In the French diplomatic service he reached the rank of minister plenipotentiary. Later he entered politics and was elected deputy for the Sarthe département in 1895 and reelected in 1898 and 1902. From 1904 he sat in the Senate and was reelected in 1909 and 1920. He took an active part in the interparliamentary international conferences that began in 1889 and was a member of the French delegation to the Hague peace conference of 1899, which led to the formation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. When that court seemed likely to be ignored by governments, he persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to submit to it a minor dispute between the United States and Mexico in September 1902. This example was then followed by other governments.

In 1905 he set up in Paris the Association for International Conciliation, with branches in a number of other countries. He was active in securing the summoning of the second Hague conference in 1907. His contribution to internationalism arose in large part from his work as propagandist and organizer. Among his publications are La Politique française en Tunisie (1891); La Conciliation internationale (1906); Le Rapprochement franco-allemand (1909); Pour l'aviation, 2nd ed. (1909); Les États-Unis d'Amérique (1913; America and Her Problems); and Pour la Société des Nations (1921).