Реклама
Читать книгу: «Memoirs of General Count Rapp, First aide-de-camp to Napoleon», страница 20
"During the night the posts were all renewed. Individuals, in the uniform of sub-officers, presented themselves once more to penetrate into the General's apartments, to satisfy themselves, as they said, that he had not escaped. The altercations between them and the officers of the staff were warmer than ever; the latter, nevertheless, in the end prevailed. In fine, the division of the funds was effected towards nine o'clock in the morning. Immediately the call to arms was sounded, the army assembled, withdrew its posts, raised the siege of the palace, and repaired to the parade. General Garrison, accompanied by all his staff, drew up the troops in line, and addressed to them the following proclamation. We give it verbatim.
"'Soldiers of the Army of the Rhine,
"'The bold step which has just been taken by your sub-officers to obtain justice, and the complete discharge of your pay, has compromised them with the civil and military authorities. It is in your good conduct, your resignation, and your excellent discipline that they hope to find safety; that which you have maintained up to the present time is the best guarantee of it; and of this they hope for a continuance.
"'Soldiers, the pay-officers have in their possession all that is owing to you; the garrison will return to its former situation, the posts will remain till the General-in-chief shall have given orders in consequence. On their return from the parade, the sergeant-majors and quarter-masters shall repair to their pay-officers, and shall take note before paying the troops from MM. the Colonels, in order to keep back what is not due.
"'The infantry is to be disbanded—it will take superior orders; and the cavalry, still having no order, will wait its lot, in order to give up, at least before setting off, the horses, arms, and all that belongs to the Government, in order that it may be said they are Frenchmen: they have served with honour, they have obtained payment of what was due to them, and have submitted to the orders of the King, under the glorious title of the Army of the Rhine.
"'By order of the Army of the Rhine.'"
"The Sergeant-General, after having delivered this speech, which the army heard in silence, made the two divisions of infantry, the cavalry, and artillery defile before him, and went in great pomp to display at the offices of the Prefect and Mayor the white flags that had been made by his orders. The troops then returned to their barracks, and submitted themselves to the authority of their respective officers.
"As soon as they were restored to liberty, the Generals, Colonels, and superior officers were anxious to repair to Count Rapp, to express to him the pain they had experienced at seeing the army thus unmindful of the rein of discipline. They even caused a protest against the seditious movements which the army had given way to, to be printed, which they all signed, and which contained expressions very flattering to the General-in-Chief.
"Two days after, they laid down their arms at the arsenal, and all the corps were disbanded. Dalouzi, as leader of the revolt, had incurred the penalty of death; but he was pardoned on account of the good order that he had maintained in the midst of the insurrection."3
The army was dissolved; my command having expired, there was nothing to keep me any longer in Alsace. But the good souls of the Faubourg Saint-Germain had imagined that we were a source of terror to Europe. On the field of battle I believe we were, and the Allies did not disallow it. In other respects this was thinking too highly of us. With regard to plots and conspiracies, it is not we who deserved the palm. I, nevertheless, went to meet that which they wished to allot to me. I wrote to the King, I did not attempt to disguise my sentiments from him. If I had been able to throw the whole coalition into the Rhine I would have done it; I did not conceal it. My letter was thus worded.
"Sire,
"I do not endeavour to justify my conduct. Your Majesty knows that the bent of my mind and my military education have always led me to defend the French territory against all foreign aggression: I could not, above all, hesitate to offer my life in defence of Alsace, which gave me birth.
"If I have preserved the esteem of your Majesty, I desire to finish my career in my own country; if it were otherwise, I should be the first to demand to go and pass my days abroad: I could not live in my country without the esteem of my sovereign."
"I only ask this; I have need of nothing more."
This letter was of use. Marks of regard that had escaped the Monarch kept malevolence within bounds. I passed some months at Paris without being disturbed; but the race of emigrants had filled the chambers and harangued at the tribune. Their vociferations against all the men distinguished for their talent and courage whom France can boast of, gave me such a disgust that I withdrew. I went into Switzerland, where at least aristocracy did not present the scandalous spectacle of the rage of the present time combined with the meanness of the past. The ordinance of the 5th of September was issued a short time afterwards: I returned to Paris, where I live quietly in the bosom of my family, and where I have experienced happiness which till then was unknown to me.
