“ In 1847 he published L’Histoire des rois francs, and in 1861 a French version of the Nibelungen, but though he never lost his interest in literature and history, his most important work was in the domain of economics. He was one of a group of young lawyers, doctors and critics, all old pupils of Huet, who met once a week to discuss social and economic questions, and was thus led to publish his views on these subjects. In 1859 some articles by him in the Revue des deux mondes laid the foundation of his reputation as an economist. ”

“ In 1864 he was elected to the chair of political economy at the state university of Liége. Here he wrote his most important works: La Russie et l’Autriche depuis Sadowa (1870) , Essai sur les formes de gouvernement dans les sociétés modernes (1872) , Des Causes actuelles de guerre en Europe et de l’arbitrage and De la propriété et de ses formes primitives (1874) , dedicated to the memory of John Stuart Mill and François Huet. He died at Doyon, near Liége, on the 3rd of January 1892. ”