The ties of wedlock were sacred in the traditions of the Habsburg house, but still the intervention was nominally made.  As early as August, 1568, the Emperor’s minister at Madrid had addressed a memorial to the King.  He had spoken in warm and strong language of the fate of Egmont and Horn, and had reminded Philip that the executions which were constantly taking place in the provinces were steadily advancing the Prince of Orange’s cause.  On the 22nd September, 1568, the six electors had addressed a formal memorial to the Emperor.  They thanked him for his previous interposition in favor of the Netherlands, painted in lively colors the cruelty of Alva, and denounced the unheard-of rigor with which he had massacred, not only many illustrious seigniors, but people of every degree.  Notwithstanding the repeated assurances given by the King to the contrary, they reminded the Emperor, that the inquisition, as well as the Council of Trent, had now been established in the Netherlands in full vigor.  They maintained that the provinces had been excluded from the Augsburg religious peace, to which their claim was perfect.  Nether Germany was entitled to the same privileges as Upper Germany.  They begged the Emperor to make manifest his sentiments and their own.  It was fitting that his Catholic Majesty should be aware that the princes of the Empire were united for the conservation of fatherland and of tranquillity.  To this end they placed in the Emperor’s hands their estates, their fortunes, and their lives.

Such was the language of that important appeal to the Emperor in behalf of oppressed millions in the Netherlands, an appeal which Granvelle had coldly characterized as an intrigue contrived by Orange to bring about his own restoration to favor!

The Emperor, in answer, assured the electoral envoys that he had taken the affair to heart, and had resolved to despatch his own brother, the Archduke Charles, on a special mission to Spain.

Accordingly, on the 21st October, 1568, the Emperor presented his brother with an ample letter of instructions.  He was to recal to Philip’s memory the frequent exhortations made by the Emperor concerning the policy pursued in the Netherlands.  He was to mention the urgent interpellations made to him by the electors and princes of the Empire in their recent embassy.  He was to state that the Emperor had recently deputed commissioners to the Prince of Orange and the Duke of Alva, in order to bring about, if possible, a suspension of arms.  He was to represent that the great number of men raised by the Prince of Orange in Germany, showed the powerful support which he had found in the country.  Under such circumstances he was to show that it had been impossible for the Emperor to decree the ban against him, as the Duke of Alva had demanded.  The Archduke was to request the King’s consent to the reconciliation of Orange, on honorable conditions.  He was to demand the substitution of clemency in for severity, and to insist on the recall of the foreign soldiery from the Netherlands.