Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-02-22
GENERAL CHANGARNI r.
A short SRctch Of "a DistiugU ishe
French MlIitaire,

Nicolas-Anne-Theodu Changar-
nier died February 10Th at Paris,
at the age of eighty-four. He was
born at Autun, was graduated at
St. Cyr in the year Of Waterloo,
and took service in the royal guards.
He took an honorable part in the
Spanish campaign Of 1928, and
seven years later was sent to Algiers,
where his promotions We're rapid
and well-earned during the next
seventeen years. He figured con-
spicuOusly in the campaign Of Mar
shall Clausel against Achmet Bey ;
in the retreat from Constantine
upon Bone, where he protected the
column with singular success from
the harrassing Arabs; in the Iron
Gates and Medeah expeditions,
where he was wounded ; in a yigor-
Gus cavalry charge against the
Kabyle horsemen in far superior
numbers; and finally in the reduc-
tion Of the Arab tribes in the neigh
borhood of Tenez. He was a dandy
in those days, as indeed he con
tinued to be throughout life, more
or less, and it is recorded of him
that he invariably wore white kid
gloves into action. The Arabs
named him "the bending rose-tree"
for his grace and courtesy, but they
feared him as the most merciless
of foes. There is a terrible story
of his inviting certain captive
sheiks to breakfast, and causing
them to be invited out of the room
one by one by his orderlies, to be
shot in the courtyard below, while
the general calmly went on taking
his coffee with the survivors. In
1S47 the governor-general Of AL
geria, the Due d'Aumale, placed
him in command of the colonial
forces. A year later he went to
Paris asking service of the repub-
lie, but declining the Berlin mis-
sion. He put down the emeute of
April 16 that threatened the exist
ence Of the government; a month
later he succeeded his successor,
Cavaignac, in Algiers, being re-
called in June to a seat in the
assembly. Under Cayaignac's adj
ministration and for some time
after Louis Napoleon's election to
the presidency, Changarnier had
command of the National Guard at
Paris, and on two occasions of all
the forces gathered there. His
wellknown objection to republican
institutions earned for him the
reputation of a man who meant at
the proper time to be a monk and
the two years of his command were
stormy indeed.
After supporting the Presidents
power against the hostile or uneasy
assembly he in January, 1851, came
outagainst Louis Napoleon's policy,
and was removed from his COM
mand. The assembly proposed
confding to him the charge Of the
force designed for its protection,
but the measure fell through. Ma
poleon made sure of him among
his captiyes on that fateful night in
December which changed the
course of French history. On the
msrrow after the coup d'etat he was
arrested and sent to Mazas, being
in January, 1852, banished. He
made Malines his home, refusing at
first to return to France, though he
would have been permitted to do
SO, and only entering upon his es.
tates in Saone.et- Eoire after the
proclamation Of general amnesty.
On the breaking ont of the Franco
Prussian war he offered his services
to the emperor, but they were de-
clined. After the defeats of Worth
and Saarbruck, however, Napoleon
accepted them, and he was present
at the battles before Metz. Being
shut into the Virgin City with Ba-
zaine's army, he took part in the
negotiations for its capitulation-
his last military act In charac
teristic interview after the surren.
der of the city the old soldier de-
clared that Bazaine might have