The treaty was drawn up in London on the 24th of May, 1596, ratified at Rouen by Henry IV.

on the 19th of October following, and on the 31st of October the States-General of Holland acceded to it, whilst regulating, accordingly, the extent of their engagements.
Easy as to the part to be played by his allies in the war with Spain, Henry IV.

set to work upon the internal reforms and measures of which he strongly felt the necessity.

They were of two kinds; one administrative and financial, the other political and religious; he wished at one and the same time to consolidate the material forces of his government and to give his Protestant subjects, lately his own brethren, the legal liberty and security which they needed for their creed's sake, and to which they had a right.
He began, about the middle of October, 1596, by bringing Rosny into the council of finance, saying to him, "You promise me, you know, to be a good manager, and that you and I shall lop arms and legs from _Madame Grivelee,_ as you have so often told me could be done." _Madame Grivelee (Mrs.Pickings)_ was, in the language of the day, she who presided over illicit gains made in the administration of the public finances.

Rosny at once undertook to accomplish that which he had promised the king.