Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, by C. Hodges, 1805. Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck (1761-1825) had been a Patriot from the very start. In 1796 he was elected to the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic. From 1798 he served the Republic as its representative in Paris and London. On the recommendation of France's Emperor Napoleon, in 1805, Schimmelpenninck was appointed grand pensionary. As such, he led the Batavian Republic from April 1805 to June 1806. In that short period a number of significant reforms were achieved in the fields of education and taxation. But under pressure from Napoleon, Schimmelpenninck was eventually forced to resign from office.