 He served as a member of the Provisional Government of 1848 under Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure as well as Mayor of Paris from February to March 1848, and then a member of the Government of National Defense (1870-1871) under Louis Jules Trochu as a minister without portfolio.He was a keen promoter of reform and was a leading spirit in the affair of the reform banquet fixed for 22 February 1848.He was a member of the provisional government of 1848, and was named mayor of Paris.