“ He was a railway expert, becoming secretary-general of the Railway Commission established in 1842, government commissioner to the authorized railway companies, administrator of the Lyons-Mediterranean railway, and commissioner to examine foreign railways. In 1846 he was returned to the Chamber of Deputies for Herault, but the revolution of 1848 drove him into private life, from which he only emerged after the downfall of the Empire, when in February 1871 he was returned to the National Assembly. ”