ABSTRACT
In a letter written on 10 September 1776, Poivre told the Parisian banker Jean-Marie Galles his feelings on the lately implemented economic policies, and further, recounted his deep regret for the sad situation his dear friends had gone through. 1 As he noticed, news had spread with the word being that “the économistes had been mistreated and exiled.” He felt terrorised at realising that the économistes have been ill-treated because of their desire to behave wisely and reasonably. In his eyes, the économistes were intellectuals attached to the principles of reason and natural justice. And he continued: “all the Chinese savants are économistes and the great science of the Chinese Empire is the same that our économistes had started publishing since recently.” There was a difference between Europe and China, though: the Chinese government had been enforcing this knowledge for more than 400 years. Expelling the économistes from office meant, on the one hand, falling into barbarity, and on the other hand, refusing to obey nature and its universal laws.
