Number 2. The second of the month was Louis Napoleon’s day. It was also one of the days of his uncle, the other being the fifteenth.
The coup d’état was December 2; he was made emperor December 2, 1852; the Franco-Prussian war opened at Saarbrück, August 2, 1870; he surrendered his sword to William of Prussia, September 2, 1870.
Napoleon I. was crowned December 2, 1804; and the victory of Austerlitz was December 2, 1805.
Numerical Curiosities. 1. 1869, the last year of Napoleon’s glory; the next year was that of his downfall. As a matter of curiosity, it may be observed that if the day of his birth, or the day of the empress’s birth, or the date of the capitulation of Paris, be added to that of the coronation of Napoleon III., the result always points to 1869. Thus, he was crowned 1852; he was born 1808; the Empress Eugénie was born 1826: the capitulation of Paris was 1871. Whence:
| 1852 | 1852 | 1852 | coronation | ||||||||
| 1 |
| birth of Napoleon. | 1 |
| birth of Eugénie. | 1 |
| capitulation of Paris. | |||
| 8 | 8 | 8 | |||||||||
| 0 | 2 | 7 | |||||||||
| 8 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||
| 1869 | 1869 | 1869 | |||||||||
2. 1870, the year of his downfall. By adding the numerical values of the birth date either of Napoleon or Eugénie to the date of the marriage, we get their fatal year of 1870. Thus, Napoleon was born 1808; Eugénie, 1826; married, 1853.
| 1853 | 1853 | year of marriage. | |||||
| 1 |
| birth of Napoleon. | 1 |
| birth of Eugénie. | ||
| 8 | 8 | ||||||
| 0 | 2 | ||||||
| 8 | 6 | ||||||
| 1870 | 1870 | ||||||
2. Empereur. The votes for the president to be emperor were 7,119,791; those against him were 1,119,000. If now the numbers 711979r/
be written on a piece of paper, and held up to the light, the reverse side will show the word empereur. (The dash is the dividing mark, and forms the long stroke of the “p.”)