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First Restoration
Period in French History (1814) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The First Restoration was a period in French history that saw the return of the House of Bourbon to the throne, between the abdication of Napoleon in the spring of 1814 and the Hundred Days in March 1815. The regime was born following the victory of the Sixth Coalition (United Kingdom, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Austria) as part of the campaign of France, while the country was in conflict during the First Empire. While the Allied powers were divided over the person to be placed on the throne of France, a subtle game was established between the Bourbons in exile, the French institutions, and the foreign powers, before the abdication of Napoleon on 6 April opened the way to Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI, who returned to Paris at the end of the month and moved to the Tuileries Palace.
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As opposed to the pre-Napoleonic Ancien Régime, the new regime was a constitutional monarchy.This was a compromise position the sovereign granted the French through the Charter of 1814. This allowed for the return of the monarchy while preserving some of the major achievements, such as those regarding suffrage and property rights, gained through the French Revolution. During its short existence, the regime focused on attempting reconcile the country. This method disappointed the most extreme monarchists, who hoped for vengeance for the wrongs suffered during the revolutionary period, while the return to power of the Catholic Church and the reduction of the size of armies quickly created enemies to the regime.
It was in this context that Napoleon landed in France on 1 March 1815. With an army initially reduced, it recruited the discontented and walked across the country. Louis XVIII fled Paris on March 19, and the regime fell the next day, at the arrival of Napoleon at the Tuileries. Louis XVIII went into exile in Ghent. It was only after the Hundred Days and the Battle of Waterloo that Louis XVIII was able return to the throne, inaugurating the Second Restoration.
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From the Empire to the return of the monarchy
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A confused political situation
At the beginning of 1814, France faced the Sixth Coalition, consisting of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, Sweden, the Austrian Empire, and several German states. The troops of this group of countries were then invading French territory. Although Napoleon I achieved several successes during the campaign of France, his military situation was increasingly precarious, while the population expressed its desire for peace more firmly.[1] More than a monarchical restoration, the coalition initially considered concluding peace with Napoleon and engaged in negotiations to that end. The Emperor, overestimating his chances, caused them to fail by refusing any peace that would remove France's natural borders as they were during the Coup of 18 Brumaire. Thereafter, the coalition signed the Treaty of Chaumont on 1st March, by which they swore not to sign separate peaces until Napoleon's abdication.[2]
French public opinion regarding the monarchy was confused and varied by region. On the eastern border, many launched resistance movements against foreign invaders. Conversely, the arrival of the Russians in Paris was hailed as a liberation. War weariness, anger sparked by military levies and taxes, and the desire of nobles—whether from the Ancien Régime or the Empire—to retain their goods and status united much of the population behind the idea of a monarchical restoration. This unity seemed assured until the crisis's outcome.[3]
The allies had divergent interests. The Austria favored abdication in favor of Napoleon's son, with tutelage entrusted to his mother Marie Louise, which could be detrimental to other powers. The Russia, unfavorable to the Bourbons, proposed placing Bernadotte, then Crown Prince of Sweden and Norway, on the throne, but his presence at the head of one of the coalition armies worked against him. The solution of the cadet branch of Orléans had supporters among those fearing a return to absolutism, but the future Louis Philippe I refused it at the time. The Bourbon solution had British support. Concretely, to avoid disputes within the coalition, the allies let internal events decide the final orientation.[4]
Toward the monarchy
