After Napoleons abdication, French political thinking remained very present in the major cities of the Southern Netherlands. Alongside to François Van Meenen, who critically observed the government and the policy of William of Orange-Nassau, there were other non-negligible critics of Restoration Europe. These French refugees and exiles expulsed by the government of Louis XVIII, integrated the society by visiting lodges, reading societies, theaters and cafês. Their political ideas were not novel, but a mere combination of eighteenth-century liberal principles and the experience of democratic processes during the Revolution. The political thoughts, based on Benjamin Constant among others, were propagated through newspapers. The use of the press as a relatively new political means of communication was protected by the constitution. Although the king had to take measures to impede critical voices and the propagation of oppositional liberal thoughts under pressure of the Allied Powers, these couldn't be eliminated.

Sociability Migration Press Southern Netherlands Benjamin Constant 19th century Liberalism

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