Trochu, however, deprecated the movement. There
were already plenty of guns, said he; what he required was gunners to
serve them.
On October 25 we heard of the fall of the little town of Chateaudun in
Eure-et-Loir, after a gallant resistance offered by 1200 National Guards
and Francs-tireurs against 6000 German infantry, a regiment of cavalry,
and four field batteries. Von Wittich, the German general, punished that
resistance by setting fire to Chateaudun and a couple of adjacent
villages, and his men, moreover, massacred a number of non-combatant
civilians. Nevertheless, the courage shown by the people of Chateaudun
revived the hopes of the Parisians and strengthened their resolution to
brave every hardship rather than surrender. Two days later, however, Felix
Pyat's journal _Le Combat_ published, within a mourning border, the
following announcement: "It is a sure and certain fact that the Government
of National Defence retains in its possession a State secret, which we
denounce to an indignant country as high treason. Marshal Bazaine has sent
a colonel to the camp of the King of Prussia to treat for the surrender of
Metz and for Peace in the name of Napoleon III.
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