28 JUNE 1997, Page 27

Cherchez les Ames

Sir: In the spring of 1855, at the height of the Crimean War, Prince Napoleon (Napoleon III's disreputable cousin) wrote in a pamphlet about French soldiers besieg- ing Sebastopol that Tarmee francaise est une armee de lions command& par des Was this bitter comment widely spread? If so, how did it eventually reach Alan Clark (Letters, 14 June)?

Stuart Preston

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