In 1857, he was appointed principal of the newly founded Jacques-Cartier Normal School, an office he held until his death.
He was made a Lit.D.
of Laval (1878) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
In 1873 he was commissioned by the Quebec Government to investigate certain European archives for materials relating to Canadian history.
Besides many contributions to the Historical Society of Montreal, of which he was the first president, and to the Royal Society of Canada, he published (1870–73) two volumes of memoirs concerning the invasion of Canada by the Americans.
He died in Montreal, Quebec in 1901.