Arène emerged as one of the most prominent of these new men, leader of the island's Republicans by 1885 and the dominant political power in Corsica at the time of his death in 1908.

[4] He became a habitual reader of the Le XIXe siècle, a journal directed by Edmond About, a Republican journalist and writer, and anti-clerical Freemason who was close to Léon Gambetta.

About met Arène, was impressed by his spirit, political convictions and writing ability, and gave him a job as a correspondent for Le XIXe siècle.

[5] Gambetta supported Arène's election to the general council of Corsica in August 1880, despite the fact that technically he was ineligible since he was not yet 25 years old.

[7] Gambetta supported Arène in his election as deputy for the district of Corte on 4 December 1881 in a by-election after Horace de Choiseul-Praslin(fr) had chosen to represent Melun in Seine-et-Marne.

[4] Arène sat with the Republican Union group and voted for the opportunist policy of the governments of Gambetta and Jules Ferry.

[4] Arène was a strong supporter of Jules Ferry, who became prime minister on 22 February 1883 and backed him over the Tonkin expedition although he abstained from voting to fund it.

As a contributor to Le Matin, in August 1884 Arène had a violent dispute with the deputy Félix Granet(fr) and Ernest Judet, director and editor in chief of the Presse Libre.

Previously Judet had accused Arène and his friend, the senator Nicolas Péraldi, of being biased in favour of François Morelli's shipping company, which had the concession for maritime postal services between the continent and Corsica.

[4] Arène ran for reelection as republican candidate for Deputy of Corsica, but won only 24,625 votes against 24,953 for the last elected member on the conservative list, François de Montera(fr).

[4] In the general elections of 22 September 1889 Arène was reelected deputy of Sartène (Corsica) in the first round by 4,090 votes against 2,965 for the Bonapartist candidate Abbatucci.

[6] In his electoral campaign in 1893 he proclaimed, I know only one family, where birthright is nothing and where the right of conquest is everything, where a person is judged according to his own acts and not according to those of his fathers, where he must make his name himself instead of receiving everything ready made, where education is superior to nobility and intelligence to fortune.

It is to support it against all avowed or hidden enemies, it is to strengthen it against all assaults, to defend it against all coalitions that I invite you all to cry "Long live Corsica!

[6] In 1896 the newspaper La France published a list of 104 parliamentarians including Arène who had allegedly received funds from the Panama company.

To confirm his mandate Arène chose to run as deputy for Ajaccio in the 7 November 1897 by-election caused by the death of Dominique François Ceccaldi(fr), and was returned by 8,941 votes to 1,008 for his opponent.

The article also stated that a "new document", the faux Henry, that cited the name of Dreyfus and had been mentioned by General Jean-Baptiste Billot to Scheurer-Kestner, was a forgery.

Arène introduced Spoturno, later better known as François Coty, to politicians and officials, and to his wide circle of acquaintances in Parisian society.

Spoturno accompanied Arène to the dawn rendezvous in the Bois de Boulogne, where both men fired and missed, satisfying honour.

This was the origin of the beauty products company Coty, Inc.[15] In the general elections of 27 April 1902 Arène was reelected by 10,084 against 606 for his main opponent.