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LEFT FRANOE 191 FRANCE the Normans began to ravage its N. provinces; the power of the nobility also rapidly increased and the last sovereign of the Carlovingian dynasty, Louis V. in 986-987, possessed only the town of Laon. His successor, Hugh Capet, Count of Paris and Orleans, the founder of the third race of kings, governed only the Ile-de-France, Picardy, and the Or- leannais; the dukes of Normandy, Brit- tany, Aquitaine, Gascony, Lorraine, and Burgundy, the count of Flanders, Cham- pagne, Vermandois, Toulouse, and sev- eral minor seigneurs, shared among them the rest of the modern kingdom. Vermandois was united to the crown by Philip Augustus; Toulouse and Perche, by Louis IX.; Champagne, in 1274; the Lyonnais, Dauphiny, and Lan- guedoc, in the 14th century; Berri, Nor- mandy, Gascony, Burgundy, Anjou, Maine, and Provence, in the 15th; Bour- bonnais, Auvergne, Brittany, Lorraine, and considerable territories in the S. W. in the 16th; and Flanders, Artois, Franche-Comte, and Alsace in the 17th century. While the monarchy gained in consistency and extent, the regal power was making constant advances. At length, under the administration of Richelieu, the nobles were stripped of all power; and there being no other body in the State, with the exception of the parliaments — which had degenerated in- to little else than courts of law — that enjoyed any constitutional privileges, the power of the crown was raised above control. Under the vigorous, and for a lengthened period prosperous, govern- ment of Louis XIV., the royal preroga- tive arrived at a maximum. During the regency and the subsequent part of the reign of Louis XV., abuses of all sorts multiplied on all hands, and were no longer concealed by the dazzling splen- dor and magnificence of the preceding period. Louis XVI., who ascended the throne in 1774, was actuated by the best in- dentions, but he wanted the firmness of purpose and capacity required in so des- perate a crisis. At length, after a variety of futile expedients had been in vain resorted to, it was resolved, in 1789, to hold a meeting of the States- General, which had not been convened since 1614, for effecting the necessary changes and averting a public bank- ruptcy. This was the commencement of that tremendous revolution which cost Louis XVI. the crown and his life, and destroyed every vestige of the govern- ment and institutions that existed when it broke out. The atrocities connected with the Revolution were in wild, but not unnatural excesses of an unin- structed populace that had suddenly been emancipated from a state of ex* treme degradation. ' The proscriptions and anarchy by which the Revolution was accompanied continued till Napoleon attained to the supreme direction of affairs. The talents of this extraordinary man were surpass- ed only by his ambition, which, by over- stepping all bounds, precipitated him in- to enterprises that ultimately led to his overthrow. In 1814 the Bourbons were re- placed on the throne; but in 1830 they were re-expelled from the kingdom. The crown was then offered, under condi- tions, to Louis Philippe, Due d'Orleans, by whom it was accepted. He has the merit of having contributed, under very difficult circumstances, to the mainte- nance, for a lengthened period, of the peace of France and Europe. Under his reign the Revolution of Feb. 24, 1848, broke out, and resulted in the establish- ment of the republic, with a provisional government. A new constitution having been voted by a "Constituent Assembly" of 900 members. Prince Louis Napoleon was elected head of the republic, for four years, by 5,562,843 votes, on Dec. 10, 1848. The prince President dissolved the National Assembly by a coup d'etat, Dec. 2, 1851, and having remodeled the constitution, appealed to universal suf- frage, which declared him president for 10 years, by 7,439,216 votes, on Dec. 21, 1851. By a third vote, Louis Napoleon was chosen Emperor of France, by 7,- 864,216 against 31,145 votes, on Nov. 22, 1852, and assumed the title of Napo- leon III., Emperor of the French, on Dec. 1, 1852. For the history ol France since 1852, see Napoleon. The government of Napoleon III. was in all essentials an absolute monarchy. The legislative powers and the suffrage were entirely within his control. In order to quiet the dissatisfaction of the people, Napoleon entered upon an ag- gressive foreign policy. He made an al- liance with England and France against Russia in 1854, and the successful out- come of the Crimean War was a per- sonal triumph for him. Paris became the diplomatic capital of Europe, folloing the Congress of Paris in 1856. Napoleon, in 1859, in the role of the champion of the oppressed nationalities, aided Italy against Austria and obtained as a reward possession of Savoy and Nice. His attempts at intel•^'ention in Poland in 1863 and in Schleswig-Holstein in ; the following year, were, however, un- • successful. Far more disastrous, how- ever, was his invasion of Mexico and the establishment there of an empire under Maximilian of Austria. The fail- ure of this empire and the execution of