FOUCHE, JOSEPH, DUKE OF OTRANTO (1759-182o), French statesman, was born near Nantes on May 21, 1759. He was educated by the Oratorians at Nantes, and in Paris, and after wards taught in various schools. At Arras he had some dealings with Robespierre in 1789.
In Oct. 1790 he was transferred by the Oratorians to their college at Nantes, where he became a leading member of the local Jacobin club ; and on the dissolution of the college in May 1792, Fouche gave up all connection with the church, whose major vows he had not taken. In Aug. 1792 he was elected as deputy for the department of the Lower Loire to the National Conven tion. His sympathy with the Girondists soon gave way to an en thusiasm for the more violent doctrines of the Jacobins. After some preliminary hesitations, he demanded the immediate exe cution of Louis XVI. and denounced those who "wavered before the shadow of a king." The crisis which resulted from the declaration of war by the Convention against England and Holland (Feb. 1, 1793), and a little later against Spain, brought Fouche into notoriety as one of the fiercest of the Jacobins. The Convention deputed Fouche with a colleague, Villers, to proceed to the west as commissioners for the crushing of the revolt of "the whites" in La Vendee. He soon held the post of commissioner of the republic in the depart ment of the Nievre. With Chaumette, he helped to initiate the atheistical movement, which in the autumn of 1793 aimed at the extinction of Christianity in France. In the Nievre he ransacked the churches, sent their spoils to the treasury and established the cult of the goddess of Reason.
Fouche then proceeded to Lyons with Collot d' Herbois (q.v.) to execute the vengeance of the Convention on that city, which had revolted against the Jacobins. Toward the end of the Lyons terror Fouche exercised a moderating influence, though outwardly his conduct was marked by the utmost rigour. By that time Robespierre had struck down the other leaders of the atheistical party; but early in June 1794, at the time of the "Festival of the Supreme Being," Fouche ventured to mock at the theistic revival which Robespierre then inaugurated, and Robespierre procured his ejection from the Jacobin club (July Fouche, however, was working with his customary skill and energy, and with Tallien and others, effected the overthrow of Robespierre on Thermidor I o (July 28), 1794. In the intrigues which followed. a vigorous attack on him by Boissy d'Anglas, on Aug. 9, caused his arrest, but he was released by the amnesty which was passed on the proclamation of the new constitution of Under the Directory (1795-1799), Fouche established contact with the communists, once headed by Chaumette and now by Francois N. ("Gracchus") Babeuf (q.v.) ; whether he betrayed to the director Barras the secret of the Babeuf plot of 1796 is uncertain. In 1797 he gained an appointment for the supply of military materiel. After offering his services to the royalists, whose movement was then gathering force, he again decided to support the Jacobins and the director Barras (q.v.). In the coup d'etat of Fructidor 1797 he made himself useful to Barras, who in 1798 appointed him to be French ambassador to the Cisalpine republic. At Milan he carried matters with so high a hand that he was removed. Early in 1799 he returned to Paris, and of ter serving as ambassador at The Hague, he became minister of police at Paris (July 20, 1799). The newly elected director, Sieyes (q.v.), desired to repress the Jacobins, who had recently reopened their club. Fouche closed the Jacobin club and hunted down the pamphleteers and editors, whether Jacobins or royalists, who were obnoxious to the government, so that at the time of the return of Bonaparte from Egypt (October 1799) the ex-Jacobin was one of the most powerful men in France.
