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He deplored the impending war, which 

 ought to have been avoided by England's 

 acknowledging in time "the folly of its 

 absurd project to subjugate the Amer- 

 icans. . . . It is a strange thing that 

 it be not yet a commonplace truth to say 

 that no nation can ever have the right to 

 govern another nation ; that such a gov- 

 ernment has no other foundation than 

 force, which is also the foundation of 

 brigandage and tyranny; that a people's 

 tyranny is, of all tyrannies, the most 

 cruel, the most intolerable, and the one 

 which leaves the least resources to the 

 oppressed ; . . . for a multitude does 

 not calculate, does not feel remorse, and 

 it bestows on itself glory when all that it 

 deserves is shame." 



The Americans, according to Turgot, 

 must be free, not only for their own sake, 

 but for the sake of humanity; an experi- 

 ment of the utmost import is about to be- 

 gin, and should succeed. He added this, 

 the worthy forecast of a generous mind : 



"It is impossible not to form wishes 

 for that people to reach the utmost pros- 

 perity it is capable of. That people is the 

 hope of mankind. It must show to the 

 world by its example that men can be 

 free and tranquil, and can do without the 

 chains that tyrants and cheats of all garb 

 have tried to lay on them under pretense 

 of public good. It must give the exam- 

 ple of political liberty, religious liberty, 

 commercial and industrial liberty. 



"The shelter which it is going to offer 

 to the oppressed of all nations will con- 

 sole the earth. The ease with which men 

 will be able to avail themselves of it and 

 escape the effects of a bad government 

 will oblige governments to open their 

 eyes and to be just. The rest of the 

 world will perceive by degrees the empti- 

 ness of the illusions on which politicians 

 have festered." 



Toward England Turgot has a feeling 

 of regret on account of its policies, but 

 no trace of animosity ; and, on the con- 

 trary, the belief that, in spite of what 

 some people of note were alleging, the 

 absolutely certain loss of her American 

 colonies would not result in a diminution 

 of her power. "This revolution will 

 prove, maybe, as profitable to you as to 

 America." 



the; honorable rules of war 

 rigorously observed 



Not less characteristic of the times and 

 of the same thinker's turn of mind is a 

 brief memorial written by him for the 

 King shortly after, when Captain Cook 

 was making his third voyage of discov- 

 ery, the one from which he never re- 

 turned. "Captain Cook," Turgot said, 

 "is probably on his way back to Europe. 

 His expedition having no other object 

 than the progress of human knowledge, 

 and interesting, therefore, to all nations, 

 it would be worthy of the King's mag- 

 nanimity not to allow that the result be 

 jeopardized by the chances of war." 



Orders should be given to all French 

 naval officers "to abstain from any hos- 

 tile act against him or his ship, and allow 

 him to freely continue his navigation, 

 and to treat him in every respect as the 

 custom is to treat the officers and ships 

 of neutral and friendly countries." 



The King assented and had our cruis- 

 ers notified of the sort of sacred charac- 

 ter which they would have to recognize 

 in that ship of the enemy — a small fact 

 in itself, but showing the difference be- 

 tween the wars in those days and in ours, 

 when we have had to witness the wanton 

 destruction of the Louvain library, the 

 shelling of the Rheims cathedral, and the 

 Arras town hall. 



A FIGHT NOT FOR RECOMPENSE, BUT FOR 

 LIBERTY 



An immense aspiration was growing 

 in France for more equality, fewer privi- 

 leges, simpler lives among the great, less 

 hard ones among the lowly, more acces- 

 sible knowledge, the free discussion by 

 all of the common interests of all. A fact 

 of deepest import struck the least atten- 

 tive : French masses were becoming more 

 and more thinking masses. One should 

 not forget that between the end of the 

 American Revolution and the beginning 

 of the French one only six years elapsed ; 

 between the American and the French 

 Constitutions but four years. 



It was not, therefore, a statement of 

 small import that Franklin had conveyed 

 to Congress when he wrote from France : 

 "The united bent of the nation is mani- 



