When Napoleon won the plebiscite on the establishment of the hereditary Empire of France, he exaggerated the numbers anyway.

>The result of the plebiscite on the establishment of the hereditary Empire was announced on August 7. When the interior minister, [Portalis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/File_Jean-%C3%89tienne-Marie_Portalis_%281915%29.jpg), showed [Napoleon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Jacques-Louis_David_-_The_Emperor_Napoleon_in_His_Study_at_the_Tuileries_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg) the yes votes of the armed services – 120,032 for the army and 16,224 for the navy – he simply took out his pen and rounded the former up to 400,000 and the latter to 50,000, with nil no votes recorded. __________________ **Source:** Roberts, Andrew. "Coronation." *Napoleon: A Life*. New York: Penguin, 2014. 348. Print. **Original Source(s) Listed:** Cobban, *Modern France III* p. 16. eds. Dwyer and Forrest, *Napoleon and His Empire* p. 14 n. II. __________________ **Further Reading:** [Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-%C3%89tienne-Marie_Portalis) [Napoleone di Buonaparte / Napoléon Bonaparte / Napoleon I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon)