STICHET, LOUIS-GABRIEL, Duke of Albufera, and marshal of France, was descended from an honorable family, and b. at Lyons, Mar. 2, 1770. He volunteered as a private into the cavalry of the Lyons national guard in 1792, and subsequently became attached to the army ofItaly. His rare intelligence and brilliant valor, displayed at Lodi, Itivoli, Castiglione, Arcola, and in numerous battles of less note, laid the foundation of his military reputation, and in 1798 he became gen. of brigade. The able manner in which lie, with a force not one-sixth of that of the Austrians, kept Melas in check (1800), pre venting the invasion of the s. of France, and ultimately capturing 15,000 prisoners, is one of the most brilliant military feats on record. Suchet also took a distinguished part in the campaigns against Austria (1805) and Prussia (1806), and was subsequently (April, 1809) appointed generalissimo of the French army in Aragon, where, for the first time, he appears as holding an independent command. The part of Spain committed to his charge, though inhabited by a people distinguished by their obstinacy and patriotism above all others in Spain, was completely subdued, more, however, through his just and able 'administration, and the strict discipline which he maintained, than by military talent. The latter quality he was only called upon to exercise against Spanish troops, which he had little difficulty in annihilating. In the first few days of 1812 he con
quered Valencia, and obtained in addition to his dignity of marshal (July 8, 1811) that of duke of Albufera, and the grant of a magnificent domain. The five campaigns which he made in the peninsula are considered perfect models of the kind of service he had to perform—viz., to rivet the chains of a foreign domination on the necks of a patriotic and high-spirited people. The details have been well given by him in his Illemoires sup ses Campagnes en Espagne (Paris, 1829-34, 2 vols. with atlas). But the misfortunes of the other French armies in Spain compelled Suchet gradually to relin quish all his conquests. He was created a peer by Louis XVIII., but took service under his old master after his return from Elba, and was charged with the defense of the s.w. frontier. Deprived of his peerage at the second restoration, lie did not return to court till 1819, when it was restored, and he soon rose high in royal favor. He died at the château of Saint Joseph, near Marseilles, Jan. 3, 1826. Napoleon's high opinion of Suehet's military talents is recorded by O'Meara and Las Casas, and, according to his classification, Suchet ranked second, Massena being first.—His son and successor in the dukedom of Albufera war a member of the corps legislatif, and a supporter of the Napoleonist policy under the emperor Napoleon III.