“Put ‘the 18th Brumaire,’ Bourrienne; the decree must take everybody by surprise. It must be issued at seven o’clock in the morning, and at the same hour or even earlier it must be posted on all the walls of Paris.”
“But suppose the Ancients won’t consent to issue it?” said Lucien.
“All the more reason to have it posted, ninny,” said Bonaparte. “We must act as if it had been issued.”
“Am I to correct this grammatical error in the last paragraph?” asked Bourrienne, laughing.
“Where?” demanded Lucien, in the tone of an aggrieved author.
“The word ‘immediate,’” replied Bourrienne. “You can’t say ‘transmitted immediate’; it ought to be ‘immediately.’”
“It’s not worth while,” said Bonaparte. “I shall act, you may be sure, as if it were ‘immediately.’” Then, after an instant’s reflection, he added: “As to what you said just now about their not being willing to pass it, there’s a very simple way to get it passed.”
“What is that.”
“To convoke the members of whom we are sure at six o’clock in the morning, and those of whom we are not sure at eight. Having only our own men, it will be devilishly hard to lose the majority.”
“But six o’clock for some, and eight for the others—” objected Lucien.