d. Mac-Mahon's right wing, under
General de Failly, was surprised at Beaumont, and finally the French
army in disorder drew up in most unfavorable positions between the Meuse
and the Belgian frontier, to face a foe twice as numerous and already
nearly completely surrounding it. The battle of Sedan broke out on
September 1. Mac-Mahon was wounded early in the fight and gave over the
command to Ducrot, in turn superseded by Wimpffen, already designated by
the Ministry to replace Mac-Mahon in case of accident. After a fierce
battle it fell to General de Wimpffen to capitulate on September 2. By
the disaster of Sedan the Germans captured the Emperor, a marshal of
France, and the whole of one of its two armies.

The news of the overwhelming defeat of Sedan struck Paris like a
thunderbolt. Jules Favre proposed to the Corps legislatif the overthrow
of Napoleon and of his dynasty; Thiers, who favored the restoration of
the Orleans family, wished the convocation of a Constituent Assembly;
the comte de Palikao asked for a provisional governing commission of
which he should be the lieutenant-general. But, before anything was
done, the Paris mob invaded the legislative chamber. Gambetta, with the
majority of the Paris Deputies, went to the Hotel de Ville, and to
prevent a more radical set from seizing the Government, proclaimed the
Republic (September 4). A Government of National Defence was constituted
of which General Trochu became President, Jules Favre Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and Gambetta Minister of the Interior. Thiers was not a
member, but gave his support. Eugenie escaped from the Tuileries to the
home of her American dentist, Dr. Evans, and then fled to England.

Jules Favre was innocent enough to think that the Germans would be
satisfied with the overthrow of Napoleon, and he was rash enough to
declare that France would not yield "an inch of its territory or a
stone of its fortresses." But, in an interview with Bismarck at
Ferrieres, on September 19, he realized the oppressiveness of the German
demands. The rhetorical and emotional, even tearful, Jules Favre was
faced by a harsh and unrelenting conqueror, and the meeting ended
without an agreement. Meanwhile Paris was invested by the German forces
of the Crown Prince and the Prince of Saxony after a defeat of some
French troops at Chatillon. William, Bismarck, and Moltke took up their
station at Versailles. Europe, made suspicious by the numerous changes
of governmen