While at Louvain, whither he had gone after the publication of the Perpetual Edict, Don John had conferred with the Duke of Aerschot, and they had decided that it would be well to send Doctor Leoninus on a private mission to the Prince.  Previously to his departure on this errand, the learned envoy had therefore a full conversation with the Governor.  He was charged to represent to the Prince the dangers to which Don John had exposed himself in coming from Spain to effect the pacification of the Netherlands.  Leoninus was instructed to give assurance that the treaty just concluded should be maintained, that the Spaniards should depart, that all other promises should be inviolably kept, and that the Governor would take up arms against all who should oppose the fulfilment of his engagements.  He was to represent that Don John, in proof of his own fidelity, had placed himself in the power of the states.  He was to intimate to the Prince that an opportunity was now offered him to do the crown a service, in recompence for which he would obtain, not only pardon for his faults, but the favor of the monarch, and all the honors which could be desired; that by so doing he would assure the future prosperity of his family; that Don John would be his good friend, and, as such; would do more for him than he could imagine.  The envoy was also to impress upon the Prince, that if he persisted in his opposition every man’s hand would be against him, and the ruin of his house inevitable.  He was to protest that Don John came but to forgive and to forget, to restore the ancient government and the ancient prosperity, so that, if it was for those objects the Prince had taken up arms, it was now his duty to lay them down, and to do his utmost to maintain peace and the Catholic religion.  Finally, the envoy was to intimate that if he chose to write to Don John, he might be sure to receive a satisfactory answer.  In these pacific instructions and friendly expressions, Don John was sincere.  “The name of your Majesty,” said he, plainly, in giving an account of this mission to the King, “is as much abhorred and despised in the Netherlands as that of the Prince of Orange is loved and feared.  I am negotiating with him, and giving him every security, for I see that the establishment of peace, as well as the maintenance of the Catholic religion, and the obedience to your Majesty, depend now upon him.  Things have reached that pass that ’tis necessary to make a virtue of necessity.  If he lend an ear to my proposals, it will be only upon very advantageous conditions, but to these it will be necessary to submit, rather than to lose everything.”