Some months later than this Aerssens communicated to the States-General the project of the Spanish marriage, “which,” said he, “they have declared to me with so many oaths to be false.”  He informed them that M. de Refuge was to go on special mission to the Hague, “having been designated to that duty before Aerssens’ discovery of the marriage project.”  He was to persuade their Mightinesses that the marriages were by no means concluded, and that, even if they were, their Mightinesses were not interested therein, their Majesties intending to remain by the old maxims and alliances of the late king.  Marriages, he would be instructed to say, were mere personal conventions, which remained of no consideration when the interests of the crown were touched.  “Nevertheless, I know very well,” said Aerssens, “that in England these negotiations are otherwise understood, and that the King has uttered great complaints about them, saying that such a negotiation as this ought not to have been concealed from him.  He is pressing more than ever for reimbursement of the debt to him, and especially for the moneys pretended to have been furnished to your Mightinesses in his Majesty’s name.”

Thus it will be seen how closely the Spanish marriages were connected with the immediate financial arrangements of France, England, and the States, without reference to the wider political consequences anticipated.

“The princes and most gentlemen,” here continued the Ambassador, “believe that these reciprocal and double marriages will bring about great changes in Christendom if they take the course which the authors of them intend, however much they may affect to believe that no novelties are impending.  The marriages were proposed to the late king, and approved by him, during the negotiations for the truce, and had Don Pedro do Toledo been able to govern himself, as Jeannin has just been telling me, the United Provinces would have drawn from it their assured security.  What he means by that, I certainly cannot conceive, for Don Pedro proposed the marriage of the Dauphin (now Louis XIII.) with the Infanta on the condition that Henry should renounce all friendship with your Mightinesses, and neither openly nor secretly give you any assistance.  You were to be entirely abandoned, as an example for all who throw off the authority of their lawful prince.  But his Majesty answered very generously that he would take no conditions; that he considered your Mightinesses as his best friends, whom he could not and would not forsake.  Upon this Don Pedro broke off the negotiation.  What should now induce the King of Spain to resume the marriage negotiations but to give up the conditions, I am sure I don’t know, unless, through the truce, his designs and his ambition have grown flaccid.  This I don’t dare to hope, but fear, on the contrary, that he will so manage the irresolution, weakness, and faintheartedness of this kingdom as through the aid of his pensioned friends here to arrive at all his former aims.”