Here the Memoirs terminate. We will only add a few words.
Become a member of the House of Peers, the General was called into the presence of the King. This favour did not make him unfaithful to old recollections. So many immortal days were too deeply engraved in his mind! He could not forget our victories, or him who had conducted them, or those who had obtained them! He had often taken so glorious a part in them! Courage does not disinherit herself. In like manner the brave soldiers who were persecuted by men whom they had eclipsed on the field of battle always found in their General a devoted protector. His purse, his credit were open to them. Never did he repel the unfortunate. Those who had none of the privileges which the standard gives, participated in his benefits; it was sufficient if they were in distress. Misfortune was something sacred in his eyes.
The state of inactivity into which on a sudden he had fallen, after a life of alarms and fatigue, hastened to a fatal termination the wounds with which he was covered. His health was gone; he soon ended the term assigned him by Nature. He beheld death without emotion, ordered himself to be put in a position so as to front the enemy, whom he had always looked in the face, and expired, offering up his prayers for France and his family.
DOCUMENTS
ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE MEMOIRS
Letter from General Rapp to the Duke of Wurtemberg
June 14th, 1813.
Colonel Richemont has communicated to me the letter which your Royal Highness honoured him with, the … of this month. I learn with pain that the very conciliatory proposals made, in my name, by M. Richemont, have not been accepted, and that discussions have arisen on points which appeared to afford no room for any debate whatever.
I must observe to your Royal Highness, generally, that the armistice was not demanded by the Emperor Napoleon, which supposes that all the articles ought to be construed favourably to the French army; but since the intentions of the treaty are disputed, I see no other means of attaining the object of your Royal Highness, and my own, than by proposing to your Excellency to leave, as regards the limits, things in their present state, and to inform the commissioners appointed by articles 9 and 12 of the armistice, of the difficulties which have arisen in the execution of article 6. I therefore beg your Highness to name, conjointly with myself, two officers who shall be instructed to repair to those commissioners, and who can speedily bring a report of the solution we are to expect.
I also consent that the article relative to supplies be only settled provisionally, that is to say, that if your Royal Highness would not take upon yourself to allow us 30,000 rations of victuals, reckoning from the day of the armistice, which, according to the returns of the force of the garrison, is necessary, Colonel Richemont will be able to settle with the Russian commissioners, the quantities which shall be supplied to us on account, to be deducted from the amount which shall be definitively appointed by the commissioners of the armistice, to whom it will be referred, as well as the article of limits.
The officer who brought the armistice would have been able to notify at the Imperial head-quarters the discussions which have arisen, if his instructions did not oblige him to delay his departure till after the first distribution which is to be made to the garrison by the directions of the General commanding the blockade.
I should have greatly desired that we could have come to an understanding, on the execution of the treaty, as I have reason to fear that false inferences may be drawn from the delay of this officer, as to the good understanding which the armistice supposes to exist between us; a contingency which I should the more lament, as it appears to me that your Highness might have acceded to the proposals of Colonel Richemont, which I should most certainly have done in your place, without fearing the least reproach for it from my sovereign.
(Signed,) Count Rapp.
ANSWER
Sulmin, June 15th, 1813.
I received the letter which your Excellency did me the honour to write to me, dated the 14th of June, and I must frankly confess that it is my duty to enter into the fullest explanation of the cause of the misunderstandings which exist relative to the literal execution of the articles of the truce.
This treaty having laid down fixed principles, in order to avoid every subject of dispute, it appears to me, that it would be infinitely more simple and natural to adhere strictly to it. I confess to your Excellency that it is with sincere pain that I agree to depart from it according to your proposition. It appears to me that by this arrangement, which you wish, both of us, to a certain degree, exceed the limits of our powers, and that it would be much better to settle between us the line of neutrality according to the literal sense of the armistice. Nevertheless, to avoid all farther discussion, I consent to let things remain on their present footing: I will even order the commanders of my advanced posts to come to an understanding with yours about making some arrangements, which may be agreeable to your Excellency, in respect to sentinels and piquets, to prevent any collision between our light troops.
Respecting what concerns the article of provisions, the commission assembled for that purpose has already commenced its sittings, and I hope that Colonel Richemont will soon be able to announce that this article has been definitively settled.
