Memoirs of General Count Rapp, first aide-de-camp to Napoleon

CHAPTER XLI.

The sovereigns had fixed on the conditions of the armistice. Every fortress was to be revictualled once in five days, and to have a league of ground beyond its lines; but the Duke of Wurtemberg took on himself to elude this engagement. He contested my statement of our positions; he disputed about the limits. After several conferences, we came to a provisional arrangement, and we remitted the question to persons appointed to settle it. There then arose new difficulties; at one time they alleged want of provisions, at another want of conveyance. The allowances, at all times incomplete, were constantly in arrears; at last they were entirely suspended. The Duke stood in need of a pretext; he found one: he pretended that we had broken the truce, because we had done justice on some band of robbers which infested our rear. His letter, which could have been transmitted to me in two hours, was two days before it reached me. So many subterfuges made me indignant: I went straight to the point; I told him that I would have no more tergiversation, and that he must fight or fulfil the conditions stipulated on. He replied by talking of the cause of nations and of kings. This language was curious; I expressed to him how much it astonished me, coming from the mouth of a prince, whose sovereign had been our ally for five years, and whose brother was still fighting for us. This last example touched him a little. He replied peevishly, "That a Russian General-in-chief did not think himself inferior in any respect to a king of the Confederation, since it only depended on the Emperor Alexander to raise him to that dignity, and that then he might be a king as well as another; that he would, however, only be so under this slight condition, that it should not be at the expense of any power or person."

The troops ran to arms: but the Duke was unwilling to take the consequences of this rupture. He offered to continue the supplies. They ought to have been sent on the 24th, but they did not come till the 26th, and were never complete. Tainted meat, and flour so very bad that we did not venture to make any use of it till we had made experiments on it, were the only provisions that the Russians furnished us with. They were not more faithful as to the quantity: we did not receive above two-thirds of what was guaranteed to us by the treaty.

The Prince de NeuchÂtel told me that it was necessary to hold out till the month of May following. The thing was quite impossible; I had neither provisions nor troops sufficient for so prolonged a defence. I pointed it out to him; my despatch was precise. Every thing that was possible we were ready to undertake, but good intentions do not create means.

"Dantzic, June 16, 1813.

"My Prince,

"I received the letter which your Highness did me the honour to write me from Neumark, of the 5th of June. M. Planat has also sent me a collection of Moniteurs, containing the detail of the decisive battles gained by Napoleon over the combined forces. I had had, from the day before M. Planat's arrival, intelligence of the brilliant successes of the armies of Napoleon. This good news has produced on the garrison the best effect: it has seen that I had not flattered it with vain hopes; and the patience and courage of which it has given proofs have found the reward that they were entitled to expect.

"The armistice has also been transmitted to me, and I write to your Highness particularly on this subject. I ought not to conceal that this suspension of arms, in the state things are in, must be more disadvantageous than advantageous to the garrison; for disease still occasions us a loss of 1100 men a month, the consequence of which will be that by the 1st of August we shall have lost 1700 men.

"Our provisions, moreover, will be consumed; and, if the Duke of Wurtemberg does not show a better disposition towards us than he has done, we shall not be able to save, as otherwise we should have done, a part of the provisions that he is bound to furnish us. Till the month of October my situation will not give me any uneasiness, but beyond that period it will be a painful one indeed; for we shall want men to defend the immense range of our fortifications, provisions for the defenders, and we shall have no more to hope for from resources within or without.

"The account of the composition for the rations since the blockade will shew your Highness that I have carried into execution, in the distribution of the provision, the rigid economy which our situation demanded, and that to this end I have employed all the resources of which I could avail myself: but these resources are exhausting; and it would be useless to reckon on those which might be derived from the expulsion of the inhabitants; indeed, it is only necessary, in order to be convinced of this painful truth, to recollect that two years ago Napoleon called by requisition on the inhabitants of Dantzic, for 600,000 quintals of corn—an order which was most rigorously carried into execution. At that time only 23,000 quintals were left for the subsistence of its inhabitants. Since that period they have lived on this quantity, and some trifling portions which had been concealed from the strictest searches.

"I have given above an account of the loss which disease still produces every month. The accounts of the situation of the troops present an effective force of 20,558 men; which supposes, according to the estimates (but too accurate) which I have already given, that the garrison will be reduced, at the end of the armistice, to 20,000 men, from which number must be deducted at least 2,000 who will be in the hospitals, even supposing that want does not increase the ravages of disease. What would be our condition, then, by the month of May, when the progress of mortality which the actual state of things supposes will have mowed down so many of our men? It results from the calculation which we are able to make, (admitting that winter diseases do not materially increase the number of deaths, and allowing for a loss of 1000 only per month,) that the sum total of the loss would be, by the 1st of May, 8000 men, omitting altogether those who may perish in actions, or who may die from the consequence of their wounds. There would only remain, then, by the month of May, an effective force of 11,000 men, of whom there will certainly be 3000 in the hospitals: how is it possible to defend fortifications so extensive with so feeble a garrison?

