother of William Huntington Russell, co-founder of the controversial secret society Skull & Bones), was in the hands of Warren Delano, main shareholder, the maternal grandfather of the future US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who inherited a huge fortune thanks to this joint venture with Sassoon. In the early 80 century the Sassoon family could now count on a huge opium trade, which in China alone exceeded 105,000 cases annually. In 1887 Edward Albert Sassoon married Caroline Rothschild and economic alliance between the two families was finally consecrated."
The Sassoon's also had connections with the French.