# Tablets to Napoleon III: Comparison

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> This overview was originally prepared for students of the Wilmette Institute. In attempting to piece together what we know about these two Tablets I looked up what I could in a few sources, including The
> Leiden List of the Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh (bahai-library.com/resources/leiden.list),
> the Bibliography for the Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh
> (bahai-library.com/resources/1868-77.html and at .../1877-92.html), God Passes
> By, and a letter from the Universal House of Justice online at
> bahai-library.com/uhj/napoleon.victoria.html. Here's most of the salient
> historical information I can find about these two Tablets (additions or
> corrections would be appreciated):
> 
>  
> 
> 
> Lawh-i
> Napulyun I(First Tablet to Napoleon III)
> 
> Lawh-i Napulyun II(Second Tablet to Napoleon III)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dates:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lawh-i
> Napulyun I (First Tablet to Napoleon III), was written in Edirne, "[a]lmost
> immediately after the "Most Great Separation" had been effected" (Shoghi
> Effendi, God Passes By, 171. The "Most Great Separation" can be dated to
> March 1866 (Basic Bahá'í Chronology), so we can safely assume that the
> Tablet was revealed sometime between early 1866 and 1867. (Shoghi Effendi's use
> of the word "immediately" here does not necessarily mean the next week or the
> next month, though it could. In a book covering one hundred years of history,
> as God Passes By does, "almost immediately" could conceivably be even a couple months.)
> 
> 
> Lawh-i Napulyun II (Second Tablet to Napoleon III), was written in Akká, while
> Bahá'u'lláh was living in the barracks. In God Passes By, page 207,
> Shoghi Effendi writes: "To the Emperor of the French, Napoleon III, the most
> prominent and influential monarch of his day in the West, designated by Him as
> the "Chief of Sovereigns," and who, to quote His words, had "cast behind his
> back" the Tablet revealed for him in Adrianople, He, while a prisoner in the
> army barracks, addressed a second Tablet and transmitted it through the French
> agent in Akká." Here are the dates we can use to figure this out: From the
> Basic Bahá'í Chronology, we get the following information:
> 
> 1868
> Aug. 12: Bahá'u'lláh and His family set out for Gallipoli
> Aug. 21: Bahá'u'lláh and His family leave Gallipoli
> Aug. 21: the steamer docks at Alexandria
> Aug. 31: the steamer arrives in Haifa; Bahá'u'lláh and His family begin a
> 2-year, 2-month, 5-day confinement in a citadel
> 
> 1870
> Oct.: Bahá'u'lláh is moved to the house of Malik, where He stays for three
> months
> 
> This means that Bahá'u'lláh would have written this letter sometime between
> Aug. 1868 and Oct. 1870. In Epistle to the Son of the Wolf page 45,
> Bahá'u'lláh writes "After Our arrival in the Most Great Prison there reached Us
> a letter from his Minister, the first part of which was in Persian, and the
> latter in his own handwriting." This woud seem to indicate that the second
> Tablet would have been written in 1868-69. The Leiden List gives the date of
> revelation as "1869," but doesn't specify a source for that information.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Translations:
> 
> 
> 
> This
> Tablet is not translated. Bahá'u'lláh Himself mentions the Tablet in Epistle
> to the Son of the Wolf page 45, where He says "...Among them was Napoleon
> III, who is reported to have made a certain statement, as a result of which We
> sent him Our Tablet while in Adrianople.  To this, however, he did not reply..."
> 
> 
> Sections of this Tablet are translated in Gleanings CLVIII, CVII
> (Súratu'l-Haykal), Epistle to the Son of the Wolf 46-56, and
> Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh 17-23. The section trans. in Promised Day
> is Come 46-49 (page numbers differ in different editions) is extracts from
> the text trans. in Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh 17-23, with minor
> variations, but Promised Day is Come 48 has one paragraph beginning
> "Abandon thy palaces" which is is not in Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh. A
> section included in Epistle to the Son of the Wolf 49-50 as part of this
> tablet is separately presented in Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh 95-6 with
> some translation differences. Some passages were also translated and included
> in Moojan Momen's Selections from the Writings of E.G. Browne, 273-4,
> 311.
