Philip II. of all the Netherlands it was provided that, without the
consent of the king, no part of that territory could be ceded, and this
on pain of forfeiting all the sovereignty. To treat without the king was
therefore impossible.

The Franciscan denied that because the sovereigns of Spain sent funds and
auxiliary troops to Flanders, and appointed military commanders there of
various degrees, the authority of the archdukes was any the less supreme.
Philip II. had sent funds and troops to sustain the League, but he was
not King of France.

Barneveld probably thought it not worth his while to reply that Philip,
with those funds and those troops, had done his best to become King of
France, and that his failure proved nothing for the argument either way.

Neyen then returned once more to Brussels, observing as he took leave
that the decision of the archdukes as to the king's consent was very
doubtful, although he was sure that the best thing for all parties would
be to agree to an armistice out of hand.

This, however, was far from being the opinion of the States or the
stadholder.

After conferring with his masters, the monk came down by agreement from
Antwerp to the Dutch ships which lay in the, Scheld before Fort Lillo. On
board one of these, Dirk van der Does had been stationed with a special
commission from the States to compare documents. It was expressly ordered
that in these preliminary negotiations neither party was to go on shore.
On a comparison of the agreement brought by Neyen from Brussels with the
draught furnished by Barneveld, of which Van der Does had a copy, so many
discrepancies appeared that the document of the archdukes was at once
rejected. But of course the monk had a number two, and this, after some
trouble, was made to agree with the prescribed form. Brother John then,
acting upon what he considered the soundest of principles--that no job
was so difficult as not to be accomplished with the help of the precious
metals--offered his fellow negotiator a valuable gold chain as a present
from the archdukes. Dirk van der Does accepted the chain, but gave notice
of the fact to his Government.

The monk now became urgent to accompany his friend to the Hague, but this
had been expressly forbidden by the States. Neyen felt sure, he said, of
being able by arguments, which he could present by word of mouth, to
overcome the opposition to the armistice were he once more to be admitted
to the assembly.