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Minister of War Edmond Leboeuf

On the morning of the 17th of July 1869 the new Ministry was formed. Five of the old Ministry remained in office - Marshal Niel as Minister of War, Admiral Riguut de Genouilly as Minister of Marine : and for the Colonies, MM. Forcade de la Roquette, Minister of the Interior; Magne, Minister of Finance; Gressier, for the Public Works. The new Ministry was essentially peaceful. Public opinion had also turned away more and more from the idea of war, and devoted itself to winning internal freedom. Marshal Niel, who had laboured bravely and perseveringly under the most difficult conditions on the reorganisation of the army, and who wished that it might be employed as soon as possible against Germany - a wish which can easily understand - fell sick, and by the 8th of August 1869 it was admitted that some months at least must elapse before he could be restored to health. On the 13th of August he died.

Marshal Leboeuf, who was called by a decree of the 21st of August 1869 to the head of the administration of the army, was born in the year 1809. He was a pupil at the Polytechnic School, then at the School of Artillery at Metz, was captain in 1837, squadron leader in 1846, and was then, as Lieutenant-Colonel, Second Commandant of the Polytechnic School from 1848 to 1850. In this position he acquired the fame of being a good Republican. In the year 1852 he became Colonel, in 1854 Brigadier-General, and in 1857 General of Division. He served in the Crimean campaign, and in 1859 commanded the artillery of the Active Army of Italy. In January 1869 he received the command of the 6th Army Corps at Toulouse, and was afterwards in the same year Minister of War. In the spring of 1870 he was made a Marshal of France.

The Emperor was not at first much disposed to accept Leboeuf as Minister of War, partly, probably, because of the reputation he enjoyed as a Republican. In allusion to the name of the General, the Emperor, at that time very sick, said- "Il e'tait trop longtemps sous le joug." Still, unless it was wished to make some great mistake, there was at that moment only the choice between Leboeuf and Trochu. The latter, owing to his reputation as an Orleanist, to the shyness which he had always displayed towards the Imperial Court, and to his straightforward book on the French army, was not at all beloved in the Tuileries. In Leboeuf's favor weighed also, although as a bymatter, that he was an artillerist, and that really no artillery officer had been Minister of War since 1797 - Scherer. Marshal Mortier, Duke of Treviso (1834-1835), may by a great stretch be called an artillerist, and that the celebrated Francis Arago, Minister of War in April and May 1848, was, as pupil in the Polytechnic School, originally destined for the artillery.

Marshal Leboeuf accommodated himself very well to the Parliamentary regime which was to commence as he undertook his heavy task. He had rather bourgeois than courtier tendencies. Still he did not shun the Court life of the Second Empire, but took more part in it than was perhaps good for his health. Strange as it will now sound, the disposition of the Marshal was absolutely peaceful. He wished to economise in the army, and to raise its tone through less expensive institutions. For his own particular arm, the artillery, he did much, as he materially increased its strength in Divisions and Army Corps.