An officer with a brilliant record of service, he was encouraged by Clemenceau, who saw in him a bulwark for the radical republic. He was very popular. Compelled to retire in 1888 by the worried government, he was triumphantly elected in several departments and even in Paris on 27 January 1889. But his hesitations about taking power played into the hands of the government, and he was abandoned by his troops. He fled to Belgium and committed suicide at the tomb of his mistress Marguerite de Bonnemains.Autograph letter signed and dated Saint-HŽlier, 20.04.1890 to M. Delagneau: "É les Žlecteurs qui É ont donnŽ la preuve de leur dŽvouement ˆ la cause que je reprŽsenteÉ".