The role of free trade treaties in British foreign policy, 1859-1871.
[Thesis]
Iliasu, Assana.
London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
1965
Ph.D.
London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
1965
British free traders of the mid-nineteenthcentury brought the merchant's ledger to the aid ofdiplomacy when they claimed that the promotion of unrestrictedoonnerc1al intercourse between nations wasinseparable from that of universal peace. The applicationof this assumption in the conduct of Britishforeign policy between 1859 and. 1871 forms the subjectof this study.It is based upon five commercial treaties whichBritain concluded with various European countries and ofwhich the well-known Cobclen treaty was the first. Althoughthese brought about a state of virtual free tradeamong the leading trading countries of western Europe,they were, strictly speaking, contrary to Britain'spolicy of free trade adopted in 1846. Therefore,after a brief account of the free trade movement andof the free traders' blueprint for foreign policy, thecircumstances which led. Britain to modify her post-1846policy and. conclude the Cobden treaty are discussed inthe early part of the study.With the conclusion of that treaty, the foreign Office and the Board of Trade entered a period ofintense commercial activity during which they signedfour more treaties. Their efforts were not entirelysuccessful and the feeling that they were ill-equipped.for their commercial functions led to a parliamentaryinquiry and the subsequent establishment of a commercial].division within the Foreign Office in 1865.The era of free trade occasioned by the treatieswas short-lived; by the 1870a most European countrieshad reverted to protectionism and the circumstances ofthis reaction axe considered in the seventh chapter.The idealism enshrined by the treaties standsin sharp contrast to the Bonapartist and. Bismarokianrealism of the same decade; the grounds of this contrastand. the influence of the treaties on Britishforeign policy are discussed in the conclusion.
Iliasu, Assana.
London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)