The 48 Laws Of Power

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wrong

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LIFEor
SERTORIUS.

PLLTARCH.

cA1).46-120

Mr.S/iihhadtwosons:

om:loved

lreumi1zg.‘tIiv

othrr

war.

Thefirst

cxpourided

hismom!

teachings

atthe

rttlnziring

court

of

Ch’i

andwasmadeatutor.

whilethesecondtalked

strategy

atthehelli('o.\*e

court

of

Ch":4andwas

madeit

gerwriii.

'1'/te

impecuniour

Mr.

Mcng,

lwrtringnftharié

successes,

senthisown

two.S‘!)lL\‘outto

follow

thc

exampleof

tin’

Shih

bays.Thejirst

expmmdcd

hismom]

tmching.s'

atthemm‘!

afCh’a'rz,

butthe

King

of

C/finwill.’“At

present

flu:statesare

quarrr,-lingviolently

and

everyvprince

is

busyarming

his

troops

totheteeth.

If

I

followed

this

prigir

pratings

WK’.\‘lH)Lil(l

soonbeannihilated."

So

he

hadthe

fellow

castrated.

Meanwhile.

the.im'0nrlbmtlurr

tiispliiyezl

his

military

genius

atthecourt

of

Wci.Butthn

Kingof

Weisaid:“llrlirzeis:1

weakriatra.

l/‘I

ftfliell

on

farce

imzeati

of

dzplormtcy,

werlzould

soonbe

wiped

out.

If,"

onilwmlicr

hand,

Ilet

this

fire-eatergo,

hr

will

offer

his.\'ervice:;to

anotherstart:andthan

294 LAW 35

though

the

conspiracy

failed—Talleyrand

was

fired;

Fouché

stayed,

but

was

kept

ona

tight

leash—it

publicized

a

growing

discontentwiththeem-

peror,

whoseemedtobe

losing

control.

By

1814

Napoleon’spower

had

crumbledandalliedforces

finallyconquered

him.

Thenext

government

wasa

restorationofthe

monarchy,

intheform

of

King

Louis

XVIII,

brotherofLouisXVI.

Fouché,

hisnose

always

sniff-

ing

theairforthenextsocial

shift,

knewLouiswouldnotlast

long—he

had

noneof

Napoleon's

flair.Fouchéonce

againplayed

his

waitinggame,lying

low,

stayingaway

fromthe

spotlight.

Sure

enough,

in

February

of

1815,

Napoleonescaped

fromtheislandof

Elba,

wherehehadbeen

imprisoned.

LouisXVIII

panicked:

His

policies

hadalienatedthe

citizenry,

whowere

clamoring

for

Nap0leon’s

return. SoLouisturnedtotheonemanwho

could

maybe

havesavedhis

hide,Fouché,

theformerradicalwhohadsent

his

brother,

Louis

XVI,

tothe

guillotine,

butwasnowoneofthemost

pop-

ularand

widely

admired

politicians

in

France.

Fouché,however,

wouldnot

sidewithaloser:HerefusedLouis’s

request

for

help

bypretending

thathis

help

was

unnecessaiy—by

swearing

that

Napoleon

wouldneverreturn

to

power(although

heknew

otherwise).

Ashorttime

later,

of

course,

Napoleon

andhisnewcitizen

army

were

closing

inonParis.

Seeing

his

reign

aboutto

collapse,feeling

that

Fouchéhad

betrayed

him,

and certainthathedidnotwantthis

powerful

and ablemanon

Napoleon’s

team,

King

LouisorderedtheIni.n.ister’sarrestandexecution.

On March

16, 1815,

policemen

surroundedFouché’scoachon aParis

boulevard.Wasthis

finally

hisend?

Perhaps,

butnot

immediately:

Fouché

toldthe

police

thatan

exvmemberof

government

couldnotbearrestedon

thestreet.

They

fellforthe

story

andallowedhimtoretumhome.Later

that

day,though,they

cametohishouseandonce

again

declaredhim

underarrest.Fouchénodded—butwouldtheofficersbesokindasallowa

gentleman

towashandto

change

hisclothesbefore

leaving

hishousefor

thelasttime?

Theygave

their

permission,

Fouchéleftthe

room,

andthe

minuteswent

by.

Fouchédidnotreturn.

Finally

the

policemen

wentinto

thenextroom—where

they

sawaladder

against

an

open

window,

leading

downtothe

garden

below.

That

day

andthenextthe

police

combedParisfor

Fouché,

but

by

then

Napoleon’s

cannonswereaudibleinthedistanceandthe

king

andall

the

king’s

menhadtofleethe

city.

Assoonas

Napoleon

entered

Paris,

Fouché

cameoutof

hiding.

Hehadcheatedtheexecutioneronce

again.

Napoleon

greeted

hisformerministerof

police

and

gladly

restoredhimtohisold

post.During

the 100

days

that

Napoleon

remainedin

power,

untilWater-

loo,

itwas

essentially

Fouchéwho

governed

France.Alter

Napoleon

fell,

LouisXVIII

returnedtothe

throne,

and

like

a

cat

with

nine

lives,

Fouché

stayed

ontoservein

yet

another

goVemment—by

thenhis

power

andin-

fluencehad

grown

so

great

thatnoteventhe

king

dared

challenge

him.

Interpretation

Ina

period

of

unprecedented

turmoil,

Joseph

Fouchéthrived

through

his

mastery

oftheartof

timing.

Heteachesusanumberof

key

lessons.