Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-04-19
NJ VICTOR HUGO.

OU august or kCtV, III hFUIY 1Uuuu
itself assembled and, as il weses massed
under the walls of Sedan, in place
called Fond de GIyonne. This army
was q French army; % brigades. 10
divisions, four army corps. 30, 900 men.
This army was at this place no one
knew why, without order, without per-
pose. pell-mell. as kind of heap Of
men thrown there as though to be grasped
by giant hand. .,.sss. ss,qf
This army did not experience or seem
TO experience, for the moment, any inn
mediate uneasiness. ltknew, or thought
il knew, that the foe was pretty remote.
Calculating the marches at the rate of
four leagues day, it was removed by q
three days march. Shll, toward even
ing, the chiefs made some wise strate-
eicaI arrangements; as the rear Of the
army rested upon Sedan and the Meuse
river, they protected il by two lines Of
battle; one, consisting OF the Seventh
Corps, and extending from Floing 10
Givonne; the other, consisting of the
Twelfth Corps, and extending from Gi-
vonne to Bazeilles, triangle Of which
the Meuse formed the hypothenuse.
The Twelfth Corps, including the
three divisions of Lacretelle, Lartigue,
and Wolff, drawn up in straight line,
with the artillery between the brigades.
constituted real barrer, having at its
extremities Bazeilles and Giyonne and
in its centre Daigny; the two divisions
OF Petit and Lheritier abutted the bar
rieF. Gen. Lebrun commanded the
Twelfth Corps.
The Seventh Corps, commanded BY
Gen. Douay, included only two divis-
ions, Dumont's division and Guibert's,
and formed the other line Of battle COW
ering the army from Givonne TO Flo
ing. towards lily; this line was relative
ly weak-too open in the direction Of
G:vonne, and only protected in the di-
rection of the Meuse by the two caval-
ry divisions or the Marguerite and Bon
nemains, and by Guyomar's brigade
resting in a square upon Floing. In
this triangle were encamped the Fifth
Corps, under Gen. Wimpfen, and the
First Corps, under Gen. Ducrot. Mi
chefs division Of cavalry covered the
First Corps toward Daigny; the Fifth
leaned upon. Sedan. Four divisions,
each drawn up in two lines, Lheritier's,
Grandchamp's, Goze's, and Conseil-
Dumenil's, formed a sort of horseshoe
turned toward Sedan and connecting
the FIRST line OF battle with the second.
Ameil's division of cavalry, and Fon-
tanges' brigade acted as q reserve for
these four divisions. The whole artil-
lery was in these two lines of battle.
Two sections of the army were in mid
air, one to the right Of Sedan, beyond
Balan, and the other on the left, this
side of fges. Beyond Balan were Vis-
soigne's division and, Reboul's brigade:
this side Of Tges were Marguerite and
Bonnemains' divisions Of cavalry.
These arrangements indicated sense
OF perfect security. First of al the EN-
peror Napoleon would not have come
there had he not been quite easy in
mind. The Fond de Givoune Is what
Napoleon I. was wont TO call wash
bowl, and what Admiral Tromp called
pot de ehambre. No packing-box could
be closer. An ARMY on the spot is so
thoroughly at home, as 20 be too much
80; il runs the risk of not being able TO
leave the place. This gave preoccupa-
ton 10 few valiant aud prudent chiefs
like Wimpfen, who were not listened
TO. If worse comes 10 worst, said the
members Of the imperial suite, We are
always sure to reach Mezieres, and,
happen what may, the Belgian frontier.
But ought such extreme eveniuslisies to
be toreseeni In certain cases, to fore
see is almost to offend. So all agreed
for tranquility's sake.
Had they been uneasy, they would
have cut the bridges over the Meuse,
bat no one thought of doing 50. To
what endi The enemy was Tar away.
The Emperor, evidently well informed,
asserted IL. Il. ~ sss
The army bivouacked ratherpeli-mell,
as we mentioned above, and slept peace
ably through the night OF Aug. Si.hAs-
ing, under all circumstances, or believ-
ing that il had. retreat upon Mezieres
open 70 Il. Even the most common
measures Of preeaution were disdained:
no cavalry reeonnoissances we're under-
taken: they did not even send out grand
guards; German writer saws 50.
They were separated from the Ger
! man Army BY IA leagues u least; they
did not know precisely where thai army
was: they fancied Il was scattered
holding ili-t0gethcr. iilsaavised, direc-
ted sDFne ew hat nf han hazard ssrsnn AAwA