Rassegna storica del Risorgimento

Banche e ferrovie in Piemonte
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The Stradella company was one obvious direction for the Cassa del Commercio to move in anticipation of a large operation with Rothschild. Rothschild himself proposed another, much more imposing venture for his new protege, which he wanted to see join him in the battle to frustrate the Pereires in Switzerland. Rothschild was eager to fioid a grand opera­tion which would securely launch the Cassa del Commercio on the interna-tional stage and justìfy the confidence which his network of correspondents in Belgium and Germany had displayed by investing in the Italian bank's capital inorease. He also wanted to make his capital do doublé duty by pulling the Cassa del Commercio into the railroad competition in Switzerland. The Cassa del Commercio was, in any case, a naturai ally to enlist in the development of Swiss railroads, because the new lànes at issue would link the Kdmgdom of Sardinia's network with that of south Germany and reinforce the Cassa del Commercio's stature as the leading focus of railroad investment and development in the kingdom. That in rum would solidify the claim of the Cassa del Commercio-Rothschild aHiance to front-runner status if, as hoped, the state sold its lines.
In 1856 Switzerland had a host of locai railroad companies which had been floated earlier by French and Swiss capitalists. Most of them were looMng for fresh capital so that they could continue their construction projects. French, Swiss, and Engldsh financiers, most of them head-quartered in Paris, were ali jockeying for position as the Swiss companies looked for funds. Most financiers and Swiss railroading entrepreneurs were looking ahead to the amalgamation of ali Swiss companies into a single one controlling the entire national system. The rivals were aQl hoping to assure themselves of dominant positions in any comprehensive new combination, and they were fighting to guarantee the precedence of the particular transalpine route which would benefit their existing com­panies most.
The Pereires were particularly well entrenched in western Switzerland, so Rothschild seized an opportunity to provide support for three eastern Swiss companies which controlied the concessions linking Zurich with Austria and southeastern Switzerland. Rothschild and his principal ally, Paulin Talabot, wanted to see the merger of the three eastern companies and their acquisition of the concession for the line across the southern Alps into Italy near Lake Maggiore. Rothschild was intent, however, on working in association with the Paris-based Réunion Financière, a financial syndicate which he had orgamzed at the beginning of 1856 to coordinate the battle against the Pereires across Europe. The Réunion's councils were
of 14, 16, 17, and 18 Feb. 1857; b. 175, f. 52, Cuneo company report from shareholder meeting of 4 May 1857; minules of Cuneo board of directors meeting of 10 Aug. 1857; b. 56, f. 395, reporta to the Mmistries of Finance and Public Works on the Stradella company's shareholder meetings of 4, 5, and 6 May and 6 Aug. 1858; b. 175, f. 55, notarized act of association between the Stradella and Piacenza companies, Tur in, 20 June 1858; Ferrovie da Alessandria e Novi a Stradella e da Piacenza al Confine Sardo per Castel San Giovanni, Statuti (Turbi, 1858); Gazzetta Piemontese, 15 Jan. 1859; AP, 55:1103-1104, 91:3503; Crispo, pp. 65-66; and Gudcrzo, p. 75.