POTTER United Families

Van Maanen, Minister of Justice, was the advisor of the Crown in
these prosecutions; and, though the constitution did not provide for
Ministerial responsibility, he, rather than the King, was blamed. He
gave great offense by telling the States General that the Ministers
were agents of the Crown, and not servants of the people. `The
constitution recognizes no other Ministerial responsibility.' This
made him detested throughout Belgium.
Freedom of religion and education, both challenges to Catholic
citizens, had been threatened. Freedom of association was limited, so
it seems, to those who had accepted royal patronage; now freedom
of speech, at first affecting the Liberals, then the Catholics, was
violated as the trials of "seditious" writers filled the courts of William.
The general mood of repression in the Belgium of 1828, may have
been the result of King William's nervousness concerning the general
state of unrest Europe. Many future leaders of Belgium emerged
during this period. Agitating for reform and representation, they
moved the Belgians closer to separation from Holland. Some were
Liberals like Louis, others were Catholics and monarchists.
Cousin Félix de Merode (1791-1857), was one of them. He was one
of the younger more liberal generation of Catholics in Belgium. In
1828, he published in Le Catholique, an essay: “Political conduct of
Belgian and French Catholics”, which Eugène Duchesne calls, "an
eloquent defense of the doctrines supported by the friend of Louis,
famous French publisher Félicité (de) Lamennais.”
Towards the end of June 1828, The News of the Low Countries was
becoming a vigorous opposition machine to the Dutch government,
without the cautious approach of competitors such as the Mathieu
Laensberg newspaper. Nor did it take any particular precautionary
measures to avoid disputes while, at the same time, it was supporting
The Catholic of Flanders journal, with the help of viscount Vilain
XIII of The Ghent Messenger.
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