Update Sun. 15th March, pm:

"Resurgent England destroy France"

Relax - France is still here - the once calm and civilized BBC just want you to understand that England won a game of rugby against France this afternoon. Haven't the poor French had enough trouble with us, without the BBC announcing that they've been "destroyed".

See also the update at the end.

Back to Napoleon's return from Elba:

From: Memoirs of Bonaparte Napoleon
by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne His Private Secretary:

... A portion of the soldiers was embarked in a brig called the 'Inconstant' and the remainder in six small craft. It was not till they were all on board that the troops first conceived a suspicion of the Emperor's purpose: 1000 or 1200 men had sailed to regain possession of an Empire containing a population of 30,000,000!

... As they stood over to the coast of France the Emperor was in the highest spirits. The die was cast, and he seemed to be quite himself again. He sat upon the deck and amused the officers collected round him with a narrative of his campaigns, particularly those of Italy and Egypt.

... Napoleon landed without any accident on the 1st of March at Cannes, a small seaport in the Gulf of St. Juan, not far from Frejus, where he had disembarked on his return from Egypt sixteen years before, and where he had embarked the preceding year for Elba.

Napoleon himself was so perfectly convinced of the state of affairs that he knew his success in no way depended on the force he might bring with him. A 'piquet' of 'gens d'armes', he said, was all that was necessary. Everything turned out as he foresaw. At first he owned he was not without some degree of uncertainty and apprehension. As he advanced, however, the whole population declared themselves enthusiastically in his favour: but he saw no soldiers. It was not till he arrived between Mure and Vizille, within five or six leagues from Grenoble, and on the fifth day after his landing, that he met a battalion. The commanding officer refused to hold even a parley. The Emperor, without hesitation, advanced alone, and 100 grenadiers marched at some distance behind him, with their arms reversed. The sight of Napoleon, his well-known costume, and his gray military greatcoat, had a magical effect on the soldiers, and they stood motionless. Napoleon went straight up to them and baring his breast said, "Let him that has the heart kill his Emperor!" The soldiers threw down their arms, their eyes moistened with tears, and cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded on every side. Napoleon ordered the battalion to wheel round to the right, and all marched on together.
...

The address to the army was considered as being still more masterly and eloquent, and it was certainly well suited to the taste of French soldiers, who, as Bourrienne remarks, are wonderfully pleased with grandiloquence, metaphor, and hyperbole, though they do not always understand what they mean.

Even a French author of some distinction praises this address as something sublime. "The proclamation to the army," says he, "is full of energy: it could not fail to make all military imaginations vibrate. That prophetic phrase, 'The eagle, with the national colours, will fly from church steeple to church steeple, till it settles on the towers of Notre Dame,' was happy in the extreme."

These words certainly produced an immense effect on the French soldiery, who everywhere shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" Vive le petit Caporal!" "We will die for our old comrade!" with the most genuine enthusiasm.

... White flags and cockades everywhere disappeared; the tri-colour resumed its pride of place. It was spring, and true to its season the violet had reappeared! The joy of the soldiers and the lower orders was almost frantic, but even among the industrious poor there were not wanting many who regretted this precipitate return to the old order of things--to conscription, war, and bloodshed, while in the superior classes of society there was a pretty general consternation. The vain, volatile soldiery, however, thought of nothing but their Emperor, saw nothing before them but the restoration of all their laurels, the humiliation of England, and the utter defeat of the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians.

...
The most forlorn hope of the Bourbons was now in a considerable army posted between Fontainebleau and Paris.
...
All was silence, except when the regimental bands of music, at the command of the officers, who remained generally faithful, played the airs of "Vive Henri Quatre," "O Richard," "La Belle Gabrielle," and other tunes connected with the cause and family of the Bourbons. The sounds excited no corresponding sentiments among the soldiers.

At length, about noon, a galloping of horse was heard. An open carriage appeared, surrounded by a few hussars, and drawn by four horses. It came on at full speed, and Napoleon, jumping from the vehicle, was in the midst of the ranks which had been formed to oppose him. His escort threw themselves from their horses, mingled with their ancient comrades, and the effect of their exhortations was instantaneous on men whose minds were already half made up to the purpose which they now accomplished. There was a general shout of "Vive Napoleon!" The last army of the Bourbons passed from their side, and no further obstruction existed betwixt Napoleon and the capital, which he was once more--but for a brief space--to inhabit as a sovereign.
...
It was late in the evening of the 20th that Bonaparte entered Paris in an open carriage, which was driven straight to the gilded gates of the Tuileries. He received the acclamations of the military and of the lower classes of the suburbs, but most of the respectable citizens looked on in silent wonderment.

http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Napoleon13/00000014.htm

Cannes - safe for British aristocrats

But Napoleon was defeated by the British and Prussians in 1815 and France was made safe for British aristocrats.

We spent the afternoon in Cannes:

The Lord Chancellor of England, Lord Brougham came to Cannes in 1834. He was on his way to Italy via Nice but due to a recent cholera epidemic in Nice he had to make an unexpected stop at the tiny fishing village of Cannes.

Lord Brougham was delighted by what he found in Cannes and decided that he would build a holiday villa there `Eleonore Louise'. In one of his letters back home he wrote 'enjoying the delightful climate ...the deep blue of the Mediterranean glimmers before us. The orange groves perfume the air, while the forests behind, ending in the Alps, protect us from the North winds.' In his honour the council erected a Bronze statue of him which can be seen next to the town hall in Cannes old Town.

One other story is that it was the bouillabaisse (a kind of fish soup) that whetted his appetite so much that he decided to stay and thus he proved the case of the city's Provencal motto 'Qu Li Ven Li Vieu'  - who comes here once, stays forever.

Lord Brougham opened up the flood gates for a whole number of other British aristocrats and Royals to have residences in Cannes.

Crisis hits Brit ex-pats

Now there's another kind of return:

The economic downturn is forcing British ex-pats living France to rethink their plans with some heading back home.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7917315.stm

The 24th Oct. 1929, Wall Street crashed. This "Black Thursday" marked the beginning of of a world crisis which dramatically changed the economic landscape, in the US and France. In Nice, the hotel business, essentially dependent on great fortunes suffered, from the beinning of the thirties, a slow bu inexorable regression. The boulevard de Cimiez, "boulevard of the palaces", saw its hotel "jewels" disappear one by one, turned into luxury appartment blocks. ...

Amongst these prestigieux establishments, that which the entire world associated with the Nice of the pleasure of the rich , "The Excelsior Regina" , [built for Queen Victoria, who only stayed there for three seasons] didn't escape this change ... In 1937 it became a set of apartments and servants' rooms.