slowly that M. Allent had, so to speak, time to write the correspondence
while the marshal was signing his name. The auditors to the council of
state duties of the two were nothing, or nearly so; but these men were by
no means nobodies, as has been asserted, though a few of that character
of course slipped into the council, since the first condition for holding
this office was simply to prove an income of at least six thousand
francs. These were Messieurs Ducancel, the dean of the auditors, and M.
Robert de Sainte-Croix. A shell had broken the latter's leg during the
return from Moscow; and this brave young man, a captain of cavalry, had
returned, seated astride a cannon, from the banks of the Beresina to
Wilna. Having little physical strength, but gifted with a strong mind,
M. Robert de Sainte-Croix owed it to his moral courage not to succumb;
and after undergoing the amputation of his leg, left the sword for the
pen, and it was thus he became auditor to the council of state.

The week after the National Guard of the city of Paris had been called
into service, the chiefs of the twelve legions and the general staff were
admitted to take the oath of fidelity at the Emperor's hands. The
National Guard had already been organized into legions; but the want of
arms was keenly felt, and many citizens could procure only lances, and
those who could not obtain guns or buy them found themselves thereby
chilled in their ardor to equip themselves. Nevertheless, the Citizen
Guard soon enrolled the desired number of thirty thousand men, and by
degrees it occupied the different posts of the capital; and whilst
fathers of families and citizens employed in domestic work were enrolled
without difficulty, those who had already paid their debts to their
country on the battlefield also demanded to be allowed to serve her
again, and to shed for her the last drop of their blood. Invalided
soldiers begged to resume their service. Hundreds of these brave
soldiers forgot their sufferings, and covered with honorable wounds went