POTTER United Families

publishers in 1836-37 in eight volumes as the “Philosophical History
of Christianity since Jesus until Today”.
One can see in the works of Louis a continuum running from his
early interest in religious history to this later interest in Christian
socialism and rational socialism which dealt with problems of his own
era, and possible future solutions. Like his later friend Lamennais,
another religious maverick, Louis was a “spiritual” man, in the double
sense. Thinking philosophically but not too seriously.
In January 1830, King William incurred the wrath of Belgium once
again when he ousted six members of the States-General and took
away their pensions, because they had dared to vote against the king's
ministers on December 11, 1829. They either were members of the
Lower Chamber who had voted against the budget, or as Louis
implied in his Souvenirs, they had refused to sign a loyalty oath. At
any rate, William felt that they had "displayed an absolute aversion to
the principles of my Government. "
Not less than 17 newspapers launched a subscription for opponents
of the government that had lost positions because of their actions! A
medal engraved by Veyrat (Louis’ friend) was sold as a public press
petition for the freedom of the poor journalists. The following text
was written: “Aries Faucis Patria” meaning “food for homeland
families”, as inspired by a Brabant revolution text of Jacques t’Kint
and: “The Powers locks them up, the Population crowns them!”.
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