 After the revolution of February 1848 he was elected deputy for the department of the Vosges, and in the Assembly sat on the right, pronouncing for the repression of the insurrection of June 1848 and for Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.He was minister of agriculture from August to December 1849 and from August to October 1851.Re-elected deputy in 1863, he was one of the supporters of the "Liberal Empire" of Émile Ollivier, and was finance minister in Ollivier's cabinet from January to 10 April 1870.