POTTER United Families

The Liberal journalists were predominantly of the middle class,
promoting opinion freedom, less tax, more food for the poors, better
education ... The members of the Mathieu Laensberg group for
example were mainly in their late twenties, and five of the seven had
studied law.
This composite picture involved liberals as being educated members
of rebelling nobility and unconventional bourgeoisie. This remained
true all across the Belgian revolution. The Catholic group, what Royer
called “Aristocratic Catholic Party”, was more inclined to have blue
blood. Louis was obviously not the typical Liberal. Not only did he
have an old noble trajectory, he also seems to have had enough
money to travel extensively and pursue the hipster life of a gentleman
scholar.
On June 18, 1827, William signed a concordat with Pope Leo, to calm
spirits. Although the Concordat gave the king only veto power over
the selection of new bishops, the clergy was supposed to pledge
allegiance to the king during mass. At the same time, William was
expected to close his hated College philosophique de Louvain. The
Belgian clergy violently disliked the Concordat and was warned from
Rome, "not to be more Catholic than the Pope’’.
Louis considered the new treaty as an insult to the government, and
thought that the College philosophique de Louvain was a necessary
intervention in the education of clerics. He wrote many articles in the
Courrier des Pays-Bas in the latter half of 1827, criticizing the
Concordat and its negotiator, the Comte de Celles, who now
represented the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Rome.
The government apparently still considered Louis as a friend and ally.
Or was it afraid ? At this time, Louis secured a governmental mission
for his friend Tielemans. It was Van Gobbelschroy himself,
according to van Kalken, who "leaked" a confidential circular to
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