Ducrot at once yielded to the ministerial ukase; the Emperor sought to intervene in favour of Ducrot, only to be waved aside by the confident de Wimpffen; and thus the long conflict between MacMahon and the Palikao Ministry ended in victory for the latter--and disaster for France[46].
[Footnote 46: See Lebrun's _Guerre de 1870: Bazeilles-Sedan_, for these disputes.] In hazarding this last statement we do not mean to imply that a retreat on Mezieres would then have saved the whole army.

It might, however, have enabled part of it to break through either to Mezieres or the Belgian boundary; and it is possible that Ducrot had the latter objective in view when he ordered the concentration at Illy.

In any case, that move was now countermanded in favour of a desperate attack on the eastern assailants.

It need hardly be said that the result of these vacillations was deplorable, unsteadying the defenders, and giving the assailants time to bring up troops and cannon, and thereby strengthen their grip on every important point.

Especially valuable was the approach of the 2nd Bavarian corps; setting out from Raucourt at 4 A.M.it reached the hills south of Sedan about 9, and its artillery posted near Frenois began a terrible fire on the town and the French troops near it.
About the same time the Second Division of the Saxons reinforced their hard-pressed comrades to the north of la Moncelle, where, on de Wimpffen's orders, the French were making a strong forward move.