Editing Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (section)

===On free trade===

Turgot at once set to work to establish free trade in grain, but his edict, which was signed on 13 September 1774, met with strong opposition even in the ''[[conseil du roi]]''. A striking feature was the preamble, setting forth the doctrines on which the edict was based, which won the praise of the ''philosophes'' and the ridicule of the wits; this Turgot rewrote three times, it is said, in order to make it "so clear that any village judge could explain it to the peasants." The opposition to the edict was strong. Turgot was hated by those who had been interested in the speculations in grain under the regime of the abbé Terray, among whom were included some of the princes of the blood. Moreover, the ''commerce des blés'' had been a favourite topic of the [[Salon (gathering)|salons]] for some years past, and the witty [[Ferdinando Galiani|Galiani]], the opponent of the [[physiocrats]], had a large following. The opposition was now continued by [[Simon-Nicholas Henri Linguet|Linguet]] and by [[Jacques Necker|Necker]], who in 1775 published his ''Essai sur la législation et le commerce des grains''.