In 1786, the signing of the Anglo-French treaty lowered tariffs on British goods imported into France. British products flooded the French market, dealing a blow to French industry, which was less competitive than Britain's, and causing mass unemployment. This aroused fierce resentment among workers and factory owners. Historians believed the treaty intensified social tensions on the eve of the Revolution.
Napoleon's new tariff policy was the opposite of the 1786 treaty. Tariffs on British goods entering France were set very high. This would probably please merchants in places like Rouen: they could obtain large quantities of cotton without worrying about being stopped by the Royal Navy, and could venture into new waters.
British merchants might not be pleased by this. Georgiana planned to give Sir Merry this explanation: with France's taxes higher, they would have more money for public works and could buy British steel.
Although France was rich in iron ore, it had fewer than forty ironworks. The scale of its industrialization was far behind Britain's.
Before peace between Britain and France, Britain's iron products had mainly been sold to America. Napoleon himself favored undertaking public works on a grand scale. His finances had originally been somewhat strained, but after selling the Louvre Museum's famous paintings and turning the mountains of manure outside the city into fertilizer factories, he had become a little more flush with cash. Even so, he still lacked money.
He had not merely raised tariffs. The new constitution also stipulated that only the top six hundred prominent figures who paid the most taxes could become legislators.
This was what the Estates-General of the old era had most wanted to discuss. Commoners and the bourgeoisie paid so many taxes, while nobles enjoyed every sort of tax exemption. Yet the Estates-General had reached no conclusion at all.