He takes thence a paper; reads it to a minister; it is a decree.

The minister assents or dissents.

If he dissents, Louis Bonaparte throws the paper back into the drawer, where there are many other papers, the dreams of an omnipotent man, shuts the drawer, takes out the key, and leaves the room without saying a word.

The minister bows and retires, delighted with the deference which has been paid to his opinion.

Next morning the decree is in the _Moniteur_.
Sometimes with the minister's signature.
Thanks to this _modus operandi_, he has always in his service the unforeseen, a mighty weapon, and encountering in himself no internal obstacle in that which is known to other men as conscience, he pursues his design, through no matter what, no matter how, and attains his goal.
He draws back sometimes, not before the moral effect of his acts, but before their material effect.