parents should decide upon the profession to which their children should
be educated, even from the cradle; little voice in this most important
question being allowed to those who were most deeply interested in it.
Turgot was the youngest of three sons; of whom the eldest was destined
to the magistracy, the second to the army, the third, the subject of
this memoir, was set apart for the church. The premature determination
of his parents seemed amply justified as his character was gradually
developed. Great simplicity of manner, pensiveness of mind, extreme
diffidence and reserve, a distaste to dissipation of any kind, habits of
intense application, and an ardent love of knowledge, were his prominent
qualities, and well suited to the ecclesiastical life. Nevertheless he
had hardly reached the age of reflection, and become capable of
appreciating the objects of ambition, which, from the political
consideration in which his family was held, he might reasonably aspire
to, before he resolved to sacrifice all to an unfettered conscience; and
to follow that path in which he thought he could be most useful to his
fellow-citizens and mankind. Deeply impressed however with a sense of
what was due to the feelings of his parents, he waited till a favourable
opportunity should occur to disclose his secret determination; and was
in the mean time, at the age of twenty-one, admitted to the
establishment of the Sorbonne, as a student of theology. Here he
remained two years; prosecuting his studies with vigour, but without
confining them to a profession which he had resolved not to follow.
Nothing seemed too vast to discourage him, or too trifling to escape his
notice. Mathematics and natural philosophy, metaphysics, logic, morals,
legislation and law; history, belles lettres, poetry, Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, together with most of the modern languages, entered into the
comprehensive catalogue of his pursuits. So great an activity of mind,
joined to a memory so retentive that he could repeat two hundred lines
of verse after hearing them read twice, and sometimes only once, stored
his mind with an extent and variety of knowledge unusual at his, or
indeed at any age. After taking his degree, and being elected Prior of
the establishment, he could no longer conceal his intention of
relinquishing the profession of the church. His friends and associates,
amongst others the Abbés Bon, Morellet, and de Brienne, remonstrated
with him in vain on his determination. “Follow the advice,” he replied,
“which you offer, since you are able to do so: for my own part, it is
impossible for me to wear a mask all my life.”
He had determined to pursue his fortune in the civil service of the
state; and his father’s death obviated the difficulties which might have
embarrassed him in carrying his resolution into effect. He obtained the
office of Procureur du Roi as a first step in his new career, and soon
after that of Master of Requests. In this situation he had to make
several reports, and to deliver them _vivâ voce_ before the King. Aware
of his extreme diffidence, he resolved to counteract it by writing out
and revising his speech with great attention. He did so; nothing was
omitted, and yet the subject was summed up with such severe conciseness
as greatly to fatigue the patience of his hearers. Some of them,
complimenting him on his performance, at the same time criticised its
length. “The next time,” they added, “try to abridge what you have to
say.” Turgot, who knew that it was impossible to have abridged more,
learnt by this remark that he had abridged too much; and on the next
occasion, profiting by his singularly acquired knowledge, he developed
his facts at length, repeated his arguments, and recapitulated all that
he had urged; and in doing so, fixed without fatiguing the attention of
his audience. When he had finished, the same friends, as he expected,
congratulated him warmly on having corrected his former defect, saying,
“This time you have told us a great deal and you have been very brief.”
In 1761 he was made Intendant of Limoges; and on his appointment
Voltaire wrote to him, saying, “I have lately learnt from one of your
colleagues that an Intendant can do nothing but mischief: you, I trust,
will prove that he can do much good.” These anticipations were fully
realized. The inhabitants of his province, over-burthened at all times
by the oppressive imposts of the Taille, the Corvée, and the Militia
service, were then suffering under the added pressure of three
successive years of scarcity. The _Taille_ was in the nature of a
land-tax: which fell upon the landlords in those parts of the country
which were cultivated by farmers; but principally upon the labourers
themselves, wherever the _Métayer_ system was in force, as in Limousin.
A more equal distribution of this tax, and an improved method of
collection, relieved the peasant from the great injustice of the burden.
