Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/185

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PIIECEDIXG THE INVASION. 155 translated the Look into several languages, and chap. presented the fruit of his labour, with, no doubt, 1_ an appropriate letter of dedication, to the General. Bugeaud was pleased ; and from that time until his deatJi he never lost sight of the judicious translator. St Arnaud was immediately put upon the General's staff", and soon became one of his aides-de-camp. When the Duchess of Berri fell a prisoner into the hands of the Government, M. St Arnaud, whose regiment was on duty at the place of her detention, found means to make him- self useful to the Government without incurring the dislike of his captive ; and he seemed to be in a fair road to promotion. But again the clouds passed over him.* In 1836, being then near forty years of age, he began yet another career by entering the 'Foreign ' Legion,' then serving in Algeria, with the rank of lieutenant. Every man of the corps, St Arnaud said, had passed through a wild youth ;f but with comrades of that quality a man might enter- tain better hopes of regaining renown than with a mere French regiment of the line; and St Arnaud at this time made a strong resolve. He said, ' I will be remarkable, or die.' And he re-

  • It must not be inferred that in the interval between Sep-

tember 1835 and November 1836 his name was (for the second time) out of the Army List. lie seems to have been employed at that time in the ' Gj-miiase Militaire ' (' Lettres du Marechal de St Arnaud,' vol. i. p. 9'2). t 'Jeunesse orageuse.' I translate this by the words, 'wild ' youth ; ' but I believe the phrase, in the mouths of Frenchmen, generally implies that the things done by the person spoken o{ are of a less venial kind than mv translation would imjily