To undertake "the act of the 2nd of December,"-- to execute it, and to complete it, he needed these men, and he had them.

Now he is surrounded by them; these men form his retinue, his court, mingling their radiance with his.

At certain epochs of history, there are pleiades of great men; at other epochs, there are pleiades of vagabonds.
But do not confound the epoch, the moment of Louis Bonaparte, with the 19th century: the toadstool sprouts at the foot of the oak, but it is not the oak.
M.Louis Bonaparte has succeeded.

He has with him henceforth money, speculation, the Bourse, the Bank, the counting-room, the strong-box, and all those men who pass so readily from one side to the other, when all they have to straddle is shame.

He made of M.Changarnier a dupe, of M.Thiers a stop-gap, of M.de Montalembert an accomplice, of power a cavern, of the budget his farm.