Eden Agreement
It effectively ended, for a brief time, the economic war between France and Great Britain and set up a system to reduce tariffs on goods from either country.
Both Britain and France would enact a mercantilist commercial policy that aimed at negating foreign imports (at least through legitimate channels) "so as to give native manufacturers and farmers a virtual monopoly of the home market.
"[2] Already known as traditional rivals, these stringent mercantilist policies (specifically the high tariffs, and the race to colonize North America and South Asia) created tense diplomatic relationships between England and France.
Additionally, in the years leading up to 1786, vocal economic leaders like Adam Smith and the Physiocrats promoted a more liberal trade policy in 18th century Britain.
Although the influence of the people probably had little to no effect on policy-makers, the British government, similarly to its French counterpart, was highly concerned with the lack of national revenue being produced.
Both countries urgently sought a remedy; and, out of their urgency, the Eden Agreement of 1786 was agreed upon, effectively softening the stringent mercantile policies of France and Britain.
With a national debt of £250 million, an extreme black market (only 42% of the tea and 14% of the brandy imported paid the government-issued 119% duties imposed),[4] and the loss of the Thirteen Colonies, William Pitt and the British government were eager to find common ground with their historic rivals in order to secure these "greater opportunities.
Hopeful that the commercial agreement would be the first step towards the process of reconciliation, the French lowered their tariffs in 1784 to levels that were laid out in Articles 8 and 9 of the Utrecht Treaty.
Hardware manufacturers, conversely, feared the treaty would put their expert craftsmanship in jeopardy of being replaced by cheaper, machine-made French goods.
Joint leader of the Fox-North Coalition that governed the House of Commons, Charles James Fox attacked the treaty during the ratification proceedings.
Fox passionately opposed the treaty insinuating that, as long as France was the most powerful country in Europe, Britain must challenge the French in order to maintain balance.
Pitt denounced the belief that Britain and France were bound to "eternal enmity" and argued that the treaty would alleviate the tensions that had precipitated between the two countries throughout history.
[9] In 1787, shortly after the treaty was enforced, there were reports of incendiary, violent actions taken in Abbeville, Normandy, and Bordeaux by cotton and wool manufacturers.
The memorandum argued that Britain’s availability of capital and credit, large supplies of cheap coal, high quality native wools, large-scale methods of production, and abundance of efficient, power-driven machinery, were all provided by the treaty.
Although the treaty was short-lived, it still has significance in economic history as it marks the end of an important phase of commercial relations between England and France, and, moreover, Europe.
Though it failed, the Eden Treaty, along with Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and the liberal publications emanating from the American Revolution and its subsequent Constitutional Convention, gave credence to a new economic policy that would eventually replace mercantilism.
