GENERAL CANROBERT,
On assuming the command-in-chief of the French troops, addressed them thus:—
“Soldiers of the Army of the East, my comrades.—The melancholy circumstances under which has fallen upon me the high honor of being your commander-in-chief, would increase the weight of that task, if the co-operation of all were not assured to me in the name of the country and of the Emperor. Penetrated as I am with the grandeur of the historical mission which we accomplish on this distant land, you will each of you bring to it, each within your sphere, and with the most absolute devotedness, that active part which is indispensable to enable me to bring it to a successful termination.
“A few days more of sufferings and of trials, and you will have caused to fall at your feet the threatening bulwark of the vast empire which only a little time ago braved Europe. The successes which you have already gained are the guarantees for those which await you; but do not forget that the intrepid Marshal who was our General-in-Chief, prepared them by his perseverance in organizing the great operation which we execute, and by the brilliant victory of the Alma.”
GENERAL CANROBERT.
There is often an epoch in the life of a man when every incident in his career is invested with a novel and extensive interest, when the present reflects a lustre on the past, and recollection gives confidence to hope. So is it with the commander of the French army in the Crimea.
Francis Canrobert was born in 1809, in the department of Lot, some leagues from the village where Murat first saw the light. He entered the school of St. Cyr in the month of November, 1826, and obtained the highest honors in that establishment, after passing two years in laborious study. On the first of October, 1828, he was appointed to the sub-lieutenancy of the 47th regiment of the line, and was made lieutenant on the 20th of June, 1832. In 1835 he embarked for Africa, and arrived in the province of Oran, where the Emir, Abd-el-Kader, had held the French troops for some time in check. Soon after his arrival, he accompanied the expedition to Murcara, when he first distinguished himself. He followed with his regiment the movements of the generals Clausel, D’Arlanges, and Letang, in the province of Oran. The capture of Tlemcen, the expeditions to Chelif and Mina, the battles of Sidi, Yacoub, Tafua, and Sikkah, revealed his brilliant military qualities, and gained him the rank of captain on the 26th April, 1837. Captain Canrobert returned to France in 1839, with the decoration of the Legion of Honor. In 1840 he was on duty at the camp of St. Omer, when he composed, in obedience to the commands of the Duke of Orleans, several chapters of a Manual for the use of the light troops. In the month of October he was incorporated into the sixth battalion of Chasseurs-à-Pied, and returned to Africa in 1841. In this new campaign he signalised himself on all occasions.
He had been an officer of the Legion of Honor for ten years, when Colonel St. Arnaud, who in the year 1845 succeeded Colonel Cavaignac in the government of Orleansville, made use of his services against Bon Maga. He succeeded with two hundred and fifty bayonets in holding his own against more than three thousand men, who could make no impression on him; consequent upon these transactions followed his appointment to a lieutenant-colonelcy on the 26th of October.
It was in 1848, however, that Colonel Canrobert displayed energies beyond all praise. Cholera was raging in the garrison of Aumale, but the events which were passing at Zaatcha summoned them before the walls of this oasis. What courage and coolness did it require in the commander of the Zouaves to lead his soldiers in this manner through all the perils of an adventurous march; soldiers constantly accompanied by the afflicting spectacle of misery. He, as it were, multiplied himself. He exhorted the sick, devoted himself to them; threw a reinforcement into the town of Bon Sada, the garrison of which was blockaded; deceived the enemy, who opposed his passage, by announcing that he brought pestilence with him, and that he should communicate it to his assailants. On the 26th he led, with wondrous intrepidity, one of the attacking columns—but of four officers and sixteen soldiers who followed him to the breach, sixteen were killed or wounded at his side. In recompense for his conduct he was nominated Commander of the Legion of Honor on the 11th of December, 1849.
Having distinguished himself at the battle of Narah, he was elevated to the rank of general of brigade on the 13th of January, 1852.
He came then to Paris, and took the command of a brigade of infantry, and was attached as aide-de-camp to the Prince President of the Republic.
On the 14th of January, 1853, he was appointed general of division, still preserving his functions as aide-de-camp to the Emperor.
Three months afterwards he was called to the command of a division of infantry at the camp of Helfaut; lastly, being placed at the head of the first division of the army of the East, he has played one of the most active parts since the commencement of the war, both in making preparations for the difficult operation of the debarcation, and in contributing greatly to the success at Alma, where he received a wound.
It is well known that Marshal St. Arnaud, who had learned his value, had absolute confidence in his talents and bravery, and it is certain that the young general had neglected nothing to make him worthy of this confidence. Before his departure he was known to be occupied at the military depôt in profound studies, having for their object the knowledge of the theatre of war, as if he had a presentiment of his future destiny.