"I have already given orders for the construction of works intended to defend the entrance of Mottlaw, an extremely weak point when the rivers are frozen. I am going on besides with every thing which can secure my communication, but, I repeat, men are wanting for the defences. Your Highness must not doubt that, if it becomes necessary, I will do every thing which honour and my devotion to the Emperor can suggest, to maintain myself in some point or other of Dantzic.

"The state of the magazines will prove to your Highness that our resources are very limited. You will, no doubt, think that I shall manage them with all the care which the desire to make an honourable defence inspires me with: it is with this object in view that I have added to the commission for the management of provisions, which the law has appointed in places in a state of siege, a considerable number of members in addition to those which it requires.

"I have put them under the presidency of the General of the division Count Heudelet. This commission is instructed to lay before me all the measures which may tend to economy and to the welfare of the soldiers; it has rendered great service, and I am sorry that I did not give it at an earlier period the attributes which it now possesses.

"The article of finances merits very particular attention on the part of the Emperor and your Highness. All the funds which have been left at my disposal have been consumed, and I have been obliged to have recourse to a forced loan, which I imposed on all those who were still able to yield any thing. This loan has been put into execution with great severity towards those who pretended not to be able to contribute to the common defence; but notwithstanding all the pains which were taken in respect to this, and all the measures which were resorted to in order to conduce to similar results, up to the present time, only 1,700,000 francs have been raised, and there will be great difficulty in levying the rest.

"The expenses of the pay of the army, those of the constructions in the engineer department, as well as those which concern manual labour (for all the materials which are in the place will be taken, as has been done for these two months past, by requisition, to be paid for on demand at the raising of the blockade); the sums for the artillery; those for the hospitals, for the different branches of the service, for provisions, that is to say, in short, for every thing that is necessary for manual and daily labour; for the constructions in the marine department, clothing—all these expenses, of which I have ordered an estimate to be made, amount to more than 900,000 francs per month.

"A foreign commercial house has offered to provide funds here, provided that the paymaster-general guarantee him reimbursement at Paris. It would be a great security of tranquillity, if I saw this affair settled; but I should prefer that the funds were sent to me, for otherwise some circumstance might happen which would stop the stipulated payment in the second month. Your Highness is well aware that there are no means of dispensing with punctual payment of all the expenses alluded to above, especially with a garrison composed like the one which I command; I beseech you, then, to solicit from his Majesty measures which may secure the payment of the sums which I stand in absolute need of.

"I ought not to close without observing to your Highness that the quantity of powder which now remains in our magazines is not nearly in proportion to what would be necessary for a siege.

"To conclude, Monseigneur, I have thought it right to make beforehand all the observations which occur to my mind on the insufficiency of men for the defence, on the inadequacy of the means of subsistence, on the funds necessary to meet our expenses, in short, on our supplies in every department which are at all in proportion to our approaching wants. I beseech your Highness, then, to lay before the Emperor the painful situation in which we shall be placed, if his Majesty does not come to our aid. What remains of the garrison is in other respects excellent, and the performance of its part may be relied on, by means of a few rewards well applied for unlimited devotion. It will do all that the Emperor can expect from his best soldiers, and will justify the confidence which his Majesty has placed in it, and the favour which he has bestowed on it by placing it among the number of the corps of his Grand Army.

"I am, &c.

(Signed) "Count Rapp."

The armistice was meanwhile approaching its termination. The troops, the ammunition, the artillery for the siege were arriving in abundance before the place. We soon had 300 pieces of cannon of large calibre, and 60,000 fighting troops before us. The disproportion was immense; but we had conquered when enfeebled by disease, we might hope to conquer again. Nothing but the means of subsistence was wanting. The Russians were so convinced of this that they gave chase to the smallest craft which went fishing. Their gun-boats had even captured some of the craft which had not gone beyond the limits. I immediately despatched a flag of truce to the Admiral. I represented to him that the sea ought to be free for a league from the shore, and that I should know how to make the conditions of the armistice respected, if they again attempted to infringe them. He promised to conform to the conditions, and no more to molest our boats. He did not, indeed, molest them; but that very evening he carried off our unfortunate fishermen, who had retired, without suspicion of what was to happen, to their huts. He dreaded the abundance which a few pounds of fish would produce in the fortress. The peasants and the course of the waters were not better treated. They entrapped the former, and turned the latter in another direction. It appeared to them as if every thing was put in motion to get us food; that it was coming on us in every direction. It was in vain for me to protest; indeed, never were pretences or excuses wanting. At last the Prince of Wolkonski announced to me the recommencement of hostilities; I received this news with sincere satisfaction. Our relations were too disagreeable for me not to desire to see them ended.

Clyx.com