by Napoleon. Grand Pensionary In 1804, Schimmelpenninck was asked to write a new constitution for the Batavian Republic by Napoleon. When he finished this constitution a year later, he returned to the Netherlands to assume power from the Uitvoerend Bewind, being appointed Grand Pensionary of the Batavian Republic on 29 April 1805. It is not clear whether he felt much desire to hold this office, but since Napoleon more or less forced him to, he accepted. Although on paper he was the republic's chief executive, in practice he had become a puppet to Napoleon. As Grand Pensionary, he was assisted by a legislative body of nineteen men which would assemble every six months to express its opinion on the policy. A kind of cabinet of secretaries of state was introduced. One of the most important secretaries of state was Alexander Gogel, who managed the department of Finance. In the short period of time in which Schimmelpenninck was Grand Pensionary he, assisted by Gogel, implemented several major reforms. Gogel managed to implement a new tax system. Excise on salt, soap, peat, alcoholic beverages, grain, flour and meat was introduced, as well as land tax, a cadastre, personal tax on clerks, horses, furniture, etc. Schimmelpenninck's secretary of Education, , implemented a new education act introducing subsidised public education. On 4 June 1806, Schimmelpenninck was replaced by Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte, who would be crowned king of the newly formed French puppet state, the Kingdom of Holland. Schimmelpenninck was elevated to the French nobility in 1807. He was further elevated to Count by Napoleon himself on 10 April 1811. After his resignation as Grand Pensionary, he was unemployed for five years, until he became senator in the Imperial Senate of France on 30 December 1811. The Netherlands had since been annexed by France. When Napoleon was defeated and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was established in 1815, Schimmelpenninck took up a seat in the First Chamber of the States General on 21 September 1815. Due to an eye disease, he was forced to give up his seat in 1820, and retreat from the public eye. He died in Amsterdam on 15 February 1825. Titles and honours : Grand Cross of the Order of the Union (16 February 1807) : Grand Cross of the Order of the Reunion (22 February 1812) : Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour (8 November 1813) References