Note 34 — Chapter III

Emeric Joseph, Duc de Dalberg, was the nephew of the Bishop of Constance, who was Elector of Mainz and Prince-Primate and Grand Duke of Frankfurt-on-the-Main, and in his various dignities gave such startling proofs of his honesty in private life and his high intellectual culture. The nephew, at first Baron de Dalberg, after having represented the Margraviate of Baden in Paris, became a great friend of Talleyrand, married the Marquise de Brignole, lady of honour to the Empress Josephine, took out letters of naturalisation and obtained the title of duc with a counsellorship of State. He was one of the negotiators of the marriage of Napoleon with Marie-Louise, but in 1814 promptly deserted the fortunes of Napoleon. He was one of the five members of the Provisional Government, and took part in the Congress of Vienna as a plenipotentiary. Subsequently he was created a peer of France and appointed to the ambassadorship at Turin. Born in 1773 at Mainz, he died at Hernsheim in 1833. His ducal title went to his nephew, the Comte de Tascher de la Pagerie.