French Representations of the 1786 Franco-British Commercial Treaty

Abstract

The public reception of the Anglo-French commercial treaty of 1786, known also as the Eden treaty, was dominated by longstanding ideas about national character that had grown up during a century of commercial competition between Europe’s two most dominant states, which were often understood to be aspiring hegemons. Engaging with the public reception of the Eden treaty, particularly in France, this chapter analyses how ideas about national character produced caricatures and satirical imagery of the British people and British and France diplomats, and transformed the political contexts of the time of the Eden treaty into new modes of understanding Anglo-French relationships. While commercial treaties were an instrument of political integration, satire and political imagery could be used as an instrument to influence public opinion.