The _Corvée_ was an obligation to furnish labour in kind, twice every
year, for the construction and repair of public roads; for which the
peasantry received no remuneration. Turgot proposed that this task
should for the future be executed by hired labourers, whose wages were
to be paid by a rate levied upon the districts adjacent to the road. The
evils of the Militia service were obviated in a similar way; and the
people who had received their new Intendant with suspicion, as only a
new specimen of their former oppressors, now looked upon him as a
benefactor and a friend. Nevertheless his popularity could not overcome
all prejudices; and when he endeavoured to mitigate the evils occasioned
by the late scarcity, by introducing a free traffic in grain, both the
magistrates and the peasantry did all in their power to counteract his
wise and benevolent exertions. In spite of his new regulations,
supported by a clear explanation of the grounds upon which they rested,
the land-owners and corn-merchants could not transport their grain to
those places where the price was highest, the want therefore most
urgent, and the supply most beneficial, without exposing their persons
to insults, and their property to the pillage of the people, as well as
to the local taxes imposed by the magistrates. Turgot lost no time in
addressing a circular to the proper officers, in which he urged them, by
the pleas both of reason and authority, to put in force the laws, and
check the popular irritation. He showed that the difference of weather
often produces an abundant harvest in some districts, and a deficient
one in others; and that the only effectual way of relieving the
necessary distress in the latter, is to permit the free transport of the
surplus produce of the former: that if one town were to arrogate the
right of prohibiting the transit or export of grain, other towns would
justly pretend to the same privilege; and that what might be felt as a
benefit to the inhabitants of one spot in a year of external scarcity,
would be deprecated by the same persons as a curse in a year of internal
famine. The clearness and conciliatory tone with which the principle of
the freedom of trade was laid down, produced the desired effect; and the
writer had the satisfaction of seeing the wants of the people supplied,
without recurring to the demoralizing expedient of indiscriminate
charity.
Soon after the success of this experiment, the Minister of Finance
consulted the Intendants of the kingdom upon the laws relating to the
commerce of grain. Turgot wrote seven letters in answer, in which he
developed at length his views on the subject of free trade; and not long
after he composed an essay on the Formation of Wealth, which, as his
celebrated biographer Condorcet observes, may be considered as the germ
of Smith’s Wealth of Nations.
These unremitting exertions, joined to views so just and at that time so
original, attracted the attention of the public; and on the death of
Louis XV. Turgot was called to the first offices of the state, as the
only man who seemed likely to restore the failing credit of the nation,
do justice to the people, and prevent those political troubles which did
in fact ensue, and ended in confiscation and bloodshed. He undertook the
difficult task with cheerfulness, but not without some misgivings. The
aristocracy and the court could not long remain favourable to a minister
who would not cater to their luxuries; the clergy naturally viewed with
suspicion one who was devoted to the most rigid economy; public opinion
was not sufficiently advanced to appreciate the measures of a statesman
whose genius far surpassed the knowledge of his day; and even if it had
been more enlightened, it had not the means of expressing itself
powerfully and almost simultaneously as in England. Turgot therefore had
no support to rely on but that of the King; but while the monarch
remained firm, there was still a hope that the statesman might
accomplish his objects. After filling the post of Minister of Marine for
one month, he was raised to the office of Minister of Finance, August
24, 1774. Nothing could be more encouraging to him than his first
audience of the King; it was more like the confidential intercourse of
two friends considering in truth and sincerity the best means of
promoting the happiness of their common country, than a cold and formal
state conference. Turgot, with the permission of his sovereign,
recapitulated what had occurred at this meeting, in a letter which is
above all praise. In it he enforced the absolute necessity of the most
rigid economy, in order to prevent a national bankruptcy, any increase
of taxes, or any new loans. “No bankruptcy, either avowed, or disguised
under compulsory reductions. No increase of taxes. The reason your
Majesty will find in the situation of your people, and still more in
your own heart. No new loans; for every loan, by diminishing the free
revenue, necessarily leads at last to a bankruptcy or an increase of
taxes.” The means by which he proposed to bring about these ends were
the most rigid retrenchments. “But,” he adds, “it is asked, in what is
the retrenchment to be made? and every department will maintain that as
far as relates to itself there is scarcely a single expense which is not
indispensable. The reasons alleged may be very good; but as there can be
none for performing impossibilities, all these reasons must give way to
the irresistible necessity of economy. Your Majesty knows that one of
the greatest obstacles to economy is the multitude of solicitations to
which you are perpetually exposed. Your benevolence, Sir, must be the
shield against your bounty. Consider whence the money distributed
amongst your courtiers is drawn; and contrast the misery of those from
whom it is sometimes necessary to wrest it by the most rigorous
measures, with the situation of those who have the best title to your
liberality.” Such a course was sure to raise up enemies on every side.
He anticipates the calumnies which will be heaped upon him; he points
them out to the King, and then reminds him, “It is upon the faith of
your Majesty’s promises that I take upon myself a burthen which is
perhaps heavier than I can bear; it is to yourself personally, to the
honest, the just, and the good man, rather than to the King, that I
devote myself.”
