Nevertheless, the commissioners of the Prince were not deceived by such artifices.  There was no parity between the cases of the Spanish soldiery and of the troops in service of the estates.  To assemble the estates-general was idle, if they were to be forbidden the settlement of the great question at issue.  With regard to the Spanish inquisition, it mattered little whether the slaughter-house were called Spanish or Flemish, or simply the Blood-Council.  It was, however, necessary for the states’ commissioners to consider their reply very carefully; for the royal plenipotentiaries had placed themselves upon specious grounds.  It was not enough to feel that the King’s government was paltering with them; it was likewise necessary for the states’ agents to impress this fact upon the people.

There was a pause in the deliberations.  Meantime, Count Schwartzburg, reluctantly accepting the conviction that the religious question was an insurmountable obstacle to a peace, left the provinces for Germany.  The last propositions of the government plenipotentiaries had been discussed in the councils of the various cities, so that the reply of the Prince, and estates was delayed until the 1st of June.  They admitted, in this communication, that the offer to restore ancient privileges had an agreeable sound; but regretted that if the whole population were to be banished, there would be but few to derive advantage from the restoration.  If the King would put an end to religious persecution, he would find as much loyalty in the provinces as his forefathers had found.  It was out of the question, they said, for the states to disarm and to deliver up their strong places, before the Spanish soldiery had retired, and before peace had been established.  It was their wish to leave the question of religion, together with all other disputed matters, to the decision of the assembly.  Were it possible, in the meantime, to devise any effectual method for restraining hostilities, it would gladly be embraced.

On the 8th of July, the royal commissioners inquired what guarantee the states would be willing to give, that the decision of the general assembly, whatever it might be, should be obeyed.  The demand was answered by another, in which the King’s agents were questioned as to their own guarantees.  Hereupon it was stated that his Majesty would give his word and sign manual, together with the word and signature of the Emperor into the bargain.  In exchange for these promises, the Prince and estates were expected to give their own oaths and seals, together with a number of hostages.  Over and above this, they were requested to deliver up the cities of Brill and Enkhuizen, Flushing and Arnemuyde.  The disparity of such guarantees was ridiculous.  The royal word, even when strengthened by the imperial promise, and confirmed by the autographs of Philip and Maximilian, was not so solid a security, in the opinion of Netherlanders, as to outweigh four cities in Holland and Zealand, with all their population and wealth.  To give collateral pledges and hostages upon one side, while the King offered none, was to assign a superiority to the royal word, over that of the Prince and the estates which there was no disposition to recognize.  Moreover, it was very cogently urged that to give up the cities was to give as security for the contract, some of the principal contracting parties.