Fouche

Joseph, Duke of Otranto, an French detective: born in Nantes, May 29, 1763. The Revolution, into which he entered with enthusiasm, found him teaching philosophy in Nantes. As he had not taken orders he married, became advocate, and was sent to the convention by the department of Loire-Inferieure. Here he was placed on the committee for public education, voted for the death of the king, and was implicated, at least nominally, in the atrocities of the period. He was minister of police under the Directory, and gained the favor of Napoleon who made him a duke, but with good reason never fully trusted him. After the battle of Waterloo, Fouche urged Napoleon’s second abdication, and advised him to seek an asylum in the United States. He placed himself at the head of the provisional government, negotiated the capitulation of Paris, obtained the removal of the army behind the Loire, and thus prevented usele bloodshed. Louis XVIII., who valued his ability, made him again minister of police; and it is to his credit that he labored ‘so zealously in favor of moderate measures as to incur the hatred of all the ultra-royalists. He died at Trieste Dec. 25, 1820.