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In 1814 the Austrians were making peace overtones to Napoleon that were PERFECTLY acceptable. The Austrians didn't want to see the Russians and Prussians carve up Europe.
It would have been difficult from the French perspective to ally with the Austrian knowing how those did "help" during the time they were allied (Russia and the return from it). As I remember Austria broke the French alliance in 1813 and remained neutral until August.
In 1813, even after returning from Russia with almost nothing, Bonaparte was able to reconstruct a new army beat the allies a few times before getting beaten at Leipzig (thanks to Austria getting back on the allied side).
As for the peace treaty proposed in November (the Frankfort proposal) I don't think the British would have accepted it even if Napoleon had agreed to it.
To the point that the British reacted to it by sending Castlereagh to the allies. He then proposed to put Louis XVIII to the throne of France and restore the 1792 (instead of the "natural borders" of the original proposal). Metternich ended up siding with the British position as they secretly agreed with Britain to weaken the Russian position (who wanted to put Bernadotte as king under Russian influence).
It's only the tactical victories of Napoleon in mid-February 1814 that created a wave of defeatism (or a panic attack) for the Tsar and Schawrzenberg. That fear was exploited by Castlereagh... In the end the 4 members of the coalition signed the treaty of Chaumont in March 1814. There was no more space for a peace treaty between France and Austria at that time.
As for Napoleon's blindness or the idiots of 1815 I leave it to your judgment as you might be an expert on that.
But I have been told that it's the bad politic of Louis XVIII that drove the French people back in the arms of Napoleon.
NWC
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