Editing July Monarchy (section)

=== The second {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} cabinet (March – October 1840) ===
[[File:Adolphe Thiers par Honoré Daumier.jpg|thumb|{{lang|fr|[[Adolphe Thiers]]|italic=no}}, by {{lang|fr|[[Honoré Daumier]]|italic=no}}]]
{{lang|fr|Soult|italic=no}}'s fall compelled the king to call on the main left-wing figure, {{lang|fr|Adolphe Thiers|italic=no}}. {{lang|fr|Guizot|italic=no}}, one of the only remaining right-wing alternatives, had just been named ambassador to London and left France. {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}}'s aim was to definitively establish parliamentary government, with a "king who reigns but does not rule", and a cabinet drawn from the parliamentary majority and answerable to it. Henceforth, he clearly opposed {{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}}'s concept of government.

{{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} formed his government on 1 March 1840. He first pretended to offer the presidency of the Council to the {{lang|fr|duc de Broglie|italic=no}}, and then {{lang|fr|Soult|italic=no}}, before accepting it and taking Foreign Affairs at the same time. His cabinet was composed of fairly young politicians (47 years old on average), {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} himself being only 42.

Relations with the king were immediately difficult. {{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}} embarrassed {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} by suggesting that he nominate his friend {{lang|fr|[[Horace Sébastiani]]|italic=no}} as Marshal, which would expose him to the same criticisms he had previously suffered over political favoritism and the abuse of governmental power. {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} thus decided to postpone {{lang|fr|Sébastiani|italic=no}}'s advancement.

{{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} obtained an easy majority during the debate on the secret funds in March 1840 (246 votes to 160). Although he was classified as center-left, {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}}'s second government was highly conservative, and dedicated to the protection of the interests of the bourgeoisie. Although he had the deputies pass the vote on government bond conversion, which was a left-wing proposal, he was sure that it would be rejected by the Peers, which is what happened. On 16 May 1840, {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} harshly rejected [[universal suffrage]] and social reforms after a speech by the [[Radicalism (historical)|Radical]] {{lang|fr|[[François Arago]]|italic=no}}, who had linked the ideas of electoral reform and social reform. {{lang|fr|Arago|italic=no}} was attempting to unite the left-wing by tying together universal suffrage claims and Socialist claims, which had appeared in the 1840s, concerning the "[[right of work]]" ({{lang|fr|droit au travail}}). He believed that electoral reform to establish universal suffrage should precede the social reform, which he considered very urgent.<ref>{{cite book |author=Christopher Guyver |title=The Second French Republic 1848–1852: A Political Reinterpretation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xP5jDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 |year=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |page=44 |isbn=978-1-137-59740-3 }}</ref>

On 15 June 1838, {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} obtained the postponement of a proposal made by the conservative deputy {{lang|fr|[[Ovide de Rémilly]]|italic=no}} who, equipping himself with an old demand of the Left, sought to outlaw the nomination of deputies to salaried public offices during their elective mandate. As Thiers had previously supported this proposition, he was acutely criticized by the Left.

Since the end of August 1838, social problems related to the economic crisis which started in 1839 caused strikes and riots in the textile, clothing and construction sectors. On 7 September 1839, the cabinet-makers of the {{lang|fr|[[faubourg Saint-Antoine]]|italic=no}} started to put up barricades. {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} responded by sending out the National Guard and invoking the laws prohibiting public meetings.

{{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} also renewed the {{lang|fr|[[Banque de France]]|italic=no}}'s privilege until 1867 on such advantageous terms that the Bank had a commemorative gold medal cast. Several laws also established [[ocean liner|steamship lines]], operated by companies operating state-subsidised concessions. Other laws granted credits or guarantees to railway companies in difficulties.

==== Return of Napoleon's ashes ====
[[File:Repatriación de las cenizas de Napoleón a bordo de la Belle Poule, por Eugène Isabey.jpg|thumb|right|350px|''The transfer of Napoleon's ashes on board of {{lang|fr|La Belle Poule|italic=no}} on 15 October 1840.'' Painting by {{lang|fr|[[Eugène Isabey]]|italic=no}}.]]
{{Main|Retour des cendres}}
While {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} favored the conservative bourgeoisie, he also made sure to satisfy the Left's thirst for glory. On 12 May 1840, the Minister of the Interior, {{lang|fr|[[Charles de Rémusat]]|italic=no}}, announced to the deputies that the king had decided that the remains of {{lang|fr|[[Napoléon]]|italic=no}} would be transferred to the {{lang|fr|[[Invalides]]|italic=no}}. With the British government's agreement, the {{lang|fr|Prince de Joinville|italic=no}} sailed to [[Saint Helena]] on the frigate {{lang|fr|[[French frigate Belle Poule (1834)|La Belle Poule]]}} to retrieve them.

This announcement immediately struck a chord with public opinion, which was swept along with patriotic fervor. Thiers saw in this act the successful completion of the rehabilitation of the Revolution and of the Empire, which he had attempted in his {{lang|fr|Histoire de la Révolution française}} and his {{lang|fr|Histoire du Consulat et de l'Empire}}, while {{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}}, who was reluctant, aimed at capturing for himself a touch of the imperial glory, just as he had appropriated the legitimist monarchy's glory in the {{lang|fr|Château de Versailles|italic=no}}. The Prince {{lang|fr|[[Napoléon III|Louis-Napoléon]]|italic=no}} decided to seize the opportunity to land in {{lang|fr|[[Boulogne-sur-Mer]]|italic=no}} on 6 August 1840, with the aim of rallying the 42nd infantry regiment ({{lang|fr|42<sup>e</sup> régiment de ligne}}) along with some accomplices including one of {{lang|fr|Napoléon|italic=no}}'s comrades in Saint Helena, the [[Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon|General {{lang|fr|de Montholon|italic=no|nocat=y}}]]. Although {{lang|fr|Montholon|italic=no}} was in reality a [[double agent]] used by the French government to spy, in London, on {{lang|fr|Louis-Napoléon|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|Montholon|italic=no}} deceived {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} by letting him think that the operation would take place in Metz. However, Bonaparte's operation was a complete failure, and he was detained with his men in the [[Fort of Ham]], Picardy.

