As a result of the excellent scouting of their cavalry and of the slipshod Press arrangements of the French Government, the German Army of the Meuse, on the 26th, took a general turn towards the north-west.  This movement brought its outposts near to the southernmost divisions of MacMahon, and sent through that Marshal’s staff the foreboding thrill felt by the commander of an unseaworthy craft at the oncoming of the first gust of a cyclone.  He saw the madness of holding on his present course and issued orders for a retreat to Mezieres, a fortress on the Meuse below Sedan.  Once more, however, the Palikao Ministry intervened to forbid this salutary move—­the only way out of imminent danger—­and ordered him to march to the relief of Bazaine.  At this crisis Napoleon III. showed the good sense which seemed to have deserted the French politicians:  he advised the Marshal not to obey this order if he thought it dangerous.  Nevertheless, MacMahon decided to yield to the supposed interests of the dynasty, which the Emperor was ready to sacrifice to the higher claims of the safety of France.  Their roles were thus curiously reversed.  The Emperor reasoned as a sound patriot and a good strategist.  MacMahon must have felt the same promptings, but obedience to the Empress and the Ministry, or chivalrous regard for Bazaine, overcame his scruples.  He decided to plod on towards the Meuse.

The Germans were now on the alert to entrap this army that exposed its flank in a long line of march near to the Belgian frontier.  Their ubiquitous horsemen captured French despatches which showed them the intended moves in MacMahon’s desperate game; Moltke hurried up every available division; and the elder of the two Alvenslebens had the honour of surprising de Failly’s corps amidst the woods of the Ardennes near Beaumont, as they were in the midst of a meal.  The French rallied and offered a brisk defence, but finally fell back in confusion northwards on Mouzon, with the loss of 2000 prisoners and 42 guns (August 30).

This mishap, the lack of provisions, and the fatigue and demoralisation of his troops, caused MacMahon on the 31st to fall back on Sedan, a little town in the valley of the Meuse.  It is surrounded by ramparts planned by the great Vauban, but, being commanded by wooded heights, it no longer has the importance that it possessed before the age of long-range guns of precision.  The chief strength of the position for defence lay in the deep loop of the river below the town, the dense Garenne Wood to the north-east, and the hollow formed by the Givonne brook on the east, with the important village of Bazeilles.  It is therefore not surprising that von Moltke, on seeing the French forces concentrating in this hollow, remarked to von Blumenthal, Chief of the Staff:  “Now we have them in a trap; to-morrow we must cross over the Meuse early in the morning.”