While the Count of Provence, brother of Louis XVI and pretender to the throne under the name "Louis XVIII", awaited events at his residence in Hartwell House, his brother, the Count of Artois, followed the allied armies invading eastern France. The Bourbons, fearing the allies might install another dynasty, had to occupy the ground and garner internal support.[5] The Count of Artois's two sons were also ready to intervene. The Duke of Berry was in Jersey, awaiting a Norman uprising. The elder, the Duke of Angoulême, benefited from March 12 from the insurrection led in Bordeaux by the Knights of the Faith of Ferdinand de Bertier de Sauvigny: Mayor Jean-Baptiste Lynch rallied to the Bourbons and welcomed the prince that day, allowing him to form a provisional government. The British invested the city, but with negotiations still ongoing with Napoleon, Wellington held back until the Treaty of Chaumont was concluded.[6] Unrest also broke out in the Midi, and Lyon swung in favor of the Bourbons.[7]
The Regency Council had retreated south of the Loire with the rest of the imperial army. Napoleon faced pressure at Fontainebleau from his marshals, who urged him to abdicate. The only Regency Council member remaining in Paris, Talleyrand, was master of the game to begin discussions on March 31 with Tsar Alexander, who had entered the capital at the head of allied troops.[8] But his action was hindered by the Knights of the Faith in Paris, who organized a royalist demonstration in the capital upon the allies' entry. Moreover, they obtained from the Russian emperor the promise that the Count of Provence would be restored to the throne. Indeed, as the emperor passed under Madame de Semallé's windows, wife of Jean René Pierre de Semallé, Knight of the Faith and a key organizer of the demonstration, she said: "Long live Alexandre if he gives us back our Bourbons!", to which he replied "Yes, Madam, you will see them again. Long live your King Louis XVIII and the lovely ladies of Paris!".[9] Talleyrand nevertheless managed to sideline them and maneuvered the Senate and the Legislative Body, which declared the Emperor's forfeiture on April 2 and offered the Count of Provence the French throne.[10]
On 1st April, the General Council's Proclamation, inspired by Nicolas François Bellart, impressed the Parisian bourgeoisie with its legitimism.
Talleyrand had meanwhile convinced the tsar, unfavorable to the Bourbons, that the Restoration was the only way to permanently remove Napoleon. But the Frenchman wanted it on his terms. He obtained the designation of a provisional government of five members he presided over, effectively supplanting the royal commissioners who had obtained significant powers from the Count of Artois, and had a monarchist-spirited Constitution, close to the 1791 Constitution, adopted on April 6.[11] Its article 2 specified: "The French people freely call upon the brother of the last king to ascend to the throne of France." The text was to be submitted to the French people, and Louis XVIII had to swear to observe and enforce it, which displeased royalists who believed the king should rule without popular consent. Some even said a constitution was, by definition, regicidal.[12]
The same day, Napoleon accepted abdication and concluded the Treaty of Fontainebleau, signed on April 14. He became sovereign of the Principality of Elba and was promised a lifetime annuity by France.[13]
The Bourbons' game and the return to peace
On April 12, the Count of Artois was warmly welcomed by the population when he entered Paris displaying the white cockade, royalist symbol,[14] while advocating peace and unity: he was made to say "No more divisions, no more divisions, peace and France; I see it again, and nothing has changed, except that there is one more Frenchman"[15][16] but this popular enthusiasm was only temporary. The Senate recognized him as lieutenant general of the kingdom, but Talleyrand and Fouché, back in Paris, insisted he accept the constitutional project's principles without conviction, though abstaining from swearing on the text.[11] He kept the government in place, adding rallied marshals (Oudinot and Moncey) and Vitrolles, his personal advisor. Hostile to liberalism, he maintained, alongside this government, a green cabinet, an occult government of émigrés and counter-revolutionaries that aroused fear among rallied Bonapartists.[17] The white flag replaced the tricolor, to the great dismay of soldiers already hurt by defeat.[18]
Louis XVIII landed at Calais on April 24. On May 2, the Declaration of Saint-Ouen before senators who came to meet him challenged popular sovereignty and referred the constitutional text to a commission to "improve" it, while expressing the impossibility of a pure return to the Ancien Régime.[19] Thus, while issuing criticisms calling for corrections, Louis XVIII promised preservation of its major principles.[20] He proclaimed himself "Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre", continuing the title he appropriated upon the death of Louis XVI's son in 1795.[21] This idea of monarchical continuity between Louis XVI, Louis XVII, and Louis XVIII, denying the revolutionary period, was prominent in the king's statements.[22] On May 3, from the Château de Saint-Ouen, he made a solemn entry into Paris via the barrière Saint-Denis and reached the Tuileries Palace after hearing a Te Deum at Notre-Dame de Paris. The new reconciliation government was established on May 13. Former émigrés remained a minority.[23]