> 
> Note, too, this clue in the text: "Thus have the mighty verses of Thy Lord been again sent down unto thee" (emphasis added).
> 
> 
> References from other sources:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mention of recipient Bahá'u'lláh Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh 210;
> Kitáb-i-Aqdas 15, K86, 164, notes 117-8; discussion of recipient
> Abdu'l-Bahá Some Answered Questions 32-3; discussion of France in the
> 1870s Secret of Divine Civilization 62-3, PUP 27-8, 203, 211, 223, 398,
> 432; mention of Napoleon I 67-8; God Passes By 173, 207-8, 225-6;
> mentions of tablet and recipient Promised Day Is Come paragraphs 39,
> 69-70, 83, 116, 118, 120-6, 140; Balyuzi Eminent Bahá'ís 208-9; quoted
> Taherzadeh Covenant 22-3; discussion of tablet Taherzadeh Revelation
> of Bahá'u'lláh vol.2 368-9; mention of tablet Revelation vol.3 109-10
> 
> mention
> in Basic Bahá'í Dictionary 13 and photograph of subject in ibid. 131;
> date in A Basic Bahá'í Chronology 88; Some Answered Questions
> 32-33; Promulgation of Universal Peace 27-28, 211, 223; God Passes
> By 207; Promised Day is Come 32, 77, 79-84, 92; comments from the
> Universal House of Justice on Napoleon's response to this Tablet at
> Bahái-library.org/uhj/napoleon.victoria.html; discussion in Revelation of
> Bahá'u'lláh vol. 2 369; vol.3 81, 110-115, 149, 201; mention of subject in
> vol.4 95, 249, 388, 434; Bahá'u'lláh: King of Glory 320, 352, 392, 426;
> Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh 21-22; 'Abdul-Bahá: Centre of the
> Covenant 63.
> 
> mention of subject in Hatcher/Martin's Bahá'í Faith...Global Religion
> 45-46; discussion of Tablet and subject Juan Cole Modernity and the
> Millennium 60, 63-64, 76, 124, 127, 131, 155; discussion of Tablet's
> prophecy in Gary Matthews Challenge of Bahá'u'lláh 43-44; some comments
> on Bahá'u'lláh's address of subject in this Tablet in Juan Cole "Iranian
> Millenarianism and Democratic Thought in the 19th Century" in International
> Journal of Middle East Studies 24 (1992), 1-26 passim.
> 
> 
> Authoritative information:
> 
> 
> 
> God
> Passes By 171-72:
> 
> Almost immediately after the "Most Great Separation" had been effected, the
> weightiest Tablets associated with His sojourn in Adrianople were revealed. The
> Súriy-i-Mulúk, the most momentous Tablet revealed by
> Bahá'u'lláh; ... the first Tablet to Napoleon III, in which the
> Emperor of the French is addressed and the sincerity of his professions put to
> the test;...  — these may be regarded not only as the most outstanding among the
> innumerable Tablets revealed in Adrianople, but as occupying a foremost
> position among all the writings of the Author of the Bahá'í
> Revelation.
> 
> God Passes By 173:
> 
> ... To Napoleon III Bahá'u'lláh addressed a specific Tablet,
> which was forwarded through one of the French ministers to the Emperor, in
> which He dwelt on the sufferings endured by Himself and His followers; avowed
> their innocence; reminded him of his two pronouncements on behalf of the
> oppressed and the helpless; and, desiring to test the sincerity of his motives,
> called upon him to "inquire into the condition of such as have been wronged,"
> and "extend his care to the weak," and look upon Him and His fellow-exiles
> "with the eye of loving-kindness." 
> 
> God
> Passes By 207:
> 
> ... To the Emperor of the French, Napoleon III, the most prominent and
> influential monarch of his day in the West, designated by Him as the "Chief of
> Sovereigns," and who, to quote His words, had "cast behind his back" the Tablet
> revealed for him in Adrianople, He, while a prisoner in the army barracks,
> addressed a second Tablet and transmitted it through the French agent in
> Akká. In this He announces the coming of "Him Who is the Unconstrained,"
> whose purpose is to "quicken the world" and unite its peoples; unequivocally
> asserts that Jesus Christ was the Herald of His Mission; proclaims the fall of
> "the stars of the firmament of knowledge," who have turned aside from Him;
> exposes that monarch's insincerity; and clearly prophesies that his kingdom
> shall be "thrown into confusion," that his "empire shall pass" from his hands,
> and that "commotions shall seize all the people in that land," unless he arises
> to help the Cause of God and follow Him Who is His Spirit. 
