POTTER United Families

Fundamental Law" from The Hague which was supposed to
guarantee "complete freedom of press"; the "sincere acceptance of
the principle of ministerial responsibility"; and the "the prompt and
final organization of the judicial system. Anyone protected by a
Minister should be banned from the nation!”. On November 22,
1828, Louis followed this missive with another article in the Courier
called "Ministerialism", in which he said: “Seen by any member of a
real opposition, anything from the government should be suspect.
Suspicion cannot make room for security as long as a serie of actions
enabled the nation to rely upon the faith of the ones who were
sleeping. The Ministry is therefore always at war with the nation, and
the Ministerials, especially in crisis times, are being criticized by the
friends of public liberty, who ban them from the nation, in order to
protect the nation from their traps and attacks.”
Louis' protest was part of an enormous public outcry. Belgian leaders
had circulated a petition which, with the support of the Catholic
clergy and the Flemish masses, had collected 40,000 signatures during
November.
Louis' trial, a sort of public fight between King Willem, the “Free
Publishers” and “The Citizen of Belgium”, started December 19,
1828. Louis was defended by Louvain lawyer, Van De Weyer and by
Van Meenen, which almost seems superfluous, because Louis made
such eloquent speeches himself. He was keen in making freedom
statements in Court rather than in defending himself.
Louis made three requests at the beginning of the trial; that the
debates take place in French, that the session be made public, and
that the sentence be given by a jury. The court did not adhere to any
of the three, all being against the policy of King William's
government.
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