Instead of entering the civil service Renouvier then applied himself to philosophy and political science, influenced undoubtedly by Comte’s work. The year 1848, which saw the second attempt to establish a republic, gave Renouvier, now a zealous republican, an opportunity, and he issued his _Manuel républicain de l’Homme et du Citoyen_. This volume, intended for schoolmasters, had the approval of Carnot, Minister of Education to the Provisionary Government. Its socialist doctrines were so criticised by the Chamber of 1849 that Carnot, and with him the Government, fell from power. Renouvier went further in his _Gouvernement direct et Organisation communale et centrale de la République_, in which he collaborated with his socialist friends in outlining a scheme of communism, making the canton a local power, a scheme which contained the germ-idea of the Soviet of Bolshevik Russia. Such ideas were, however, far too advanced for the France of that date and their proposal did more harm than good to the progressive party by producing a reaction in wavering minds. Renouvier, through the paper _Liberté de penser_, launched attacks upon the policy of the Presidency, and began in the _Revue philosophique_ a serial _Uchronie_, a novel of a political and philosophical character. It was never finished. Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, came, on December and, the _coup d’état_. The effect of this upon Renouvier was profound. Disgusted at the power of the monarchy, the shattering of the republican hopes, the suppression of liberty and the general reaction, he abandoned political life entirely. What politics lost, however, philosophy has gained, for he turned his acute mind with its tremendous energy to the study of the problems of the universe. Three years after the _coup d’état_, in the same year in which Comte completed his _Système de Politique_ positive, 1854, Renouvier published the first volume of his _magnum opus_, the _Essais de Critique générale_.[18] The appearance of this work is a notable date in the development of modern French philosophy. The problems therein discussed will concern us in later chapters. Here we must point out the indefatigable labour given to this work by Renouvier. The writing and revision of these essays covered almost the whole of the half century, concluding in 1897. In their first, briefer form they occupied the decade 1854-64, and consisted of four volumes only, which on revision became finally thirteen.[19] These Essays range over Logic, Psychology, the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Philosophy of History.