received by Junot with open arms. The army of Portugal had suffered much
in the two years during which it had struggled against both the
population and the English with unequal forces. Food was secured with
difficulty, and the soldiers were badly clothed, and half-shod. The new
chief of staff did all that was possible to remedy this disorder; and the
soldiers had just begun to feel the good effects of his presence, when he
fell sick from overwork and fatigue, and died before being able,
according to the Emperor's expression, to "make up for lost time."
I have said elsewhere that upon each conspiracy against the life of the
First Consul all the members of his household were at once subjected to a
strict surveillance; their smallest actions were watched; they were
followed outside the chateau; their conduct was reported even to the
smallest details. At the time the conspiracy of Pichegru was discovered,
there was only a single guardian of the portfolio, by the name of
Landoire; and his position was very trying, for he must always be present
in a little dark corridor upon which the door of the cabinet opened, and
he took his meals on the run, and half-dressed. Happily for Landoire,
they gave him an assistant; and this was the occasion of it.
Angel, one of the doorkeepers of the palace, was ordered by the First
Consul to place himself at the barrier of Bonshommes during the trial of
Pichegru, to recognize and watch the people of the household who came and
went in the transaction of their business, no one being allowed to leave
Paris without permission. Augel's reports having pleased the First
Consul, he sent for him, was satisfied with his replies and intelligence,
and appointed him assistant to Landoire in the custody of the portfolio.
Thus the task of the latter became lighter by half. In 1812 Angel was in
the campaign of Russia, and died on the return, when within a few leagues
of Paris, in consequence of the fatigue and privations which we shared
with the army.
However, it was not only those attached to the service of the First
Consul, or the chateau, who were subject to this surveillance.
When Napoleon became Emperor, the custodians of all the imperial palaces
were furnished with a register upon which all persons from outside, and
all strangers who came to visit any one in the palace were obliged to
inscribe their names, with that of the persons whom they came to see.
Every evening this register was carried to th
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