As such he took historical initiatives to promote the Dutch language that was being evicted from political life after the Belgian Revolution of 1830 (against the Union with Holland as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands), although the majority of the population (Flanders) spoke Dutch.
Som sådan tog han historiske initiativer til at fremme det nederlandske (flamske) sprog, som var blevet fjernet fra det politiske liv i Belgien efter den belgiske revolution i 1830 – som havde adskilt Belgien fra Holland, uagtet at flertallet af befolkningen i Flandern talte flamsk.