"Well, Duke of Tarentum," said the former, before the marshal left Fontainebleau, "do you think a regency is the only thing possible?"
"Yes, sire."
"Well," continued Napoleon, who had now recovered his composure; "I charge you with my message to the Emperor Alexander; you will go with Ney instead of Marmont. I rely on you, and I hope you have entirely forgotten the circumstances which separated us so long?"
"Oh, sire, I have never once thought of them since 1809."
"I rejoice to hear it," replied Napoleon with emotion; "but marshal—I must now make the acknowledgment—I was wrong."
"Sire!" exclaimed Macdonald; the Emperor pressed his hand and faltered out but one word,
"Go."[28]
Macdonald vehemently urged that a regency should be established in France, in the person of Maria Louisa, in favour of her son, the young King of Rome, and violent altercations took place at the conference.
"Speak not to me, sir," said he to Bournonville, who opposed him; "your conduct has made me forget the friendship of thirty years!" "As for you, sir," he added, turning to Dupont, "your behaviour towards the Emperor is not generous. I acknowledge that he may have been unjust to you in the affair of Baylen; but how long has it been the fashion to avenge a personal wrong at the expense of the country?"
"Gentlemen," exclaimed the Duke of Vicenza, "do not forget that you are in the presence of the Emperor of Russia."