her, and with a once more divided Teutonic nation at her side. But the mobilization of the French army brought to light grave facts which had not been previously suspected. The War Minister, Leboeuf, when he made his official answer to the Duc de GramontReady? ay, more than ready!" betrayed a fatal ignorance of the real state of things. "I could easily have avoided the war," said Gramont afterwards, "in twenty ways." The correspondence of Napoleon, since found at St. Cloud, and published by the Prussian Government, shows how unprovided were the regiments of the imposing "army of the Rhine" with the most necessary commissariat appliances. Nothing was really ready: invaluable days were lost. The Prussians had time to mobilize their troops; the governments of Bavaria, Wurtemburg, and Baden, far more irritated by an attack on German territory from Germany's old hereditary enemy, than anxious to assert themselves against Prussia's views of unification, unanimously sent in their adhesion to the cause of King William.

But if disappointed in the numbers and the general preparation of the troops under their command, the French commanders at all events placed great reliance on the military weapons which were to be made use of. Ever since 1866 attention had been directed to every means by which the formidable needle-gun of the Prussian infantry could be surpassed; and the chassepôt had already, in the anti-Garibaldian contest of 1867, it was thought, given proof of its capacity to carry bullets to farther ranges, and of its being more readily manageable by the holder, and therefore more deadly in its effects, than the weapon which had won the Seven Days' War.

More recently too, a terrible instrument of death had been invented and put into the hands of the French artillery soldiers. This was the Mitrailleuse, a small movable cannon-revolver, which could discharge, from its various mouths between three and four hundred bullets in the space of one minute. With chassepôts and mitrailleuses at their command the officers and soldiers still believed in easy victory.

The French force extended about 150 miles in a slightly curved line from Strasburg to the frontier of Luxembourg. It was divided into seven corps, besides the Imperial Guard. MacMahon commanded the 1st Corps, with his head-quarters at Strasburg. Next in order, northwards, came De Failly with the 5th Corps, near Saargemund (Sarreguemines); then Frossard, with the 7th Corps, opposite Saarbrück; then General L'Amirault, with the 4th Corps; and last on the line, Bazaine, with the 3rd Corps, stationed at Sierck, to the north of Thionville. The 7th Corps under General Felix Douay occupied Belfort, in the Upper Rhine department; the Imperial Guard was at Metz, under Bourbaki; and Canrobert commanded the 6th Corps, being the army of reserve, at Châlons

The Emperor, in a pamphlet which he afterwards drew up at Wilhelmshöhe, declared that his intention-confided to Marshals MacMahon and Leboeuf alone-had been to mass 150,000 men at Metz,

to

100,000 at Strasburg, and 50,000 at the Camp of Châlons. Then immediately to unite the two armies of Metz and Strasburg, and at the head of 250,000 men, cross the Rhine at Maxau, leaving on his right the fortress of Rastadt. Meanwhile the 50,000 men at Châlons, under the command of Canrobert, were to proceed to Metz to protect the rear of the army and guard the north-east frontier. At the same time the fleet, cruising in the Baltic, would have held a portion of the force of Prussia in check, to guard against invasion from the coast. But under bad organization and insufficient preparation this plan broke down; only 100,000 men were ready for the army of Metz; only 40,000 for that of Strasburg; Canrobert's corps was divided; neither his cavalry nor artillery were ready. To the Emperor's order, that the arrival of the missing regiments should be pushed on, reply was made that it was impossible to leave Algeria, Paris, and Lyons without garrisons. Meanwhile it was left to the Germans to take the initiative, which they did vigorously, both by the Saar and the Rhine.

The French fleet was collected in force at Cherbourg. There the Empress reviewed it on the 21st of July; after which fifteen ironclad ships and twelve other vessels under Admiral Bouet Willaumez sailed for the North Sea and Baltic, in order to blockade the German ports, and co-operate in any future measures of invasion, should the contemplated advance of the armies on Berlin be carried out; but owing to the turn which military events in the interior took, no such co-operation was in fact required throughout the war, and the French squadron was withdrawn early in October.

