To sum up, we may say that the “natural order” was that order which seemed obviously the best, not to any individual whomsoever, but to rational, cultured, liberal-minded men like the Physiocrats. It was not the product of the observation of external facts; it was the revelation of a principle within. And this is one reason why the Physiocrats showed such respect for property and authority. It seemed to them that these formed the very basis of the “natural order.” It was just because the “natural order” was “supernatural,” and so raised above the contingencies of everyday life, that it seemed to them to be endowed with all the grandeur of the geometrical order, with its double attributes of universality and immutability. It remained the same for all times, and for all men. Its fiat was “unique, eternal, invariable, and universal.” Divine in its origin, it was universal in its scope, and its praises were sung in litanies that might rival the _Ave Maria_.[19] Speaking of its universality, Turgot writes as follows: “Whoever is unable to overlook the accidental separation of political states one from another, or to forget their diverse institutions, will never treat a question of political economy satisfactorily.”[20] Referring to its immutability, he adds: “It is not enough to know what is or what has been; we must also know what ought to be. The rights of man are not founded upon history: they are rooted in his nature.” It looked as if this dogmatic optimism would dominate the whole Classical school, especially the French writers, and that natural law would usurp the functions of Providence. To-day it is everywhere discredited, but when it first loomed above the horizon its splendour dazzled all eyes. Hence the many laudatory remarks, which to us seem hyperbolical, if not actually ridiculous.[21] But it was no small thing to found a new science, to set up a new aim and a fresh ideal, to lay down the framework which others were to fill in. It was the practical results, however, that revealed the full powers of the “natural order.” It so happened that the mass of regulations which constituted the old _régime_ fell to the ground before its onslaughts almost immediately, and it all came about in this fashion. Knowledge of the “natural order” was not sufficient. Daily life must also conform to the knowledge. Nothing could be easier than this, for “if the order really were the most advantageous”[22] every man could be trusted to find out for himself the best way of attaining it without coercion of any kind.[23]