As to what regards the two officers whom your Excellency would send to the commissioners appointed definitively to settle all the difficulties which appear to arise respecting the stipulations of the truce, I must observe, that it is not in my power to grant them the necessary passports: the article of provisions, which will be forthwith settled, will allow, in the course of a few days, Captain Planat to undertake this commission.
Be persuaded, moreover, General, that accustomed, in the course of twenty-five years' service to fulfil with exactness the orders of my sovereign, I should have acted in a very different manner, if I had agreed to the propositions which have been made to me by Colonel Richemont, and which deviated so essentially from the articles of a truce, the simple and natural expressions of which leave no room for the least discussion.
Your Excellency, moreover, will always find me ready to do whatever may be agreeable to you, and which at the same time may not be inconsistent with my duty. I shall eagerly seize all the opportunities that I can to convince you that nothing equals the high consideration with which I have the honour to be, &c.
(Signed,) Alexander, Duke of Wurtemberg.
Letter from the Duke of Wurtemberg to his Excellency Count Rapp
From my head-quarters, July 12, 1813.
(Received on the 14th, though the Duke was but two leagues from Dantzic.)
General,
A messenger, who has just arrived from head-quarters, brings me an order for suspending the allowances which have been hitherto made to the garrison of Dantzic. The corps of Volunteers under the orders of the Prussian Major Lutzow having been attacked, during the continuance of the truce, without the least cause, is announced to me as the reason which has caused this determination, and which is not to be varied from until this affair shall be definitively settled.
In communicating the orders which I have received to you, I announce at the same time that this affair, which will probably soon be settled, does not however change the other articles of the truce, which are to remain in full force.
I have the honour be, &c.(Signed,) Alexander, Duke of Wurtemberg,General of Cavalry.
ANSWER
Dantzic, July 14, 1813.
Monsieur le Duc,
From the commencement of the arrangements agreed upon between us, in consequence of the armistice, I have seen, with much pain, that your Royal Highness does not fulfil them with that exactness which such stipulations demand.
I have perceived, in the delay of all the deliveries, a secret war which was destroying in detail the spirit of the armistice. In spite of my continual protests, a great part of the provisions has been left in arrear; you have not even supplied what is due at present, and it is in this state of things that I receive, to-day, the 14th, the letter from your Highness, dated the 12th, which informs me that you have orders to suspend the provisions. This suspension has actually taken place these four days past, that is to say, since the 10th; and as our correspondence may reach each other in two hours, I will not conceal from your Highness with what sentiments I must look at the difference between the date and the arrival of your despatch.
The conditions of an armistice, my Lord Duke, are alike binding on both the parties; and as soon as one of them allows himself to annul one of the principal and most essential clauses, the armistice is from that moment broken, and he puts himself in a state of war against the other. It is in this light, that I consider from henceforth the declaration you have made; and although your Highness informs me that the other articles of the truce shall remain, you must perceive that I cannot accept such modifications but by the orders of my sovereign. It only remains to me, then, to beg you to acquaint me whether the six days which are to precede the recommencement of hostilities are to be reckoned from the 12th at one o'clock in the morning, or from the 14th at twelve.
I must declare to you, that I account you responsible for the rupture of an armistice that was concluded between our sovereigns, and that I cannot listen to any evasive explication until after the reception of all the provisions which are due to me.
(Signed,) Count Rapp.
Letter from the Duke of Wurtemberg to General Count Rapp
From my head-quarters, July 15, 1813.
I have just received the letter which you have addressed to me, and I cannot conceal from your Excellency that I have been more than ordinarily surprised at its contents.
It would be absolutely useless again to repeat to your Excellency what MM. Generals Borozdin and Jelebtzou have not failed to observe to you repeatedly, that is to say, that the momentary delays which the garrison of Dantzic has experienced in being revictualled have only been occasioned by the sudden change of the arrangement that was proposed and demanded by your Excellency, of buying the provisions by your own commissaries, which has necessarily produced the greatest embarrassment; the Prussian commissaries having excused themselves on the state of entire destitution of the provinces contiguous to Dantzic, which have been already charged for so long a time with the provisioning of my troops. If, as I have several times requested, there had been at my head-quarters, conformably to the stipulations of the truce, a French commissary permanently, he would have been able to convince himself of the extreme embarrassment that the Prussian commissaries have felt in procuring waggons, and the necessary provisions for revictualling Dantzic, and for the maintenance of my own troops; so that it is not the army forming the blockade which has thrown obstacles in the way of revictualling the place. Moreover, it is only my sovereign, the august Emperor Alexander, to whom I must render an account of my actions.