Nothing happened in the field up to the end of July save the blowing-up of the bridge of Kehl, on the Baden side, by the Prussians on the 22nd, and a few skirmishes of outposts at or near Saarbrück. On the 28th the French Emperor, leaving the Empress at the head of affairs in Paris, arrived at his head-quarters at Metz, and immediately took the command of his army, to which he issued the following proclamation:

"Soldiers,-I am about to place myself at your head to defend the honour and the soil of the country. You go to fight against one of the best armies in Europe, but others who were quite as worthy were unable to resist your bravery. It will be the same again at the present time. The war which is now commencing will be a long and severe one, since it will have for the scene of its operations places full of fortresses and obstacles; but nothing is too difficult for the soldiers of Africa, the Crimea, Italy, and Mexico. You will again prove what the French Army, animated by the sentiment of duty, maintained by discipline, and inspired with love of country can perform. Whatever road we may take beyond our frontiers we shall find glorious traces of our fathers. We will prove ourselves worthy of them. The whole of France follows you with her ardent wishes, and the eyes of the world are upon you. The fate of liberty and civilization depends upon our success.

"Soldiers! let each one do his duty, and the God of armies will be with us.

"The Imperial Head-quarters, Metz, July 28."

"NAPOLEON.

On the 31st the King of Prussia, accompanied by Generals Von Moltke and Von Roon, arrived at Mayence and pitched his headquarters at Kreuznach; and he likewise assumed the style of Commander-in-Chief, though for the real direction of the campaign he placed entire confidence in the combinations of that remarkable strategical genius, General Von Moltke. The Prussian forces were distributed in three armies. The command of the first army, forming the right wing of the entire force, and consisting of the 1st and 8th North German corps, was assigned to General Von Steinmetz; that of the second, or centre army, to Prince Frederick Charles, the King's nephew; it comprised the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 9th, 10th, and 12th North German corps, and the Prussian Guard. The third army, consisting of the armies of the South, i.e. of Bavaria, Wurtemburg, and Baden, and of the 5th, 6th, and 11th North German corps, was commanded by the Crown Prince; this occupied the left of the lines in the neighbourhood of Landau and Germersheim. The whole number of these three armies amounted to about 450,000 men.

On the 2nd of August, three divisions, with 23 guns of General Frossard's division, attacked Saarbrück under the eyes of the Emperor and Prince Imperial, and shelled that open town. The Prussian advanced posts retired; but the French did not attempt to force the heights beyond, or to cross the river, and the only result apparently arrived at by this trifling military demonstration was to point a telegraphic despatch from the Emperor to the Empress, announcing that "Louis" (the Prince Imperial) had gone through his "baptême de feu," and that his presence of mind had drawn tears from the soldiers' eyes.

The first serious military event of the contest wore a very different complexion. On Thursday the 4th, the Crown Prince, at the head of some regiments of the 5th and 11th Prussian, and of the 2nd Bavarian, Army Corps, surprised at daybreak a division of MacMahon's army under General Abel Douay, posted at Wissemburg, on the Lauter. The Germans, who greatly outnumbered their antagonists, stormed a strongly entrenched position at the point of the bayonet, in face of mitrailleuses and chassepots, and put the French to rout, taking 18 officers and 1000 soldiers prisoners. General Abel Douay himself was killed. This German success was followed up two days later by a great battle at Wörth, two and a half German miles south-west of Wissemburg, when the Crown Prince on his farther advance towards the passes of the Vosges encountered the main body of MacMahon's army, under the orders of the Marshal himself. Here again the French were attacked before their forces were in due strength, and the arrival during the course of the day of reinforcements from the corps of Failly did not avail to sustain them against the superior

numbers of their foes. The position of the French was admirably chosen indeed, and they contested the ground desperately for fifteen hours, but in the end the German victory was complete. Two standards, six mitrailleuses, more than 30 guns, and about 6000 prisoners fell into their hands, besides two railway trains laden with provisions, and MacMahon's carriage with all his luggage and papers. The numbers of dead and wounded on the French side were 10,000, on the German side not less than 8000.

Thus of Mac Mahon's army corps which, on the Thursday morning before the battle of Wissemburg, numbered nearly 40,000 men, scarce 5000 remained on Saturday night to retrace their steps, broken and dispirited, toward Châlons.

