Spinola established himself and his forces near Wesel.  The Prince encamped near Rees.  The two armies were within two hours’ march of each other.  The Duke of Neuburg—­for the Palatine had now succeeded on his father’s death to the ancestral dukedom and to his share of the Condominium of the debateable provinces—­now joined Spinola with an army of 4000 foot and 400 horse.  The young Prince of Brandenburg came to Maurice with 800 cavalry and an infantry regiment of the Elector-Palatine.

Negotiations destined to be as spectral and fleeting as the campaign had been illusory now began.  The whole Protestant world was aflame with indignation at the loss of Wesel.  The States’ government had already proposed to deposit Julich in the hands of a neutral power if the Archduke would abstain from military movements.  But Albert, proud of his achievements in Aachen, refused to pause in his career.  Let them make the deposit first, he said.

Both belligerents, being now satiated with such military glory as could flow from the capture of defenceless cities belonging to neutrals, agreed to hold conferences at Xanten.  To this town, in the Duchy of Cleve, and midway between the rival camps, came Sir Henry Wotton and Sir Dudley Carleton, ambassadors of Great Britain; de Refuge and de Russy, the special and the resident ambassador of France at the Hague; Chancellor Peter Pecquius and Counsellor Visser, to represent the Archdukes; seven deputies from the United Provinces, three from the Elector of Cologne, three from Brandenburg, three from Neuburg, and two from the Elector-Palatine, as representative of the Protestant League.

In the earlier conferences the envoys of the Archduke and of the Elector of Cologne were left out, but they were informed daily of each step in the negotiation.  The most important point at starting was thought to be to get rid of the ‘Condominium.’  There could be no harmony nor peace in joint possession.  The whole territory should be cut provisionally in halves, and each possessory prince rule exclusively within the portion assigned to him.  There might also be an exchange of domain between the two every six months.  As for Wesel and Julich, they could remain respectively in the hands then holding them, or the fortifications of Julich might be dismantled and Wesel restored to the status quo.  The latter alternative would have best suited the States, who were growing daily more irritated at seeing Wesel, that Protestant stronghold, with an exclusively Calvinistic population, in the hands of Catholics.

The Spanish ambassador at Brussels remonstrated, however, at the thought of restoring his precious conquest, obtained without loss of time, money, or blood, into the hands of heretics, at least before consultation with the government at Madrid and without full consent of the King.

“How important to your Majesty’s affairs in Flanders,” wrote Guadaleste to Philip, “is the acquisition of Wesel may be seen by the manifest grief of your enemies.  They see with immense displeasure your royal ensigns planted on the most important place on the Rhine, and one which would become the chief military station for all the armies of Flanders to assemble in at any moment.