The comptroller-general was triumphant; but his victory was but the prelude to his fall.  Too many enemies were leagued against him, irritated both by the noblest qualities of his character, and at the same time by the natural defects of his manners.  Possessed of love “for a beautiful ideal, of a rage for perfection,” M. Turgot had wanted to attempt everything, undertake everything, reform everything at one blow.  He fought single-handed.  M. de Malesherbes, firm as a rock at the head of the Court of Aids, supported as he was by the traditions and corporate feeling of the magistracy, had shown weakness as a minister.  “I could offer the king only uprightness and good-heartedness,” he said himself, “two qualities insufficient to make a minister, even a mediocre one.”  The courtiers, in fact, called him “good-heart” (bonhomme).  “M. de Malesherbes has doubts about everything,” wrote Madame du Deffand; “M.  Turgot has doubts about nothing.”  M. de Maurepas having, of set purpose, got up rather a serious quarrel with him, Malesherbes sent in his resignation to the king; the latter pressed him to withdraw it:  the minister remained inflexible.  “You are better off than I,” said Louis XVI. at last, “you can abdicate.”

For a long while the king had remained faithful to M. Turgot.  “People may say what they like,” he would repeat, with sincere conviction, “but he is an honest man!” Infamous means were employed, it is said, with the king; he was shown forged letters, purporting to come from M. Turgot, intercepted at the post and containing opinions calculated to wound his Majesty himself.  To pacify the jealousy of M. de Maurepas, Turgot had given up his privilege of working alone with the king.  Left to the adroit manoeuvres of his old minister, Louis XVI. fell away by degrees from the troublesome reformer against whom were leagued all those who were about him.  The queen had small liking for M. Turgot, whose strict economy had cut down the expenses of her household; contrary to their usual practice, her most trusted servants abetted the animosity of M. de Maurepas.  “I confess that I am not sorry for these departures,” wrote Marie Antoinette to her mother, after the fall of M. Turgot, “but I have had nothing to do with them.”  “Sir,” M. Turgot had written to Louis XVI., “monarchs governed by courtiers have but to choose between the fate of Charles I. and that of Charles XI.”  The coolness went on increasing between the king and his minister.  On the 12th of May, 1776, the comptroller-general entered the king’s closet; he had come to speak to him about a new project for an edict; the exposition of reasons was, as usual, a choice morsel of political philosophy.  “Another commentary!” said the king with temper.  He listened, however.  When the comptroller-general had finished, “Is that all?” asked the king.  “Yes, Sir.”  “So much the better,” and he showed the minister out.  A few hours later, M. Turgot received his dismissal.