before the batteries, watch the artillery at work. The French soldiers

fall and die. Amongst the bodies which cover the plain there is one, the

body of an officers on which they will find, after the battle, a sealed

note, containing this order, signed NAPOLEON: "To-day, September 1st,

rest for the whole army."

The gallant 35th of the Line almost completely disappears under the

overwhelming shower of shells; the brave Marine Infantry holds at bay

for a moment the Saxons, joined by the Bavarians, but outflanked on

every side, draws back; all the admirable cavalry of the Targueritte

Division hurled against the German infantry, halts and sinks down

midway, "annihilated," says the Prussian Report, "by well-aimed and cool

firing."[38] This field of carnage has three outlets; all three barred:

the Bouillon road by the Prussian Guard, the Carignan road by the

Bavarians, the Mézières road by the Wurtemburgers. The French have not

thought of barricading the railway viaduct; three German battalions have

occupied it during the night. Two isolated houses on the Balan road

could be made the pivot of a long resistance; but the Germans are there.

The wood from Monvilliers to Bazeilles, bushy and dense, might prevent

the junction of the Saxons, masters of La Moncelle, and the Bavarians,

masters of Bazeilles; but the French have been forestalled: they find

the Bavarians cutting the underwood with their bill-hooks. The German

army moves in one piece, in one absolute unity; the Crown Prince of

Saxony is on the height of Mairy, whence he surveys the whole action;

the command oscillates in the French army; at the beginning of the

battle, at a quarter to six, MacMahon is wounded by the bursting of a

shell; at seven o'clock Ducrot replaces him; at ten o'clock Wimpfen

replaces Ducrot. Every instant the wall of fire is drawing closer in,

668

The History of a Crime