How far was Charles X responsible for his own downfall?

How far was Charles X responsible for his own downfall?

Following the death of his brother, Louis XVIII, Charles X inherited a very favourable position, as king of France in 1824. The country was at peace, prosperous and had recently been accepted into the Quintuple Alliance.  There was relative political unity and a general acceptance of the system of government by King, Deputies, Peers and Chief Minister. Yet, only a mere six years later Charles was overthrown in the July Revolution of 1830. How was this possible? Is Charles responsible for his own downfall or were other factors to blame for the demise of the Bourbon Dynasty.  

Comte d'Artois, later Charles X of France

Charles’ poor political judgment made him responsible for his downfall. This was largely due to his disregard for the Charter and his strong Ultra Royalist views. For instance, the Electoral reforms of 1827. In an attempt to gain an Ultra Royalist majority in the Chamber of Deputies Charles brought the first general election, planned for 1829, forward by two years and created 76 new peers in the Chamber of Peers to dilute the opposition. Charles and his Chief Minister Villèle believed this was necessary as after a high point in 1824, the Ultras were starting to lose control over the French political system. They knew that if the trend were to continue then by the 1829 general election the Liberals would win by a majority, subsequently putting them out of power for five years. The electoral reforms introduced by Charles made him responsible for his own downfall, because they alerted the opposition of his disregard for the Charter and his want to fall to corruption in order to maintain power.

Chief Minister Villèle

Further aspects of Charles’ poor political judgement which made him responsible for his own downfall was the appointment of Polignac as Chief Minister and the Four Ordinances. After the dismissal of the moderate and largely ineffective Martignac in 1829, Charles appointed Polignac, an extreme reactionary Ultra-Royalist. This sent shockwaves across both France and Europe as many assumed this was the first of many steps in Charles attempts of a Royal Coup to overthrow the Charter. In March 1830, Charles recalled Parliament, with his opening address to the Chamber of Deputies, he warned them not to attempt to block his laws, hinting that he would use force if necessary to impose them.  The Deputies reacted by passing a vote of no confidence in the government and demanded Polignac’s dismissal, which was passed by 221 votes to 181. However, Charles decided to stay by Polignac, and by the 1830 election the dismissal of Polignac reached tipping point with another vote of no confidence. Charles responded with the Four Ordinances; serious restriction placed on the press, dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, Reduced the electorate to 25,000 and fresh elections called for in September.