erefore, without indiscretion, state what I know respecting it.

The "black cabinet" was established in the reign of Louis XV., merely for
the purpose of prying into the scandalous gossip of the Court and the
capital. The existence of this cabinet soon became generally known to
every one. The numerous postmasters who succeeded each other, especially
in latter times, the still more numerous Post Office clerks, and that
portion of the public who are ever on the watch for what is held up as
scandalous, soon banished all the secrecy of the affair, and none but
fools were taken in by it. All who did not wish to be committed by their
correspondence chose better channels of communication than the Post; but
those who wanted to ruin an enemy or benefit a friend long continued to
avail themselves of the black cabinet, which, at first intended merely to
amuse a monarch's idle hours, soon became a medium of intrigue, dangerous
from the abuse that might be made of it.

Every morning, for three years, I used to peruse the portfolio containing
the bulletins of the black cabinet, and I frankly confess that I never
could discover any real cause for the public indignation against it,
except inasmuch as it proved the channel of vile intrigue. Out of 30,000
letters, which daily left Paris to be distributed through France and all
parts of the world, ten or twelve, at most, were copied, and often only a
few lines of them.

Bonaparte at first proposed to send complete copies of intercepted
letters to the ministers whom their contents might concern; but a few
observations from me induced him to direct that only the important
passages should be extracted and sent. I made these extracts, and
transmitted them to their destinations, accompanied by the following
words: "The First Consul directs me to inform you that he has just
received the following information," etc. Whence the information came
was left to be guessed at.

The First Consul daily received through this channel about a dozen
pretended letters, the writers of which described their enemies as
opponents of the Government, or their friends as models of obedience and
fidelity to the constituted authorities. But the secret purpose of this
vile correspondence was soon discovered, and Bonaparte gave orders that
no more of it should be copied. I, however, suffered from it at the time
of my disgrace, and was well-nigh falling a victim to it at a subsequent
period.

The letter mentioned by