J. B. Say was twenty-three years of age in 1789.[255] At that time he was Clavières’ secretary. Clavières became Minister of Finance in 1792, but at this period he was manager of an assurance company, and was already a disciple of Smith. Say came across some stray pages of the _Wealth of Nations_, and sent for a copy of the book.[256] The impression it made upon him was profound. “When we read this work,” he writes, “we feel that previous to Smith there was no such thing as political economy.” Fourteen years afterwards, in 1803, appeared _Le Traité d’Économie politique_. The book met with immediate success, and a second edition would have appeared had not the First Consul interdicted it. Say had refused to support the Consul’s financial recommendations, and the writer, in addition to having his book proscribed, found himself banished from the Tribunate. Say waited until 1814 before republishing it. New editions rapidly followed, in 1817, 1819, and 1826. The treatise was translated into several languages. Say’s authority gradually extended itself; his reputation became European; and by these means the ideas of Adam Smith, clarified and logically arranged in the form of general principles from which conclusions could be easily deduced, gradually captivated the more enlightened section of public opinion. It would, however, be unjust to regard Say as a mere populariser of Smith’s ideas. With praiseworthy modesty, he has never attempted to conceal all that he owed to the master. The master’s name is mentioned in almost every line, but he never remains content with a mere repetition of his ideas. These are carefully reconsidered and reviewed with discrimination. He develops some of them and emphasises others. Amid the devious paths pursued by Smith, the French economist chooses that which most directly leads to the desired end. This path is so clearly outlined for his successors that “wayfaring men, though fools, could not err therein.” In a sense he may be said to have filtered the ideas of the master, or to have toned his doctrines with the proper tints. He thus imparted to French political economy its distinctive character as distinguished from English political economy, to which at about the same time Malthus and Ricardo were to give an entirely new orientation. What interests us more than his borrowing is the personal share which he has in the work, an estimate of which we must now attempt. (1) In the first place, Say succeeded in overthrowing the work of the Physiocrats.