itself should be granted. The Spaniards, after much altercation, at last
consented.

By the end of February, most of the plenipotentiaries thought it safe to
request the appearance of the States-General at Bergen-op-Zoom.

Jeannin, not altogether satisfied, however, with the language of the
Spaniards in regard to India, raised doubts as to the propriety of
issuing the summons. Putting on his most reverend and artless expression
of countenance, he assured Richardot that he had just received a despatch
from the Hague, to the effect that the India point would, in all
probability, cause the States at that very moment to break off the
negotiations. It was surely premature, therefore, to invite them to
Bergen. The despatch from the Hague was a neat fiction on the part of
the president, but it worked admirably. The other president, himself
quite as ready at inventions as Jeannin could possibly be, was
nevertheless taken in; the two ex-leaguers being, on the whole, fully
a match for each other in the art of intrigue. Richardot, somewhat
alarmed, insisted that the States should send their plenipotentiaries to
Antwerp as soon as possible. He would answer for it that they would not
go away again without settling upon the treaty. The commissioners were
forbidden, by express order from Spain, to name the Indies in writing,
but they would solemnly declare, by word of mouth, that the States should
have full liberty to trade to those countries; the King of Spain having
no intention of interfering with such traffic during the period of the
truce.

The commissioners came to Antwerp. The States-General assembled at
Bergen. On the 9th April, 1609, the truce for twelve years was signed.
This was its purport: