Upright and well-informed, he called to him sterling honesty and clear intelligence in the person of Turgot.

But with the philosophic sentiment of the necessity of reforms, the prince had not the feeling of a reformer; he had neither the genius nor the boldness; nor had his ministers more than himself.

They raised all questions without settling any, accumulated storms, without giving them any impulse, and the tempests were doomed to be eventually directed against themselves.

From M.de Maurepas to M.
Turgot, from M.Turgot to M.de Calonne, from M.de Calonne to M.
Necker, from M.Necker to M.de Malesherbes, he floated from an honest man to an _intriguant_, from a philosopher to a banker, whilst the spirit of system and charlatanism ill supplied the spirit of government.
God, who had given many men of notoriety during this reign, had refused it a statesman; all was promise and deception.

The court clamoured, impatience seized on the nation, and violent convulsions followed.