Napoleon was still at Fontainebleau in command of some 45,000 men, including the elite Old Guard, not a negligible force even at this stage. A determined attempt to rally the people of Paris in his favour might well have ended in catastrophe for the allies. The option of having him assassinated was considered, but it was not Talleyrand’s way of doing things. He suggested that Schwarzenberg propose an armistice to Marshal Marmont, whose 12,000-strong army corps was camped nearest to the capital. When Marmont accepted and moved his camp on 3 April, he appeared to have abandoned Napoleon. This
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