25 THE END OF AN AGE
Cavour during his late years. He was one of the most well known and respected politicians in Europe and Italy, as the man had built the Confederation
The remainder of 1860 was spent by the Confederation trying to put its finances in order: the rapid industrial, railway, military and social expansion had dramatically increased the expenses of both the Confederation and the individual states. For the management and monitoring of these expenses, in addition to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the First Confederal Bank was established, a banking institution controlled by the government with the task of preparing the ground for the future union of currencies (as in the single states were still using old currencies but with a fixed exchange rate that saw the Piedmontese Lira in a position of dominance over other currencies), but also to grant, control and collect the numerous loans that the state made to its companies, many of the which occurred with foreign money, especially British.
Foreign loans were covered by the numerous properties expropriated by the church. These were often used either as a pledge or converted into public utility structures if buildings, redistributed to peasants if land plots. Although excellent as guarantees, the government saw in Italy's dependence on foreign capital a serious problem for the political and financial integrity of the nation as its capital was held in London and not in Milan and the increase in loans increased its interests and charges of Italy abroad. Thus Cavour began to work on a liberal economic reform: previously Italy had traded in a free market but protectionist regime, with numerous constraints for companies which, although they were necessary at the dawn of industrialization, now limited Development. With the economic reform of 1868 the way of doing business in the country was revolutionized by embracing a capitalist model of free market and free enterprise with the government acting as an entrepreneur in essential sectors. The rights of the workers were not ignored or repressed however, as the work laws were not changed for the worse but amended for the better with the introduction of moderately higher wages, more safe working environments, especially in mines, and further restriction to child labour with kids now unable to work in factories.
Another aspect of Cavour's economic reform was that many loans were paid off and other loans started to be repaid more recently. The money for these actions was found by cutting the budget by reducing bureaucracy and by imposing new taxes especially on the middle classes who were enjoying industrialization most of all. Cavour did not want to hit the poorer classes too hard so as not to exacerbate discontent, especially in the regions affected by banditry. Cavour's policy was successful and in 1872 the Confederation would have reached a balanced budget, overcoming it and going into profit.
Despite the rapid industrial expansion along the Po valley, the Italian economy was still based on agriculture which, although of decreasing economic importance, remained the main national export. The agrarian reform had been carried out in the north in the Po Valley and in the Maremma, compensating the large landowners and redistributing the land to small and medium farmers who worked directly on the land. In the south, agrarian reform was still stalled on a large scale by the support that the large landowners provided to the kingdom of Naples, making the local government reluctant to implement an integral reform but laying solid foundations for future change. In Adria, where the landowners power was minimal, there were few resistance to the reform which was carried out thoroughly
In addition to the economic reforms, the 1860s were also a period of national standardization with the issuing of four fundamental codes: the confederal penal code, the confederal civil code, the commercial code and the navigation code. These codifications were carried out by commissions of experts from various states with the aim of creating a single law throughout the Confederation, especially in the most important sectors such as criminal and commercial law. The publication of these codes at the end of the 1860s was a great step forward for the political unity and the approach of the various bodies to the confederation which with the passage of time was slowly accumulating power. The various states still held legislative power over issues such as security, taxation, administration and rights, although uniform Confederal laws existed throughout Italy.
By 1867 Cavour had already understood that he did not have many years to live: malaria had become more persistent than it once was and the medicines he was taking were starting to have less and less effect. For this reason the count began to look for a successor among the ranks of the Liberal-Confederate party, who was identified in the figure of Bettino Ricasoli, a Tuscan patriot, former mayor of Florence and member of the Constituent Assembly already previously noted by the count for his political ability. Ricasoli was introduced to the government with a cabinet position, from which he could begin to get an idea of how the policies in the Confederation's button rooms worked.
Although old and ill, the count was still one of Europe's shrewdest statesmen and managed to add one last success to his long list of conquests for Italy: in 1868 in Spain there had been a liberal rebellion that had ended with the ousting of the unpopular Isabella II and the creation of a provisional revolutionary government which, in addition to writing a constitution inspired by that of 1812 and the Sicilian one, undertook to find a new monarch for Spain, reluctant to become a republic. Through the skilful diplomatic maneuvers of the count who from the first moment had recognized the government and had contacted them through the embassy, the Spanish government rejected both Isabella's son, Alfonso, and Leopoldo Hohenzollern, choosing Amedeo di Savoia, son of Vittorio Emanuele II as king. Crowned in 1869, Amedeo had difficulties initially: new language, new people, new traditions, which led him to comment "the Spaniards are ungovernable" but with the help of Juan Prim, prime minister, his ally who recently escaped an attack, the young king learned to move in the Spanish political environment, pursuing a policy of close relations with Italy.
On 6 June 1871 Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, died in Milan during the exercise of his functions as Prime Minister. Faithful to the last, he had held the confederation for more than 20 years and his efforts had allowed Italy to rise from a jumble of divided states to the level of a Great European Power. Known and adored by the population, respected and feared by political opponents, Cavour's funeral with the procession to Turin, his hometown, was followed by hundreds of thousands of people who came to give their last farewell to the Architect of Unity. With Cavour's death, Bettino Ricasoli became Prime Minister and an era ended for Italy.
