Vous consultezLe mouvement pétitionnaire pour la restauration d’Henri V (automne 1873-hiver 1874). Tactique politique et expression d’un légitimisme populaire

Abstract
1873 is the last opportunity for an eventual restoration of the monarchy in France, and the last chance for the Comte de Chambord to assume the crown. The popular movement of petitions which arose during the autumn of 1873 allowed the royalist people to burst into political action. Beyond the prince’s refusal in his Letter of Salzbourg (27th October 1873) to yield his « Drapeau blanc » (white flag) thus preventing the restoration of the monarchy, thousands of royalist petitions attempted to let resonate the usually mute voices of craftsmen and farmers, city dwellers and countrymen, intellectuals and illiterates, men and women from almost all origins of France. The West bocage lands (Brittany, the Vendée), the South lands (particularly the Gard), departments of the North and counties all along the Garonne river claim like « the King » in Exile their strong and undivided faith: royalism and Catholicism above all. In spite of its importance, the campaign of petitions seems to be like the last expression of former times. Only a few of these petitions are dealt with in The Chamber of Deputies. This is partly why the movement of 1873 fails as the Deputies are more interested in preserving in such unsteady times the future of France by finding a middle road between monarchy and a republican system of government.

Keywords

chamber of deputies, legitimism, petition, restoration, royalist