On the evening of the 30th the Germans were upon the Meuse. The 4th Corps was before Mouzon; one Bavarian Corps at Raucourt, the other at Sommauthe; the 5th and 11th Corps about La Besace and Stonne; the 12th was near the Meuse in front of Beaumont, and the Guard just behind them; the Würtembergers were at Verrières, and the 6th Corps well out to the west at Vouziers. On this flank also were the 5th and 6th Cavalry Divisions threatening and watching the French communications; while the 12th Cavalry Division was astride the Meuse at Pouilly, and one of its squadrons, evading and passing through Margueritte’s vedettes, had discovered and reported the presence of French troops on the Chiers near Carignan, and the movement of trains on the railway towards Sedan. So ended this ominous day. The Army of the Meuse had lost 3,500 men in killed and wounded, but they had routed one French Corps, and fractions of two others, and they had captured forty-two guns. The French loss is set down at 1,800 killed and wounded, but the Germans aver that, included among the 3,000 acknowledged to be missing, there were 2,000 who bore no wounds. 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