"In the month of November 1828, the accused de Potter, who, for some time past, had written in the journals of the self-styled opposition, published in the Courrier des Pays Bas, two articles, for which he was prosecuted: in these articles he called down the public hatred on those who were not of his party, together with all other consequences of unpopularity, thus provoking the renewal of those scenes of horror, in the revolutions of Brabant and Flanders, which have left such terrible recollections. De Potter was condemned by the court of assizes at Brussels to eighteen months imprisonment, and a thousand florins of fine, as convicted of, creating distrust, disunion, and quarrels, among the inhabitants.' This condemnation, which was followed by culpable excesses on the part of the adherents of the accused de Potter, did not tranquillize the party which appeared to have chosen him for its chief; on the contrary, it increased considerably, and began to show itself openly, giving itself a name and unfolding a banner which the accused Barthels, editor of the Catholique, caused to be lithographed and exposed to sale. 'The accused de Potter, from the heart of his prison inundated the public with pamphlets of a description to irritate the minds of men against the government; he assumed the name of Demophile (Friend of the People), and continued to write in the journals, the organs of his party. 'The accused Tielemans, before he was in office, was the editor of an opposition newspaper at Ghent. Since then, he has had a connexion with the Belge and the Courrier des Pays Bas. He was intimately connected with the accused de Potter, who had no difficulty in enlisting him in his party. An exceedingly active correspondence existed between them. According to this correspondence, the two accused were particularly intimate with several members of the opposition in the Chamber of Deputies [what ! If we are to believe them they count upon these deputies as their most zealous and docile adherents.' crime]! a Thus Mr. de Potter is charged with having been before tried and condemned; with having partisans who made an outcry when he was sent to prison, and of writing pamphlets in prison. Mr. Tielemans is accused of having edited and written in opposition journals; of corresponding with Mr. de Potter, and when their correspondence is seized, it is discovered to their shame, that they have warm friends and supporters among the opposition members of parliament. Thus is the way paved for the crowning charge and proof of conspiracy, the article in the newspapers, signed with the name of de Potter. "If we are conspirators," says Mr. de Potter, "it is of the kind we see on the stage, who approach the footlights and bawl their treasonable designs to the pit." On the publication of this article, it was made a pretext for the unjustifiable measure of seizing the private papers of de Potter, Tielemans, and others. Their correspondence, notes, rough draughts of letters, articles, and publications, were all seized and examined; and the use made of them very clearly proved, that by this inquisitorial proceeding, they had hoped to discover something or other which would enable an unscrupulous government to get rid of two able and courageous defenders of the rights of their country. Of the views with which the correspondence was seized, and the use endeavoured to be made of it, we shall form a clearer idea by following the Advocate General in his address to the judges; it will be seen that the printed article is nearly lost sight of, and that the prisoners were put upon trial for their lives for passages found in private and confidential letters. After drawing a brilliant picture of the prosperity and tranquillity of the Pays Bas, the advocate represents Mr. de Potter rising amidst the peaceful calm, in the the character of an evil genius, bent upon disturbing its repose, and of sowing dissention and discontent among a people blessed in every form of happiness. He then goes into a sketch of the life and character of de Potter, who, during the iron reign of Napoleon, when. an individual could do nothing, and the people were bound hand and foot, very wisely employed himself at Rome in writing the history of the church. There arose a man endowed with all the qualities which constitute the leader of a party; of an unquiet and turbulent spirit, of an enthusiastic temperament, kicking, as he himself says (in a confidential letter to an intimate friend), against all which is bond, obligation, duty (he himself makes the confession), having difficulty in repressing a feeling of joy at the contemplation of the disorder, which, according to him, reigns in this world; swollen with pride and ambition, devoured with the thirst for a European reputation, detesting kings and governments; an extravagant democrat, sighing after the primitive liberty of a state of nature.' It is always of such qualities as these that men are formed when they stand up against the arbitrary aggressions of a corrupt government. It may be taken for the general term of a man in opposition. 'At the age when the generous passions manifest themselves most strongly in the human breast, the accused de Potter shewed a lukewarmness for the liberties of his country [so that he is not of the hot temperament described.] Whilst his countrymen were groaning under the tyranny of a military government, he was buried in the luxuries of a distant capital. His heart beat with a patriotic feeling only after his country had shaken off the foreign yoke and had become the freest of all the civilized countries of the world. What shall we say of his literary occupations at Rome? Did he not, when the sovereign pontiff had lost his throne, with painful inscrape together every argument and evidence against the papal authority? Did he not labour, without cessation, to sap the foundations of the religion of his country? It is notorious, gentlemen, it is needless to tell you what, and is so well known, thanks to the voluminous compilations which have so greatly scandalized those of his fellow citizens who remain sincerely attached to the worship of their fathers.' It would seem that, according to the Belgian notion of things, "the luxuries of a distant capital" are, painfully examining the archives of the Vatican; writing the history of the church and of the councils; and that de Potter would have been better employed in inciting the Belgians to revolt against the power of Napoleon. 