in London and had earned £444,000 in the prior ten years, leaving Morgan a powerful platform for future investments. Still, Morgan was ambitious to place his bank on par with the Rothschilds and Barings Bank. In 1870, after the Battle of Sedan and the establishment of a provisional French Third Republic in Tours, Barings and Rothschilds were unwilling to establish a line of credit for the new government. Morgan led a syndicated bond issue of £10,000,000, which the syndicate sold at 15 points below par. After the fall of Paris in January and the establishment of the Paris Commune, the bonds dropped from 80 points to 55, nearly bankrupting J.S. Morgan & Co. Morgan sought to prop up the price by purchasing as many bonds as he could. The French prepaid the bonds in 1873, following the war, which brought their value up to par and netted Morgan £1,500,000 profit, which propelled J.S. Morgan & Co. into the upper ranks of international finance. Another windfall arrived at Morgan's doorstep that same year when Philadelphia's Anthony Drexel proposed an affiliation with J. S. Morgan & Co. Drexel was then Philadelphia's second power in government finance after Jay Cooke. This proposal was accepted and Drexel, Morgan, & Co. became the new New York affiliate of the London bank, with Pierpont as Drexel's junior partner. Pierpont also joined Drexel's Philadelphia firm and his Paris firm, giving the Morgans footholds in four cities. Morgan was now the wealthiest American banker in London and moved into a Knightsbridge mansion facing the south side of Hyde Park. He also purchased Dover House in Roehampton. In 1873, Morgan’s American presence dramatically increased after the failure of Jay Cooke’s banking empire. When American grain (and consequently rail) prices fell dramatically after the resolution of the Franco-Prussian War, Cooke’s heavy investment in the Northern Pacific Railway was no longer sufficient to meet liabilities. Railroad securities were further weakened by the Credit Mobilier scandal. Cooke’s firm collapsed on September 18, triggering a wave of bank failures as part of the Panic of 1873. Despite the conditions, Pierpont turned the firm a profit of over $1,000,000, leaving Drexel Morgan at the apex of American government finance. Reduced role In 1877, Morgan began a semiretirement, cutting back on his schedule and ceding greater authority to his son. On November 8, a dinner was hosted in his honor at Delmonico's, with Samuel Tilden,