I now come to an article of far greater importance, since it may be attended with the most serious consequences; for it appears, according to the letter of your Excellency, that you are decided on recommencing hostilities on your own authority, whilst the places, Stettin and Custrin, are also temporarily deprived, as well as Dantzic, of the provisions stipulated for in the armistice. I hope, however, that you will seriously consider what you are about to do, and I render you responsible for all the measures you may take, and which may prevent the belligerent powers from coming to an adjustment of their differences.
I send you an exact copy of the letter which I received from the Commander-in-chief of all the armies, Barclay de Tolly; you will see, that far from there being any thoughts of recommencing hostilities, I am expressly prohibited from doing so.
If, in spite of all my observations, which I have had formally certified by my Generals, commanders of corps, you do not think fit to wait patiently till the affair of the legion of Lutzow, which has caused the temporary cessation of the revictualling of Dantzic, (of which the arrears, by the way, are only suspended,) and of the other fortresses, is amicably settled, and you attack my forces, I will prove to you that my brave Russians do not stand in dread of the menaces of any one, and that they are moreover ready to shed their blood for the cause of all sovereigns and all nations.
(Signed,) Alexander, Duke of Wurtemberg.
ANSWER
Dantzic, July 16, 1813.
I received the letter which your Royal Highness did me the honour to write to me on the 15th of this month. I will not again touch on the different observations which you make on the non-execution of the conditions of the armistice; they have been constantly brought forward, and always victoriously refuted; and therefore present nothing new. General Heudelet, whom I sent to the conference that was demanded by General Borozdin, has made known on my part the only expedient for a provisional arrangement which could again take place between us.
In a letter of the 14th instant, I intreated your Royal Highness to appoint at what precise time the six days between the rupture and the commencement of hostilities were to begin; to this I have had no positive answer. I must, therefore, acquaint you, that as the letter of your Royal Highness, dated the 12th, only reached me on the 14th at noon, and I can consider your positive and official refusal to continue the supplies as nothing else than a rupture of the armistice, hostilities will recommence on the 20th; I owe this determination to the Emperor and to my corps d'armée. Six guns fired from the different forts of Dantzic, at noon, shall leave no doubt on this subject. I beg your Royal Highness not to consider as a threat the obligation which I am under to interpret the violation of one of the articles of the treaty as a formal declaration, annulling the armistice; I know the brave Russian troops, whom I have often fought with, and I know that they are worthy to be opposed to our own.
Here, my Lord, my letter would close, were I not compelled to make a remark to your Royal Highness on some expressions of your letter of the 15th, that I also am only accountable to my sovereign for my determinations; that, as for what your Highness calls the cause of all sovereigns and all nations, these are very extraordinary phrases in the letter of a prince, who knows better than any one that the Emperor Alexander, his sovereign, was engaged during five years, in our alliance against the despotism of a maritime power, which would make all the Continent tributary to it; and that his august brother, the King of Wurtemberg, has been for a long time past one of the most staunch supporters of this same cause.
(Signed,) Count Rapp.
Letter from the Duke of Wurtemberg to General Rapp
From my head-quarters, July 17, 1813.
General,
I should have nothing more to add to the letter which I wrote to your Excellency, dated the 15th of July, if the formal declaration of war which you make to me, as from one power to another, did not oblige me still to make a few important remarks, before the commencement of hostilities which you axe about to undertake.
I will observe to you, then, (although it is absolutely impossible for me, officially, to accept the declaration, that you are about to begin hostilities, and though I must declare you, once more, responsible for all the consequences that this event may produce) that if, in spite of my observations, you, nevertheless, persist in a determination which, as I believe, will not even be approved by the Emperor Napoleon, the period for the rupture which you fix for the 20th of July at mid-day, is contrary to the 2d and 3d articles of the armistice; since, after the 20th of July, the term of the expiration of the truce, hostilities should not take place, according to article 9th, till six days after the 20th of July, which will bring us to the 26th of the month; and it would be really singular for us to be the only two chiefs of corps on the theatre of war to recommence hostilities.