Fouche now lent himself to the schemes of Bonaparte and Sieyes for their overthrow of the directors, and furthered the coup d'etat of Brumaire 18-19 (Nov. 9-1o), 1799• During the Consulate (1799-18o4) Fouche was careful to temper as far as possible the arbitrary actions of Bonaparte. In this difficult task he acquitted himself with so much skill as to earn at times the gratitude even of the royalists, and he tried to save the Jacobins from the vengeance of the First Consul, especially in the "Plot of the Placards" in the spring of 1802. In any case Bonaparte re solved to rid himself of a subordinate who had too much power and skill in intrigue. On the proclamation of Bonaparte as First Consul for life (Aug. I, 18o 2) Fouche was deprived of his office; the ministry of police was suppressed, and most of its duties handed over to an extended ministry of justice. Fouche became a senator, and received half of the reserve funds of the police which had accumulated during his tenure of office. The information gained by his spies was so valuable to Napoleon at the time of the Cadoudal-Pichegru conspiracy (February—March 1804), that he now brought back Fouche to the re-constituted ministry of police (July 1804) . Fouche later on became minister of the interior. His police agents were ubiquitous, and the terror which Napoleon and Fouche inspired, partly accounts for the absence of conspir acies after 1804. After Austerlitz (Dec. 1805) Fouche uttered the mot of the occasion : "Sire, Austerlitz has shattered the old aristocracy; the boulevard St. Germain no longer conspires." While engaged in the campaign of Spain, the emperor heard rumours that Fouche and Talleyrand, once bitter enemies, were having interviews at Paris in which Murat, king of Naples, was concerned. Napoleon hurried to Paris, but found nothing to in criminate Fouche, who now became duke of Otranto. During the absence of Napoleon in Austria in the campaign of 1809, the British Walcheren expedition threatened for a time the safety of Antwerp. Fouche thereupon issued an order to the prefects of the northern departments of the empire for the mobilization of 6o.000 National Guards, in which he gave offence by the words : "Let us prove to Europe that although the genius of Napoleon can throw lustre on France, his presence is not necessary to enable us to repulse the enemy." The next months brought further causes of friction between emperor and minister. Napo leon found that Fouche had forestalled him in making overtures for peace to the British ministry in 1809. Fouche was dismissed ( June 3, 181o), but was made governor of Rome. Hearing of the emperor's anger at his refusal to give up certain documents of his former ministry, he prepared, soon after his arrival at Florence, to sail for the United States. But he found a mediator in Elisa Bonaparte, grand duchess of Tuscany, and was allowed to settle at Aix and finally to return to his domain at Point Carre. In 1812 he sought vainly to dissuade Napoleon from invading Russia; and on the return of the emperor to Paris at the close of that year, Fouche was suspected of complicity in the conspiracy of General Malet. From this suspicion he cleared himself and Napoleon sent him to administer the Illyrian provinces. On the break-up of the Napoleonic system in Oct. 1813 Fouche was ordered to Naples, to watch the movements of Murat. Before he arrived at Naples Murat threw off the mask and invaded Roman territory. Fouche returned to Paris on April 1 o, 1814, when Napoleon was being constrained by his marshals to abdicate.
At this crisis Fouche tried to gain favour with the new regime without compromising himself too deeply. When he found that there were no hopes of advancement, he entered into relations with Lafayette and Davout. Shortly before the return of Napoleon to Paris (March 19, 1815) Louis XVIII. offered Fouche the ministry of police, which he declined, saying, "It is too late; the only plan to adopt is to retreat." On the arrival of Napoleon he received for the third time the portfolio of police. Nevertheless he entered into secret relations with Metternich at Vienna, his aim being, as always, to prepare for all eventualities. Meanwhile he used all his powers to induce the emperor to popularise his rule, and is said to have caused the insertion of the words "The sovereignty resides in the people ; it is the source of power" in the declaration of the council of state. On June 22 Napoleon abdicated for the second time, and Fouche was elected president of the commission which provisionally governed France. Already he was in touch with Louis XVIII., then at Ghent. While osten sibly working for the recognition of the duc de Reichstadt, he facilitated the success of the Bourbon cause. But he could not conciliate royalists who remembered his vote as regicide and his terrorist record. He resigned office, and after acting for a time as ambassador at Dresden, he retired to Prague. Finally he settled at Trieste, where he died on Dec. 25, 1820. He had accumulated great wealth.
In Fouche the enthusiasm of the revolutionary period appeared as a cold, selfish and remorseless fanaticism; in him the bureau cracy of the period and the autocracy of Napoleon found their ablest instrument. Yet he was never a mere tool. He multiplied the means of resistance even to Napoleon, so that though removed from office, he was never wholly disgraced. While appearing to be the servant of the victors, present or prospective, he never gave himself to any one party. In this versatility he resembles Talleyrand, of whom he was a coarse replica. Both professed, under all their shifts and turns, to be desirous of serving France. Talleyrand certainly did so in the sphere of diplomacy; Fouche may occasionally have done so in the sphere of intrigue.