Decline
In 1748 the Doelisten demanded that stadholder William IV allow the bourgeoisie to appoint the militia's officers, but William refused, since in some towns the bourgeois could not even be considered as candidates for these offices. By the second half of the 18th century the schutterij were inactive (sometimes only exercising once a year and with the ill or rich buying their way out of service) and only of importance to Orangists. This brought them much criticism. Translations of the books by Andrew Fletcher and Richard Price became very popular. Patriots tried to breathe new life into the schutterij in 1783 or to create an alternative - in many cities, exercitiegenootschappen (military-exercise societies), vrijcorpsen (free corps) or voluntary schutterijen arose which anybody could join and with officers chosen democratically. The Orangists poked fun at the ministers, like Francis Adrian Vanderkemp propagating the system from the pulpit, and shopkeepers joining the new militia.
The system of schutterijen no longer worked after five hundred years, but survived the French occupation until finally king William I set up professional police forces. In 1901, the schutterijen were abolished.
Read more about this topic: Schutterij
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