In 1851, Charles-Victor was sentenced to six months in jail and a fine of five hundred francs for an article opposing capital punishment he wrote for the French daily newspaper L'Evénement.

[1][2] When Napoleon III came to power in 1851, Charles-Victor joined his father in voluntary exile on the island of Jersey.

Together with August Vacquerie, he photographed family and friends with the aim of publishing a volume titled Jersey et les îles de la Manche.

The intended work was to feature poetry and drawings by his father, Victor-Marie, and prose by Vacquerie, Charles-Victor, and his brother, François.

[3] In 1868, he and his brother François-Victor founded the French daily newspaper Le Rappel.