July Ordinances

July Ordinances, also known as the Four Ordinances of Saint-Cloud, were a series of decrees set forth by Charles X and Jules Armand de Polignac, the chief minister, in July 1830.

Compelled by what he felt to be a growing, manipulative radicalism in the elected government, Charles felt that as king by right of birth and not parliamentary privilege, his primary duty was the guarantee of order and happiness in France and its people; not in political bipartisanship and the self-interpreted rights of implacable political enemies.

The result was that on 9 July 1830, Charles announced that in his interpretation of, and in full compliance with, Article 14 of the Charte, he would henceforth govern by ordonnances. On 25 July, while a guest at Saint-Cloud, he signed the famous "July Ordinances" which were published in the Parisian newspaper Moniteur the following day.

These ordinances of 26 July:

  • Suspended the liberty of the press
  • Appointed new, and what many considered reactionary, Conseillers d'Etat
  • Dissolved the newly elected Chamber of Deputies of France
  • Reduced the number of deputies in future Chambers
  • Summoned new electoral colleges for September of that year
  • Withdrew the Deputies' right of amendment
  • Excluded the commercial bourgeoisie from future elections

It was intended to quell the people of France. However, the ordinances had the opposite effect of angering the French citizens. Journalists gathered in protest at the headquarters of the National daily, founded in January 1830 by Adolphe Thiers, Armand Carrel, and others. The final result was the July Revolution and Charles X's overthrow.

Famous quotes containing the words july and/or ordinances:

    People in Stamps used to say that the whites in our town were so prejudiced that a Negro couldn’t buy vanilla ice cream. Except on July Fourth. Other days he had to be satisfied with chocolate.
    Maya Angelou (b. 1928)

    And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today? But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children...
    Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 4:8,9.