Turgot's edict for free trade in corn signed on Sept. 13, was strongly opposed in the conseil du roi. Turgot was hated by many in high places who had been interested in the speculations in corn, and was opposed by Linguet and by Necker, who in 1775 published his treatise Sur la legislation et le commerce des grains. But Turgot's worst enemy was the poor harvest of which led to a slight rise in the price of bread in the winter and :arly spring of 1774-1775 and to those extraordinary bread-riots known as the "guerre des farines." Turgot showed great firmness and decision in repressing the riots, and was loyally supported by the king throughout.
Turgot's famous "Six Edicts," were finally presented to the conseil du roi (Jan. 1776). The two which met with violent opposition were, firstly, the edict suppressing the corvies, and secondly, that suppressing the jurandes and maitrises, the privi leged trade corporations. Turgot announced in the preambles to these his intention to subject the noblesse to taxation and to estab lish as a principle the right of every man to work without re striction. He obtained the registration of the edicts by the lit de justice of March 12, but by that time he had won the hatred of the nobles and the parlements, the court, the "fi nanciers," the clergy, the rich bourgeoisie of Paris and others. The queen disliked him for opposing the grant of favours to her proteges, and he had offended Mme. de Polignac in a similar
manner. Malesherbes and Maurepas ceased to support him, and Maurepas became reconciled with the queen and her party. His large reforms amounted to a complete revolution and Louis XVI. recoiled at the prospect. On May 12, 1776, Turgot was asked to resign. He retired to la Roche-Guyon, château of the duchesse d'Enville, returning shortly to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life in scientific and literary studies, being made vice-president of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in 1777. He died on March 18, 1781.
In character Turgot was simple, honourable and upright, with a passion for justice and truth. He was an idealist, his enemies would say a doctrinaire, and certainly the terms "natural rights," "natural law," etc., frequently occur in his writings. His friends speak of his charm and gaiety in intimate intercourse, but among strangers he was silent and awkward, and produced the im pression of being reserved and harsh. Many of the reforms and ideas of the Revolution were due to him; the ideas did not as a rule originate with him, but it was he who first gave them prominence. Oncken looks upon him as a bad physiocrat and a confused thinker, while Leon Say considers that "though he failed in the 18th century he triumphed in the i9th."