agreed to furnish one hundred thousand pounds by way of loan. This
assistance had been afterwards commuted into a levy of three thousand
foot and-two thousand horse, to be added to the forces of John Casimir,
and to be placed under his command. It had been stipulated; also, that
the Palatine should have the rank and pay of an English general-in-chief,
and be considered as the Queen's lieutenant. The money had been
furnished and the troops enrolled. So much had been already bestowed,
and could not be recalled, but it was not probable that, in her present
humor, the Queen would be induced to add to her favors.

The Prince, obliged by the necessity of the case, had prescribed the
terms and the title under which Alencon should be accepted. Upon the
13th of August the Duke's envoy concluded a convention in twenty-three
articles; which were afterwards subscribed by the Duke himself, at Mons,
upon the twentieth of the same month. The substance of this arrangement
was that Alencon should lend his assistance to the provinces against the
intolerable tyranny of the Spaniards and the unjustifiable military
invasion of Don John. He was, moreover, to bring into the field ten
thousand foot and two thousand horse for three months. After the
expiration of this term, his forces might be reduced to three thousand
foot and five hundred horse. The states were to confer upon him the
title of "Defender of the Liberty of the Netherlands against the Tyranny
of the Spaniards and their adherents." He was to undertake no
hostilities against Queen Elizabeth. The states were to aid him,
whenever it should become necessary, with the same amount of force with
which he now assisted them. He was to submit himself contentedly to the
civil government of the country, in everything regarding its internal
polity. He was to make no special contracts or treaties with any cities
or provinces of the Netherlands. Should the states-general accept
another prince as sovereign, the Duke was to be preferred to all others,