'On his return home, Louis de Potter, who, up to that time had never taken any part in public affairs, began to occupy himself with them. He fancied he perceived that a faction, composed partly of the clergy, and partly of the nobles, sought to exercise a fatal influence over the government; he published his life of "Scipio de Ricci," with the view (it is he himself who tells us so in his correspondence) of shewing up "this alliance between priests and nobles in favour of a system well adapted for the display of their hereditary nullities, like stars amidst a general obscurity," and also under the idea of dissipating "the fear which we have of Rome, which, while it threatens to make us a mission-country, really only means submission; that is to say, that it would force us to agree to a concordat, which would only turn to its own advantage." Speaking, on occasion of the same work, of the Revolution of 1789-" These self-styled Belgian patriots," said he, "SO zealous formerly for the interests of the monks, which they called 'religion,' and of the feudal lords, whom they called the people." But was he sincere in these views? The publication of St. Napoleon in Paradise and in Exile, an obscene poem, solely directed against Catholicism, did not that savour of some ambitious view? [Such are the arguments against a man's life.] His assiduities about certain high functionaries, did they not give rise to certain suspicions that he was courting the favour of the new government. This was said in a court of justice.] Did not the public voice second this report? As gentlemen Cor, as we say, my lords], we affirm nothing; we shall cite only a letter of the accused, which appears to us to justify the opinion generally prevalent on this subject; it is addressed to Francis Tielemans, for whom de Potter was soliciting a professor's chair. "It is not at all certain that they will answer me, and then you must do as I do, have patience. You will take example by me and reflect, that assuredly I shall have done you no harm, and that we may at any moment reap that which I have sown." The meaning of this truncated quotation is very plain, but were it taken as it is interpreted, where would be the harm? Mr. de Potter, a person of high birth and considerable fortune, of great erudition and commanding talents, wishes to be employed by the government at some post where he may be useful to his country: this is not criminal any where but in Belgium. But we have Mr. de Potter's own testimony, in a very interesting passage of his letters, where he is confidentially addressing an intimate friend, which directly makes against his having entertained any idea of public employment. He thus speaks of a project, started in the Courrier des Pays Bas, of sending him to the States-general as a deputy. 'Personally I am not in the least flattered that this absurdity has been committed in my favour. Besides, if it had taken place, which happily it has not, I should have decided upon reaping no kind of advantage from it. I feel too great an anxiety to fulfil my duties to let any one impose upon me those which I am incapable of performing. My friend, the education that has been given to me is useless: I was taught Latin, Greek, and Roman history and Mythology. The education I gave myself, consisted of our studies in Greek, ecclesiastical history, and canon law, all which is useless with reference to what we are speaking of. Of political economy, law administration, finance, commerce, not a word do I know. I hope my dear Tielemans, that these six lines are enough for any reasonable man, under the circumstances, to save me from the reproach of indifference in all public affairs and the general good. It is not my fault if I am wholly unable to pay my entire debt to my country; it shall make part of the inheritance of Agathon [his son] who will pay it along with his own.'-Vol. i. Letter 30. This passage is moreover curious, as it points out strikingly the inadequacy of modern education for modern purposes: the whole direction of it is wrong, or, at least, wide apart from the wants of a citizen of the present day. Few of us can hope to possess the acquirements of a de Potter; but it would not demand the study of a great many years to make a more useful member of the States-general, at least, in the conduct of the ordinary business of the session. On great questions of constitutional liberty we believe that he is much better qualified to give an opinion than the majority of the chamber. The advocate goes on to avail himself of one of the most unjustifiable acts of calumny, at the same time one of those so easy of confutation that it is only used when nothing better is to be had. He endeavours to establish an intimacy or connexion between the author of a certain history of the conspiracy of Babœuf, and then attempts to father upon him the opinions and sentiments there laid down; and that not in one or two sentences, by way of allusion or passing rebuke, but elaborately, and to the extent of several printed pages. After noticing, with what object we do not well perceive, the efforts of de Potter to procure for Tielemans a professorship of canon law; and also the subject of de Potter's cry against corruption, for which he was fined and imprisoned as has been stated, the advocate proceeds to mention the pretended grievances of the democratic or radical party, as he calls it. "One of the favourite ideas of these people," says he, "is the unlimited liberty of teaching, now in the hands of the government. This is one of the most odious and injurious assumptions of prerogative." "The school-master" so far from "being abroad" is chained hand and foot and gagged. That de Potter and Tielemans warmly attacked this abuse is, however, made one of the grounds on which these enlightened men are brought to trial. Listen to the king's advocate. The demand of "unlicensed education" is an extravagant pretension, which as is well known cannot be entertained by the government without sapping one of the bases of our social institutions, and without aiming at the destruction of the royal prerogative as guaranteed by the Fundamental Law. We shall see that it was one of the maxims of these individuals to demand that of the government which they could not grant without ruin; and then to make the refusal itself a new element of discord.' In answer to how many equally wise and beneficent proposals of melioration has not similar language been held. When we see it on occasion of so plain a proposition as that education should be free and unshackled, and no longer an affair of the ministry, we shall readily be able to estimate its value in matters not quite so familiar to our apprehensions as the necessity of freedom of instruction. A point on which the advocate dwells is the union which this doctrine of free teaching brought about between the Roman Catholics and the Liberals: so unnatural a combination the government thought could only be for evil. We have seen a similar union in Great Britain; where a general right is the object to be obtained, very different classes may combine to secure it. At the settlement of the new monarchy of the Netherlands, it was thought dangerous by the North which is Protestant, that education should be left in the hands of the clergy: who are in the South, nearly three parts of the kingdom, Catholic: toavoid which risk instead of leaving tuition, like other trades and professions, to those who understood it, the government took the entire regulation of it to themselves. Impediments were thrown in the way of teachers of the Catholic priests, impediments were thrown generally in the way of tuition: is it therefore to be wondered at if they who required the freedom of instruction for themselves, and those who required it for all, should combine for that object. Yet this is held to be a plot by the Dutch government and the advocate uses it as an argument to convince the judges that de Potter was a traitor to the government. After |