LOUIS XVIII. (1755-1824). King of France from 1814 to 1824. He was a younger brother of Louis XVI., and was horn at Versailles, No vember 17, 1755. He received the title of Count of Provence. In 1771 he married Maria Josephine Louisa, daughter of Victor Amadeus Ill., of Sar dinia. After the accession of Louis XV1. to the throne he assumed the designation of 'Monsieur.' He became an opponent of every salutary meas ure of the Government. He fled from Paris on the same night with the King (1791), and was more fortunate, for, taking the road by Lille. he reached the Belgian frontier in safety. With his brother, the Count d'Artois, he issued deelara tions against the Revolutionary cause in France, which had a very unfavorable effect on the for tunes of the King. The two brothers for some time held a court at Coblenz, and in 1792, join ing with the Prussians under the Duke of Bruns wick, led a body of 6000 emigres across the Rhine. After the death of his brother, Louis: XVI., the Count of Provence proclaimed his nephew King of France. as Louis XVII., and on the death of the Prince in 1795 he assumed the title of King. The events of subsequent years compelled him frequently to change his place of abode. He i lived by turns in Germany, Poland, and Sweden, till at last, in l807, he found a refuge in England. and purchased a residence— Hartwell, in Buckinghamshire, where his wife died in 1810, and where he remained till the fall of Napoleon opened the way for him to the French throne. He landed at Calais on April DI, 1814, and entered Paris, after twenty-three years' exile, on May 3d. and the nation received the constitutional charter from his hands on June 4th. (See FRANCE.) The conduct of
the Government, however, was far from being constitutional or liberal. The nobles exercised an influence over the King which led to severe treat ment of the adherents of the Empire. (See WHITE TEnnoft.) Then followed Napoleon's re turn from Elba, when the King and his family fled from Paris, remained at Ghent till after the battle of Waterloo, and in July, 1815, returned to Paris. Louis issued from Cambrai a proclama tion in which he acknowledged leis forno• error:, and promised a general amnesty to all except traitors. Again, however, lie followed in many things the counsels of the party which detested all the fruits of the Revolution. The party struggle was bitter between the fanatical Royal ists on the one hand and those who desired a true parliamentary government 1)11 the The King succeeded in satisfying neither side, and the struggle was in progress this feeble monarch died. The head of the Ministry during the greater part of the reign was the Due de Richelieu, a man whose character won him the respect of the nation. The France of the 11estora tion lent itself to the polity of the Iloly Alliance, and the year 1823 witnessed the invasion of Spain by a French army, sent to reestablish the tyrannical sway of Ferdinand VII. Consult the :Memoirs of Vitrolles (188:3), Broglie (1880), Barante ( 1890 ) Ba sprier ( 1893 ) • Villele ( 1890 and Hyde de Yellville (1889) ; also Dulaure and Anguis. Histoire de in r(Yolation depais 181 juson'a 1830 (Paris, 1834-38) ; Daudet. Histoire cic lYmillration (ib., 188fi ) ; Ilistoire de la rrstauration (ib.,