From Patrick O'Brian via Victor Niederhoffer:
[Sir Joseph:] I do not suppose there are many things that men think about with such deep, careful, zealous attention as money, and the Stock Exchange is an infallible index of their thoughts, the collective thoughts of a large number of intelligent, informed men who have a great deal to lose and win. Even this Heaven-sent victory of yours, and Wellington's at Vitoria, have scarcely moved the City to anything more than bonfires and illuminations and patriotic addresses. These gentlemen know that we cannot go on alone much longer, and at the first stroke of ill-fortune our allies will desert us, as they have so often deserted us before. No Sir: if I were half as sanguine about Napoleon's downfall as you, I should go down into the City tomorrow and make my fortune.
[Maturin:] How would you do that, for all love?
[Sir Joseph:] Why I should buy Government Stock, India Stock, and any sound commercial shares whose value depends on foreign trade: I should buy them at their present dirt-cheap rate...MOREThe Battle of Vitoria
War: Peninsular War
Date: 21st June 1813
Wellington directs his troops during the Battle of Vitoria
King Joseph's silver chamber pot "liberated" by the 14th Light Dragoons
From BritishBattles.com
