Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/688

 632 . LOUIS PHILIPPE in the west of the kingdom by the duchess of Berry (1832), who was punished by imprison- ment in the fortress of Blaye, and especially by the numerous attempts upon the king's life, the most formidable of which was that of Fieschi, July 28, 1835. (See FIESCHI.) An attempted military insurrection at Strasburg in favor of Louis Napoleon, as a claimant of the throne, was easily suppressed (1836). From without Louis Philippe was met by the distrust of the foreign powers, especially of Russia, concern- ing the stability of his government. From 1836 to the end of 1840 the history of his reign is that of contests between him and the cham- bers, and of rivalries between Thiers, Guizot, Mole and Soult, who were successively at the head of the administration. Thiers withdrew on account of the opposition of the king and of the chambers to his views about interven- tion in the affairs of Spain and of other coun- tries, and the defeat of the Guizot-Mole" cab- inet was hastened by the opposition to Louis Philippe's demands for the aggrandizement of his family. Under the Mol6 administration, a general amnesty was granted on occasion of the marriage of the duke of Orleans with He- lena of Mecklenburg, May 30, 1837 ; and the foundation of the national museum of Ver- sailles, which was inaugurated June 10, was one of the great achievements of Louis Philippe's reign. A coalition of Guizot, Thiers, Odilon Barrot, Berryer, and Garnier-Pages led to the downfall of Mole and to a ministerial crisis, which ended in placing power in the hands of Soult, who in his turn was supplanted by Thiers, March 1, 1840. During his adminis- tration the second attempt of Louis Napoleon to excite an insurrection in his own behalf took place at Boulogne, in consequence of which that prince was imprisoned in the fortress of Ham. Strikes and riots among the working classes were rife at the time, and new names were added to the list of fanatics who con- spired against the life of Louis Philippe. But the principal difficulties of Thiers's administra- tion were in connection with the conflict be- tween the viceroy of Egypt and the sultan. Thiers wished France to interfere in favor of the former, and commenced extraordinary ar- maments ; but found himself once more at va- riance with the peace policy of Louis Philippe, when a new administration under Soult and Guizot was formed, Oct. 29, 1840. Hence- forth, until the revolution of 1848, Soult re- mained in power, but few modifications taking place in his cabinet, of which Guizot was the master spirit, and Duchatel and Villemain were eminent members. Conspicuous among the measures of the administration were the f orti- cation of Paris, which had been proposed by Thiers, and the law of 1842 for the establish- ment of the great railway lines. In 1840 the body of Napoleon was brought to Paris by the prince de Joinville, and interred in the Inva- lides (Dec. 15). The peace at home was not ma- terially broken, while the war in Algeria was carried on with continued energy, leading also to a short war with Morocco in 1844. But domestic afflictions overtook Louis Philippe, who had already been plunged in sorrow in 1839 by the death of his accomplished daugh- ter Marie, and who was still more severely tried in 1842 by the accidental death of the duke of Orleans, whose life, if continued, might possibly have averted the revolution of 1848, and whose loss was justly considered a national calamity. In foreign affairs the long cherished entente cordiale with England reached its climax in 1843-'5, when visits were ex- changed between the queen of England and Louis Philippe ; but it was shaken by the question of indemnity for the forcible removal of the English consul Pritchard from the Soci- ety islands (see Du PETIT-THOUAKS), and was seriously broken by the Spanish marriages (see ISABELLA II.), which were brought about by Louis in direct violation of his word pledged to Lord Aberdeen a year before. Among the most important events of his reign were the conquest of Abd-el-Kader, the colonization of Algiers, and the formation of an army and a school of generals who added new lustre to the arms of France. Compared with the con- vulsions in the earlier part of his reign, the Soult-Guizot administration was marked by calm and prosperity. In 1847, however, the shortness of the crops entailed much suffering upon the people. Scarcity caused disturbances, and bread riots broke out in various parts of the country. The democratic and socialistic press became exceedingly active; scandalous affairs in high circles were wildly commented upon ; and new histories of the revolutionary period of France by Lamartine and Louis Blanc revived the republican spirit among the peo- ple. Banquets for the discussion of political reforms were proposed. One announced to be held Feb. 22, 1848, was opposed by the government, but Odilon Barrot, Ledru-Rollin, and other popular leaders insisted upon its taking place. Louis Philippe, unconscious of the coming storm, was reluctant to see it suppressed by force of arms, and at length (Feb. 23), when the government called the national guard to its assistance, that body an- swered with shouts of Vive la reforme ! Num- berless barricades sprang up in almost every quarter of Paris ; the king's abdication in favor of his grandson came too late, his throne was burned on the Place de la Concorde, and the chamber of deputies finally sanctioned the over- throw of the monarchy (Feb. 24). On the morning of Feb. 25, when the old monarch with some members of his family had already fled from the capital, he was apprised of the proclamation of the republic. With great diffi- culty he succeeded in crossing the Seine with his wife from Honfleur to Havre under the name of Smith. From thence he was carried by a steamer sent for his use by the English government, and arrived on March 4 at Clare- mont, the palace of the king of the Belgians,