Being named a member of the council of the Bishop of Quebec, he took up his residence in that city, where he was also chaplain to the English garrison.

From his college days he had devoted himself to the study of Canadian history; the numerous notes which he collected had made him one of the most learned men of the country.

In 1853 he published his Observations sur l' histoire ecclésiastique du Canada, a refutation and criticism of the work of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourburg; it was reprinted in France in 1854.

In 1855 he was appointed professor of Canadian history at the Université Laval (Sainte-Foy, Quebec), and went at once to France to collect new documents to perfect him in his work.

For the Foyer Canadien of 1863 he wrote a Vie de Mgr Plessis, Bishop of Quebec, translated later into English.