He assured him that "the government was often in such embarrassment as not to know where to look for ten ducats." He complained bitterly that the states would meddle with the administration of money matters, and were slow in the granting of subsidies.

The Cardinal felt especially outraged by the interference of these bodies with the disbursement of the sums which they voted.

It has been seen that the states had already compelled the government to withdraw the troops, much to the regret of Granvelle.

They continued, however, to be intractable on the subject of supplies.

"These are very vile things," he wrote to Philip, "this authority which they assume, this audacity with which they say whatever they think proper; and these impudent conditions which they affix to every proposition for subsidies." The Cardinal protested that he had in vain attempted to convince them of their error, but that they remained perverse.
It was probably at this time that the plan for debasing the coin, suggested to Philip some time before by a skilful chemist named Malen, and always much approved of both by himself and Ruy Gomez, recurred to his mind.