I am convinced, that with a little patience we shall soon hear that the affairs of the Cabinets are taking a different turn. What would be then the regret of your Excellency if, by too much precipitation, you should once more create difficulties between the two Courts, of which my own has nothing to reproach itself with, since it was very natural that it should for the time take measures of retaliation, after it had learnt the destruction of the corps of Lutzow in the midst of the armistice;—as it is not possible to bring to life the men so destroyed, while it will, on the other hand, be very possible to furnish the garrison of Dantzic with the provisions in arrear.
I now close my letter, General, compelled to make an observation or two on the last phrases in yours, which have appeared to me extremely strange. All Europe, and, I dare say, France also, is perfectly acquainted with the reasons which caused the rupture of the peace that was signed at Tilsit. It also knows the dictatorial tone which the ambassador Count Lauriston assumed in the heart of the capital of Peter the Great. The august Emperor Alexander was compelled, by such an excess of audacity, to appeal to his sword; he was obliged to surround himself with his valiant soldiers to open the churches, and to confide himself to a generous and faithful people, who have proved to him what may be done by a nation happy in its own territory, but who have not hesitated a moment to arm themselves in defence of their honour and of their sovereign.
As to what concerns my brother, the King of Wurtemberg, whom your Excellency calls one of the most staunch supporters of the cause which you defend, I can assure your Excellency that a Russian General-in-chief does not think himself inferior in any respect to a King of the Confederation, since it only depends on the Emperor Alexander to elevate me to that dignity, if he thinks fit; and then I shall be king like any other; I should, however, premise one small condition, that is, that it should not be at the expense of any power, or any person.
(Signed,) Alexander, Duke of Wurtemberg.
CAPITULATION OF DANTZIC
Capitulation of the fortress of Dantzic under special conditions, concluded between their Excellencies Lieutenant-general Borozdin, Major-general Welljaminoff, in quality of chief of the staff, and the Colonels of Engineers, Manfredi and Pullet, intrusted with full powers by his Royal Highness the Duke of Wurtemberg, Commander-in-chief of the troops besieging Dantzic, on one part;
And their Excellencies Count Heudelet, general of division, the General of Brigade d'Hericourt, Adjutant-general; and Colonel Richemont intrusted with full powers from his Excellency Count Rapp, aide-de-camp of the Emperor, Commander-in-chief of the 10th corps d'armée, on the other part.
Article I. The troops forming the garrison of Dantzic, and of the forts and redoubts thereunto belonging, shall leave the town with their arms and baggage on the 1st of January, 1814, at ten o'clock in the morning, by the gate of Oliwa, and shall lay down their arms before the battery of Gottes-Engel, if by that period the blockade of the garrison of Dantzic is not raised by a corps d'armée, equivalent in force to the besieging army, or if a treaty concluded between the belligerent powers shall not by that time have fixed the fate of the city of Dantzic. The officers shall retain their swords, in consideration of the vigorous defence and distinguished conduct of the garrison. The company of the Imperial guard, and a battalion of six hundred men, shall retain their arms, and shall take with them two six-pounders, with the ammunition waggons belonging to them. Twenty-five horsemen shall also preserve their arms and their horses.
Art. II. The forts of Weichselmunde, the Holm, and the intermediate works shall, together with the keys of the outer gate of Oliwa, be given up to the combined army, on the morning of the 24th Dec. 1813.
Art. III. Immediately on the signature of the present capitulation, the fort La Corte, that of Neufahrwasser, with its dependencies, and the left bank of the Vistula, as far as the height of the redoubt Gudin, and the line of redoubts extending from this last-mentioned work on the Zigangenberg, as well as the Mowenkrugschantz shall be surrendered in their present condition, without any deterioration, into the hands of the besieging army. The bridge which at present connects the tête-du-pont of Fahrwasser with the fort of Weichselmunde, shall be removed and placed at the mouth of the Vistula, between Neufahrwasser and the Nowenkrugschantz.
Art. IV. The garrison of Dantzic shall be prisoners of war, and shall be escorted to France. The governor, Count Rapp, formally engages that neither officers nor soldiers shall serve again, until their perfect exchange, against any of the powers now at war with France. There shall be drawn up an exact muster-roll of the names of the generals, officers, and soldiers composing the garrison of Dantzic, without any exception. There shall be two copies of this roll. Each of the generals and officers shall sign a promise and give his word of honour not to serve against Russia or her allies till his perfect exchange. An exact muster-roll shall be also made of all the soldiers who are actually under arms, and another of those who are sick or wounded.
