things he
accomplished, and the savings he made, without even the imputation of
avarice or meanness, with the sum comparatively inconsiderable of
fifteen millions of francs a year, are marvellous, and expose his
successors, and indeed all European Princes, to the reproach of
negligence or incapacity. In this branch of his government he owed much
to Duroc. It is said that they often visited the markets of Paris (les
halles) dressed in plain clothes and early in the morning. When any
great accounts were to be submitted to the Emperor, Duroc would apprize
him in secret of some of the minutest details. By an adroit allusion to
them or a careless remark on the points upon which he had received such
recent and accurate information, Napoleon contrived to impress his
audience with a notion that the master's eye was every where. For
instance, when the Tuileries were furnished, the upholsterer's charges
though not very exorbitant, were suspected by the Emperor to be higher
than the usual profit of that trade would have warranted. He suddenly
asked some minister who was with him how much the egg at the end of the
bell-rope should cost? 'J'ignore,' was the answer.--'Eh bien! nous
verrons,' said he, and then cut off the ivory handle, called for a
valet, and bidding him dress himself in plain and ordinary clothes, and
neither divulge his immediate commission or general employment to any
living soul, directed him to inquire the price of such articles at
several shops in Paris, and to order a dozen as for himself. They were
one-third less dear than those furnished to the palace. The Emperor,
inferring that the same advantage had been taken in the other articles,
struck a third off the whole charge, and directed the tradesman to be
informed that it was done at his express command, because on
_inspection_ he had himself discovered the charges to be by one-third
too exorbitant. When afterwards in the height of his glory he visited
Caen with the Empress Maria Louisa, and a train of crowned heads and
princes, his old friend, M. Mechin, the Prefect, aware of his taste for
detail, waited upon him with five statistical tables of the expenditure,
revenue, prices, produce, and commerce of the departments. 'C'est bon,'
said he, when he received them the evening of his arrival, 'vous et moi
nous ferous bien de l'esprit sur tout cela demain au Conseil.'
Accordingly, he astonished all the leading proprietors of the department
at the meeting next day