ALPES-MARITIMES. FRENCH TROOPS IN NICE (06), shortly before - Lot 568

ALPES-MARITIMES. FRENCH TROOPS IN NICE (06), shortly before Nice’s annexation by France in 1860 - A business and family letter from a father to his son Adolphe PUGET in Marseille, who arrived on the steamship BELZUNCE. NICE (06), May 18, 1859. 3 pages, in-4°: “NICE has been in a state of great celebration since Sunday. Every house is decked out in flags, and in the evening there is constant, widespread illumination. Everyone has deserted the shops and workshops, and the population turns out en masse every day to greet the BRAVE ONES and cheer them on with the greatest enthusiasm. Officers and soldiers enter the city literally showered with flowers and wreaths that the ladies throw down from their balconies and windows; as soon as the soldiers and officers set foot on land, everyone scrambles to grab them, in short, it would take a month to describe everything that is happening here on the occasion of the French arrival: cafés, restaurants, shopkeepers, inns, and open-air cafés are serving them with indescribable enthusiasm—and for free… The city is lit up all night long, and even in the daytime, soldiers and the people can still be seen dancing… We no longer sleep; we go to bed at midnight and are up at three o’clock to see the troops off with our boisterous cheers… We’re already counting them: the Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard, the Guides, the Empress’s Dragoons, and the Lancers. Farewell, I kiss you—your father, PUGET…”

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