* CHANGARNIER, NICOLAS-ANNE-THEODULE, the recent confidant, and to some extent the rival of Louis Napoleon, was born at Autun, on the 26th of April 1793. In early life, he was a strong partisan of the legitimist cause, having served in the king's body guard, which he entered as a private, January 10, 1815. In 1821 he waa transferred to the 60th regiment of the line, and accompanied the Duke of Angouleme to Spain two years afterwards. Already, in that campaign, the brilliant courage and the capacity of the young soldier drew attention upon him.
After the revolution of July in 1830, he went as captain of the 2nd Leger to Algeria; where his great activity and constant success, caused him to be sent on many perilous expeditions, in all of which his genius for war gave so much tone and dignity to his enterprises, that he was in reality the general, and his small troop an army. He soon became a chef-de-bataillon, and the first unsuccessful attempt upon Constantine, which overshadowed the fame of his brother officers, gave new life to that of Changarnicr. Having reached Mansourah (November 24, 1836), at the moment when the 59th and 63rd were in full retreat, Changarnier, with his battalion, reduced to 300 men, took up the ground between the rest of their army and the main body of the enemy. Halting his men, and forming them into a square, he said to them : "Come, lads, let us look those fellows in the face ; they are 6000, we are 300, so the game is equal." Inspirited by the cool decision of their leader, his brave followers met the enemy with intrepid firmness, and drove them back with considerable slaughter. During the conflict a ball reached him in the middle of his square. He was made lieutenant-colonel of the 10th line for his conduct in this affair ; then a colonel in 1838.
Constantly in the field, his history and that of the French war iu Algeria are one. On the 4th of April 1841, when Medeyah was pro visioned, General Changarnier's brigade was fiercely attacked in the Bois des Oliviera, both in flank and rear, by the cavalry and regular battalions of Abd-el-Kader. Struck on the shoulder, and supposed to be mortally wounded, he refused to quit the field ; but alighting a moment, had the ball extracted, again led his column, and cut his way into the town. In November of the same year, he cleared the country about Boufarick of several wild tribes, taking many prisoners, and an immense herd of cattle.
His famous expedition in the mountains of Ouarencenes, iu company with the Duke of Aumale, largely contributed to the establishment of the French anpremacy in Algeria. On the 9th of April 1843 he received the appointment of lieutenant-general. He was scut on almost every expedition, and took part in almost every engagement. Clause', Vallee, Bugeaud, and the Orleans' princes, spoke of him in the same terms of admiration, His own character lent a greatness to occasions which in themselves were small.
In 1893 he drew a circle round the country of the Beni-Menaces-, where the Emir was once more raising the spirit of revolt, and subdued those warlike mountaineers. With this operation the long series of his exploits in Africa came to a close ; and the general returned to France, after a most arduous service of thirteen years. In the month of September 1847, the Duke of Aumale having succeeded Marshal Bugeaud in tho government of Algeria, became anxious to avail him self of the talents of his former comrade, and induced him to accept the command of the army in Algiers. The events which followed in February 1848 removed the prince from that province, but before he left the country he committed the charge of government, provisionally, to the generaL On the arrival of General Cavaignac soon after, Chau gamier delivered to the army an able address on the value and duty of obedience to the state, and returned to France.
He was now one of the Triumvirate of great names in France, and in May 1848 was appointed governor-general of Algeria, in the room of Cavaignac, whose presence had been deemed indispensable in the capital. On the 13th of June 1849, it was his good fortune to sup press, or rather to prevent, an insurrection in Paris by the strength and rapidity of his preparations. On the election of the president of the French republic, Changarnier was appointed Commander of the First Military Division, and all the military power of the metropolis centred in his hands. But this power, and the prestige of his military fame, gave umbrage to Louis Napoleon, who abolished his command, and reduced him to the state of a private citizen. On the 2nd of December 1851 he was arrested, and exiled soon after. He has since resided chiefly at Brussels.
(Dietionnaire de Conversation ; History of General Changarnier, by Fr* * *; Corkran, History of the National Assembly.)