The revolutionary leaders of the Batavian Republic…
1796 CE
The revolutionary leaders of the Batavian Republic had at first used the constitutional machinery of the old confederal republic.
They resumed where they had left off after the purge in 1787 of Patriot regents, taking over the offices of the Orangist regents that were now purged in their turn. (For instance, the States of Holland and West Friesland were replaced by having the eighteen cities that formally were represented in those States send representatives to a constituent assembly that formally abolished the States and founded a new body, the Provisional Representatives of the People of Holland, that took over the functions of the States of Holland as long as the States General continued to exist).
Though the political make-up of the States-General had altered appreciably because of this change in personnel, it had retained a number of defenders of the old particularist interests.
The first order of business of the revolutionaries therefore was to strive for the reform of the confederal state, with its discrimination of the Generality Lands, and of particular minorities (Catholics, Jews), in the direction of a unitary state, in which the minorities would be emancipated, and the old entrenched interests superseded by a more democratic political order.
As a first step the representatives of Brabant were admitted to the States-General.
However, a grass-roots democratic movement had begun to form in the summer of 1795, consisting of popular societies (clubs) and wijkvergaderingen (precinct meetings), demanding popular influence on the government.
A kind of parallel government in the form of "general assemblies" had sprung up next to the city governments and the provincial States that repeatedly came into conflict with the established order.
In the autumn of 1795 the States-General started to work on a procedure to peacefully replace itself, "by constitutional means", with a National Assembly that would possess full executive, legislative and constituent powers.
This project at first met with sharp resistance from the conservatives.
In some cases even force was used (as in Friesland and Groningen) to overcome this opposition.
The first Dutch (and general) elections are held for the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic on January 16, 1796, and the new National Assembly convenes in The Hague on March 1.
Like the old revolutionary States-General, the new National Assembly contains radically opposed parties: the unitary democrats, led by Pieter Vreede, Johan Valckenaer and Pieter Paulus, and the federalists, such as Jacob Abraham de Mist and Gerard Willem van Marle, but there is a broad continuum of opinion between these poles.
In this force-field the federalists hold the upper hand after the sudden demise of Paulus (who might otherwise have acted as a unifier).
The conservative federalists are more adept at parliamentary maneuvering (Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck proves himself especially adept at this).
The frustration this engenders among the democrats lead them to appeal to popular opinion and to extra-parliamentary action.
Meanwhile, the Assembly installs a constitutional commission that in November 1796 presents a report that amounts to a continuation of the old federal arrangements.
As this is totally unacceptable to the unitarists, this draft is subsequently amended into its opposite, by a compromise that finally forms a basis for a new Constitution.
The Assembly now starts upon a discussion of other important matters, like the separation between church and state, and the emancipation of minorities.
The organs of the state are to be a bicameral Legislative Corps, to be elected in indirect elections, and a Directoire-like Executive of five members.
The end result looks much like the French Constitution of 1795.