Nor was this the measure of the French disasters by the time that Saturday night arrived, for on the same day a desperate fight was going on at the heights of Spicheren, near Saarbrück, between the advanced guard of the 1st German army under General Göben, and the left wing of the French, commanded by General Frossard. Here, too, the French position was a very strong one. The fight began at twenty minutes past ten a.m., and lasted till night fall. Reinforcements came up by train on both sides. General Steinmetz arrived, and assumed the command of the Germans before the battle was over, and Prince Frederick Charles reached the field of action soon after him. The French, beaten back to Forbach, made a vigorous stand there, but the Prussians advanced their bayonets steadily up the height in the face of a deadly fire, and forced them to retreat with the loss of 2500 prisoners, and a vast store of guns, provisions, and camp equipage.

Thus the French army of invasion was routed at all points, and a general retreat upon the line of the Moselle was determined upon. Napoleon said afterwards, in his pamphlet before quoted, that he would have fallen back at once on Châlons, where Marshal Canrobert was stationed in command of the Camp of Reserve, but was prevented by the Ministry at Paris, who urged that the abandonment of Lorraine would produce a deplorable effect on the public mind.

In the capital, where false reports of French success had been industriously disseminated, great was the disappointment and rage caused by the bad news, no longer to be concealed, from the seat of war. "Marshal MacMahon has lost a battle. General Frossard, on the Saar, has been compelled to fall back. The retreat is being effected in good order. Tout peut se rétablir." So ran the Emperor's telegram. It was a humiliating contrast to the canard which had set Paris in a frenzy of exultation on the fatal Saturday morning, with the announcement that MacMahon had routed the Prussians, taken Landau, and made 25,000 prisoners, including the Crown Prince himself!

On Sunday, at five o'clock in the morning, the Empress hurried up from St. Cloud to the Tuileries, and issued a proclamation, exhorting the people to be firm and orderly. The Corps Législatif

M

was summoned, Paris announced to be placed in a state of siege, and the Council of Ministers to be sitting en permanence.

On Tuesday the Chambers met. Ministers were greeted with shouts for Henri Rochefort and the Republic. Jules Favre demanded the deposition of the Emperor from the command of the army, and the overthrow not only of the Ministry, but of the Empire itself. A vehement discussion ensued, and the sitting was suspended. After a short deliberation the Ministers decided on yielding to the storm, and the Empress-Regent entrusted General Montauban, styled Count Palikao, a General officer who had gained his title from his success in the Chinese War of 1860, and a well-known adherent of the Emperor, with the formation of a new Cabinet. On the following day, Wednesday 10th, the following list was made public :-War, General Count de Palikao; Interior, M. Chevreau; Finance, M. Magne; Justice, M. Grandperret; President of Council of State, M. Busson-Billault; Foreign Affairs, Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne ; Marine, Admiral Rigault de Genouilly; Public Works, M. Jerome David; Commerce, M. Duvernois: President of Public Instruction, M. Brame.

The command of the forces of Paris was assigned first to General Vinoy, and then to General Trochu, an officer of literary merit, whose warning voice on the ill-condition of the army, expressed in a pamphlet of 1867, had it been listened to, might have gone far to prevent the present catastrophe.

Marshal Bazaine was directed to supersede Leboeuf in the supreme conduct of the war; no mention whatever being made of the Emperor; who, however, continued his presence with it; not a little to the embarrassment and hindrance of the military operations, as was afterwards averred.

At Paris things went on as if no Emperor existed. On the 11th M. Gambetta revived the proposition, started by Jules Favre, of a Defence Committee. "We must know," he said, "whether we have to choose between the safety of a country or the salvation of a dynasty." No time was lost in putting Paris in order for the trial that might await her. 12,000 labourers were employed to extend the fosse, cut down trees in the Bois de Boulogne, make roads, fix drawbridges, and strengthen the fortifications generally. Some guns were placed in position. Every sort of provision was ordered to be laid in; and those incapable of maintaining themselves or of facing the hardships of a siege were directed to withdraw. All Germans residing in the city, likewise, were required summarily to depart, on the plea of their possible treachery to the cause of the defenders. A levy of retired soldiers and officers was called out. A new war loan of 1000 millions of francs was subscribed, and a forced currency of bank notes was established. The defence of the town was entrusted to the National Guard and Mobiles, all regular troops being devoted to the army in the field. An application, however, from the Orleanist Princes to be allowed to come over and take part in the defence of their country was refused.