The new king kept what
forms of the old regime he could: he assumed the title of Louis XVIII,
"king of France by the grace of God"; he reckoned his reign from the
death of the dauphin ("Louis XVII") in the year 1795; he replaced the
revolutionary tricolor by the white and lilies of his family; out of
the fullness of his divinely bestowed royal authority he granted a
charter to the French people. But Louis XVIII was neither so foolish
nor so principled as to insist upon the substance of Bourbon autocracy:
the very Constitutional Charter, which he so graciously promulgated,
confirmed the Revolutionary liberties of the individual and established
a fairly liberal form of government for France. It was obvious that the
gouty old man had no desire to risk his head or to embark again upon
his travels.
[Sidenote: Monarchical Restorations Elsewhere in Europe]
The same month that witnessed the unbecoming straddle of this French
Bourbon between revolution and reaction, beheld the restoration of
another Bourbon in the person of Ferdinand VII to the throne of Spain,
and the return of Pope Pius VII, amid the enthusiastic shouts of the
Romans, to the ancient see upon the Tiber.
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