CHAPTER XII.
METZ AND STRASBURG.
At the very moment when the Army of Chalons, instead of marching on its way to Montmédy, found its Corps huddled together at Sedan, between the river and the Belgian frontier, some information of the movement undertaken by MacMahon, who yielded his better judgment to the importunate entreaties (les instances) of Palikao, reached Marshal Bazaine in Metz. He had already, on the 26th of August, collected a large mass of troops upon the right bank, in order to break out towards Thionville; but the rain poured down all day in torrents, and, after a consultation at the Farm of Grimont with his Marshals and Generals, whose opinions were adverse to the sortie projected, he issued an order directing the Army to resume its former quarters. But, on the 29th, a messenger who had crept through the German lines, handed to the Marshal a despatch from the officer commanding in Thionville, Colonel Turnier, stating that General Ducrot, with the 1st Corps, should be “to-day, the 27th,” at Stenay on the left of the Army, General Douay on his right being on the Meuse. Bazaine seems to have had doubts respecting the authenticity of this missive, the handwriting of which his staff did not recognize; but the next morning, about eleven, an agent of his own came in from Verdun. He was the bearer of a telegram from the Emperor—it was really the message drawn up by MacMahon on the 22nd of August, copied, apparently, in cipher, by Napoleon, and intrusted to Bazaine’s emissary. The despatch, which had no date, stated that the sender would march towards Montmédy, and when on the Aisne, would act according to circumstances, in order to succour the Metz Army. Regarding the second document, though antecedent in point of time, as a confirmation of the first which he had received, Marshal Bazaine, on the 30th, issued the orders which, the following day, led to