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.