Their trial took place before the Chamber of Peers from 28 September 1840 to 6 October 1840, to general indifference. The public's attention was concentrated on the trial of {{lang|fr|[[Marie Lafarge]]|italic=no}}, before the {{lang|fr|Cour d'assises}} of {{lang|fr|Tulle|italic=no}}, the defendant being accused of having poisoned her husband. Defended by the famous Legitimist lawyer {{lang|fr|[[Pierre-Antoine Berryer]]|italic=no}}, Bonaparte was sentenced to [[life detention]], by 152 votes (against 160 abstentions, out of a total of 312 Peers). "We do not kill insane people, all right! but we do confine them,<ref>{{lang|fr|«&thinsp;On ne tue pas les fous, soit! mais on les enferme&thinsp;»}}, in {{lang|fr|[[Le Journal des débats]]}} (quoted by {{harvnb|Antonetti|2002|p=818}})</ref> declared the {{lang|fr|[[Journal des débats]]}}, in this period of intense discussions concerning [[parricide]]s, [[mental disease]] and reform of the [[penal code]].<ref>See {{lang|fr|[[Michel Foucault]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|Moi, Pierre Rivière, ayant égorgé ma mère, ma sœur et mon frère}} (Gallimard, 1973). English transl.: ''I, Pierre Rivière, Having Slaughtered my Mother, my Sister and my Brother'' (Penguin, 1975)</ref>

==== Colonization of Algeria ====
{{further|French rule in Algeria}}
[[File:L’ennemi repoussé des hauteurs de Coudiat-Ati.PNG|thumb|[[Siege of Constantine]] in 1837]]
The [[French rule in Algeria|conquest of Algeria]], initiated in the last days of the Bourbon Restoration, was now confronted by {{lang|ar-Latn|[[Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri|Abd-el-Kader]]|italic=no}}'s raids, punishing [[Marshal Valée|Marshal {{lang|fr|Valée|italic=no|nocat=y}}]] and the {{lang|fr|duc d'Orléans|italic=no}}'s expedition to the {{lang|fr|[[Portes de Fer]]}} in autumn 1839, which had violated the terms of the 1837 [[Treaty of Tafna]] between [[General Bugeaud|General {{lang|fr|Bugeaud|italic=no|nocat=y}}]] and {{lang|ar-Latn|Abd-el-Kader|italic=no}}. {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} pushed in favor of colonizing of the interior of the country, up to the edges of the desert. He convinced the king, who saw in Algeria an ideal theater for his son to cover the House of {{lang|fr|Orléans|italic=no}} with glory, and persuaded him to send General {{lang|fr|Bugeaud|italic=no}} as first [[governor general of Algeria]]. {{lang|fr|Bugeaud|italic=no}}, who would lead harsh repression against the natives, was officially nominated on 29 December 1840, a few days after {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}}'s fall.

==== Middle Eastern affairs, a pretext for {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}}'s fall ====
{{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} supported [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali Pasha]], the Wali of Egypt, in his ambition to constitute a vast Arabian Empire from Egypt to Syria. He tried to intercede in order to have him sign an agreement with the [[Ottoman Empire]], unbeknownst to the four other European powers (Britain, Austria, [[Prussia]] and [[Russian Empire|Russia]]). However, informed of these negotiations, the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, [[Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord Palmerston]], quickly negotiated a treaty between the four powers to sort out the "Eastern Question". When revealed, the [[Convention of London (1840)|London Convention]] of 15 July 1840 provoked an explosion of patriotic fury: France had been ousted from a zone where it traditionally exercised its influence (or attempted to), while Prussia, which had no interest in it, was associated with the treaty. Although {{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}} pretended to join the general protestations, he knew that he could take advantage of the situation to get rid of {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}}.

The latter pandered to patriotic feelings by decreeing, on 29 July 1840, a partial mobilization, and by starting, on 13 September 1840, the works on the [[Fortifications of Paris in the 19th and 20th centuries|fortifications of Paris]]. But France remained passive when, on 2 October 1840, the [[Royal Navy]] mobilized along the Lebanese coastline. Mehemet Ali was then immediately dismissed as wali by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Sultan [[Abdulmejid I]].

Following long negotiations between the king and {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}}, a compromise was found on 7 October 1840: France would renounce its support for Muhammad Ali's pretensions in Syria but would declare to the European powers that Egypt should remain at all costs autonomous. Britain thereafter recognized Muhammad Ali's hereditary rule in Egypt: France had obtained a return to the situation of 1832. Despite this, the rupture between {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}} was now definitive. On 29 October 1840, when {{lang|fr|[[Charles de Rémusat]]|italic=no}} presented to the Council of Ministers the draft of the speech of the throne, prepared by {{lang|fr|[[Hippolyte Passy]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}} found it too aggressive. After a short discussion, {{lang|fr|Thiers|italic=no}} and his associates collectively presented their resignations to the king, who accepted them. On the following day, {{lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|italic=no}} sent for Marshal {{lang|fr|Soult|italic=no|nocat=y}} and {{lang|fr|Guizot|italic=no}} so they could return to Paris as soon as possible.