Louis XVIII ruled France with a liberal Charter known as the CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER of 1814which was put in place by the Great Powers at Vienna as the Bourbons were being restored in France. The charter was intended to prevent any return to absolute rule in France.  Louis XVIII accepted the charter which set up a parliamentary system of government for France. The parliament in France had two bodies which were known “Chambers”.  There was the chamber of the “Peers” which served as the executive and the members of this chamber were nominated by the King. There was also the chamber of the “Deputies” and these members were elected by the voters or French men. This was important because the presence of a parliament in France meant that Louis XVIII would not impose his own rule the way Louis XVI had done before his overthrow. It was also in respect of revolutionary gains implying he had learnt something.

The charter granted important personal freedoms as established by the French revolution of 1789 like example equality before the law.  Louis XVIII put in place a judicial system where all Frenchmen were subjected to the same law. This was important because during the Ancient regime the peasants used to suffer because of the unfair judicial systemin which the nobles and clergy appeared to be above the law and on many occasions innocent Frenchmen would be arrested and imprisoned.

The charter also stated that every Frenchman had a right to participate in running the affairs of the government. Louis XVIII put this in practice by declaring that every Frenchman had a right to qualify for civil and military appointments. This was a good achievement on the part of Louis XVIII because he did not restore the old system of the Ancient regime where it was the clergy that dominated the civil service while the senior military officers were mainly from the nobility.

The charter condemned the arrest and imprisonment of people without trial. Louis XVI of the Ancient regime and his ministers used to issue warrants of arrest and imprisonment of the arrested opponents of the regime. Louis VIII did not want this to happen again and to show that he did not want to violate the charter he abolished arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of the Frenchmen.

Through the charter, Louis XVIII allowed freedom of worship. This shows that he had learnt some lessons from the French revolution of 1789. The revolution had abolished religious intolerance which was a practice of the Ancient regime whereby it was only the catholic faith which was allowed in France. Although the catholic faith remained the state religion, other religions were allowed in France by Louis XVIII. 

Through the charter, Louis XVIII allowed freedom of expression or press. He abolished censorship of the press which Napoleon Bonaparte I had put in place. The newspapers and other publications operated freely in France. This was something that the 1814 constitutional charter had emphasized and therefore it was an important achievement by Louis XVIII.

Through the charter, Louis XVIII maintained the status of land ownership in France. All those people especially the former peasants who had obtained land from the church during the course of the French revolution were allowed to retain the land. He also allowed those who had purchased the land and property from the church and from the nobility to retain the land and other property and this was also provided for in the constitutional charter of 1814.

Besides the constitutional charter of 1814, Louis XVIII scored other achievements for France. For example, although he encouraged the members of the royal family, the clergy and nobles who had ran to exile during the course of the French revolution of 1789 to return to France, he did not restore their privileges that they had enjoyed during the Ancient regime like exemption from taxation and domination of government offices among others. Therefore, Louis XIII did not restore the social classes in France as they had been abolished by the French revolution of 1789.

He appointed moderate royalists as Chief Ministers like Richelieu who was the Chief or Prime Minister of France from 1815 – 1818. This Prime Minister aimed at maintaining all the liberties that were guaranteed in the constitutional charter of 1814. Louis XVIII and his Prime Minister tried to avoid revenge against those politicians that had carried out the 1789 French revolution which led to their overthrow. The King and the Prime Minister for example made sure that no investigations about the political actions before 1814 were carried out.

Louis XVIII and his Chief Minister persuaded the great powers to reduce the war indemnity or fine which had been imposed on France. This war indemnity or fine had been imposed on France following the return and overthrow of Napoleon I and this was in the Second Treaty of Paris of 1815. The war indemnity of 700 million Francs was reduced to two thirds and it was paid by the government of Louis XVIII.

The government of Louis XVIII also persuaded the Great powers to remove the army of occupation from France. This army had been put in Northern France to make sure that France fulfilled the provisions of the Second Treaty of Paris of 1815. For example, when France paid the war indemnity, the army of occupation was removed and this restored the independence and pride of France.

He also restored the influence of France in European affairs. Following the payment of the war indemnity and the subsequent removal of the foreign troops from France, the great powers at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1818 were forced to admit France into the alliance of the major four (Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia) to form the Quintuple Alliance. France then rejoined European affairs as a partner rather than the enemy. It was in this new image that she sent French troops into Spain in 1823 to suppress a liberal revolution. Peace was restored and Ferdinand VII recovered his legitimate powers. This move however disappointed the liberals. 

Louis XVIII put up some economic developments during his regime. His government imposed high taxes on imports and this protected the local industrial manufacturers and agricultural producers. Their markets were protected from the superior foreign goods that entered France because they turned out to be expensive compared to the local products.

It was during his regime that the Frenchmen benefited from the parliamentary debates. The Frenchmen through the media accessed information from the parliament and became educated through the speeches of its many talented members on most of the great issues of the time.

The government of Louis XVIII re – organized the Frenchmen army. This army had fought the revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and by 1814 many soldiers had been killed and the survivors had been demoralized. The government of Louis XVIII recruited more soldiers, trained them and they were equipped and they were also put under the command of Marshal Cyr. Therefore, France had a modern army.

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