investigation of the causes of the
humiliating failure of the campaign in Switzerland. Suffice it to say
that, when Korsakoff's army finally entered the north-east of
Switzerland, the Archduke Charles was compelled by imperious mandates
from Vienna to withdraw into Swabia. He foresaw disaster; and it soon
came. While Suvoroff's army was toiling down the northern defiles of the
St. Gotthard, Massena, after receiving strong reinforcements,
overwhelmed Korsakoff at Zurich (25th-26th September). That Pitt
expected defeat after the withdrawal of the Archduke Charles appears
from his letter to Windham:

Downing Street, _30th August 1799_.[517]

I should gladly accept your proposal to join the water-party
today, but I came to town to meet Lord Grenville; and, having
seen him, I am preparing to return part of the way to Walmer in
the course of the evening. I was brought to town by the
vexatious accounts from Vienna, which give too great a chance of
our being disappointed in our best hopes by the blind and
perverse selfishness of Austria's counsels.

Grenville was equally indignant and accused Austria of treachery.[518]
Much can be said in support of that charge. Whatever may have been her
motive, her conduct ruined the campaign. South-east of Zurich, Soult
routed Hotze's Austrian corps, which might have linked the movements of
Suvoroff with those of Korsakoff, and Suvoroff on arriving at Altorff
found no other course practicable than to strike away eastwards over the
Panixer Pass to Coire in the Grisons. There he arrived after severe
hardships on 8th October, and swore never again to act with the
Austrians. Paul, on hearing these dire tidings, registered the same vow,
and informed the Viennese Court that thenceforth he separated his
interests entirely from hers. Thus was it that Pitt's plans miscarried.
Thus was it that British subsidies were flung away into the limbo strewn
with tokens of Hapsburg fatuity.

* * * * *

The Anglo-Russian effort against the Batavian Republic is often referred
to as if it were the principal event of the year 1799. On the contrary,
it was little more than a diversion intended to help the chief
enterprise in Switzerland and Franche Comte. The Czar Paul and Pitt
probably did not intend to hold the Dutch Provinces unless the Allies
pressed France hard on the Swiss frontier and the Orange party rose in