In February 1848, as a member of the National Guard, he was a spectator at the French Revolution of 1848 that toppled King Louis Philippe and founded the French Second Republic. On 8 March, he wrote to his friend Madame de Montijo: "Here we are in a republic, without enthusiasm, but determined to hold onto it because it is the sole chance of safety that we still have". The new government abolished the Bureau of Historic Monuments and merged its function into the Department of Fine Arts; however, Mérimée retained the position of Inspector of Historic Monuments, and his membership on the Commission of Historic Monuments. In December 1848, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was elected the first president of Second Republic in December 1848, and Mérimée resumed his activity. In 1849 he helped organize a successful campaign to preserve the medieval Citadel of Carcassonne. In 1850 he arranged for the crypt of Saint-Laurent in Grenoble to be classified as an historical monument.