General Grouchy had orders, to hasten to Lyons, and raise in mass the national guards of Dauphiny, the Lyonnais, and Burgundy.
At the name of the Emperor and of their country all were in motion: the patriots of la Drôme and the Isère descended from their mountains; the Lyonese quitted their workshops; the Burgundians spontaneously began their march with half-pay officers at their head.
This patriotic burst was so unanimous, that the roads were instantly covered with national guards; and General Corbineau, whom the Emperor had despatched to accelerate their march, was obliged, on the contrary, to retard it. But all these arrangements, sad presages of a civil war, were happily unnecessary.
The troops of General Gardanne, during their stay at Gap, became acquainted with the Emperor's proclamations. These had awakened their remembrances, electrified their minds, and the 58th mounted the tricoloured cockade.
The defection of this regiment was soon known to the division of General Loverdo; and, in spite of this general's efforts, a part of the 14th chasseurs, and the whole of the 83d, equally embraced the imperial cause. On the other soldiers, though faithful in appearance, the generals could no longer confide: "they could not speak to a single inhabitant of the country, without receiving impressions absolutely inimical to the party of the King[89]," and they expected every moment, to see them go over to the enemy.
General Loverdo, impatient to give battle, and imagining, that he could dispense with their assistance, attempted to force the defile of Saulces, in advance of Gap, supported only by his royal volunteers: but this attack, as rash as it was useless, did not succeed, and he was forced to fall back to Sisteron.
The second corps, restrained by the presence of the Duke of Angoulême, had lost but a small number of soldiers. The order to advance had just been given, when the Prince received the most disheartening news from all parts at once.
On one hand he was informed of the defection of the regular troops under General Ernouf, and his forced retreat to Sisteron.
On another he heard, that General Grouchy was advancing to meet him with a formidable force.
From a third source of intelligence he learned, that the royal party at Nismes, and at Toulouse, had dispersed without resistance: that M. Vitrolles, the head of the committee of insurrection, had been arrested; and that the patriots, and the troops of the 9th division, united under the orders of General Gilly, having marched to take him in the rear, had retaken the bridge of St. Esprit by assault, and passed the Rhone.