Out of the more than 100 books and pamphlets, one of the most notable works was his famous Letter to my Fellow Citizens in which he promoted democracy, universal electoral rights and the unity among Belgian liberals and Catholics.

This meant that Louis's education in Bruges remained largely incomplete and so he restarted it during the family's time abroad, wanting to learn Latin, ancient Greek and modern languages.

After a long residence in Germany, France, and Italy, he returned to Bruges in 1823, initially very satisfied to see the northern and southern Netherlands united under the rule of William of Nassau.

Minister of Justice Cornelis Van Maanen hounded de Potter for this opposition to William's government and finally had him found guilty on 20 December 1828, condemning him to 18 months' detention and a fine of 1000 florins.

De Potter was then still in prison and there launched the idea of a national subscription to compensate deputies and civil servants who had fallen prey to this measure.

Van Maanen continued to hound de Potter, this time for plotting against the state and exciting revolt, and so on 30 April 1830 he was sentenced to an 8-year exile by the Brussels court of assizes for publications composed in prison, such as the pamphlet on the Union of the Catholics and Liberals (de Potter's co-plotters and friends Jean-François Tielemans and Adolphe Bartels were condemned to seven years' banishment at the same sitting).