In August 1815, an election was held for the Chamber of the Deputies. Louis XVIII was persuaded to increase the number of seats from 258 to 402, and to lower the eligible age for membership from 40 to 25. As a result, a majority of young, inexperienced and extreme royalists¡Xthe Ultras, were elected. The Ultras wished to restore the privileges of the nobility and the Catholic Church much as they had existed before 1789. They wished especially to put education under the control of the Church. They also believed the necessity of a rigid control of the press so that the government could completely control the public opinion. Some of their leaders, especially the influential writer Chateaubriand, wanted France to embark on a policy of warlike adventures abroad, to restore the tarnished military glory of France and thus make the loss of liberties at home acceptable to the people. You could imagine, a state under these Ultras would definitely not be liberal at all. They favoured the power of Catholic Church which was in outright opposition with the idea of liberalism, naturally, the peoples¡¦ rights and liberties would certainly be neglected. The majority of the Ultras in the Chamber of the Deputies made Louis and Richelieu unable to control their activities in the country. Finally, in 1816, Louis dissolved the Chamber of Deputies and ordered new elections, and was able to put a stop to the Ultra-Royalists¡¦ violent and extreme activities. It¡¦s liberal in a sense that the king was willing to get rid of these obstacles to liberalism, but however, it was not liberal on the other hand, that the king could dissolve the Chamber by his own desire. But the Ultra-Royalist movement was by no means dead, in the election of 1819, the results of the election was somehow unfavourable to the king that 21extreme republicans were elected. The government eventually proposed to alter the franchise, giving the larger landowners two votes instead of one. Further attempts were made to restrain the Ultras, the government began to reduce the liberties guaranteed be the Charter of 1814. Louis imposed a censorship on newspaper and other publications, abolished the secret ballot in elections and gave double votes to the great landowners. The Ultras were delighted that the King had been alarmed to such a policy that limited the peoples¡¦ liberties as they wished. The Ultras were able to achieve the dismissal of Richelieu and replaced him with a new minister Villele who could carry out completely the plan they desired the government to carry out.

Though he tried at all cost to restore the monarchy of Devine Right and destroy the liberties guaranteed by the Charter of 1814, he failed to achieve this, signified with his abdication in 1830.

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