 Changarnier ran for president in the election of 1848, but came in dead last with less than ten thousand votes out of ten times that many.In 1849 Changarnier received the grand cross of the Legion of Honour.An avowed enemy of republican institutions, he held a unique position in upholding the power of the president; but in January 1851 he opposed Louis Napoleon's policy, was in consequence deprived of his double command, and at the "coup d'état" in December was arrested and sent to Mazas, until his banishment from France by the decree of January 9, 1852.