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

by comte Jean Rapp

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.