> 
> Letter
> from the Universal House of Justice, online at
> http://bahai-library.com/uhj/napoleon.victoria.html:
> 
> ... With regard to whether Napoleon III did receive the first Tablet addressed
> to him, in addition to the information in The Promised Day is Come, we
> find in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, particularly in Epistle to the Son of
> the Wolf (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1988), page 45, that the first
> Tablet had been delivered, and that although there was no reply from the
> Emperor, a French minister had written a letter to Bahá'u'lláh, part of which
> He quotes in that work. Further, in The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of
> the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1996), page 586, we see that most of the Tablets had been delivered to their
> recipients. There is also reference to the method by which the Tablets were
> delivered, specifically that Tablets to the "Monarchs of Europe" were "sent
> through the post."...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Biography:
> 
> 
> 
> The
> American Heritage Dictionary gives the following definition of Napoleon:
> "Originally Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. Known as Louis Napoleon.
> 1808-1873. Emperor of the French (1852-1871). A nephew of Napoleon I, he led
> the Bonapartist opposition to Louis Philippe and became president of the Second
> Republic (1848). After proclaiming himself emperor (1852), he instituted
> reforms and rebuilt Paris. His successful imperialist ventures were
> overshadowed by a failed campaign in Mexico (1861-1867) and the Franco-Prussian
> War (1870-1871), which resulted in his deposition."
> 
> 
> One student provided a more detailed biography of Napoleon III, which I
> paraphrase and add to as follows: Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Paris,
> on April 20,1808, the third and last son of King Louis of France and Queen
> Hortense of Holland. His uncle was Napoleon I, thus making him heir to the
> throne of France. After the downfall of his uncle, in an invasion of Russia,
> the Bonaparte family was banished from France.
> 
> Napoleon III was educated privately in Switzerland and Bavaria. His mother
> taught him the history of the Napoleonic legend. Thus he was possessed to
> emulate the example, and finish the interrupted work, of his imperial Uncle.
> However, Napoleon III was known as a dreamer and a conspirator; he had a
> shifting nature that was hypocritical and reckless.
> 
> In his desire to further the work of his uncle he began to aggrandize himself
> and formulate a political program. He portrayed himself as a social reformer,
> political liberal, military expert and proponent of agricultural and industrial
> development. He desired to overthrow the monarchy but, failing in his attempt,
> he was deported to America. 
> 
> In 1836 and 1840 he led two unsuccessful attempts to overthrow the regime of
> King Louis Phillipe. He was captured and condemned to life imprisonment. He
> escaped to London in 1846, but returned in 1848. King Louis Philippi was ousted
> in 1848 and Louis Napoleon renewed his quest as a candidate for the Presidency
> of the new French republic. To the astonishment of political veterans, he won
> by a landslide. However, in 1849 the Royalists had a legislative victory
> limiting him to a 4 year term. Resolving this by a coup d'état on
> December 2 1851, he assumed dictatorial powers, extending his term to ten
> years. 
> 
> His reign is divided into two periods by historians. The dictatorship persisted
> until 1860; thereafter he began a series of liberal reforms that culminated in
> a limited monarchy. This period was marked by labor legislation, a movement
> toward free trade, and a revival of opposition parties. His most durable work
> was the reconstruction of Paris. 
> 
> However, he was blinded to the dangers of French security and because of his
> own passions and desires he was a weak leader. In 1870 he led France to defeat
> in the Franco-Prussian War in the Battle of Sedan (1870), an event which marked
> one of the greatest military capitulations recorded in modern history. A
> ferocious civil war ensued, and the crowning of William I, the Prussian King,
> as Emperor of a unified Germany, took place in the Palace of Versailles.
> Napoleon III died in exile on January 9 1873 at Chislehurst, England.
>
> — *Tablets to Napoleon III: Comparison (Used by permission of the curator)*