Art. V. The governor, Count Rapp, engages to accelerate as much as possible the exchange of the individuals forming the garrison of Dantzic, rank for rank, for an equal number of prisoners belonging to the allied powers. But if, contrary to all expectation, this exchange should not take place for want of the necessary number of Russians, Austrians, Prussians, or other prisoners belonging to the courts allied against France, or if the said courts should throw obstacles in the way of it, then at the end of a year and a day, dating from Jan. 1, 1814, new style, the individuals forming the garrison of Dantzic shall be released from the formal obligation contracted in Art. IV. of the present capitulation, and may be again employed by their government.
Art. VI. The Polish troops and others belonging to the garrison shall be at full liberty to follow the lot of the French army, and in that case shall be treated in the same manner, excepting those troops whose sovereigns may be in alliance with the coalition against his Majesty the Emperor Napoleon, who shall be forwarded to the states or armies of their sovereigns, according to the orders which they shall receive from them, and which orders they shall send officers or messengers to request, immediately after the signature of the present capitulation. The Polish and other officers shall give each his word of honour in writing not to serve against the allied powers till his perfect exchange, conformably to the explanation given by Art. V.
Art. VII. All prisoners, of whatever nation they may be, who belong to the powers at war with France, and who are at present in Dantzic, shall be set at liberty without exchange, and sent to the Russian advanced posts by the gate Peters-Hagen, on the morning of the 12th of December, 1813.
Art VIII. The sick and wounded belonging to the garrison shall be treated in the same manner, and with the same care as those of the allied powers; they shall be sent back to France after their perfect recovery, under the same conditions as the rest of the troops forming the garrison of Dantzic. A commissary of war, and medical officers shall be left with these invalids to attend to them and to claim their removal.
Art. IX. As soon as a certain number of individuals belonging to the troops of the allied powers shall have been exchanged for an equal number of individuals belonging to the garrison of Dantzic, then the latter may consider themselves free from their preceding engagement, contracted formally in Art. IV. of the present capitulation.
Art. X. The troops of the garrison of Dantzic, with the exception of those who, according to the terms of Art. VI. are to receive orders from their sovereigns, shall proceed by ordinary marches in four columns, at two days march distance one from the other, and according to the route annexed, and shall be escorted to the advanced posts of the French army. The garrison of Dantzic shall be supplied on its march according to the statement annexed. The 1st column shall begin its march the 2d Jan. 1814; the 2d on the 4th Jan. and so on.
Art. XI. All Frenchmen being non-combatants, and not in the service of the army, may follow, if they think fit, the troops of the garrison; but they cannot claim the rations fixed for the soldiery: they are, moreover, at liberty to dispose of the property which may be recognized as belonging to them.
Art. XII. On the 12th December, 1813, shall be delivered up to the commissioner appointed by the besieging army, all the cannon, mortars, &c. &c., arms, military stores, plans, drawings, sketches, the military chests, all the magazines of every description, the pontoons, all effects belonging to the engineer corps, to the marine, to the artillery, to the train, to the waggon department, &c. &c. without any exception; and a duplicate inventory shall be made of them, which shall be forwarded to the chief of the staff of the combined army.
Art. XIII. The generals, officers of the staff, and other officers, shall retain their baggage, and the horses they are entitled to under the regulations of the French army, and shall receive the necessary forage during their march.
Art. XIV. All details respecting the means of conveyance to be furnished, whether for the sick and wounded, or for the corps and officers, shall be regulated by the heads of the staff of the two armies.
Art. XV. There shall be reserved to the senate of Dantzic, the right of urging on the Emperor Napoleon all its rights to the liquidation of such debts as may exist on any part, and his Excellency the governor engages to give those to whom the debts have been contracted, acknowledgments certifying the justice of their claims, but under no pretext shall hostages be retained on account of these debts.
Art. XVI. Hostilities of all kinds shall cease on both sides from the signature of the present treaty.
Art. XVII. Every article on which a doubt may arise shall always be interpreted in favour of the garrison.
