Translator's Preface

TRANSLAT()R'S PREFACE. M. Lt::ON SAY'S work may ~\Imosl be considered as an O1I'vrage dt ct'rtmukl/tcc, to u~e the French expression. Ne"'er perhaps has the controversy raged more vehemently than at the present time, betwetm free trade, fair trad(.~, and protection; never has it b(~en more necessary to study the earnest attc.~mpts madle to break down the ff~strkti",f.~ laws which, under the influence of medhf.~val traditions, hampered the devf..~lopmt.mt of commerce and industry in all their branches. Turgol was a m.an of the school ofMontcsquieu. "His wise and benevolent admini$tration/~ says Sir Jmnes Mackintosh, "though long enough for his glory, was too short, a.nd, per~ haps,too {!ar~y, for thOSf~ salutaryand grand ref()rms which hi~, genius had conceived, and his virtu(~ would have em.:ctf..~d .." At any rate, he has left behind him a reputation both as a politician and as a \vriter which time helps only to (:00 firm, and the person best qualified to give us the history of his eventful life was certainly the author of the present volume, who, a distinguished political economist, has inw herited from two generations of great men the doctrines he maintains w'ith so much ability and perseverance.