ABSTRACT
Conservative Orleanists steered a cautious strategy of survival, conscious that France's former enemies remained suspicious that Imperial ambitions might be revived. Guizot promoted an entente cordiale with Britain, which tended to grow more or less harmonious depending on whether the anti-French Palmerston was in charge in London. The lack of idealism among Orleanists was criticised by diverse critics, from Alexis de Tocqueville, who thought they should show concern for contemporary social problems, and Karl Marx, who dismissed them as self-interested fat cats. Orleanist governments were accused of being committed to retaining power for a tiny elite and disregarding contemporary poverty. During the 1830s Orleanist socio-economic attitudes were attacked from all sides. Social catholics, like the legitimist deputy, Villeneuve-Bargemont, a former Restoration prefect, urged the re-birth of private charity and moral altruism, which he contrasted with contemporary neglect of the poor. The new provisional government immediately declared the constitutional monarchy at an end, and proclaimed France a democratic republic.
