further strengthened through the marriage of Baring's third son, Henry, to Bingham's other daughter, Maria, in 1802. Both marriages brought considerable wealth to the Baring family. Wartime finance British government expenditure, which grew to unprecedented levels during the European wars, created great opportunities for London merchant bankers such as Sir Francis Baring. After 1799 his firm headed the list of public debt contractors in twelve of the next fifteen years, supposedly giving rise to total profits of £190,000. For Baring, a key financier of the nation's war effort, it represented the pinnacle of his power and standing. Despite his retirement in 1804, he continued to appear as a contractor until his death because, as he explained, "it was thought my name would be useful in the opinion of the publick". Britain's European allies needed funds and came to Baring who, with Hopes, now organized some of the first marketings of foreign bonds in London. Believing fervently that "it may be desirable not to have the subject to discuss with our own Ministers, as you know very well how ignorant they are of foreign finance", in 1801 he dispatched his son-in-law P. C. Labouchere of Hopes and his son George to negotiate a loan to the court of Lisbon. The resulting "Portuguese diamond loan" of 13 million guilders was shared between Barings and Hopes on the usual 25:75 basis. Of equal strategic importance was Baring's transmission of British government subsidies to allied governments to support their war efforts. This highly secret and sensitive work required expert knowledge of money transmission and a sound correspondent network; again it underlined the government's confidence in Baring. Opportunities for direct financing of the enemy were also presented to Baring, who knew he could hoodwink the government into consenting to them; "but to have obtained that licence we must have presented a memorial so equivocal and in truth so unfounded that it would not suit us and therefore was abandoned". Baring applied a looser criterion in his choice of trading partners, however. Links with leading American merchants, such as the Codmans of Boston, Willing and Francis of Philadelphia, Robert Gilmour, and Robert Oliver & Brothers of Baltimore were now immensely important to Barings' business as its axis swung from continental European to transatlantic trade. In sustaining these extensive connections Baring undoubtedly facilitated, albeit passively, the breaching of Britain's continental blockade. American finance Close connections with American