FRANCE SNEEZED

France sneezed

France sneezed

France's great experiment in liberalism came to an end as Napoleon instituted a conservative dictatorship, stressing nationalistic principles. Napoleon's reforms were thorough. His attempts to institute a Bank of France on February 13, 1800, were marked with success, finally putting the country on a rational fiscal footing. He also oversaw the adoption of the Code Napoleon, an attempt to cut through the forest of judicial decrees enacted by the various parliamentary assemblies under the monarchy.

With Napoleon's exile to dismal St. Helena Island in 1815, Louis XVI's uncle, the Comte de Provence, ruled as Louis XVIII. (Louis XVI's ...