Charles Nicolas Fabvier Charles Nicolas Fabvier ( ) ( 10 December 1782 – 15 September 1855 ) was an ambassador , general and French member of parliament who played a distinguished role in the Greek War of Independence . Career under Napoleon . He was born at Pont - à - Mousson in Meurthe and was a student at the " École Polytechnique " before joining the 1st Artillery Regiment in Napoleon ’ s army in Germany in 1804 . He participated in the 1805 Ulm Campaign , and was wounded in the battle of Dürenstein . In 1807 , he was part of the French military mission to the Ottoman Sultan Selim III , tasked with shoring up the defences of Constantinople . Fabvier then managed to join the diplomatic mission of General Charles Mathieu Gardanne , Napoleon ' s envoy to Persia , who tried to combat British and Russian influence in the region . Fabvier was tasked with creating an artillery school and arsenal at Esfahān , and was awarded the newly constituted Order of the Lion and the Sun for his efforts . In 1809 , he returned to Europe via Russia , and served for a while as a volunteer in the Polish army of the Duchy of Warsaw . Arriving at Vienna , he was named captain in the French Imperial Guard . He served as aide - de - camp of Marshal Auguste de Marmont in Spain , and was sent by him to Russia to inform Napoleon on the Battle of Salamanca . He arrived at Napoleon ' s headquarters on 6 September 1812 , the eve of the Battle of Borodino . Fabvier was gravely wounded in this battle , leading the charge during the final assault on the Russian fortifications . Napoleon rewarded him by naming him artillery major in the VI Corps under Marshal Ney . He distinguished himself further during the operations of the War of the Sixth Coalition in Germany , and was raised to colonel of the General Staff and made " baron de l ' Empire " . He participated in the retreat into France , and on 31 March 1814 , on behalf of Marshals Marmont and Mortier , he signed the surrender of Paris to the Coalition armies . During the Hundred Days , he joined the frontier defence forces as a volunteer . Life after Napoleon . After Napoleon ' s downfall in 1815 , he continued to serve in the royal French army . In 1817 , he accompanied Marshal Marmont as chief of staff in quelling the riots at Lyon , provoked by the harsh conduct of the local military governor , General Simon Canuel . Soon after , he was suspended from his military duties for his liberal beliefs , and was arrested in August 1820 and charged with participation in a military conspiracy . Although he was released for lack of evidence , he was later called as a witness , but refused to disclose a name demanded by the public prosecutor , for which he was fined 500 francs . In 1822 , he was charged with aiding the flight of four sergeants at La Rochelle , but was acquitted . In 1823 he decided to leave France and went to Greece , to help the Greeks during their ongoing War of Independence . His first task was the supervision of the fortifications of Navarino . Then he travelled to Britain to drum up support among the Philhellenes . Returning again to Greece , he was appointed head of the small Greek regular army , with which he participated in several battles , most notably the Siege of the Acropolis of Athens in 1826 . In 1828 , he returned to France , only to return to Greece alongside the French Morea expedition . In 1830 , he returned to France and took part in the July Revolution . Initially chief of staff to General Étienne Maurice Gérard , on 4 August Fabvier was named military commander of Paris . In 1831 , he resigned his commission and retired with the rank Lieutenant General . Fabver was made a peer of France in 1845 , and in 1848 , he was sent as the French ambassador to Constantinople , and thereafter to Denmark . Back in France he was elected to the National Assembly of France as a representative of Meurthe . There he sided with the conservative group of the assembly . He retired from public life on 2 December 1851 , and died in Paris four years later .