Viglius replied that he had always reverently cherished the Governor, and had endeavoured to merit his favor by diligent obsequiousness.  He was bound by his oath, however; to utter in council that which comported with his own sentiments and his Majesty’s interests.  He had done this heretofore in presence of Emperors, Kings, Queens, and Regents, and they had not taken offence.  He did not, at this hour, tremble for his grey head, and hoped his Majesty would grant him a hearing before condemnation.  The firm attitude of the President increased the irritation of the Viceroy.  Observing that he knew the proper means of enforcing his authority he dismissed the meeting.

Immediately afterwards, he received the visits of his son, Don Frederic of Vargas, and other familiars.  To these he recounted the scene which had taken place, raving the while so ferociously against Viglius as to induce the supposition that something serious was intended against him.  The report flew from mouth to mouth.  The affair became the town talk, so that, in the words of the President, it was soon discussed by every barber and old woman in Brussels.  His friends became alarmed for his safety, while, at the same time, the citizens rejoiced that their cause had found so powerful an advocate.  Nothing, however, came of these threats and these explosions.  On the contrary, shortly afterwards the Duke gave orders that the tenth penny should be remitted upon four great articles-corn, meat, wine, and beer.  It was also not to be levied upon raw materials used in manufactures.  Certainly, these were very important concessions.  Still the constitutional objections remained.  Alva could not be made to understand why the alcabala, which was raised without difficulty in the little town of Alva, should encounter such fierce opposition in the Netherlands.  The estates, he informed the King, made a great deal of trouble.  They withheld their consent at command of their satrap.  The motive which influenced the leading men was not the interest of factories or fisheries, but the fear that for the future they might not be able to dictate the law to their sovereign.  The people of that country, he observed, had still the same character which had been described by Julius Caesar.

The Duke, however, did not find much sympathy at Madrid.  Courtiers and councillors had long derided his schemes.  As for the King, his mind was occupied with more interesting matters.  Philip lived but to enforce what he chose to consider the will of God.  While the duke was fighting this battle with the Netherland constitutionalists, his master had engaged at home in a secret but most comprehensive scheme.  This was a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth of England, and to liberate Mary Queen of Scots, who was to be placed on the throne in her stead.  This project, in which was of course involved the reduction of England under the dominion of the ancient Church, could not but prove attractive to Philip.