Journalist and French soldier in carriage (7)
I believe the answer is:
hackney
'carriage' is the definition.
(hackney is a kind of carriage)
'journalist and french soldier' is the wordplay.
'journalist' becomes 'hack' (I've seen this in other clues).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'french soldier' becomes 'ney' (Michel Ney).
'hack'+'ney'='HACKNEY'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for hackney that I've seen before include "A kind of taxi or car for hire" , "draught horse" , "Old cab - London borough" , "Carriage for hire" , "district of London" .)