Concurrent with the resolve of the marshals at Fontainebleau ran the
actual treason of one who alone was more important to Napoleon's cause
than all of them. "I am ready to leave, with my troops, the army of
the Emperor Napoleon on the following conditions, of which I demand
from you a written guaranty," are the startling words from a letter of
Marmont to the Czar, dated the previous day. On April first agents of
the provisional government had made arrangements with a discredited
nobleman named Maubreuil for the assassination of Napoleon; the next
day Schwarzenberg introduced into the French lines newspapers and
copies of a proclamation explaining that the action of the senate and
of all France had released the soldiers from their oaths. Marmont
forwarded the documents he received to Berthier, and while most of the
officers flung their copies away in contemptuous scorn, some read and
pondered. On April third an emissary from Schwarzenberg appeared at
Marmont's headquarters, and what he said was spoken to willing ears.
Still under the influence of the homage he had received in Paris, the
vain marshal saw himself repeating the role of Monk; he beheld France
at peace, prosperity restored, social order reestablished, and himself
extolled as a true patriot--all this if only he pursued the easy line
of self-interest, whereby he would not merely retain his duchy, but
also secure the new honors and emoluments which would be showered on
him. So he yielded on condition that his troops should withdraw
honorably into Normandy, and that Napoleon should be allowed to enjoy
life and liberty within circumscribed limits fixed by the allied
powers and France. Next morning, the fourth, came Schwarzenberg's
assent, and Marmont at once set about suborning his officers; at four
in the afternoon arrived an embassy from Fontainebleau on its way to
Paris. The officers composing it desired to see Marmont.