XXVIII. 1799. Aug. 14, leys of the Alps, they succeeded in taking 1500 pri- CHAP. soners and four pieces of cannon. But these advantages were more than counterbalanced by the fall of Tortona, which capitulated on the 25th August, on 15. condition that if not relieved by the 11th September, the place should be surrendered to the allies. This conquest was the only trophy which they derived from Sept. 11. the bloody battle of Novi. Moreau made an ineffectual attempt to relieve the blockade, and, finding it impossible to effect the object, retired into the fast- 'Jom. xii. nesses of the Apennines; while Suwarrow, who had 138. Arch. received orders to collect the whole Russians in the Ch. ii. 74, Alps, set out, agreeably to the plan fixed on, with 336, 337. 17,000 men for the canton of the Tessino.' 129, 133, 77. Dum.i. Massena and duke at Zurich. While these great events were passing to the south of the Alps, events of still more decisive importance Situation of occurred to the north of those mountains. Immedi- the Archately after the capture of Zurich and the retreat of Massena to Mount Albis, the archduke established the bulk of his forces on the hills which separate the Glatt from the Limmat, and placed a line of posts along the whole course of that river and the Aar, to observe the movements of the Republicans. Each of the opposing armies in Switzerland numbered about 75,000 combatants; but the French had acquired a decided superiority on the upper Rhine, where they had collected 40,000 men, while the forces of the Imperialists amounted in that quarter only to 22,000. Both parties were anxiously waiting for reinforcements; but as that expected by the archduke, under Korsakow, was by much the most important, Massena resolved to anticipate his adversary, and strike a decisive blow before that dreaded auxiliary arrived. For this purpose he commenced his operations by CHAP. XXVIII. 1799. means of his right wing in the higher Alps, hoping, by the advantage which the initiative always gives in mountainous regions, to dispossess the Imperialists from the important position of the St Gothard, and ! Arch. Ch. separate their Italian from their German armies by ii. 77, 81. the acquisition of these elevated ridges, which were universally at that period deemed the key to the campaign.' Jom. xii. 55, 58. Dum. i. 296. the Allied At the very time when the French general was Insane dis- making preparations for these important movements, location of the Aulic Council gave every possible facility to their success, by compelling the archduke to depart with this period his experienced troops for the Rhine, and make way Aulic Coun- for the Russians under Korsakow, equally unskilled forces at by the cil. in mountain warfare, and unacquainted with the French tactics. In vain that able commander represented that the line of the Rhine, with its double barrier of fortresses, was equally formidable to an invading as advantageous to an offensive army; that nothing decisive, therefore, could be expected in that quarter, while the chances of success were much greater from a combined attack of the Russians and Austrians on the frontier of the Jura, where no fortresses existed to impede an invading force; that 50,000 Russians in Switzerland could not supply the place of 70,000 Austrians; and the chances, therefore, were that some serious disaster would occur in the most important part of the line of operations; and that nothing could be more hazardous than to make a change of troops and commanders in pre* Arch. Ch. sence of a powerful and enterprising enemy, at the ii. 80, 91. very time that he was meditating offensive operaTh. x. 407, tions. These judicious observations produced no sort of effect, and the court of Vienna ordered "the 408. 2 immediate execution of its will, without farther objections." CHAP. XXVIII. 1799. of the theatre of To understand the important military operations which followed, it is indispensable to form some idea Description of the ground on which they took place. The St Gothard, though inferior in elevation to many other war. mountains in Switzerland, is nevertheless the central point of the country, and from its sides the greatest rivers in Europe take their rise. On the east, the Rhine, springing from the glaciers of Disentis and Hinter-Rhine, carries its waters, by a circuitous course, through the vast expanse of the lake of Constance to the German ocean; on the north, the Reuss and the Aar, descending in parallel ravines * The relative situation and strength of the two armies at this period is thus given by the Archduke Charles : CHAP. XXVIII. 1799. 1 Th. x. 409, 410. Arch. Ch. i. 96. through rugged mountains, feed the lakes of Lucerne, Thun, and Brientz, and ultimately contribute their waters to the same majestic stream; on the west, a still greater river rises in the blue and glittering glacier of the Rhone, and, descending through the long channel of the Valais, expands into the beautiful lake of Geneva; while to the south, the snows of the St Gothard nourish the impetuous torrent of the Tessino, which, after foaming through the rocks of Faido, and bathing the smiling shores of the Italian bailliwicks, swells out into the sweet expanse of the Lago Maggiore, and loses itself in the classic waves of the Po. The line of the Limmat, which now separated the hostile armies, is composed of the Linth, which rises in the snowy mountains of Glarus, and, after forming in its course the lake of Zurich, issues from that great sheet of water, under the name of the Limmat, and throws itself into the Aar at Bruick. Hotze guarded the line of the Linth; the archduke himself that of the Limmat. Korsakow was considerably in the rear, and was not expected at Schaffhausen till the 19th August.' . One road, practicable for cavalry, but barely so for artillery at that period, crossed the St Gothard from Bellinzona to Altdorf.* Ascending from Bellinzona on the southern side, it passes through a narrow defile close to the Tessino, between immense walls of rock between Faido and Airolo; climbs the steep ascent above Airolo to the inhospitable summit of the St Gothard; descends, by a torrent's edge, its northern declivity to the elevated.mountain-valley • The magnificent chaussée, which now traverses this mountainous and romantic region, was not formed till the year 1819. of Urseren, from whence, after traversing the dark and humid gallery of the Unnerloch, it crosses the foaming cascade of the Reuss by the celebrated Devil's Bridge, and descends, through the desolate and rugged valley of Schollenen, to Altdorf on the lake of Lucerne. But there all vestige of a practicable road ceases; the sublime lake of Uri lies before the traveller, the sides of which, formed of gigantic walls of rock, defy all attempt at the formation of a path, and the communication with Lucerne is carried on by water along the beautiful lake of the four cantons. The only way in which it is possible to proceed on land from this point, is either by shepherds' tracks towards Stantz and the canton of Underwalden, or by the rugged and almost impracticable pass of the Shackenthal, by which the traveller may reach the upper extremity of the canton of Glarus. From the valley of Urseren, in the heart of the St Gothard, a difficult and dangerous path leads over the Furca and the Grimsel to Meyringen, in the valley of Oberhasli. The plan of the allies was, that Hotze, with XXVIII. 1799. 25,000 Austrians, should be left on the Linth; and Plan of the at the end of September a general attack should be Allies. made on the French position along the whole line. Korsakow was to lead the attack on the left with his Russian forces; Hotze in the centre with the Austrians; while Suwarrow, with 17,000 of his best troops, was to assail the right flank of the Republicans, and by the St Gothard throw himself into the rear of their position on the Limmat. This design might have been attended with success if it had been undertaken with troops already assembled on the theatre of operations; but when they were to be collected from Novi and Bavaria, and undertaken in presence of a general perfectly master of the ground, |