Peace was concluded with the Allies on May 30: the first Treaty of Paris restored France to its 1792 borders, with some territorial gains to spare French feelings. Losses included colonies: Tobago, Saint Lucia, and Île de France.[24] France paid no indemnities, suffered no occupation, and was to have representation at the Congress of Vienna. These favorable terms were obtained by Talleyrand and Tsar Alexander. The loss of imperial conquests, becoming a grievance theme, was long used by liberals to criticize the monarchy.[25]
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Operation of the regime
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The Charter
Before the Allies left France, a constitution had to be drafted. Louis XVIII could not conceive returning to the French throne by popular call. He rejected the senatorial constitutional project and entrusted a varied commission (former émigrés, constituents, imperial nobles) with drafting a new text.[26] Rather than "constitution," it was decided to speak of a Charter, granted on June 4, 1814 by the sovereign continuing predecessors' concessions.[27] This link to the past was omnipresent, notably in terms: the text aimed to "reconnect the chain of time", neglected the revolutionary and imperial period by speaking of the "nineteenth year of the reign", judging he was king since his nephew's death in the Temple prison in 1795, and inscribed the charter in the lineage of concessions by Louis VI the Fat in the early 12th centuryth century.[28] The sovereign renounced the sacre tradition to avoid offending moderates.[29]
The Charter was a compromise text, preserving many revolutionary and imperial achievements while restoring the Bourbon dynasty. Its first part recognized equality before the law, tax, public employment access, religious freedom (though Catholicism was state religion), and press freedom. National goods were favorably treated for revolutionary buyers: only unsold goods returned to émigrés. Political amnesty was declared for pre-1814 acts.[30] The Charter established a king-dominated regime with decisive institutional role: "All authority (resides) in France in the person of the King." He could declare war and peace, govern by ordinances if needed, and was inviolable. He held executive, legislative, and judicial powers. He proposed and promulgated laws, could dissolve the Chamber of Deputies or alter the Chamber of Peers majority by appointing new members.[31]
The chambers shared power with the king and could "request to propose a law on any subject." The Chamber of Deputies had priority in tax law examination, but it required both chambers' consent.[32] The Chamber of Deputies was elected by census suffrage by voters over 30 paying 300 francs cens. Voters numbered 110,000 Frenchmen, with 16,000 eligible, for 30 million inhabitants. Deputies rose from 262 to 395.[33] The Chamber of Peers (upper house) had peers appointed by the king for life. The king appointed 154 peers on March 7, 1814.[34] Chambers had more power than under the Empire.[35] Judicially, the monarchy followed Napoleonic achievements, notably the Civil Code.[32]
This compromise text disappointed. Committed monarchists, notably the Knights of the Faith, judged the king should not accept a constitutional text and rule by full right like the Ancien Régime.[36] The regime's British inspiration was criticized.[37] However, the text remained obscure and ambiguous enough for all to find satisfaction, with future application unclear, potentially leading to English-style constitutional monarchy or limited absolutism,[38] thanks to article 14 allowing ordinances for "state security".[39]
Policy of the First Restoration
Around the King, the Court was organized on the Ancien Régime model with a Maison du Roi and military household. The government had no head; Talleyrand could have held it but was occupied representing France at the Congress of Vienna. Ministers sat in a Conseil d'en haut competing with a Privy Council, Ancien Régime copies. Divided, government members habitually dealt separately and directly with the monarch. British and Russian ambassadors, Wellington and Pozzo di Borgo, attentively monitored government acts and involved in major debates.[40]
Far from France and its people for years, the king established extensive inquiries and statistics in spring/summer 1814 for a precise national mood picture.[41] He used press freedom to gauge regime criticisms. He ensured imperial nobility was treated courteously for fidelity.[42] In administration—mayors, prefects, officials—purges were limited as they readily rallied. Even regicides were little bothered. Of 87 prefects, seven émigrés vs. 31 imperial officials.[43]
