No trustworthy intelligence had been received this week from the
Army of the Loire till to-day, and we offer the following as the least improbable explanation of its action. Leaving 10,000 men before Orleans to form and defend an entrenched camp, General D'Aurelles, with his main army, which, writes Colonel Elphin- stone, "exceeds MacMahon's army before Sedan," slipped away northward, and reached Dreux (Tuesday) on his road to Paris. Here he would receive reinforcements from the Breton Army, and with his numbers raised to 150,000 men or more, might either march eastward to attack the Germans south of Paris, or still northward, intending to cross the Seine, and attack the northern section of the besieging force. Nothing, however, seemed certain, except that the Duke of Mecklenburg at Toury was awaiting attack from the west. The telegram from Tours in the Manchester Guardian of Friday that D'Aurelles had reached Etampes on Thursday morning is nearly impossible, unless the Grand Duke had either been overthrown or had retreated, neither of which is probable. The statement that D'Aurelles remained inactive for a week before Orleans to await the arrival of the Red Prince, who was marching westward through Sens, we reject as invented to deceive the Germans.
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