On the other hand, the story of Marshal MacMahon's hurried
retreat from Chalons is, we believe, erroneous. After a careful collation of the official telegrams, the statements of the Minister of War about good news in his possession, the letters in the Daily News from the Marshal's camp, and the incidental admis- sions of the Paris Press, we disagree entirely with the Times, and, agreeing with the able diarist of the Standard, believe that Mac- Mahon is attempting one of the most daring feats ever attempted in war, namely, to march on Montmedy, exposing his flank to the Crown Prince—whom be hopes to elude by speed—and thus enable Marshal Bazaine to break out of his entrenchments under Metz. The difficulties, as explained elsewhere, are extreme ; but the attempt is heroic, and the French Generals may know facts connected with the health of the German camp of which we know nothing. At all events, this we feel certain is the movement to which Count de Palikao's enigmatical speeches point, and from which he is hoping such grand results,—results which will depend mainly upon one of the enigmas of the war, the numerical strength of the German army round Metz. If the Berlin accounts of those numbers are correct the exploit is hope- less, but those accounts tax the very imagination.
