Louis de Potter
Louis Joseph Antoine de Potter ( born April 26, 1786 in Bruges, † July 22, 1859 ) was a Dutch- Belgian newspaper editor, revolutionary and politician instrumental in the formation of Belgium had.
Life before the Revolution
De Potter began his political activity as an editor of the opposition newspaper Courrier des Pays -Bas during the time of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. He wrote violent polemics against the Catholic clergy, the aristocracy and the government of King William I. In particular, his unescorted by private hatred against the Minister van Maanen writings against the government led in 1828 to a court case in which he was able to 18 months' imprisonment and a fine 1,000 guilders was convicted. Even from prison, he taught provocative writings to the people and worked for a union of the Liberal party with the Catholic to oppose together against the northern Netherlands. Immediately after his release he was sentenced to an eight-year exile on April 30, 1830 because of revolutionary writings. After the outbreak of the Belgian Revolution, he rushed back to Brussels, immediately became a member of the provisional government, tasked with the design of the new Basic Law for Belgium and spoke on the opportunities offered by him on November 10th National Congress open to the republican form of government and confederation under Swiss model from. Since the National Congress but spoke for a unitary state and a parliamentary monarchy, he withdrew on November 13, 1830 from the direct political process back.
Life after the revolution
In 1831 he had but a staunch Republican because of repression, which were also affected by the opponents of the Belgian monarchy now, flee and went to Paris. There he again worked as an editor for various newspapers. Between 1833 and 1837 de Potter was then embroiled in a bitter legal dispute with his sister on the common heritage. He could return to Brussels late 1838, but was disappointed by the developments in his homeland. 1839 wrote the largely disillusioned Louis de Potter, that in Belgium less freedom prevails as in the former United Netherlands. The republican and liberal -minded man could not reconcile with the prevailing conditions in Belgium and hit even seriously before reunification with the North, but to which it should not come as 1839 Wilhelm I recognized the independence of Belgium after him some territorial concessions ( Zeeland Flanders, Limburg and Luxembourg ) had been made. In the period that followed transformed de Potter from liberal-minded people to politicians with socialist ideas, as is evident from his writings. Towards the end of his life he visited his native town of Bruges, and when he fell ill in the summer of 1859 during a stay in Blankenberge, he was brought back to Bruges, where he then on July 22, 1859 but died unexpectedly.