Art. XVIII. Four exact copies of the present capitulation shall be made, two in the Russian, and two in the French language, to be transmitted in duplicate to the two Generals-in-chief.
Art. XIX. After the signature of these official documents the governor, General Count Rapp, shall be at liberty to send a courier to his government; he shall be accompanied to the advanced posts of the French army by a Russian officer.
Done and agreed to at Langfuhr, this 29th of November, 1813.
(Signed,)
The General of Division Count Heudelet, General d'Hericourt, Colonel Richemont, Lieutenant-General Chevalier Borozdin, Major-General Welljaminoff, in quality of Head of the Staff, the Colonel of Engineers Manfredi, Colonel of Engineers Pullet.
Seen and approved,Count Rapp.
Letter from the Duke of Wurtemberg to General Rapp
From my head-quarters at Pelouken, December 23, 1813.11 o'clock at night.
General,
I am bound to inform you that I have just received a despatch from his Imperial Majesty, which acquaints me, that the capitulation concluded between your Excellency and myself has been approved by the Emperor; excepting the part which concerns the return of the garrison to France. Although it does not belong to me to examine whether an apprehension lest the garrison of Dantzic might be forced, like that of Thorn, to resume active service before it should be perfectly exchanged, and after it should have passed the Rhine, may have had its weight, I am nevertheless obliged to acquaint your Excellency with the precise will of his Majesty, being at the same time persuaded that none of the Generals or Officers, forming part of the brave garrison of Dantzic, would permit themselves in any case to be wanting to their engagements, of which I myself would be willingly the guarantee. His Majesty has also formally authorized me to declare to you, General, that the garrison shall not be sent into the distant provinces of Russia, if your Excellency gives up the fortress without further injury, according to the terms of the capitulation. You may choose for your particular abode and for that of the Generals and Officers, any one of the towns of Revel, Pleskow, Zaliega and Orel, to remain there till the garrison is exchanged. Besides, it is understood of itself, that the Generals and Officers will preserve all the advantages which have been secured to them under the capitulation. As to what concerns the Polish troops who are at present in Dantzic, the pleasure of his Majesty is, that they be sent quietly to their homes on quitting the fortress, and in like manner the German troops.
I must believe, General, that your Excellency certainly will not hesitate to consent to these arrangements, since it is to be believed that the war will not last a year, and then every one will immediately return to his own country; and I am so much the more persuaded that your Excellency will take this determination, because in the opposite case I should not be able to spare you, or your garrison, any of the inevitable rigours which a perfectly useless resistance would carry in its train, the infallible consequence of which would be transportation of the garrison to the most distant provinces of the Russian empire, without the possibility of their enjoying the least of those advantages which are now perfectly secured to them; together with all the conveniences necessary for the route stipulated for in the capitulation.
If, however, your Excellency, contrary to all expectation, should take a determination as unexpected as prejudicial to the interests of the garrison, I will then restore to you, the day after to-morrow, Saturday, at noon, all the works which have been surrendered to the besieging army, except the fort of Neufahrwasser, since the supreme will of his Majesty is that your Excellency should previously send out of the fortress all the German troops at present in Dantzic with their arms and baggage, as the Confederation of the Rhine exists no longer, and all the states which composed it have become our allies; and in this case Neufahrwasser also shall be given up to you immediately and without the smallest difficulty. I will send also to Dantzic by the gate of Oliwa, all the stragglers as soon as they shall have returned; and in the event in question, hostilities shall recommence the day after they are given up, at nine o'clock in the morning.
(Signed) The Duke of Wurtemberg.
P. S. I beg your Excellency to be so good as to let me have your answer to-morrow morning. If General Heudelet or any other of the Generals were sent to my head-quarters, it would infinitely facilitate the conclusion of an affair which may terminate to your satisfaction.
I have written on this subject to his Majesty by a Courier.
ANSWER
My Lord,
I made a capitulation with your Royal Highness:—to-day you announce to me that, without having any respect for it, the Emperor Alexander orders that the garrison of Dantzic shall be sent into Russia as prisoners of war, instead of returning to France.
The 10th Corps d'Armée leaves it to Europe, to history, to posterity, to decide on so extraordinary an infraction of the faith of treaties, against which I solemnly protest.
