New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-09-08
TURGOT.
A GREAT FRENCH REFoRdER BAFFLED BY
BOURBON REACTION.

Mr. John Morley, in his :" Life of Rousseau
sncalss OF Turgot as perhaps the one sane French
man OF the first emlnence in the eighteenth
century, When one recalls the names OF the
eminent Frenchmen of that period Mr.. Morley
characterization is apt TO appear exaggerated;
hut upon reflection, it will appear that 1t is
eapable of justification. For. whereas other dis
,jnguished men in that age and country exhibited
for the most part foiblcs almost as conspicuous
as their genius. and whereas in nearly. all their
public performances, their philosophy and propa-
candism there an element of impracticabllty
and fightiness which was carried over into the
Revolution, Turgot stands alone as the one man
who dealt soberly with solid facts whose reform
measures were efforts to remove actual and onerous
abuses. whose philosophy was based upon actual
knowledge and experience and who pursued
wholly benefcent ends without suspicion Of
self-seelSing In the monograph before us NJ. Leon
Say naturally devotes much Sttention TO TurGotS
economic writings, the inAueRce of which upon
French political economy has been no less great
than that of Adam Smith upon the English. 1t
WAS. however. as Intendant and Minister that he
introduced those reforms which, though he lived
to see them repealed by the party Of reaction, the
Revolution. was TO renew in few years after his
death and to establish firmly.
The internal condition of France when he was
appointed Intendant Of Limousin was horrible.
Practically all taxation was laid upon the agri-
cultural class. who. however. did not own the
land they titled. Seven-eighths Of France at
that time was cultivated on the metairie system.
3 kind Of tenancy on shares Feudalism had
beQueathed a system Of taxation. which seemed
to proceed GA the principle that wealth cOnsti-
tuted cause of exemption from all contribu-
tons to the State. The rich were exempted by
their privileges; the poor were marked out for
oppression by their poverty. In theory it was
the mobiles alone who could claim exemption; in
fact every rich man could purchase nobility, and
thus free himself from taxation. The corvee,'
forced labor. which the rural population had
to perform on the roads. and in the territories Of
the mobiles, capped the climax Of eAtorticn. BY 1t
farmers could be taken from the most necessary
work their own fields. such harvesting the
crops, and made to spend days of their time
laboring for the State or the seigneurs. As a
consequence hundreds were continually being
ruined by the corvee" 800 farmers in one val
ley were thus reduced TO destitution in a single
year. Instead of exchanging platitudes about
the rights Of man and the social contrast Turgot
the practical man. set himself to abolish the
corvee," and when he found himself Comp
troller-General of the kingdom. and supported
for q tme) by his royal master. he carried out
this great reform. together with several Others.
Had Louis the Sixteenth been free from that sin
lister feminine influence which, more than all
else, fastened the inevitable catastrophe, it is
possible that he would have had the courage 20
support Turgot. But Marie AntOinette was a
woman of narrow understanding, weak sympa-
thies, strong prejudices, dominant egoism and
lavish habit From the moment Turgot plainly
told the King that the only remedy for the inan
cial COLLAPSE of the Government lay in reducing
expenditures until they fell below the revenues
the Queen and the shallow, selfish, eXtravagant
court were against him. His decree abolishng
the trade guilds also arrayed all the wealthy
monopolists on the same side. His attack upon the
feudal privileges had made the Parliament his
implacable foe. In Short the enormous combined
influence Of all the conservative and reactionary
forces of society marshalled for his over
throw. Turgot failed, and therefore on the old
principle "vae victis," he has been condemned
by many critics. 1t has been said that he wanted
tact and judgment, the implication being that
IL he had been better equipped in those respects
he might have succeeded. The idea, however, is
preposterous. Nothing can be palmer than the
utter hopelessness OF radical reform such as he
proposed in the face of the opposition which reared
itself against him. For it was the gross and ire
mediable selfshness OF the French nobility and the
unavoidable. To the very last-even up to the
days of the Kings fight to Varenne-the Queens
faction believed it still possible TO restore the
ancicn regime; nay the Terror itself did not
clear away from the arstOcratc brain the delusiOn
that anterevolutionary conditions were recover.
able, as late as the period Of tie Restoration
1t was this Bourbon faulty that destroyed the
liberal measures of Turgot, and. after his down.
fall famed out into a rcaCtionaTy extravaganza
which actually went beyond the old feudal en-
cesScs NJ. Taine in his Ancien Regime" has
drawn terribly realistic picture of the French
society Of those days prior to the shooting Of
Niagara. Thy Court the nobility, the salon. rep
resented an intellectual activity divorced wholly
from moral convictions and of Of its strangcst
features is the dissemination of a general dis
belief in the feudal privileges and general &C
ceptance Of Rousscaus and IIclvetiuss senti-
mental theories of human equality and fraternity
without trace Of real concern for the state OF
the people or perception OF any vital obligation
TO relieve their crying wants. This indicated a
corruption of the heart and moral sense which
no appeals 10 the reason could cure. Louis the
Fifteenth had descended TO the level OF common
thieves by entering into silent partnership with
Iogues who combined for the purpose Of plumber
ing the nation through wheat corners Louis the
Sixteenth never committed so specific q crime as
that and be has been credited with what Is called
good heart" Bue he moclly yielded TO what
be well knew to be the worst of bad advice; he
rermtted silly and mischievous woman 10 drive
bis one great Minister from Office; he gave hi.
support later TO the blind reaction which chal
lenged the already awakened spirit of the Revolu
ton. Turgot coald not have prevented the Rcvo
luton probably but he might have converted
IL into q peaceful one; though it must be ad
mitted that the subsection of the nobility would
have created a new danger. namely. that of re
inforced Absolutsm.
Turgot has been blamed by modern French eco
nomical and liberal schools for having in the de
cree which abolished the guild monopolics pro
hibited all associations of labor. But NJ Say per
tinently observes that no opposition was oicre'
20 this at the time and that when Turgot sup