the bureau of the National Guard was soon formed, and established
in the residence which Marshal Moncey inhabited on the Rue du Faubourg
Saint-Honore, near the square Beauveau; and one master of requests and
two auditors of the council of state were attached to it. The master of
requests, a superior officer of engineers, the Chevalier Allent, soon
became the soul of the whole administration of the National Guard, no one
being more capable than he of giving a lively impulse to an organization
which required great promptness. The person from whom I obtained this
information, which I intermingle with my personal souvenirs, has assured
me that following upon, that is to say, after our departure for
Chalons-sur-Marne, M. Allent became still more influential in the
National Guard, of which he was the real head. In fact, when King
Joseph had received the title of lieutenant-general to the Emperor,
which his Majesty conferred on him during the time of his absence, M.
Allent found himself attached on one hand to the staff of King Joseph as
officer of engineers, and on the other to the vice-general-in-chief in
his quality of master of requests. It resulted that he was the mediator
and counselor in all communications which were necessarily established
between the lieutenant-general of the Emperor and Marshal Moncey, and
the promptness of his decisions was a source of great benefit to that
good and grave marshal. He signed all letters, "The Marshal, Duke de
Conegliano;" and wrote so 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