An Eighteenth-century Approach The Anglo-French Commercial Treaty of 1786

The Anglo-French commercial treaty of 1786 was one of the most important trade agreements of the eighteenth century. It marked a break in a commercial system which had long been accepted as the only method of regulating international trade. It marked also a serious attempt to end the traditional rivalry between France and Britain. English historians have neglected this significant aspect of Anglo-French relations, but fortunately French scholars have given it the attention which it deserves. The short life of the treaty and the disappointment of the hopes of its sponsors may account for its neglect by English historians, but this does not minimize its importance for an understanding of the Europe of the last years of the ancien régime.