After the coming of age of the new stadtholder, the Duke retreated into the shadows, but a secret "Acte van Consulentschap" (Act of Advisorship) ensured his continued influence over the young and not very decisive Prince, whereas Bentinck lost influence. The Duke was very unpopular (he was the target of assassination attempts), which eventually led to his removal on the insistence of the new manifestation of the States Party: the Patriots. The Prince now tried to govern alone, but as his competence fell short he only managed to hasten the fall of his regime. What had been gained by deft exploitation of mob violence in 1747, could be taken away by equally deft use of popular unrest in the early and middle 1780s. The mishandling of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War by the stadtholderate caused a political and economic crisis in the Republic, with resulted in the Patriot Revolution of 1785-87, which in turn was suppressed by Prussian intervention. The Prince was enabled to continue his autocratic government for a few more years until he was driven into exile in January, 1795, after an invasion by French revolutionary armies, that brought the Batavian Republic into being.