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The colonel's specter halted and called by name another specter, which came lightly forward; it was an elegant ghost, faultless in uniform and equipment. "Is that you, Beaudoin?" "Yes, Colonel." "Ah! bad news, my friend, terrible news! MacMahon beaten at Froeschwiller, Frossard beaten at Spickeren, and between them de Failly, held in check where he could give no assistance.
The French army disembarked at Civita Vecchia on the 29th October, under the command of General de Failly. Three days earlier, 26th October, the small town of Monte Rotondo, five leagues from Rome, was attacked by Garibaldi in person, attended by a band of five thousand four hundred fighting men. Its garrison consisted of five hundred men of the legion of Antibes.
You know he reached here yesterday, just in the very thick of the disaster at Beaumont, to relieve de Failly at the head of the 5th corps and he writes me that he has written instructions from the Minister of War assigning him to the command of the army in case the post should become vacant.
Some fugitives who had passed through Remilly, mad with terror, had told him that they had been betrayed once more and that de Failly had sold them to Bismarck.
Bourbaki, as already mentioned, commanded the Guard, and at the head of the army corps were MacMahon, Frossard, Bazaine, Ladmerault, Failly, Canrobert, and Felix Douay. Both Frossard and Failly, however, were at first made subordinate to Bazaine.
The cousins, male and female, of the Emperor, received 1,310,975fr. per annum; the Duc de Persigny received in two months, 60,000fr.; Prince Jablonowyski, Countess Gajan, Madame Claude Vignon, Le General Morris, and many other ladies and gentlemen who never did the State any service, are down for various sums. Among other items is one of 1,200fr. to General de Failly for sugar plums.
The 5th was also flying, defeated without having fought a battle, sweeping away with it its commander, poor General de Failly, almost crazy with the thought that to his inactivity was imputed the responsibility of the defeat, when the fault all rested in the Marshal's having failed to send him orders.
This was General de Wimpffen, who had gained distinction in previous wars, and, coming lately from Algeria to Paris, was there appointed to supersede de Failly in command of the 5th corps. Nor was this all. The Palikao Ministry apparently had some doubts as to MacMahon's energy, and feared that the Emperor himself hampered the operations.
The various corps were distributed as follows: Imperial Guard, General Bourbaki Nancy. Ist Corps, Marshal MacMahon Strassburg. IId Corps, General Frossard St. Avold. IIId Corps, Marshal Bazaine Metz. IVth Corps, General Ladmirault Diedenhofen. Vth Corps, General Failly Bitsch. VIth Corps, Marshal Canrobert Châlons. VIIth Corps, General Félix Douay Belfort.
On the 1st of November, the Papal General Kanzler called on General De Failly at Civita Vecchia, and found him, to his concern, by no means anxious to rush into the fray. Even when sending the troops, Napoleon seems to have hoped to escape from being seriously compromised.
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