In all the documents, whether public memorials or private letters, which came at this period from the hand of the Prince, he assumed, as a matter of course, that in any arrangement with the new Governor the Pacification of Ghent was to be maintained.  This, too, was the determination of almost every man in the country.  Don John, soon after his arrival at Luxemburg, had despatched messengers to the states-general, informing them of his arrival.  It was not before the close of the month of November that the negotiations seriously began.  Provost Fonck, on the part of the Governor, then informed them of Don John’s intention to enter Namur, attended by fifty mounted troopers.  Permission, however, was resolutely refused, and the burghers of Namur were forbidden to render oaths of fidelity until the Governor should have complied with the preliminary demands of the estates.  To enunciate these demands categorically, a deputation of the estates-general came to Luxemburg.  These gentlemen were received with courtesy by Don John, but their own demeanour was not conciliatory.  A dislike to the Spanish government; a disloyalty to the monarch with whose brother and representative they were dealing, pierced through all their language.  On the other hand, the ardent temper of Don John was never slow to take offence.  One of the deputies proposed to the Governor, with great coolness, that he should assume the government in his own name, and renounce the authority of Philip.  Were he willing to do so, the patriotic gentleman pledged himself that the provinces would at once acknowledge him as sovereign, and sustain his government.  Don John, enraged at the insult to his own loyalty which the proposition implied, drew his dagger and rushed towards the offender.  The deputy would, probably, have paid for his audacity with his life had there not been by-standers enough to prevent the catastrophe.  This scene was an unsatisfactory prelude to the opening negotiations.

On the 6th of December the deputies presented to the Governor at Luxemburg a paper, containing their demands, drawn up in eight articles, and their concessions in ten.  The states insisted on the immediate removal of the troops, with the understanding that they were never to return, but without prohibition of their departure by sea; they demanded the immediate release of all prisoners; they insisted on the maintenance of the Ghent treaty, there being nothing therein which did not tend to the furtherance of the Catholic religion; they claimed an act of amnesty; they required the convocation of the states-general, on the basis of that assembly before which took place the abdication of Charles the Fifth; they demanded an oath, on the part of Don John, to maintain all the charters and customs of the country.

Should these conditions be complied:  with, the deputies consented on the part of the estates, that he should be acknowledged as Governor, and that the Catholic religion and the authority of his Majesty should be maintained.  They agreed that all foreign leagues should be renounced, their own foreign soldiery disbanded, and a guard of honor, native Netherlanders, such as his Majesty was contented with at his “Blythe Entrance,” provided.  A truce of fifteen days, for negotiations, was furthermore proposed.