George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 7, 4th edition.

[90] rectitude, and clearness. He had not the rapid intui-

Chap. VII.} 1774. July.

tions of genius, but his character was firm, his mode of thinking liberal, and he loved to surround himself with able men. His conversation was reserved; his manner grave and coldly polite. As he served a weak king, he was always on his guard, and to give a categorical answer was his aversion. Like nearly every Frenchman, he was thoroughly a monarchist; and he also loved Louis the Sixteenth, whose good opinion he gained at once and ever retained. Eleven years before, he had predicted that the conquest of Canada would hasten the independence of British America, and he was now from vantage ground to watch his prophecy come true.

The philosophers of the day, like the king, wished the happiness of the people, and public opinion required that they should be represented in the cabinet. Maurepas complied, and in July, 1774, the place of minister of the marine was conferred on Turgot, whose name was as yet little known at Paris, and whose artlessness made him even less dangerous as a rival than Vergennes. ‘I am told he never goes to mass,’ said the king, doubtingly, and yet consented to the appointment. In five weeks, Turgot so won upon his sovereign's good will, that he was transferred to the ministry of finance. This was the wish of all the philosophers; of D'Alembert, Condorcet, Bailly, La Harpe, Marmontel, Thomas, Condillac, Morellet, and Voltaire. Nor of them alone. ‘Turgot,’ said Malesherbes, ‘has the heart of L'Hopital, and the head of Bacon.’ His purity, moreover, gave him clearsightedness and distinctness of purpose. At a moment when everybody confessed that reform