Using the political writings and practices of Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe, this article examines the notion of a representative Republic, forged, between 1795 and 1799, by this figure of republicanism, at once liberal and conservative. By relying for the period after Terror on a subtle analysis of the modern political game, this personage, close to Sieyes, presented his vision of a representative republic as the only possible alternative to the repeated crisis of the direc to rial regime. This statesman was at the center of a powerful network, which he did not fail to put at the service of Bonaparte during the events of Brumaire. This afforded him the possibility of putting into practice his political thought, as his central role in the drafting of the Constitution of the Year VIII attests.