Eden Agreement

The Eden Treaty was a treaty signed between Great Britain and France in 1786, named after the British negotiator William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland (1744–1814). It effectively ended, for a brief time, the economic war between France and the British and set up a system to reduce tariffs on goods from either country. It was spurred on in Britain by the secession of the thirteen American colonies, and the publication of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger was heavily influenced by the ideas of Smith, and was one of the key motivators of the treaty. Obstinancy in negotiations on the part of the British made the commercial agreement almost wholly beneficial to the British, and the unequal protection on certain industries ended up hurting the French economy. This treaty is often considered to be one of the grievances of the French people that sparked the French Revolution. The treaty collapsed in 1793, following claims in the National Convention that the Aliens Act 1793 breached the terms of the treaty and the outbreak of war in early February between Great Britain and France ended any chance of a compromise.

The series of events leading up to the Eden Agreement of 1786 began in the 16th century when Mercantilism, which it would only become known as in the 18th century when Adam Smith coined the term, became the leading economic policy in Western Europe. Above all other nations, the two leading Mercantilist countries were Britain and France, who followed the guidance of Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Colbert enforced the policy in 17th century France based on his understanding that "natural resources are limited, and the power of the nation depends on what portion of the world’s resources it acquires." As a result, Mercantilist policies went hand-in-hand with Colonialism; colonies provided the mother country with access to resources and raw materials, and, in return, would act as a market for industrial products made in the mother 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." Already known as traditional rivals, these stringent mercantilist policies (specifically the high tariffs, and the race to colonize Africa and East Asia) created tense diplomatic relationships between England and France.

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