at most unlucky path of French exertion,' says Arthur
Young, 'this distinguished patriot was able to do nothing. This society
does like other societies; they meet, converse, offer premiums, and
publish nonsense. This is not of much consequence, for the people
instead of reading their memoirs are not able to read at all. They can,
however, _see_, and if a farm was established in that good cultivation
which they ought to copy, something would be presented from which they
_might_ learn. I asked particularly if the members of this society had
land in their own hands, and was assured that they had; but the
conversation presently explained it. They had _metayers_ round their
country seats, and this was considered as farming their own lands, so
that they assume something of a merit from the identical circumstance,
which is the curse and ruin of the whole country.'

The record of what Turgot did for manufacturing industry and commerce is
naturally shorter than that of his efforts for the relief of the land
and its cultivators. In the eyes of the modern economist, with his
horror of government encouragement to industry, no matter in what time,
place, or circumstance, some of Turgot's actions will seem of doubtful
wisdom. At Brives, for example, with all the authority of an Intendant,
he urged the citizens to provide buildings for carrying on a certain
manufacture which he and others thought would be profitable to the town;
and, as the money for the buildings did not come in very readily, he
levied a rate both on the town and on the inhabitants of the suburbs.
His argument was that the new works would prove indirectly beneficial to
the whole neighbourhood. He was not long, however, in finding out, as
the authors of such a policy generally find out, how difficult it is to
reconcile the interests of aided manufactures with those of the
taxpayers. It is characteristic, we may remark, of the want of public
spirit in the great nobles, that one of Turgot's first difficulties in
the affair was to defeat an unjust claim made by no less a personage
than the Marshal de Noailles, to a piece of public land on which the
proposed works were to be built. A more important industry in the
history of Limoges sprang from the discovery, during Turgot's tenure of
office, of the china clay which has now made the porcelain of Limoges
only second among the French potteries to that of Sevres itself. The
modern pottery has been developed since the close of