Armand Carrel was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 journalist and political writer.

Biography

Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Armand Carrel was born at Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

. His father was a wealthy merchant, and he received a liberal education at the Lycée Pierre Corneille

Lycée Pierre Corneille (Rouen)

The Lycée Pierre-Corneille is a school in Rouen, France. It was founded by the Archbishop of Rouen, Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon and run by the Jesuits to educate the children of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie in accordance with the purest doctrinal principles of Roman Catholicism...

in Rouen. , afterwards attending the military school at St Cyr. He had a deep admiration for the great generals of Napoleon, and his uncompromising spirit and independent views marked him as a leader. Entering the army as sub-lieutenant, he took a secret but active part in the unsuccessful Belfort Conspiracy. At the outbreak of war with Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 in 1823, Carrel, whose sympathies were with the liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 cause, resigned, and succeeded in escaping to Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

. He enrolled in the foreign legion

Foreign legion

Foreign legion or Foreign Legion is a title which has been used by a small number of military units composed of foreign volunteers.It usually refers to the French Foreign Legion, part of the French Army established in 1831.It can also refer to:...

 and fought gallantly against his former comrades. The legion was compelled to surrender near Figueres

Figueres

Figueres is the capital of the comarca of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain.The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museum designed by Dalí himself which attracts many visitors...

, and Carrel was taken prisoner by his former general, Damas. There was considerable difficulty about the terms of his capitulation, and one council of war condemned Carrel to death. The sentence was not carried out, and he was soon acquitted and freed.

His career as a soldier being finally over, Carrel decided to devote himself to literature. He went to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and began as secretary to Augustin Thierry, the historian. His services were found to be of great value, and he obtained admirable training as a writer, and lead himself to investigate interesting events of British history. His first work of importance (he had already written some historical abstracts) was the History of the Counter-Revolution in England, an exceedingly able political study of the events that culminated in the "Glorious Revolution

Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...

".

He gradually became known as a journalist for various periodicals; but it was not until he formed his connection with Le National

Le National (newspaper)

Le National was a French daily founded in 1830 by Adolphe Thiers, Armand Carrel, François-Auguste Mignet and the librarian-editor Auguste Sautelet, as the mouthpiece of the liberal opposition to the Second Restoration....

, a daily founded in 1830, that he became a power in France. At first, Le National was a collaborative effort by Adolphe Thiers

Adolphe Thiers

Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...

, François Mignet

François Mignet

François Auguste Marie Mignet was a French journalist and historian.-Biography:He was born in Aix-en-Provence , France. His father was a locksmith from the Vendée, who enthusiastically accepted the principles of the French Revolution and encouraged liberal ideas in his son...

, Auguste Sautelet, and Carrel; but after the July Revolution

July Revolution

The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...

 of 1830, Thiers and Mignet assumed office, and the entire management of the publication was left in Carrel's hands. Under his direction the journal became the foremost political organ in Paris. His judgement was unusually clear, his principles solid and well founded, his sincerity and honesty beyond question; and to these qualities, he united an admirable style, lucid, precise and well-balanced.

As the defender of democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

, Carrel faced serious dangers. Once, he was sent to Sainte-Pélagie Prison, and he appeared several times before the Tribunal

Tribunal

A tribunal in the general sense is any person or institution with the authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title....

 of Paris to answer for his journal. He was in equal danger from private enmities. Before his last fatal encounter, he was involved twice in duels with editors of rival papers. The final dispute which led to his duel

Duel

A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...

 with Émile de Girardin

Émile de Girardin

Émile de Girardin , was a French journalist, publicist, and politician. He was born in Paris in 1802, the son of General Alexandre de Girardin and of Madame Dupuy , wife of a Parisian advocate....

 was minor, and might have been amicably settled had it not been for Carrel's own obstinacy. The meeting took place on the morning of 22 July 1836 in the Paris suburb of Saint-Mandé

Saint-Mandé

Saint-Mandé is a commune of the Val-de-Marne department in Île-de-France in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.-History:...

. De Girardin was wounded in the thigh, Carrel in the groin. The wound immediately appeared to be dangerous, and Carrel was carried to the house of a friend where he died two days later, at age 36.

Carrel's works were published in five volumes with biographical notes by Émile Littré, (Paris, 1858).