Enlightenment and reform in the French Atlantic empire: Véron de Forbonnais, Pierre-Louis de Saintard, and the 1756 debate over the admission of neutral commerce in the Antillean colonies.

This article examines the 1756 political and intellectual debates within the French Empire regarding the admission of neutral commerce to its Antillean colonies at the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, focusing on the suspension of the Exclusif—a metropolitan monopoly on colonial trade. The decision by Minister for the Navy Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville to allow neutral trade aimed to address wartime shortages caused by British naval dominance but faced strong opposition from metropolitan chambres de commerce, which defended colonial dependence and their commercial privileges. Economist François Véron de Forbonnais and Dominguan planter Pierre-Louis de Saintard supported the reform, though with differing visions: Forbonnais advocated a flexible, pragmatic easing of colonial dependence during wartime, while Saintard called for broader liberalization and political recognition of colonial interests. This transatlantic debate highlights the active role of colonial actors in shaping enlightened reform discourses and reveals early tensions over imperial economic policies that prefigured later reforms in the French Atlantic Empire.