He sat with the majority, spoke on legislative issues, and on 23 May 1847 was appointed Advocate General at the Court of cassation.

He was reinstated on 10 July 1849 and was appointed Attorney General at the Court of Appeals of Paris on 10 February 1853.

[3] On the death of Hippolyte Fortoul, the emperor made Rouland Minister of Education and Religious Affairs.

However, from 1860 the struggle for Italian unification caused the clergy to become increasingly open in their opposition to imperial policy, and Rouland took more positive steps.

On 1 December 1861 he published a memorandum in which he criticized the willingness of these congregations to admit minors without obtaining the permission of their parents or guardians, and said that in future this would result in formal legal prosecution.

[10] He reduced the number of permits for new women's establishments, and refused to accept any unauthorized new male orders, such as the Jesuits or Capuchins.

He continued negotiations over recognition by the Pope of state-run theological faculties, but no agreement could be reached over the division of rights between the church and the state.

Rouland also pushed for open civil law trials of clergy, where before justice had been managed through discreet agreements with bishops.

He also enacted stricter control on private schools, and obtained more funds for public education.

[6] Rouland appointed lay women inspectors to investigate the quality of education for girls in schools around the country.

[12] Rouland was able to persuade municipal councils to take back some of the secondary schools they had handed over to the church.

[14] However, although Rouland understood the importance of a modern education, he yielded to pressure from the university to reverse some of the reforms of his predecessor, returning to a more conventional curriculum in which study of the classics dominated.

[15] In 1862 Rouland completed a review of the requirements for schools that would meet the needs of industrial and agricultural development.

"[19] He initiated the annual Congrès des sociétés savantes in 1861, where officials of his ministry could mingle with leaders of the scientific world.

The main argument in its favor was that it would reduce the transaction costs of tourists and businessmen, who constantly lost money as they exchanged from one currency to another.

[2] Rouland was General Counsel to the canton of Yvetot, secretary and president of the departmental assembly.

[3] He died in office on 12 December 1878, at the premises of the Bank of France, from an "attack of gout rising to the heart" (accès de goutte remontée au cœur).