our sway. May the English government be always distinguished by the same moderation which directed the distribution of the conquered territories! and may the descendants of the native Indians have reason to congratulate their forefathers and themselves, on the ascendency of a state which, with the balance of power in one hand, holds the balance of justice in the other! 3F2 HISTORY OF THE WAR. CHAP. XXIV. Inefficiency of the Russian Troops on their Arrival in Switzerland-Sanguinary Conflicts in the Zurichberg-Death of General Hotze-Disasters of Korzakow Suwarrow passes the Alps and arrives in Switzerland-His Bravery and Skill are rendered unavailing by a Concurrence of unpropitious Circumstances-He Abandons Switzerland in disgust-Movements of the Archduke Charles-Operations in the South of Italy-Recovery of Naples-Indiscretions of Lord Nelson-Death of Pope Pius VI. T O the circumstance of the imperial troops which rad quitted Switzerland, having been succeeded by an inferior number of Russians, was added the loss of unity of views, of action, and of authority. Nor was this the only unfavourable effect produced by the change. However great and well merited was the reputation of the Russian troops it was apprehended that they might not experience their usual success in a country of mountaius, where the operations of warfare are of a nature uncongenial to the habits and military discipline of the Russians. The Austrian army on the contrary contained but few officefs, or noncommissioned officers, who had not served in the Tyrol, Carinthia, or the Black Forest, and it possessed many corps consisting of ́mountaineers, Tyrolians, and Styrians, or of active and intelligent Walloons, and Hungarians. It was a still more important advantage that the Austrians were well acquainted with that part of Switzerland which they had conquered, and which for three months they had leisure and interest to study. They likewise spoke the language, and therefore possessed the advantage of familiar communication with the inhabitants. This inequality however was at first imperceptible, and the impressions of the French were the reverse of the truth. The reputation of superiority which the Russians had acquired and maintained in Italy imposed on the republicans. They did not even attempt any enterprise of importance from the 29th of August, the day on which the Russians relieved the Austrian advanced posts before Zurich, till the 8th of September. On that day they renewed the attack which they had so often made on the post of Wallishoffen. It had the same issue as those which preceded it, and they returned to their position with some loss. Massena on this occasion repeated what Frederic had formerly said of the Russians, You may kill them, but you cannot make them retreat or surrender." 66 Three days after this affair, which had no other object on the part of the French than to bring the Russians to the test, and to familiarize themselves with their manner of fighting, the right of the republican army had gained some ground, and obtained possession of the important post of Kerenz, the point of communication between the valleys of Maderan and the Rhine, a post which the Austrians retook in the following day. After the departure of the archduke Charles for Suabia, Massena had been superior to his enemy by 20,000 men. Notwithstanding the dis order produced by replacing the troops of that prince by those of general Korzakow, and the total ignorance of the Russians respecting the geography of the country, the republican general had continued in a state of inactivity as extraordinary as beneficial to the allies. After many ineffectual exhortations on the part of the directory to offensive measures, they determined to deprive Massena of the command, leaving it at the same time in his power to avoid this disgrace by an immediate and general attack. He determined, therefore, to gratify their wishes, and prepared to make it along his whole line. The Russians meditated at the same meditated at the same moment a movement no less decisive. The views of the court of Vienna, the obstacles which the middle of the campaign had presented, and the motives which caused the archduke's departure from Switzerland had rendered it necessary to substitute for the original plan of turning Switzerland on the north and the south, an arrangement of less magnitude, which required a less considerable force, and was purely military. The object proposed was to recover immediate possession of the small cantons, and to turn the position so long held by Massena on the lakes of Lucerne and Zug, and on the Albis, which would have obliged him to retire on the Aar, without the possibility of 'preserving its whole line. General Korzakow was to attack the French on the chain of the Albis, while generals Hoche and Jellachich should endeavor to drive them from the cantons of Schweitz and Glarus, and from the Grey League, an attempt in which they would be powerfully assisted by general Suwarrow, who designed to force the St. Gothard, to descend the valley of the Reuss, to turn the lakes of Lucerne and Zug, and thus to take post on the flank of the enemy's centre and on the rear of its right, which would have been placed between two fires. The