The Story of Brazilian Commerce 251
24 per cent ad valorem had been the import duty on foreign
goods. In 1810 it was reduced to 16 per cent for Portugal
and to 15 per cent only for Great Britain. It was a diplomat-
ic victory for Lord Strangford, the British minister; Sum-
ter, the American minister in Rio, who had hoped that the
new economic liberty granted to Brazil could be the stepping-
stone for closer commercial relations with the United States,
was truly disappointed and explained in a report to the
Department of State in Washington, September 30, 1810,
the reasons for British pre-eminence in South America.
The Treaty of 1810, described in its preamble as a “liberal
system of Commerce, based on reciprocity and mutual
convenience” was “the most unfair and ruinous that has
ever been passed between two independent nations,” said
the Portuguese statesman Palmella. As a matter of fact,
it proved unsatisfactory to both sides, for, after all, Great
Britain was never able to reap the advantages that were
granted; on the other hand, Brazilian products similar to
colonial British products were barred on the British market.
V. IMPERIAL phase: an evolution
Independence did not modify very considerably the
economic status of the country; but the restoration of peace
in Europe had determined other powerful nations of the
Continent to obtain from the newly-recognized Imperial
Government some of the privileges that had been granted to
Great Britain.
One of Britain’s competitors was France, which in 1816
had sent an agent, Luxembourg, to Rio, to negotiate a
commercial treaty. Ten years later, in 1826, the first
agreement was signed with her. French goods were much in
favor, though freights were high, and as tropical Brazilian
products were not admitted in competition with those of