Chamber of Representatives (France)
The Chamber of Representatives (French: Chambre des représentants) was the popularly-elected lower body of the French Parliament set up under the Charter of 1815. The body had 629 members who were to serve five-year terms.[1] The upper body was the Chamber of Peers.
Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinais served as president of this body while it existed.[2]
The Chamber of Representatives was short-lived. At the end of the Hundred Days, with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, the chamber issued Napoleon a demand for abdication as Emperor of the French.[3] On 22 June 1815 the Chamber of Representatives elected three members (Carnot, the duc d'Otrante, and the comte Grenier) of a five-member commission, the Commission de gouvernement, to constitute a new government, and on 23 June 1815 the Chamber of Representatives named Napoleon II as Emperor.[3]
The allied powers of the Seventh Coalition soon occupied Paris, and the chamber capitulated on 3 July. It soon became clear that the occupiers wished to again restore the Bourbon monarchy. On 8 July 1815, the chamber was kept from meeting by armed force, effectively ending it.[3]
With the restoration of the Bourbons, the Chamber of Deputies was returned as the lower body of Parliament. The reactionary Ultra-royalist delegation that was seated in October 1815 was nicknamed the Chambre introuvable.
References
- ↑ The Act Additional April 22, 1815
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 France: Commission of Government: 1815
