There is no doubt that Bazaine was influenced, not wholly by military, but also by political considerations; still it may be asked whether he could have acted differently in the prevailing confusion of France. From the correspondence referred to, and his behaviour in the battles before Metz, his reluctance to quit the place was evident. Under its walls he could maintain a considerable army in unimpaired condition till the given moment. At the head of the only French army not yet shattered,[26] he might find himself in a position of greater power than any other man in the country. This army must, of course, first be freed from the bonds which now confined it. Even if it should succeed in forcibly breaking out it would be greatly weakened; and it was not inconceivable that the Marshal, as the strongest power in the land, might be able to offer a price which should induce the enemy to grant him a passage. Then when at length the time for making peace should come, the Germans would no doubt ask: "Who in France is the authority with whom we can negotiate now that the Empire is overthrown, and who is strong enough to give a guarantee that the obligations which he will have undertaken shall be performed?" That the Marshal, if his plans had come to fulfilment, would have acted otherwise than in the interest of France is neither proved nor to be assumed. But presently a number of men combined in Paris, who, without consulting the nation, constituted themselves the Government of the country, and took the direction of its affairs into their own hands. In opposition to this party, Marshal Bazaine, with his army at his back, could well come forward as a rival or a foe; nay, and--this was his crime in the eyes of the Paris Government--he might restore the authority of the Emperor to whom he had sworn allegiance. Whether he might not thus have spared his country longer misery and greater sacrifices may be left undecided. But that he was subsequently charged with treason obviously arose, no doubt, from the national vanity of the French, which demanded a "Traitor" as a scapegoat for the national humiliation. Soon after this demonstration, for it was nothing more, of the besieged army, the investing forces were, in fact, reduced by the despatch, on the 29th, in accordance with orders from the supreme Headquarter, of the IInd and IIIrd Corps to Briey and Conflans, there to remain. To be sure, from those positions it was in their power to attack either of the French Marshals, as might prove requisite; while the XIIIth Corps, newly formed of the 17th Division, hitherto retained to defend the coast, and from the Landwehr, was already within a short distance of Metz.