In May 1870 Gobineau returned to France from Brazil.[123] In a letter to Tocqueville in 1859 he wrote, "When we come to the French people, I genuinely favor absolute power", and as long as Napoleon III ruled as an autocrat, he had Gobineau's support.[124] Gobineau had often predicted France was so rotten the French were bound to be defeated if they ever fought a major war.