Chapter XLVIII (2)

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.

THE END.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, DORSET STREET.

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│ Transcriber's Note: │
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│ The original spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have been │
│ retained, with the exception of apparent typographical errors │
│ which have been corrected. │
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│ Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. │
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│ Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, │
│ _like this_. │
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│ Errors corrected: │
│ Charlottemberg (p. iii) and Charlottemburgh (pp. 96, 98) │
│ changed to Charlottenburg. │
│ Wittemberg (p. 90) changed to Wittenberg. │
│ Cremen (p. 102) changed to Bremen. │
│ Konigsberg (pp. iv, 162, 168, 218) changed to Kœnigsberg. │
│ Saint-Albretch (p. 324) changed to Saint-Albrecht │
│ Weljaminoff (p. 423) changed to Welljaminoff. │
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