In consequence of these sacred principles, I have the honour to inform your Royal Highness that, holding strictly to the text of a capitulation, which I must not consider as annihilated because it is violated, I will execute it punctually; and that I am ready this very day to give up to the troops of your Highness, the forts of Weichselmunde, Napoleon, and the Holm, as well as all the magazines, and to leave the fortress with my garrison on the 1st of January next.
At that period, force, and the abuse of power, may drag us to Russia, to Siberia, or wherever they please. We shall submit to suffer, to die even if it be necessary, victims of our confidence in a solemn treaty. The Emperor Napoleon and France are powerful enough, sooner or later, to avenge us.
In this state of things, my Lord, there remains no arrangement for me to make with your Royal Highness; referring myself entirely to the capitulation of the 29th of November, which, I repeat, may be infringed, but cannot be annihilated.
(Signed,) Count Rapp.
Dantzic, December 23, 1813.
Letter from Count Rapp to the Duke of Wurtemberg
My Lord,
My aide-de-camp delivered to me yesterday the letter which your Royal Highness has done me the honour to address to me.
By your return of the letter which you received from me, I imagine your Royal Highness imputes to me exasperated feelings. Your Highness does not render me justice: I have been a soldier twenty-two years; I am habituated to good and to evil fortune.
Your Highness does me the honour to say, that it was quite to be expected that the Emperor Alexander should have the power of ratifying, or not ratifying, the capitulation. Either your Highness was furnished with full powers or you were not; under the last supposition my conduct would have been very different from what it has been.
Marshal Kalkreuth, after a very short defence, obtained a very honourable capitulation. I even recollect that the Emperor Napoleon, who was not twenty leagues from the fortress, was dissatisfied with it, but he would not put his commander-in-chief in an unpleasant position by annulling the capitulation. It was impossible to perform it with more fidelity and delicacy than it was executed with, by Marshal Lefebvre and myself. Marshal Kalkreuth is still living, and has preserved the remembrance of our proceedings. There are Prussian officers at your head-quarters who can also bear witness to them.
Your Highness does me the honour to say that his Majesty orders that all things shall be put upon their previous footing, if I wish to recommence hostilities. Your Highness knows perfectly well that the advantages were at the time of entering on the capitulation on our side, for you had constantly made us offers which you pretended to be favourable; you know that now it is quite the contrary: this assertion stands in no need of proofs.
Besides, my Lord, it is you who have always proposed to me to enter into an arrangement to stop the effusion of blood; offering, as the fundamental condition, our return to France. The correspondence of your Highness attests this fact.
Your Highness knows well in what situation we are placed, and that it is altogether impossible, in all respects, to prolong our defence. The choice which you leave me becomes perfectly illusory.
I pray your Highness to cause to be occupied to-day Weichselmunde, the Holm, and the intermediate works. I have only left in them small detachments to prevent waste. I desire also that your Highness will send commissaries to receive inventories of our magazines of all kinds. I attach importance to this, that there may be no complaints, and that we may not be reproached with having deteriorated any thing; not in the fear of going to Russia with fewer conveniences, which your Highness insists on in your letter, but through the desire of religiously fulfilling all my engagements.
I have the honour again to declare to your Highness, that the garrison of Dantzic will leave the fortress on the 1st of January, in the morning, in execution of Art. I. of the capitulation of November 29; to which I entirely adhere, and to which it is quite useless to add any other arrangement. Circumstances will, after the evacuation, place us entirely at the disposal of your Highness.
I have the honour, &c.Count Rapp.
TO THE SAME
December 26, 1813.
My Lord,
General Manfredi has delivered to me your Royal Highness's letter of yesterday, the 25th instant. Having had already the honour to treat with you on the first articles of this letter, the last is the only one that seems to require an answer. Your Royal Highness declares to me that you cannot allow me to leave Dantzic without a previous arrangement. On my part, thinking it impossible to open again the capitulation of November 29, approved of by your Royal Highness and by me, I have the honour to declare that, having no means of prolonging my defence, I put myself from the 31st of December at your disposal, together with the troops under my orders. This arrangement, my Lord, is very simple: it is for your Royal Highness to regulate the fate of the garrison.
I content myself with recommending to your generosity, the soldiers, especially those who, by their infirmities and wounds, more particularly claim my solicitude.
I recommend to you also the non-combatants, the women, the children, and the Frenchmen, resident in Dantzic.
(Signed,) Count Rapp.
