The revival of the Napoleonic legend by such writers as Beranger, Lamartine, and Victor Hugo, together with other influences which served to keep bright the glories of the Empire, bore their fruit in the return of Napoleon's remains to France. On October 15, his body had been removed from the simple tomb at St. Helena. On November 30, the ship bearing Napoleon's remains arrived at Cherbourg. A million francs were voted by the Chambers for the new sepulchre under the dome of the chapel of the Hotel des Invalides. On this occasion great publicity was given to Lord Palmerston's letter to Ambassador Granville: "The government of her British Majesty hope that the promptness of their response to this French request will be considered in France as a proof of their desire to efface all traces of those national animosities which, during the life of the Emperor armed against each other the French and English nations. The government of her Majesty are confident that if such sentiments still exist anywhere, they will be buried in the tomb in which the remains of Napoleon are to be laid." Napoleon's reburial was witnessed by a million of persons including a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers drawn up in line to do him honor. The ceremonies were attended by the royal family and all the dignitaries of France, excepting only the immediate relatives of the great Napoleon. As it happened, those of the Napoleonides that were not dead were either in exile or in prison. [Sidenote: Floods in France] [Sidenote: Earthquake of Zante] Shortly before this, great havoc had been wrought in France by disastrous inundations of the Saone and Rhone. The water, which covered 60,000 acres, and flooded Lyons, rose higher than it had within 250 years. In Greece, a tremendous earthquake laid the city of Zante in ruins. These catastrophes were made the object of special study in Germany and Switzerland, where Agassiz was in the midst of his epoch-making discourses on the glacial period. [Sidenote: Isabella abdicates] [Sidenote: Rule of Espartero] Toward the end of the year wretched Spain suffered another political upheaval. After the last abandonment of the cause of Don Carlos by General Cabrera, in July, the Queen-Regent found herself confronted by a strong democratic party both in the Cortes and the country. The scandals of her private life undermined her political authority. By an insurrection at Barcelona she was forced to call in General Espartero, the chief of the Progressist party, as her Prime Minister. Rather than submit to his demands she abdicated the Regency in October and left Spain. Espartero, toward the close of the year, was acknowledged by the Cortes as Regent of Spain. His first measures turned a large part of the people against him. On December 29, as a result of the growing discussions between the government and the clergy, the Papal Nuncio was expelled from Madrid. Thereafter Espartero and the clerical party of Spain were at daggers' points.