It was now resolved that all the votes of the assembly should consist of five:  one for the nobles and large cities of Holland, one for the estates of Zealand, one for the small cities of Holland, one for the cities Bommel and Buren, and the fifth for William of Orange.  The Prince thus effectually held in his hands three votes:  his own, that of the small cities, which through his means only had been admitted to the assembly, and thirdly, that of Buren, the capital of his son’s earldom.  He thus exercised a controlling influence over the coming deliberations.  The ten commissioners, who were appointed by the estates for the peace negotiations, were all his friends.  Among them were Saint Aldegonde, Paul Buis, Charles Boisot, and Doctor Junius.  The plenipotentiaries of the Spanish government were Leoninus, the Seigneur de Rassinghem, Cornelius Suis, and Arnold Sasbout.

The proceedings were opened at Breda upon the 3rd of March, 1575.  The royal commissioners took the initiative, requesting to be informed what complaints the estates had to make, and offering to remove, if possible, all grievances which they might be suffering.  The states’ commissioners replied that they desired nothing, in the first place, but an answer to the petition which they had already presented to the King.  This was the paper placed in the hands of Saint Aldegonde during the informal negotiations of the preceding year.  An answer was accordingly given, but couched in such vague and general language as to be quite without meaning.  The estates then demanded a categorical reply to the two principal demands in the petition, namely, the departure of the foreign troops and the assembling of the states-general.  They, were asked what they understood by foreigners and by the assembly of states-general.  They replied that by foreigners they meant those who were not natives, and particularly the Spaniards.  By the estates-general they meant the same body before which, in 1555, Charles had resigned his sovereignty to Philip.  The royal commissioners made an extremely unsatisfactory answer, concluding with a request that all cities, fortresses, and castles, then in the power of the estates, together with all their artillery and vessels of war, should be delivered to the King.  The Roman Catholic worship, it was also distinctly stated, was to be re-established at once exclusively throughout the Netherlands; those of the Reformed religion receiving permission, for that time only, to convert their property into cash within a certain time, and to depart the country.

Orange and the estates made answer on the 21st March.  It could not be called hard, they said, to require the withdrawal of the Spanish troops, for this had been granted in 1559, for less imperious reasons.  The estates had, indeed, themselves made use of foreigners, but those foreigners had never been allowed to participate in the government.  With regard to the assembly of the states-general, that body had always enjoyed