Many of his most secret despatches to the States-General in which he expressed himself very freely, forcibly, and accurately on the general situation in France, especially in regard to the Spanish marriages and the Treaty of Hampton Court, had been transcribed at the Hague and copies of them sent to the French government.

No baser act of treachery to an envoy could be imagined.

It was not surprising that Aerssens complained bitterly of the deed.

He secretly suspected Barneveld, but with injustice, of having played him this evil turn, and the incident first planted the seeds of the deadly hatred which was to bear such fatal fruit.
"A notable treason has been played upon me," he wrote to Jacques de Maldere, "which has outraged my heart.

All the despatches which I have been sending for several months to M.de Barneveld have been communicated by copy in whole or in extracts to this court.