Holland and Zeeland in the possession of either England or Spain, was a perpetual inconvenience to France.

The King, or rather the Queen-Mother and her advisers--for Henry himself hardly indulged in any profound reflections on state-affairs,--desired and had made a sine qua non of those Provinces.
It had been the French policy, from the beginning, to delay matters, in order to make the States feel the peril of their position to the full.
"The King, differing and temporising," wrote Herle to the Queen, "would have them fall into that necessity and danger, as that they should offer unto him simply the possession of all their estates.

Otherwise, they were to see, as in a glass, their evident and hasty ruin." Even before the death of Orange, Henry had been determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the island of Walcheren, which controlled the whole country.

"To give him that," said Herle, "would be to turn the hot end of the poker towards themselves, and put the cold part in the King's hand.

He had accordingly made a secret offer to William of Orange, through the Princess, of two millions of livres in ready money, or, if he preferred it, one hundred thousand livres yearly of perpetual inheritance, if he would secure to him the island of Walcheren.