The General League of Roman Catholic Riding Associations (), informally called the General League (), was a Catholic political party in the Netherlands. It is one of the ancestors of the Christian Democratic Appeal, currently a major party in the Netherlands. History Before 1904 During the 19th century, Catholics were a disadvantaged minority in the Netherlands. They enjoyed considerable independence in the southern provinces North Brabant and Limburg, where they formed 90% of the population. In the north, however, Catholics were not allowed to organise religious rallies and demonstrations. Until 1848, the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church was forbidden in the Netherlands. A mix of Protestantism and nationalism, inspired by the struggle for independence against the Catholic Spanish, was a reason. Until the 1890s, the most important ally of the Catholics were the liberals, who advocated freedom of religion. Catholics supported several liberal governments but were divided between two groups: those for the progressive Schaepman and those for the conservative Bahlman. The progressives favoured a corporatist economy and extension of suffrage, but the conservatives, who represented business interests, opposed both. Meanwhile, the organisation of the Catholics was concentrated on the district or province. The Brabant caucuses was exceptionally strong. In the late 1880s, the Catholics became disillusioned with the liberals because, although they supported the freedom of religion, they refused to finance Catholic, or otherwise religious, schools. That became an important issue that united the Catholics. In 1888 the Catholic parliamentary party switched its allegiances to the Protestant Anti-Revolutionary Party and became part of the first Coalition cabinet, led by Aeneas Mackay. The new cabinet also jump started the formation of a new party in 1896. All Catholic candidates then rallied around one programme, written by Schaepman. The programme was inspired by the encyclical Rerum novarum, which advocated social Catholic politics. From 1897, Catholic MPs began to meet regularly. 1904–1926 Finally, on 15 October 1904, the General League was founded as a federation of district and provincial Catholic caucuses and parliamentarians. The 1905 election was the first election contested by the League. It retained the same number of seats as previously held by Catholic candidates: 25 (out of 100). That number remained remarkably stable in subsequent elections. The party governed between 1908 and 1913 together with the ARP and the Protestant CHU, in the cabinet led by Heemskerk. Between 1913 and 1918, the party was out of power by