The 48 Laws Of Power

turned

against

Robespierre,shouting

downhisusual

lengthyspeech.

He

was

quickly

arrested,

andafew

days

lateritwas

Robespierre’shead,

not

Fouché’s,

thatfell‘intothebasket.

WlhenFouchéreturnedtothe

conventionafter

Robespien-e’s

death,

he

played

his

most

unexpected

move:

Having

ledthe

conspiracyagainst

Robespierre,

hewas

expected

tositwiththe

moderates,

butloand

behold,

heonce

againchanged

sides,

joining

theradical

Jacobins.

For

perhaps

the

firsttimeinhislifehe

aligned

himselfwiththe

minority.Clearly

hesensed

areaction

stirring:

Heknewthatthemoderatefactionthathadexecuted

Robespierre,

andwasnowabouttotake

power,

wouldinitiateanewround

ofthe

Terror,

thistime

against

theradicals.In

siding

withthe

jacobins,

then,

Fouchéwas

sitting

withthe

martyrs

ofthe

days

toeome—the

people

whowouldbeconsideredblamelessinthetroublesthatwereontheir

way.

Taking

sideswithwhatwasabout

tobecome

the

losing

teamwasa

risky

gambit,

of

course,

butFouchémust

havecalculated

hecould

keep

hishead

longenough

to

quietly

stir

up

the

populaceagainst

themoderatesand

watchthemfallfrom

power.

And

indeed,

although

themoderatesdidcall

forhisarrestinDecemberof

1795,

andwouldhavesenthimtothe

guillo~

line,

too

muchtimehad

passed.

Theexecutionshadbecome

unpopular

withthe

people,

andFouchésurvivedthe

swing

ofthe

pendulum

onemore

time.

Anew

government

took

over,

theDirectoire.Itwas

not,

however,

a

jacobingovernment,

butamoderate

one-———more

moderatethanthe

gov‘

emment

thathad

reimposed

theTerror.

Fouché,

the

radical,

had

kept

his

head,

butnow

hehad

to

keep

alow

profile.

He

waited

patiently

on

the

sidelinesfor several

years, allowing

timeto soften

any

bitter

feelings

against

him,

thenhe

approached

theDirectoireandconvincedthemhe

hadanew

passion:intelligencegathering.

Hebecamea

paidspy

forthe

government,

excelled

at

the

job,

andin

1799 wasrewarded

bybeing

made

ministerof

police.

Nowhewasnot

justempowered

but

required

toextend

his

spying

to

every

cornerofFra.nce—-~a

responsibility

that

would

greatly

reinforcehisnatural

ability

tosniffoutwherethewindwas

blowing.

One

ofthefirstsocial trends he

detected,

in

fact,

came inthe

person

of

Napoleon,

abrash

younggeneral

whose

destiny

he

rightaway

sawwasen-

twinedwiththefutureofFrance.When

Napoleon

unleasheda

coup

d’état,

onNovember

9,1799,

Fouché

pretended

tobe

asleep.

Indeedhe

slept

the

whole

day.

Forthisindirectassistance-«it

might

havebeen

thought

his

job,

after

all,

to

prevent

a

militarycoup-—Napoleoukept

himonasministerof

police

inthenew

regime.

Overthenextfew

years,Napoleon

cameto

rely

on

Fcmchémoreand

more.Heeven

gave

thisformer

revolutionary

a

title,

dukeof

Otranto,

and

rewardedhimwith

great

wealth.

By

1808,however,

Fouché,

always

at-

tunedtothe

times,

sensedthat

Napoleon

wasonthe

downswing.

Hisfutile

warwith

Spain,

a

country

that

posed

nothreatto

France,

wasa

sign

thathe

was

losing

asenseof

proportion.

Neveronetobe

caught

ona

sinkingship,

Fouché

conspired

with

Talleyrand

to

bring

about

Napoleon’s

downfall.Al—

possesxing

a

flowing

mil,

whichwasremark-

able

for

thethickness

and

baauqvofits

flair.

By

thesirlc

ofthe

weak

Item:sloodatall

jrrrmg

man.and

by

the-

ride

of

the

povmrful

horseashortman

of

mmn

plxyslqne.

At1:

xignal

rim

strong

man

seized

themil

afhii

horseandtried

with

all

his

.$'lYE’fl[{[]l

to

pull

it

inwards

him,

as

if

10

tearit

of}:

whilethe

weakman

began

I!)

pull

[hehairsone

by

one

from

thetail

of

the

strong

lim-sr.e.

The

strong

man,

after

tugging

withullhis

might

tono

purpose

and

(‘during

the

specta-

Iwas‘it

great

deal

of

amusmzwnlinthe

protresmfirlullygaveup

tlw

attempt,

whilethe

weakman

quirkly

and

with

very

little

trouble

.3‘!l‘l[Ip¢’¢l

hishr_vrse’stail

(romp/elely

bare.There

.S'm‘t(>rizl.rratetohis

feet

and

said,

“Now

you

can381’.

nay‘

friemis’

andallies.(I111!

perse-

veranceismore

effrc»

riveI/muhrulc

strength,

andthat(hereare

many

difficulllex

thul(armor

beovercome

ifyoutry

10 do

mmrything

at

once.butwhichwill

yieldlfyuu

master

themlittle

by

little.The

truthisthata

steady

continu0u.\'

effort

is

irresistible,for

thisis

the

way

in.whichTime

captures

andsarbdrms

the

grremeszpowers

on

eanh.Now

Time,you

yhaultl

remmwer,

isa

goodfriend

and

ally

I0

tli().s'z,'whousetheir

liztelliglance

InC/10().$'(€

the

right

moment.buta

marl

dangerousenemy

LAW 35 293