One of the aims of this study is to describe and where possible to explain the policies of Leicester as governor of the Netherlands; another to analyze the political situation in the provinces under his government. Among the factors which influenced the governor's career and which have been described in some detail are, (1) the financial and military emergency which the northern provinces faced after the subjugation of the South, and (2) the political duties imposed upon Leicester by the treaty of alliance. In connection with the second point the question has been discussed why not only the States, but some members of the Privy Council as well, preferred a semi-official political union between England and the Netherlands over a mere military alliance. Consideration has been given in this respect to the records of the Privy Council's debates on the question of intervention, to those of the treaty discussions, and to the political terms of the treaty itself. In the description of the Dutch political scene considerable attention has been given to the divisions between the States and those opposition groups that were to form the Leicesterian faction. An attempt has been made to trace what seemed to be the main causes of the domestic factionism, to define the political and constitutional aims of the opposition, and to show in what manner the partisan situation was affected by Leicester's government and by the military and political problems of the period. Other factors demanding a more or less detailed discussion were the interprovincial relationships, and the effect Which the split between North and South had upon the general political situation and upon Leicester's government.