three állied corps were to unite in the canton of Lucerne, under the command of general Suwarrow, and thus to form an army of 60,000 men, with which he expected that he should terminate the campaign in Switzerland as brilliantly and as use fully as he had begun it in Italy. Massena was acquainted with these projects, and, having learned that generals Korzakow and Hotze had resolved to begin their execution on the 26th, he determined to anticipate their design. There remained to him no other means of success, and even the plan which he adopted ought rather to have failed than succeeded. In the night of the 24th, 50,000 French put themselves in motion on the line from the Linth to the Aar. At break of day, the division of general Soult, reinforced by part of Lecourbe's, assembled between the lakes of Wallenstadt and Zurich. It threw a bridge over the Linth near Wesen, a point protected by a single battalion of the regiment of Bender, which resolutely sustained the assault of five French battalions, and was cut to pieces. A Hungarian battalion, which came to its support, was not able to restore the engagement, and was obliged to retire towards Utznach. At the sound of musketry, general Hotze, along with his staff, hastened from his head-quarters at Kaltbrum. Too well informed of the localities of the country, not to conclude that this was a serious attack, he wished to reconnoitre closely, the force and the positions of the enemy. A party of French rangers made a discharge upon him and his suite, which struck him from his horse, and killed or wounded the greater part of the officers who surrounded him. This brave and able general fell into the hands of the enemy and died after languishing a few hours. His death, which would at any time have been a serious loss to the Austrian army, was at this time a misfortune to Europe. He alone could have repaired or prevented the subsequent disasters of the day. prived of their commander, the regiments which defended the right bank of the Linth, and covered the entrance of the valley of the Toss, bravely stood their ground, notwithstanding so discouraging an event, and for a long time maintained the action. De While these events were passing on the or Feft of the allies, the French had established a. bridge at the extremity of the lake of Zurich, and advanced in force towards Schmerickens, but were attacked by the Russiaus who marched from Rapperschwell, and repulsed as far as their bridge, which, being broken down, all who remained on the right bank were taken, killed, drowned. This circumstance might have resolved affairs on the Linth, if general Petrarch, to whom rank and seniority gave the command on general Hotze's death, had also stood firm on his side; but, fearing to be turned by his right, he precipitated his retreat by the Toggemburgh, nor discontinued it till he reached the Rhinthal, thus abandoning the whole of eastern Switzerland, uncovering the left flank of the Russiaus; leaving without remedy, any check which they might experience, and rendering of no avail, the success which might attend their reresistance. At break of day Massena had marched a division near to Brück, which feigned on that point a serious attack. While this feint attracted the attention of the Russians, another division threw a, bridge over the Limmat, near Dietikon, and two others attacked Wallishoffen, as well as all the other points which the enemy had in front of Zurich, between that town and the Albis. Here the Russians on their guard, and in sufficient force, vigorously repulsed the French, and pursued them closely as far as the summit of the Albis. In conformity with the general plan of attack adopted by the allies, a corps of 5000 Russians was destined to act on the right of general Hotze. Three Russian battalions had been stationed for some days at Rapperschwell for this purpose, and five others were sent in the night of the 25th, of which three were drawn from the camp of Seebach, behind Zurich, and two from before that town. The departure of this strong detachment very much weakened the defence of the right bank of the Limmat, and there remained to defend it only 12,000 men, from Zurich to the Rhine. This number would have been sufficient to punish the temerity of the enemy had it been promptly and skilfully employed. But general Durazzow, completely duped by the false attack which the French had made on the side of Bruck, instead of reconnoitring the actual situation of the left, and closing up the centre, which was really attacked, remained stationary on his own ground. The enemy's column, which had thrown a bridge over the river at Dietikon, was enabled to complete it without interruption, and to advance rapidly on the right bank of the Limmat : general Markoof, who commanded in that position, being too weak to oppose the movement, and receiving no reinforcement from the left, in consequence of the departure of the five battalions, nor from the right paralyzed as it was by the misconduct of general Durazzow. The latter perceiving that he was separated from the rest of the army by the division of general Lorge, which had crossed the river instead of marching against it, and thus pacing it between two fires, turned about and directed