TURGOT.

THIS statesman, born with an independent genius, and a love for the public good, distinguished himself by brilliant innovations, and meditated many more which he was unable to realize. Those who opposed his operations. were compelled to do justice to his virtues, and the august character of the patriot threw a lustre on the disgraced minister.

Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot was born at Paris the 10th of May, 1727; he was the youngest son of Michel Etienne, who did himself honour in the situation of Prevot des Marchands, by useful labours and projects, which would have rendered the reign of Louis XV. illustrious, if that monarch had known how to employ, in the construction of lasting monuments, a part of those treasures which he sacrificed to pleasures without dignity. The young Turgot at first embraced the profession of the church, which seemed to suit his taste for study; but although he obtained the title of Prior of the Sorbonne, he changed his vocation and went to the bar. His conduct in parliament did not announce a genius for reform; the heads of the younger sort were in a state of fermentation; and this body, limited by the nature of its institution to judicial functions, undertook to fill the place of the States General, to which Richelieu had given the death blow. Turgot shewed himself docile to every act of power, and seemed to consider every remonstrance, every refusal to register an edict, as a seditious attempt;

he was one of the royal chamber, which was substituted in place of the parliament, of that ephemeral tribunal, which the public opinion anathematized from the moment of its birth.

Appointed Intendant of Limoges, the talents and virtues of the administrator caused the servile compliances of the member of parliament to be forgotten. He found the province in a deplorable state: he abolished the corvées, an oppressive tribute which the poor paid to the enjoyments of the rich. He assisted the poor in a barren year, and sacrificed a part of his income to re-establish plenty. He caused ways of communication to be opened, and introduced the culture of a vegetable, which may answer the purposes of wheat, and which is the most useful gift the new world has bestowed on the old. A little corner of the empire occupied those talents and that activity which all France claimed. Louis XVI. brought with him to the throne a wish to consult opinions, to relieve the people, to bring around him men of integrity and talents: he called Turgot to his councils. The sect of œconomists beheld his elevation with delight; they foretold the triumph of his principles; but the clergy could not conceal their dissatisfaction. The new comptroller general was surrounded only by philosophers, and did not dissemble those opinions and views which were calculated to alarm this first body of the state. To disseminate knowledge he favoured the liberty of the press. He is however accused of having restricted it to works favourable to the principles of the economists. The farmers of the revenue and financiers increased the number of his enemies, and the courtiers, terrified at his projects of reform in the king's household, strove to bring his operations into ridicule. His favourite system was that of unlimited

TURGOT.

FRANCE.] freedom of commerce: that in corn had always been subject to regulations,which policy had deemed necessary, to prevent the subsistance of the people from becoming a prey to avarice. Turgot would not permit it to be shackled. The times were unfavourable to the success of his project; the year had not been fertile, a scarcity began to be felt; seditious movements began to take place, the people were excited against the minister by publications, which had all the appearances of patriotic zeal and humanity.

M. Necker particularly distinguished himself in this struggle; and the eloquence and tone of sensibility with which he gave colour to his principles, acquired him that popularity, which, at a later period, had a great influence on the fate of the empire. This ill success did not discourage him; but it weakened the public confidence, and united the multitude, (who love or hate without enquiring into the motives of their love or aversion,) with able and artful men, who sacrifice the public good to their passions and interests. He abolished the import duties on articles of the first necessity. He had resolved to replace the corvées, by a tax which should bear equally on all classes of the state. He annihilated companies and corporations, those sources of monopoly and scourges of industry. The feodal rights recalled to mind the days of servitude, they upheld the despotism of the great, and the misery of the poor; Turgot thought of rendering them purchaseable, and required that salt should be freed from all taxes. He had public instruction greatly at heart, and thought that the way to restore dignity to the nation was to disseminate knowledge. His project of provincial assemblies was blamed by the partizans of absolute power, as tending to fill the kingdom with federative

republics. Witticisms, which in France have more weight than reasons; the hatred of the parliaments, dark intrigues and violent clamours, forced him to retire in January, 1776. The sensible part of the nation did him justice and regretted him. Greatness had not altered his philosophical moderation: the charms of study continued to embellish his latter days. He had cultivated every kind of human knowledge, and, from the time of Daguesseau, there had not been seen in France a minister so enlightened. Several works from his pen prove the depth of his understanding and the variety of his talents. He died in 1781.

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