BATAVIAN REVOLUTION

   The conquering French revolutionary army and the Patriots, returning from exile, inaugurated the Batavian Revolution, which in 1795 brought an end to the federal political structure of the old Republic (which had been in place since 1581) and its oligarchic governmental system of regents and stadtholders. The States General were replaced in 1796 by a National Assembly, which consisted of representatives elected by universal (male) suffrage.