Bourbaki's army, or rather all of it except the 24th
Corps, which seems to have made its escape southwards to Lyons, was defeated by Manteuffel on the 29th January at Chauffeur and Som- bacourt, with the loss of 2 guns, 7 mitrailleuses, and 4,000 men ; again defeated on the 31st, and passed the Swiss frontier, being, of course, then disarmed and interned, at Les Verrieres, on the 1st February (Wednesday). M. Gambetta asserts that this result was partly due to the false news he had received from M. Favre, and forwarded to the departments, that the armistice began to run on the 28th,—whereas for the departments it did not begin to run till the 31st, and not even then, apparently, for the East of France,—a blunder (also made, by the way, by the Emperor in his despatch to the Empress) whereby the Eastern generals lost 48 hours and all hope of saving Bourbaki. We only hope it may prove to be so. The escape of 80,000 men,—the number which it is said Bourbaki's army still counted,—across the- neutral frontier, unless caused by absolute lack of food, or some such blunder as this, would be a pretty good sign that the soldiers had resolved not to fight. Itis only better than a surrender to the enemy in that it saves the guns from capture by the enemy ; on the other hand, it also spares the enemy the onerous duties of guarding a host of prisoners.
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