Editing July Monarchy (section)

=== Legislative elections of 1831 ===
{{further|French legislative election, 1831}}
In the second half of May 1831, {{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}}, accompanied by [[Marshal Soult]], started an official visit to [[Normandy]] and [[Picardy]], where he was well received. From 6 June to 1 July 1831, he traveled in the east, where there was stronger Republican and [[Bonapartist]] activity, along with his two elder sons, the [[Ferdinand-Philippe d'Orléans|Prince Royal]] and the [[Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours|Duke of Nemours]], as well as with the {{lang|fr|[[comte d'Argout]]|italic=no}}. The king stopped in {{lang|fr|[[Meaux]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Château-Thierry]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Châlons-sur-Marne]]|italic=no}} (renamed {{lang|fr|[[Châlons-en-Champagne]]|italic=no}} in 1998), {{lang|fr|[[Valmy]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Verdun]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|[[Metz]]|italic=no}}. There, in the name of the municipal council, the mayor made a very political speech in which he expressed the wish to have [[Peerage of France|peerages]] abolished, adding that France should intervene in Poland to assist the [[November Uprising]] against Russia. Louis-Philippe flatly rejected all of these aspirations, stating that the municipal councils and the National Guard had no standing in such matters. The king continued his visit to {{lang|fr|[[Nancy, France|Nancy]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Lunéville]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Strasbourg]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Colmar]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Mulhouse]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Besançon]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|[[Troyes]]|italic=no}}, and his visits were, on the whole, occasions to re-affirm his authority.

{{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}} decided in the {{lang|fr|[[Château de Saint-Cloud]]|italic=no}}, on 31 May 1831, to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, fixing legislative elections for 5 July 1831. However, he signed another ordinance on 23 June in [[Colmar]] in order to have the elections put back to 23 July 1831, so as to avoid the risk of Republican agitation during the commemorations of the July Revolution. The [[1831 French legislative election|general election of 1831]] took place without incident, according to the new electoral law of 19 April 1831. However, the results disappointed the king and the president of the Council, {{lang|fr|Périer|italic=no}}: more than half of the outgoing deputies were re-elected, and their political positions were unknown. The [[Legitimist]]s obtained 104 seats, the [[Orléanist]] Liberals 282 and the [[Republicanism in France|Republicans]] 73.

On 23 July 1831, the king set out {{lang|fr|Casimir Périer|italic=no}}'s program in the [[speech from the Throne]]: strict application of the Charter at home and strict defense of the interests of France and its independence abroad.

The deputies in the chamber then voted for their [[president of the Chamber of Deputies|President]], electing {{lang|fr|[[Baron Girod de l'Ain]]|italic=no}}, the government's candidate, on the second round. He gained 181 votes to the banker {{lang|fr|[[Jacques Laffitte|Laffitte]]|italic=no}}'s 176. But {{lang|fr|[[Dupont de l'Eure]]|italic=no}} gained the first vice presidency with 182 voices out of a total of 344, defeating the government's candidate, {{lang|fr|[[André Dupin]]|italic=no}}, who had only 153 votes. {{lang|fr|Casimir Périer|italic=no}}, who considered that his parliamentary majority was not strong enough, decided to resign.

{{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}} thereafter turned towards {{lang|fr|[[Odilon Barrot]]|italic=no}}, who refused to assume governmental responsibilities, pointing out that he had only a hundred deputies in the Chamber. However, during the 2 and 2 August 1831 elections of {{lang|fr|questeurs}} and secretaries, the Chamber elected mostly government candidates such as {{lang|fr|[[André Dupin]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|[[Benjamin Delessert]]|italic=no}}, who obtained a strong majority against a far-left candidate, {{lang|fr|[[Eusèbe de Salverte]]|italic=no}}. Finally, [[William I of the Netherlands]]'s decision to invade [[Belgium]] – the [[Belgian Revolution]] had taken place the preceding year – on 2 August 1831, constrained {{lang|fr|Casimir Perier|italic=no}} to remain in power in order to respond to the Belgians' request for help.

During the parliamentary debates concerning France's imminent intervention in Belgium, several deputies, led by {{lang|fr|[[Baron Bignon]]|italic=no}}, unsuccessfully requested similar intervention to support Polish independence. However, at the domestic level, {{lang|fr|Casimir Perier|italic=no}} decided to back down before the dominant opposition, and satisfied an old demand of the Left by abolishing hereditary peerages. Finally, the 2 March 1832 law on {{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}}'s [[civil list]] fixed it at 12 million francs a year, and one million for the Prince Royal, the Duke of {{lang|fr|Orléans|italic=no}}. The 28 April 1832 law, named after the Justice Minister {{lang|fr|[[Félix Barthe]]|italic=no}}, reformed the 1810 [[French Penal Code of 1810|Penal Code]] and the {{lang|fr|[[Code d'instruction criminelle]]}}.