Extracts from ‘Letters to the Contrôleur-Général (Abbé Terray) on the Grain Trade’ (1770)

Abstract

The first letter is more or less a preamble to what is to follow. Turgot’s argument in it can be summarised as follows: I have promised to write you on the advantages of the free trade in grain, and propose to deal with this subject in a considerable amount of detail. You have not given me enough time to reply to your request for advice on this subject, since it deserves to be treated at book length and time is too pressing. However, you owe it to the public, to the King, and to yourself as minister, to treat this matter carefully, since it has repercussions on the whole country and not just on agriculture. The problem is also controversial; on the one hand, the economists have supported freedom of the grain trade;² while on the other, many reputable writers have opposed this policy.]³

Turgot’s letters to Abbé Terray, who was then Contrôleur-Général, on the subject of the grain trade, which were written at the end of 1770, have been considered to be one of his more important pieces of economic work. Of the seven letters originally written, only four have survived, since Turgot was unable to have copies made of the second, third and fourth letters. They were all written while Turgot was on a tour of inspection of his district, and therefore show signs of haste. Turgot himself was quite pleased with them, as he wrote to Du Pont de Nemours, but he feared that Terray would not read them. (Turgot to Du Pont, 14/12/1770, in Schelle, Oeuvres, III, p. 394.) Terray, however, after having received them is supposed to have said that among all the Intendants, only Turgot had “genuine understanding, enlightenment and merit”. (See Du Pont to the Margrave of Baden, 1/1/1783, in Knies (ed.), Carl Friedrichs von Baden brieflicher Verkehr mit Mirabeau und Du Pont II, p. 345.)