The 48 Laws Of Power

OBSERVANCE

OF

THELAW

Inthe

winterof

1872,

theU.S.financier

AsburyHarpending;

was

visiting

Londonwhenhereceivedacable:Adiamondminehadbeendiscovered

intheAmericanWest.Thecablecamefromareliablesource—-William

Ralston,

owneroftheBankofCalifomia—-but

Harpending

nevertheless

tookitasa

practicaljoke,probablyinspiredby

therecent

discovery

of

huge

diamondminesinSouthAfrica.

True,

when

reports

hadfirstcomein

of

goldbeing

discoveredinthewesternUnited

States,

everyone

hadbeen

skeptical,

andthosehadturnedouttobetrue.Butadiamondmineinthe

West‘

Haipending

showedthecabletohisfellowfinancierBaronRoth

schild

(one

oftherichest

men

inthe

world),

saying

itmustbea

joke.

The

baron,however,

replied,

“Don’t

betoo

sure

aboutthat.Americaisa

very

largecountry.

Ithasfurnishedtheworldwith

manysurprisesalready.

Per-

haps

ithasothersinstore.”

Harpending

promptly

tookthefirst

ship

back

totheStates.

When

Harpending

reachedSan

Francisco,

therewasanexcitementin

the

air

recalling

theGoldRush

days

of

the

late1840s.

Two

crustyprospec-

torsnamed

Philip

Arnoldand

john

Slackhadbeenthe

onesto

findthe

di-

amondmine.

They

hadnot

divulged

its

location,

in

Wyoming,

buthadled

.

aliighlyrespectedminingexpert

toitseveralweeks

back,

taking

acircular

route

sohecouldnot

guess

his

whereabouts.

Once

there,

the

expert

had

watched

astheminers

dugup

diamonds.BackinSan

Francisco

the

expert

hadtakenthe

gems

tovarious

jewelers,

oneofwhomhadestimatedtheir

worthat

$15

million.

Ha:-pending

andRalstonnowaskedAmoldandSlackto

accompany

thembacktoNew

York,

wherethe

jeweler

Charles

Tiffany

would

verify

the

original

estimates.The

prospectorsrespondeduneasily--they

smelled

a

trap:

Howcould

they

mustthese

city

slickers?Vifhatif

Tiffany

andthe

fi-

nanciers

managed

tostealthewholemineoutfromunderthem?Ralston

triedto

allay

theirfears

bygiving

them

$100,000

and

placing

another

$300,000

inescrowforthem.Ifthedealwent

through,they

wouldbe

paid

anadditional

$300,000.

The

miners

agreed.

Thelittle

group

traveledtoNew

York,

where

a

meeting

was

held

atthe

mansionofSamuelL.Barlow.Thecreamofthe

city’s

aristocracy

wasinat-

tx-,ndance——General

George

Brinton

McClellan,

commanderoftheUnion

forces

in

theCivil

War;

General

Benjamin

Butler;

Horace

Greeley,

editor

ofthe

newspaper

theNewYbrk

Tribune;

Harpending;

Ralston;

and

Tiffany.

Only

SlackandArnoldwere

missing—-as

touristsinthe

city,they

hadde-

cidedto

go

sight-seeing.

When

Tiffany

announcedthatthe

gems

wererealandwortha.

fortune,

thefinanciers

could

barely

controltheirexcitement.

They

wiredRoth-

_,

schildandother

tycoons

totellthemaboutthediamondmineand

inviting

themto shareintheinvestment.Atthe same

time,

they

also

told

the

prospectors

that

they

wantedonemoretest:

They

insistedthata

mining

ex-

I
pert

oftheir

choosingaccompany

SlackandArnoldtothesiteto

verify

its

'

wealth.The

prospectorsreluctantlyagreed.

Inthe

meantime,

they

said,

Now.tlnm:is

nothing

of

whichamunis

prouder

than

of

Imel-

iecvuul

ubiliIy,for

11 is

thisthat

gives

himhis’

mmmarzdingplan:

In

theanimalworld.1:is

an

e.rz:eerIingIy

rush

thing

tolet

anyone

we

(ha:

you

are

decidedly

3:upcriur10him

in[his

respect,

andtoletother

people

see

it

too.

.

..

Hence,

whilerankand

riciies

mayalways

rec

kon

upondeferen-

Iialrreamzmrin

sncirrzy;

thatis

s()mc,'2’hiIIg

u,hin'z

inzeitrrctmil

ability

can

never

expect:

Tobe

ignored

isthe

grecltcsl

favour

rliowri 10 it;and

ifpr-‘opts

rwliceitat

all,

itislwcausc

they

regard

Ifasa

pI'.c’r‘eof

impertmrmrr,

or

elseas

$(>metIn'ng

tnwhirl:its

p:n:¢e.v.s'rn'

[msno

legiti-

marc

right,

and

upon

whichhedaresIn

pride

hirIm’If.'

andinremind-

lionand

revengefor

his

conduct,people

soc-relly

Irv

am!lzunn'ii-

alehill!

in

someother

way.’

and

ifthey

wait

to

do

this,

1'1 15

only

for

41

fittingoppm'mm'iy.

A

man

may

berLHm!11bIv

as

p().s'.riI7lcii1

his

ilemcunour.

and

ye!

/mrdly

ever

getpeople

to

overlook

his

crime

in

xru/irling

imeI[ecm-

ally

abovethem.Inthe

GardenofRoses.Sadr‘

make-5thz:remark.-

"Youshouldknowthat

fuoli.s‘]1[imply

an!a

humiredfnlzi

mon-

uwerse 10

meeting

(he

wirethanI/In’wise

are

irutir/:<m’ci/or

(he

companyof

me

foolish."

LAW 21 15?‘