was
entrusted with the execution of the order of the Council, and all of
the military forces in Paris were put at his disposal. In these hours
of the day there were all manner of preparation. That a conspiracy
existed was manifest to everybody. That General Bonaparte was reaching
for the supreme authority could hardly be doubted. His secretary thus
writes of him on the morning of the great day.

"I was with him a little before seven o'clock on the morning of the
eighteenth Brumaire, and, on my arrival, I found a great number of
generals and officers assembled. I entered Bonaparte's chamber, and
found him already up--a thing rather unusual with him. At this moment
he was as calm as on the approach of a battle. In a few moments Joseph
and Bernadotte arrived. I was surprised to see Bernadotte in plain
clothes, and I stepped up to him and said in a low voice: 'General,
everyone here except you and I is in uniform.' 'Why should I be in
uniform?' said he. Bonaparte, turning quickly to him, said: 'How is
this? You are not in uniform.' 'I never am on a morning when I am not
on duty,' replied Bernadotte. 'You will be on duty presently,' said
the general!"

To Napoleon the crisis was an epoch of fate. The first thing was to be
the resignation of Sieyes, Barras and Ducos, which--coming suddenly on
the appointed morning--broke up the Directory. Bonaparte then put out
his hand as commander of the troops. Too late the Republicans of the
Council of Five Hundred felt the earthquake swelling under their feet.
Napoleon appeared at the bar of the Assembly, and attempted a rambling
and incoherent justification for what was going on. A motion was made
to outlaw him; but the soldiers rushed in, and the refractory members
were seized and expelled. A few who were in the revolution remained,
and to the number of fifty voted a decree making Sieyes, Bonaparte and
Ducos provisional _Consuls_, thus conferring on them the supreme
executive power of the State. By nightfall the business was
accomplished, and the man of Ajaccio slept in the palace of the
Tuileries. He had said to his secretary, Bourriene, on that morning,
"We shall sleep to-night in the Tuileries--or in prison."

The new order was immediately made organic. There could be no question
when Three Consuls were appointed and Bonaparte one of the number,
which of the three would be _First_ Consul. He would be that himself;
the other two might be the ciphers which should make his unit 100