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Charles
X
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Charles X was born in 1757 and died in 1836. He was king of France from 1824 to 1830. He was also the brother of King Louis XVI and of King Louis XVIII, whom he succeeded. As Comte d'Artois he headed the reactionary faction at the Court of Louis XVI. He left France in July 1789 at the outbreak of the French Revolution and became a leading spirit of the émigré party. He stayed in England until the Bourbon restoration of 1814. During the reign of Louis XVIII he headed the ultra-royalist opposition. Charles X attempted to reestablish elements of the Acne regime, as the pre-Revolutionary order was called. A law decreed in 1825 indemnified the émigrés for lands confiscated during the Revolution. He also passed measures increasing the power of the clergy that met with particular public disapproval. In 1829 Charles appointed an uncompromising reactionary, Jules Armand de Polignac as chief minister. Polignac aims were to reorganize society, to give back to the clergy their weight in state affairs, and to create a powerful aristocracy and to surround it with privileges To divert attention from internal affairs; Polignac initiated a French venture in Algeria. When the Parliament objected, Charles X dissolved it. His dissolution in March 1830 of the liberal chamber of deputies and his drastic July Ordinances, that established rigid control of the press, and restricted suffrage were not very popular with the people. His effect was to destroy the charter set forth by Louis XVIII. Opposition to the Ordinances was immense and Charles X was soon overthrown in the July Revolution of 1830. The duc d'Orleans Louis Philippe, whom Charles had appointed lieutenant general of France, was chosen King of the French. |