tify and amuse the
people by sending for the remains of Napoleon, and giving him a
magnificent funeral and splendid monument among his old soldiers--the
Invalides; but his popularity was waning. In 1842 his eldest son, the
Duke of Orleans, a favourite with the people, was killed by a fall from
his carriage, and this was another shock to his throne. Two young
grandsons were left; and the king had also several sons, one of whom,
the Duke of Montpensier, he gave in marriage to Louise, the sister and
heiress presumptive to the Queen of Spain; though, by treaty with the
other European Powers, it had been agreed that she should not marry a
French prince unless the queen had children of her own. Ambition for
his family was a great offence to his subjects, and at the same time a
nobleman, the Duke de Praslin, who had murdered his wife, committed
suicide in prison to avoid public execution; and the republicans
declared, whether justly or unjustly, that this had been allowed rather
than let a noble die a felon's death.

3. The Revolution of 1848.--In spite of the increased prosperity of
the country, there was general disaffection. There were four
parties--the Orleanists, who held by Louis Philippe and his minister
Guizot, and whose badge was the tricolour; the Legitimists, who retained
their loyalty to the exiled Henry, and whose symbol was the white
Bourbon flag; the Buonapartists; and the Republicans, whose badge was
the red cap and flag. A demand for a franchise that should include the
mass of the people was rejected, and the general displeasure poured
itself out in speeches at political banquets. An attempt to stop one of
these led to an uproar. The National Guard refused to fire on the
people, and their fury rose unchecked; so that the king, thinking
resistance vain, signed an abdication, and fled to England in February,
1848. A provisional Government was formed, and a new constitution was to
be arranged; but the Paris mob, who found their condition unchanged, and
really wanted equality of wealth, not of rights, made disturbances again
and again, and barricaded the streets, till they were finally put down
by General Cavaignac, while the rest of France was entirely dependent on
the will of the capital. After some months, a republic was determined
on, which was to have a president at its head, chosen every five years
by universal suffrage. Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, nephew to the great
Napoleon, was the first president thus