From this letter it might be supposed by those who are not acquainted
with all Turgot’s principles, that his first step would be to stop the
payment to every useless pensioner upon the state, and abrogate every
local tax which had been unjustly levied by individuals in times of
anarchy and oppression. But he respected the right of property; and the
more so, because he understood its full extent. Every unjust impost was
indeed taken off, and every monopoly destroyed; but not without first
giving to the possessors an indemnification equal to their loss: and two
years’ arrears of pensions, which had been stopped for three years
previous to his entering upon office, were punctually discharged without
loss of time where the amount was small, and the creditor therefore in
all probability not in affluent circumstances; whilst the payment of the
remaining ones was accelerated as much as possible. It was not therefore
by injustice that he endeavoured to relieve the people, but by enabling
them more easily to bear their burdens. The faithful discharge of all
claims upon the state, restored the credit of the country; the
destruction of monopolies, and of restrictions upon commerce and
manufactures, increased the wealth of the people, and thus rendered
comparatively light an amount of taxation which was before most
burdensome. Thus, his first regulations established a free trade in corn
throughout the kingdom, and took away the exclusive privileges of
bakers, the obligation to grind corn at particular mills, and several
market dues upon corn when sold. A similar edict permitted the free
circulation of wine; and brandy, cider, and perry were meant to have
been subsequently included in this law. The manufacturers of France were
also freed from the absurd and vexatious regulations which prescribed
the size of different stuffs, and the method of making and dying them,
under severe penalties and even corporal punishments; and ingenuity was
allowed to exert itself according to the taste and demand of the public.
Glass, powder, saltpetre, nitre, oil of poppies, and many other
articles, were either freed on the one hand from the exclusive
privileges in their manufacture, which enhanced their price and
interfered with their quality; or on the other, from restrictions upon
their free transport through the kingdom, which prevented the
manufacturer from obtaining the best price for his goods.
These changes were brought about in little more than a year and a half,
during which his labours were interrupted by attacks of illness, and by
two events which could not be averted or foreseen. The first of these
was a contagious disorder which broke out among the cattle of Guienne,
and spread far and wide, until the salutary measures taken by Turgot
arrested the evil: the other was more serious, and required all the
decision and courage of the minister for its suppression. The season had
been unfavourable; and in times of scarcity the people had been
accustomed to vent their fury against the corn-merchants, whom the
government often weakly abandoned. A repetition of these scenes was
approaching. A few riots in the provincial towns were soon quelled, but
a heavier storm impended over the capital. A band of lawless insurgents,
after plundering the corn-markets upon the Seine and Oise, entered
Paris, rifled many bakers’ shops, and endeavoured to excite the people
to outrage and violence. The powers of government seemed paralysed. The
superintendents of the police were frightened and inactive; and the
parliament published a proclamation, promising that the King should be
petitioned for a reduction in the price of bread. Turgot lost no time in
sending troops to the disturbed district, who soon dispersed the
pillagers; the superintendents of the police were immediately dismissed
from office; and government proclamations were posted over those of the
parliament during the very night in which the latter were issued,
prohibiting the assembling of the people on pain of death. These
energetic and salutary measures soon restored tranquillity and
confidence; the property of the merchants was respected; and the price
of provisions found the lowest level which the nature of the case would
admit of. A month after, the King in passing through a district in which
these riots had prevailed, was cheered by subjects who blessed his
government. “It is Turgot and I alone who love the people,” was the
expression which fell from his lips; and the sentence was repeated and
confirmed by a nation’s voice. In spite, however, of Turgot’s
indefatigable and honest exertions in the cause of his country, his
dismission from office was soon demanded. The privileged orders insisted
upon remaining exempt from the payment of the taxes; the court parasites
upheld the necessity of sinecures and pensions; all who lived upon the
resources of the country without serving it, united in denouncing a
minister who was the friend of the people and of justice; nor had the
clergy any sympathy with one who laid down the most comprehensive
principles of toleration. The King had the culpable weakness of yielding
to this dishonest clamour. He sacrificed his minister, and not many
years after died himself upon the scaffold; that scaffold which was
destined to reek with the blood of his family, his friends, and his
subjects.
Turgot had been in office only twenty months, but during that time he
had prepared the way for a new era of extensive happiness and prosperity
for his fellow-countrymen. A friend reproached him one day with being
too precipitate. “How can you say so,” he replied, “you who know so well
the pressing wants of the people, and are aware that none of my family
survive the gout beyond the age of fifty.” His prediction was but too
nearly fulfilled; he died of this hereditary disease a few years
afterwards, March 20, 1781, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.
During the interval between his retiring from office, and his death,
Turgot devoted himself to literary and scientific pursuits. His works
are contained in nine volumes octavo, 1808–11; they are composed
principally of state papers connected with his administration, of some
articles written for the Encyclopédie, and a few translations from
classical and modern literature.
