Amédée Despans - Cubières General Amédée Louis de Cubières ( 4 March 1786 , Paris - 6 August 1853 , Paris ) , known as Despans - Cubières , was a French general and politician . Life . Youth . He was the illegitimate son of marquis Louis Pierre de Cubières ( page to Louis XV and squire to Louis XVI then , in 1815 , of Louis XVIII ) by Madame Guesnon de Bonneuil ( née Michelle Sentuary ) . As a child he played the role of Love at a festival given at the Hermitage at Versailles by his father and mother in honour of Marie - Antoinette . Aged 6 , Amédée Despans - Cubières was briefly imprisoned with his family in the prison des Récollets of Versailles after the day of 10 August 1792 , before he was made one of the " enfants de la liberté " raised by the state at the former abbey of Saint - Martin , before being welcomed into the Jordan family . In 1803 , at the request of his mother Madame de Bonneuil , he was adopted by his father and took his name . First Empire . Placed in the prytanée at Saint - Cyr , he entered the army as a private in the 1st Cuirassier Regiment in 1803 and entering the military school at Fontainebleau on 23 October 1804 , leaving it as a sous - lieutenant in the 15th Regiment of the Line . He served in that regiment in the Austerlitz , Prussian and Polish campaigns , being mentioned in despatches at Austerlitz and wounded at Jena ( 1806 ) . Promoted to lieutenant on 30 November 1806 he received the cross of the Légion d ' honneur at Eylau ( 1807 ) . Aide - de - camp to general Morand ( from 12 January 1808 ) , he followed him in the Austrian campaign of 1809 , the French invasion of Russia in 1812 and the 1813 German campaign . He fought with distinction at Eckmühl and rose to captain at Essling ( 7 June 1809 ) . He assisted at the battle of Wagram ( 6 July 1809 ) and had three horses shot from under him at the battle of Borodino . Napoleon I of France made him an officer of the Légion d ’ honneur in reward for his good conduct in the 1813 campaign , in which he had become chef de bataillon ( promoted 3 October 1813 ) . On 19 November 1813 , he was made colonel of the 18th Light Infantry Regiment . Also in 1813 he married the novelist Aglaé Buffaut , daughter of his own half - sister Marie - Michelle Guesnon de Bonneuil , at first vicomtesse du Bouzet de Marin then Madame Philippe Buffaut . On Napoleon ' s return from Elba in 1815 , colonel de Cubières was made colonel " à la suite " to the 1st Light Infantry Regiment , of which the titular colonel was Beurnonville . According to Jolyet , Napoleon reviewed this regiment on the day after his arrival back in Paris on 21 March and asked who was its commander . Cubières replied " Sir , it is colonel de Beurnonville ; but he is ill . " Napoleon replied " Beurnonville is not sick - it is you , colonel Cubières , who shall nevertheless take command of the 1st Light Infantry " . Cubières wished to decline , but Napoleon did not give him time to do so . Although devoted to Napoleon , Cubières demanded his soldiers to come out against the Acte additionnel aux constitutions de l ’ Empire , to mark the need for a liberal and reforming government . The 1st Light Infantry was thus the only regiment to vote against it . In 1815 , Despans - Cubières fought with his regiment at Waterloo and was wounded at Quatre - Bras and at Mont - Saint - Jean . Bourbon Restoration . According to Jolyet , Cubières was " the most valiant soldier and the best man - of - war that I have known . With this [ he brought ] a remarkable beauty , a brilliant spirit , [ and ] a generous and independent love " . One of the army ' s staff writing reports for the army dismissals after the Hundred Days stated that he had " an agreeable physique , [ was ] very instructive , an excellent colonel , [ who ] served with zeal and loyalty , excellent conduct " and decided that he was to be kept on in the Bourbon army . Despite that praise he lost his commission after the Hundred Days , but his father ' s influence at court allowed him to obtain the general receipt of the Meuse département and the cross of the Order of Saint Louis ( 1820 ) . He returned to the army for the Spanish Civil War of 1823 , and was put at the head of the 27th Regiment of Line Infantry . He also went on the Morea expedition with his regiment and received the brevet of maréchal de camp ( 27 February 1829 ) . July Monarchy . Promoted to commander of the Légion d ’ honneur ( 21 March 1831 ) , he was made commander - in - chief of the French troops landed at Ancona in the Papal States ( 9 February 1832 ) to occupy the town in reprisal for Austrian intervention at Bologna . Returning to France in 1837 with the rank of lieutenant - general , he next became Minister for War in the 1839 transitional government ( 31 March - 13 May 1839 ) then in Adolphe Thiers ' s second cabinet ( 1 March - 29 October 1840 ) . He attached his name to Paris ' s fortifications , to the decision to write a history of all France ' s regiments since Francis I and to the organisation of the chasseur s of Vincennes . Made a peer of France on 7 November 1839 , he took part in the discussions of the Chambre des pairs on taxes and roads before being raised to grand officer of the Légion d ’ honneur on 27 April 1840 . The Teste - Cubières scandal . After leaving the army , general Despans - Cubières was compromised in the Teste - Cubières affair , one of the worst scandals of the July Monarchy . Despans - Cubières had bought 159000 shares ( 7 % of the capital ) in a business which , under the " concession de Gouhenans " , had won authorisation to exploit the coal deposits in Gouhenans and the surrounding area . In searching for coal seams , the business had discovered a seam of rock salt and it demanded that it be given the concession to mine this , but was refused . Despite this , the business started extracting and selling the salt . One of its associates , Parmentier , was imprisoned and fined 500 francs and the salt mine was closed on 5 February 1835 . On 24 April 1841 , the business again demanded the salt concession . General Despans - Cubières proposed to buy the authorisation demanded from the minister for public works , Jean - Baptiste Teste , and in an 1842 letter to his associates indicated " There is no hesitation on the means by which we should create a supporter within the council [ of ministers ] . I have the means of arriving at this supporter , and it is up to you to provide the means of interesting him [ . . . ] Do not forget that the government is in the hands of greedy and corrupt men . " Teste accepted a bribe of 94 , 000 francs from the company . In the meantime , the 1844 novel " The Count of Monte Cristo " was published - according to Librairie Générale Française ( 1995 ) , its character of Fernand Mondego was inspired by general Despans - Cubières . The affair came to light in May 1847 during the trial of the associates of the mining company before the Seine civil tribunal . The company director , Parmentier , submitted in his defence several pieces of correspondence from general Despans - Cubières evoking bribery . The affair received massive publicity and the scandal echoed throughout government . The king decided to move the case to be tried before the Chambre des pairs . On 8 July 1847 , Teste , Despans - Cubières , Parmentier and a certain Pellapra ( former receiver - general who had served as intermediary ) were brought before the high court on corruption charges and on 17 July general Despans - Cubières was condemned to civic degradation and a fine of 10 , 000 francs . Even so , on 17 August 1852 he won a decree of rehabilitation at the court of appeal at Rouen . Allowed to retire as a général de division on 1 January 1853 , he died a few months later .