Page:Historyoffranc00yong.djvu/227

 X.] THE CHANGES SINCE fHE REVOLUTION. 203 before, but the peers were no longer hereditary but nominated by the king. The franchise of the electors foi the Chamber of Deputies was fixed' at a payment of 200 francs or ^8 in ta^es. This was a wider franchise than before, but still conhned to a very small class. Louis Philippe was served by many eminent men as ministers, of whom the most famous were Francois Guizot, of an old Huguenot family at Nimes, and Adolphe Thiers of Marseilles. Both of these had worked their way to distinction through literature, especially history and criticism. The reign ot the citizen king, as he liked to be called, was disturbed in its first years by two revolts at Lyons, by risings at Paris, and by se eral attemps on the king's lite. The Duchess of Berry too, the mother of the young Duke of Bourdeaux, made a desperate attempt to raise La Vendue on her son's behalf in 1832, but she failed, and was captured in a hiding-place at the back of a chimney at Nantes. She was released after a short imprisonment. 5. Reign of Louis Philippe. — During the reign of Louis Philippe France seemed always on the brink of, war, more than once with England. But no war of any importance took place in Europe. France interfered in the affairs of Belgium, which, soon after the revolution of 1830, became a separate kingdom from the Netherlands, as also in those of Sp:iin, Portugal, Switzerland, and Italy. Besides this there were great disputes about the affairs of Syria, -which Mahomet AH, the Pasha of Egypt, had wrested from the Sultan. There was also a quarrel with England about the island of Tahiti in the Pacific, but no actual war followed. The only war of importance waged by France at this time was that which constantly went o- with the native tribes in Algeria. Here the Fren-^u settlers met with fierce resistance from the Arab chiefs, especially the high-spirited Abd-el-Kader who defended his country year after year against Marshal Bugeaud and the best French troops. The king's sons, the Duke of Aumale and the Frince of Joinville, distinguished them- selves in this war, the one by land, the other by sea ; and Abd-el-Kader at last surrendered. All the king's sons were young men of promise, and the eldest, Philips called Duke of Orleans, was married to the Princess Helen of Mecklenburg, and was very popular. On the 13th of July, 1842, he was killed by leaping out of a carriage when the horses were running away, and left two