his course towards the Rhine. General Lorge who had been followed. across the Limmat by reinforcements, and by Massena himself, experiencing little opposition, left a part of his division to observe general Durazzow, and marched with the remainder to Zurich. He found on his way no enemy to encounter, but a division of cossacks, one battalion of the regiment of Sacken, and four squadrons of dragoons. Consulting only their bravery, this handful of men attacked the French,. and twice succeeded in repulsing them; but, after keeping the enemy in check for four hours, was obliged to fall back to Zurich. About one o'clock, the French. were masters of part of the zurichberg. and of the northern approaches to the town. In order to extricate himself from the critical situation in which general Korzakow was now placed, much greater presence of mind, boldness, and ability, was requisite, than he displayed. He made no prompt and vigorous dispositions, nor did he attempt to take any advantage of local circumstances to defend, with regularity, the heights commanding Zurich. Having, however, been reinforced in the . afternoon by a part of the five battalions which had been sent to Rapperschwell, and by a part of the corps which defended the left bank of the Limmat, he made many unsuccessful attacks on the division of general Lorge. The French, scattered in the vineyards, poured upon the Russians a destructive fire; and, whenever the latter rushed upon them with fixed bayonets, retired under the protection of their cannon, which, raking the Russians in front and rear, made great havoc in their line. The French ultimately remained masters of the zurichberg. About six o'clock, they threatened to turn the Russian corps in the plain of Zurich. General Korzakow therefore caused his camp to be burnt, and withdrew his troops into the town, of which all the gates were shut except that of Rapperschwell. Towards the evening, the French completed the investment of the town on the north and east, and shortly after on the west; for the Russian corps, on the left bank of the Limmat, after an obstinate resistance, weakened by the reinforcements which it had sent to the other side, and incessantly attacked by superior numbers, was compelled to fall back under the walls of Zurich. General Korzakow, dispirited and embarrassed by the occurrences on the Linth, passed the night in preparing for battle, or for retreat, as occasion might demand. Massena, concluding that the Russian general, surrounded as he was on all sides, would not endeavor to maintain possession of the town; but, knowing what he had to fear from the bravery of Russian soldiers, if he reduced them to the necessity of cutting their way with the bayonet, and being himself too weak to occupy at the same time the roads of Winterthur and of Eglisan, withdrew his troops in the night from the former, and contented himself with guarding in force the heights which command the latter. He sent, at the same time, an officer with a flag of truce to the Russian general, offering conditions for the quiet evacuation of the town, and for his retreat to the Rhine; but the cossacks robbed this officer of his dispatches, and he was detained in the town till the following day. On that day, while it was expected that the Russians would make a capitulation with the French general Oudinot, general Korzakow, taking with him all the troops that he could collect, began his retreat, having his baggage and artillery disposed in the intervals of his columns: but, instead of taking the road to Winterthur, which the enemy had left open for his retreat, he sent in that direction only a small part of his troops and of his baggage, and pursued his march with the body of his army towards Eglisau. The French had no desire or expectation of being called into action; but, seeing the Russian army approach, concluded that it was coming to attack them. Advantageously posted on the heights which command the road, they suffered the Russians to approach, and then opened upon them a terrible and commanding fire of artillery and musketry. Thus the battle began but partially, and without regularity. The Russian regiments, which were rather in order of retreat than of battle, fought individually without concert or object. Overwhelmed along the whole of their column by the grape-shot of the French, whose flying artillery, manoeuvred with great effect, they rushed repeatedly with fixed bayonets upon the enemy, and forced them for some moments to give way; but, as the prodigies of valor performed by the Russian infantry, could not be turned to account by the superior officers, they only served to render the defeat more bloody and more complete. Their little army was broken on all points, and a considerable number of men were captured, with part of the artillery, baggage, and treasure. General Korzakow, with all that escaped from the enemy, forced his way to Eglisan, at which place he hastened to pass the Rhine. Russians having thus placed the Rhine between themselves and the French, and the Austrians retiring towards the Rinthal, all eastern Switzerland was open to the inroads of the republicans, who lost no time in overrunning it. The event will shew how much it was to be lamented The |