Carrel spent the months of October 1834 to April 1835 in Sainte-Pélagie: it was then that he experienced the most glorious moment of his career. The Chamber of Peers, constituted as a High Court, undertook to judge 184 of those responsible for the events of April 1834. In the December 10 issue of Le National, Carrel anonymously published a virulent article questioning the legitimacy of the Court of Peers, a vestige of the Restoration, to conduct such a trial. The following day, Count Philippe de Ségur invoked for the first time article 15 of the law of March 25, 1822, which allows the Chambers to judge directly those who offend them. It was decided to bring Rouen, the manager of the National, to trial . On December 12, Rouen appeared before the Chamber, but asked to be assisted by Carrel. Carrel appeared on the 16th. Dupin aîné, President of the Chamber of Deputies, was present, as was Lord Chancellor Brougham, former President of the British House of Peers. Carrel's hearing took place three days after the acceptance speech to the Académie française by Thiers, his former friend and co-founder of Le National, who had meanwhile become Minister of the Interior and was responsible for the repression of the April events, in particular the episode on Rue Transnonain.
Carrel mocked the Chamber, quoting old articles that Thiers himself had written against it. He does not fail to refer to Lord Brougham, who in his own country set an example of liberal behavior towards a journalist who had offended him. In front of Baron Pasquier, he alludes to Marshal Ney, condemned, in his opinion, by an unworthy Chamber, with the approval of General Exelmans himself. Rouen was found guilty and sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of ten thousand francs, almost the maximum penalty. The very next day, Le National launched a national subscription under the heading "Protestation contre l'assassinat du maréchal Ney" ("Protest against the assassination of Marshal Ney"). The Duc d'Orléans himself was said to have secretly contributed.
On July 28, 1835, Fieschi launched his "infernal machine" attack on Louis-Philippe, killing 19 people. Repression was virulent, and Carrel was arrested the very next morning, accused of having incited the conspirators to action. The laws of September 1835 were in preparation: the aim was to put an end to press freedom. Bonds were set up for newspapers, subscriptions to pay fines were banned, and cartoons were subject to prior censorship. It was this law that paved the way for the replacement of newspapers of opinion by a new press, of which La Presse was representative. In Sainte-Pélagie, Carrel received preferential treatment: he continued to publish, and was allowed to go out whenever he wanted. Writing to Chateaubriand, he described himself as the "young solda[t] of a cause of which [he was] the most glorious veteran": freedom of the press. Chateaubriand replied: "the Republic is the most beautiful of your chimeras".
