In France the Vienna Settlement restored Louis XVIII to throne. In 1814 he granted to the French people a constitution popularly known as Charter of 1814 which promised to keep the Civil Code estab­lished by Napoleon as well as equality of rights which had been won as a result of the French Revolution.

The Charter provided that the King would rule only with the help of a legislature consisting of two chambers- a Chamber of Peers appointed by .the King and a Chamber of Deputies elected by the people paying a certain amount of taxes.

As a result the franchise was granted only to about 80,000 people out of a total population of 30,000,000. The majority of the people were quite happy with this arrangement. In 1824, after the death of Louis XVIII the new ruler (Charles X) tried to once again restore the privileges of the nobles and – clergy. He passed a law by which about 30,000,000 francs per year were to be earmarked for payment to nobles for the loss of property during the revolution.

In fact he made a bid to restore the clergy to its former preponderant position and create a powerful aristocracy around him. However, the Chamber of Deputies did not approve of these actions of the King. Therefore, the King dissolved the Chamber of Deputies.

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When the fresh elections were held the people elected those members as their repre­sentatives who were opposed to the King. Therefore, the King decided to ignore the Chamber of Deputies and began to rule through ordinances. In July 1830 the King issued three famous ordinances.

By one ordinance he dissolved the Chamber of Deputies which had just been elected. By the second ordinance he abolished freedom of press. By the third he intro­duced changes in the electoral laws and permitted only those people the rights to vote who were supporters of the King. These measures were highly autocratic and were naturally resented by the people.

There was a strong demand for establishment of Republic in France. In July 1830 the people of France rose in revolt at Paris and after three days of fighting the King showed his willingness to withdraw the hated ordinances and rule according to the Charter of 1814.

However, the revolutionaries insisted on the establishment of Republic, even though the moderate revolutionaries were in favour of recognizing Charles X as the King again. Ultimately at the instance of Thiers and Talleyrand, the revolutionaries decided to make Louis Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, as King of France.

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He was given throne on the condition that he would rule as a constitutional monarch and all the powers of government would be in the hands of the Legislative assembly. Though the King agreed to extend the suffrage a little, the assembly essentially consisted of representatives of rich men in France and the common farmers and labourers were not given any franchise. In no sense of the term the assembly could be regarded as a true representative body of the people.

Only the well-to-do middle class people were happy over the outcome of the July Revolution and the majority of people who had played active role in the revolution were not happy. Therefore, they began to work for the overthrow of the government of Louis Philippe.

The strong opposition of Louis Philippe to various reforms also encouraged the people to rise in revolt against him in 1848. The King tried to suppress it but could not succeed, and was obliged to fly from Paris. Thereupon the revolutionaries proclaimed a Republic and set up a provisional government consisting of five Republicans and four Socialists.

The Provisional Government ordered elections for a National Assem­bly to draft a new constitution for France. The assembly after its election proceeded with the drafting of a new constitution. This constitution proyided for a President and a single legislative body, both elected by the peopie.

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The first elections under the constitution were held in December 184S and May 1849. In these elections people elected Louis Napoleon, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, as President by an overwhelming major­ity, while in the assembly two-thirds of ‘.he members were not in favour of Republic.

In view of these curious results of the elections the existence of Republic in France became doubtful and no wonder it did not last long. In 1852 Louis Napoleon abolished Republic and established the second empire.

During the period 1852-60 Napoleon kept all powers strictly in his hands. After 1860 he began to gradually concede certain powers to the Chamber of Deputies.

However, during the period of Louis Napoleon’s rule from j.852-70 people hardly talked about political concessions. Napoleon succeeded partly because of his own shrewd policy, partly due to fortunate circumstances, and partly because he had a glamorous name.