to the public. For months he was imprisoned at the Grand Trianon in the Palace of Versailles with his wife and two youngest children, while preparations were made for the court-martial, which started the following year (6 October 1873) under the presidency of the Duc D'Aumale in the Grand Trianon's Peristyle. For some time the Duke and his colleagues had been looking for a way out of their difficulty, by which they could save themselves, satisfy public clamor and yet avoid responsibility before history. Bazaine stated in his defence "I have graven on my chest two words – 'Honneur' et 'Patrie'. They have guided me for the whole of my military career. I have never failed that noble motto, no more at Metz than anywhere else during the forty-two years that I have loyally served France. I swear it here, before Christ". Despite a vigorous defence of Bazaine's actions by Lachaud, and the presentation of a number of strong witness statements from his staff including Colonel Willette, the court found Bazaine guilty of negotiating with and capitulating to the enemy before doing all that was prescribed by duty and honour. Opinion is has been divided on the veracity of the trial. One New York Time commentary piece wrote:- "There was nothing shown in the tiral at Versailles to prove to unprejudiced observers that bazaine was a traitor, or that he had done all in his power to extricate his army from the perilous position in which it had been placed." Bazaine surrendered only after receiving letters recommending him to do so from his generals, but the presentation of these at the trial was ignored. "I have read every word of the evidence [against Bazaine] and believe it to be the most malicious casuistry" (New York Times correspondent). A letter which Prince Frederick Charles wrote in Bazaine's favour only added to the wrath of the people, who cried aloud for his execution. Another, contrary New York Time commentary piece wrote:- The proofs alleged against him make it clear that he thought not of defeating or escaping from the enemy, but solely of becoming the arbiter of the fortunes of France. His defense is valueless against the evidence not only of witnesses, but of his own acts and writings. He, in short, convicts himself, and his habitual trickery and his ingrained habits of falsehood render it impossible to accept his own word