The Batavian Republic 519
There was also the matter of the public debt of the province of Holland. For two
centuries Holland had kept the confederation going by its own inordinate contri-
butions. Its debt was enormous, larger than the debt of the Bourbon monarchy in
- In a unitary state this debt would become the debt of a so- called “ Batavian
nation”—an uninviting prospect outside Holland, especially among the squires of
the inland provinces, who had never much approved the financial and maritime
activities of the Hollanders anyway.
For a whole year, throughout 1795, it was impossible even to convene a Na-
tional Convention or constitution- drafting body, since there was no agreement
on how such a Convention should be formed. Conservatives wished to retain the
form of the estates general, that is, to represent the seven provinces (as the Phila-
delphia Convention of 1787 represented the thirteen states) so that persons who
enjoyed importance at the existing provincial levels would be present in the new
Constituent Assembly. This arrangement was not generally favored in Holland,
which had half the population of the Union. Radicals and Hollanders insisted
upon a true national convention, representing, and elected by, individual voters
throughout the republic. The clubs kept up constant pressures, staging demonstra-
tions, issuing broadsides, interviewing officials, and convening tumultuous as-
semblies of delegates from many cities. Noël was more afraid of them than the
Dutch upper- class revolutionists were. The latter, following the usual dynamic of
revolution, made use of popular impatience so long as they needed it. The “peo-
ple” were encouraged to hope for more. By October four provinces—Holland,
Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overyssel—had consented to the election of a conven-
tion. A small Jacobin revolution then took place in Friesland, where Orange and
British agents worked busily but in vain in the opposite direction. Friesland now
favored the National Convention.
The Convention was elected in February 1796. For this purpose the seven prov-
inces, and the two areas (Drenthe and North Brabant) which had never been ad-
mitted to provincial rights and powers, were dissolved and re- arranged into 124
equal electoral districts. All adult males were entitled to vote, except paupers. An
oath, however, was required. One had to subscribe, before voting, to the belief that
“all hereditary offices and dignities” were illegal and that the supremacy of the
governed was the only lawful source of public authority.
The Convention, so elected, gave a broad hearing to many talents and interests.
There were the usual professors and lawyers, merchants from old Amsterdam fam-
ilies, clergymen both Protestant and Catholic, persons socially unknown and of
small incomes, and five noblemen, two of whom were Catholic. At the same time,
because of the electoral process, important actual forces were underrepresented, as
in all revolutions. Strict Orangists were excluded by the oath; and the smaller
provinces had far fewer delegates than they had been accustomed to in the old
estates general. For example, of 124 members, only 5 came from Zeeland.
The Convention, meeting on March 1, fell into acrimonious disagreement, de-
spite the underrepresentation of upholders of the Old Regime, on the same
unitary- versus- federalist question that had so long delayed its election. The clubs
renewed their agitation, to persuade federalists to yield to unitary democrats in the
Convention. Of the disturbances which took place in various towns, the most seri-