... eternal peace". Clearly it is not in the remit of this essay to analyse and discuss these potential effects of free trade, but Cobden's quotes highlights the importance and passion that contemporaries, and historians, have placed on the question of free trade. Initially I shall attempt to compare the level of free trade in Britain and France in the 19th century. I will then begin to assess the effects of tariffs and free trade during this period. Historians have often seen Britain as leading the world in implementation of free trading policies. It is argued that Britain's move to free trade accentuated its' already pronounced economic lead over her continental competitors. France and the other hand is viewed as highly protectionist and adopting free trade polices only in the later stages of the 19th century. Nye, however, has empirically criticized the assumption that Britain had more open economy than France. ...

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