The period's key figure was Baron Louis, finance minister, tasked with restoring state finances. He kept imperial tax bases, notably Droits réunis (renamed "indirect contributions" on common products like wine and salt, contributing to regime unpopularity among the poor) despite Count of Artois's promises to abolish it. He confirmed national goods acquisitions' regularity and sold 300,000 hectares of forest, much confiscated from clergy during Revolution, to pay debts. Revolutionary buyers' property was reaffirmed, reassuring business bourgeoisie.[44] Louis XVIII displayed pardon, forgetfulness, national reconciliation: elite amalgamation (notably Chamber of Peers mixing imperial senators and new nobles), attracting intellectuals and liberals. Returning émigrés after two decades hoped goods restitution, multiplied reactionary demands, solicited lost privileges.[45]
Clergy imposed processions, expiatory ceremonies for Revolution victims, banned Sunday balls, sometimes refused sacraments to national goods owners. Southern excesses against Huguenots recalled League times. Climate favored by power mandating Sunday rest. Church obtained University monopoly suppression (ordinance October 5, 1814); bishop presided Royal Council of Public Instruction.[46]
In budget policy, army reduced, budget cut by a third. On May 12 Louis XVIII issued ordinance reorganizing infantry for "determine the strength and organization of the French army's infantry for peacetime" abandoning tricolor for white flag of the Kingdom of France. Imperial Guard survivors dispersed to distant garrisons. Half-pay officers, inactive with halved salary, misunderstood honors to émigrés serving hostile armies against Republic and Empire, attacking France. Young officers saw promising careers escape.[47] Budget policy aimed at recovery but was clumsy. Opposition revived; some jacqueries.[48] For opinion, apparent Ancien Régime return, lavish Tuileries court, outdated nobility etiquette seeming to have forgotten and learned nothing.[49]
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A brief regime
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Discontents and the Emperor's return
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Regime acceptance rested on desired peace. After months, Restoration generated discontents. Rancor toward Louis XVIII not going far enough in Ancien Régime return among committed royalists, rallying around king's brother, Count of Artois, throne heir.[50] While king aimed to place regime under forgetfulness and pardon to federate around him, these Ultras and Church harmed by excesses.[51] Measures like mandatory Sunday rest sparked anticlericalism.[52]
Military discontent: king's budget cuts, dismissing three-fifths of imperial army caused dismay. Many former soldiers unable to return to civilian life well, especially older ones.[49] Foreign occupation of regions, Empire defeat hurt provincial patriot sensitivities; many viewed regime submitted to external powers poorly. Power inaction on popular class difficulties, maintaining droits réunis including unpopular drinks tax, contributed to popular anger.[53] In violent clandestinely published but widely circulated Mémoire adressé au roi in July 1814, Lazare Carnot expressed growing discontent and grievances against Louis XVIII. Criticisms affected by gradually reestablished censorship.[54]
Facing unpopularity, Napoleon I, secluded on Elba, appeared able to rally discontents. Emperor, to whom regime decided not to pay promised annuity, increasingly exasperated, considered action.[55] On March 1, 1815, he landed with a thousand men at Golfe-Juan, ready to retake power.[56]
Toward the Hundred Days and Second Restoration
Napoleon's progress in southern France was easy and rapid. On March 7, he reached Grenoble with a triumphant welcome confirming success hopes.[57] Power reacted calmly initially: for Louis XVIII, opportunity to rid himself of Emperor permanently. Orders to all military to arrest him.[58] King sent Count of Artois and Marshal Macdonald to Lyon to bar him, but worker demonstrations and defecting soldiers joining initial imperial contingents forced flight, worrying government.[59] As Napoleonic armies advanced, Louis XVIII appealed before Chambers to defend the Charter to federate opinion. While appealing to assembly, effective mobilization was weak; Paris defense seemed impossible.[60]
Popular Marshal Ney, sent to stop Napoleon, seemed monarchy's last hope. His rally to Emperor was a severe blow. King's options reduced.[61] Some entourage hoped for Vendée uprising, others saw flight as only viable.[62] King decided to leave Paris on March 19; Napoleon entered Tuileries Palace next day.[63] Louis XVIII crossed border on 23 and retired to Ghent. In provinces, some royal actions: Vitrolles tried forming monarchist government in Toulouse but arrested. In Bordeaux, Duchess of Angoulême, Louis XVI's daughter, tried raising guard. Her husband tried marching army on Lyon. All failed.[64]
During Hundred Days, Louis XVIII organized government in Ghent with faithful like Chateaubriand. Louis XVIII knew his throne's fate was in foreign powers' hands to overthrow Emperor. Done on June 18, 1815 at Battle of Waterloo. Four days later, Napoleon abdicated again. Returning via defeat, king and Second Restoration associated with unhappy memory prejudicing regime popularity until 1830 end.[65]
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