Turgot was a great and a good man; endowed with depth and originality of
thought, he discovered and acted upon sound principles of political
economy, before the science had been even dignified with a name; and
whilst his predecessors in office were ever seeking for temporary
expedients to increase the revenue of the state by the oppression of the
people, he first endeavoured to unite the interests of both. Mild and
conciliating in his manners, just and benevolent in all his view’s, he
was the firm and uncompromising opponent of every species of injustice.
He was ambitious, but his ambition was of the highest order. He despised
the tinsel grandeur of office, the smiles of courtiers, or even the
applause of the multitude; but he courted the means of doing good to
mankind, and his reward has been the esteem of discerning friends and
the applause of a later and a more enlightened age.
A disquisition on the life and opinions of Turgot, by Dupont de Nemours,
is prefixed to the edition of his works which we have already mentioned.
His life, written by Condorcet, is one of the best specimens of
biography in any language. Lacretelle’s ‘Histoire du dix-huitième
Siècle’ contains a short sketch of his ministry, well deserving
attention: and several interesting details of his character are to be
found in the Memoirs of the Abbé Morellet.
[Illustration:
_Engraved by W. Holl._
PETER THE GREAT.
_From a Print by Smith after a Picture by Kneller._
Under the Superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.
_London, Published by Charles Knight, Pall Mall East._
]
[Illustration]
PETER THE GREAT.
At the close of the sixteenth century, the dominions of Russia, or
Muscovy, as it was then more generally called, were far thrown back from
the more civilized nations of southern Europe, by the intervention of
Lithuania, Livonia, and other provinces now incorporated in the Russian
empire, but then belonging either to Sweden or Poland. The Czar of
Muscovy therefore possessed no political weight in the affairs of
Europe; and little intercourse existed between the Court of Moscow and
the more polished potentates whom it affected to despise as barbarians,
even for some time after the accession of the reigning dynasty, the
house of Romanof, in 1613, and the establishment of a more regular
government than had previously been known. We only read occasionally of
embassies being sent to Moscow, in general for the purpose of arranging
commercial relations. From this state of insignificance, Peter, the
first Emperor of Russia, raised his country, by introducing into it the
arts of peace, by establishing a well organized and disciplined army in
the place of a lawless body of tumultuous mutineers, by creating a navy,
where scarce a merchant vessel existed before, and, as the natural
result of these changes, by important conquests on both the Asiatic and
European frontiers of his hereditary dominions. For these services his
countrymen bestowed on him, yet living, the title of Great: and it is
well deserved, whether we look to the magnitude of those services, the
difficulty of carrying into effect his benevolent designs, which
included nothing less than the remodelling a whole people, or the grasp
of mind, and the iron energy of will, which was necessary to conceive
such projects, and to overcome the difficulties which beset them. It
will not vitiate his claim to the epithet, that his manners were coarse
and boisterous, his amusements often ludicrous and revolting to a
polished taste: if that claim be questionable, it is because he who
aspired to be the reformer of others, was unable to control the violence
of his own passions.
The Czar Alexis, Peter’s father, was actuated by somewhat of the spirit
which so distinguished the son. He endeavoured to introduce the European
discipline into his armies; he had it much at heart to turn the
attention of the Russians to maritime pursuits; and he added the fine
provinces of Plescow and Smolensko to his paternal dominions. At the
death of Alexis, in 1677, Peter was but five years old. His eldest
brother Theodore succeeded to the throne. Theodore died after a reign of
five years, and named Peter his successor. We pass in silence over the
intrigues and insurrections which troubled the young Czar’s minority. It
was not until the close of the year 1689, in the eighteenth year of his
age, that he finally shook off the trammels of an ambitious sister, and
assumed in reality, as well as in name, the direction of the state. How
he had been qualified for this task by education does not clearly
appear; but even setting aside the stories which attribute to his sister
the detestable design of leading him into all sorts of excess, and
especially drunkenness, with the hope of ruining both his constitution
and intellect, it is probable that no pains whatever had been taken to
form his intellect or manners for the station which he was to occupy.
One of the few anecdotes told of his early life is, that being struck by
the appearance of a boat on the river Yausa, which runs through Moscow,
which he noticed to be of different construction from the flat-bottomed
vessels commonly in use, he was led to inquire into the method of
navigating it. It had been built for the Czar Alexis by a Dutchman, who
was still in Moscow. He was immediately sent for; he rigged and repaired
the boat; and under his guidance the young prince learnt how to sail
her, and soon grew passionately fond of his new amusement. He had five
small vessels built at Plescow, on the lake Peipus; and not satisfied
with this fresh-water navigation, hired a ship at Archangel, in which he
made a voyage to the coast of Lapland. In these expeditions his love of
sailing was nourished into a passion which lasted through life. He
prided himself upon his practical skill as a seaman; and both at this
time and afterwards exposed himself and his friends to no small hazard
by his rashness in following this favourite pursuit.