When a Dutch mission arrived suing for peace, Louis demanded only Delfzijl, by far the least important port Charles desired, for the English. Yet, when he was offered the southern fortresses of the Republic — the French possession of which would make the Spanish Netherlands indefensible
[19] — and ten million guilders, he refused. Knowing that the mission was not allowed to make any concessions on the point of religion and the territorial integrity of the provinces themselves (the southern fortress cities of
Breda,
's-Hertogenbosch and Maastricht were in the
Generality Lands), Louis demanded – besides twenty million guilders and an annual embassy from the States General to Louis asking pardon for their perfidy – either religious freedom for the Catholics or lordship over
Utrecht and
Guelders, his sole motivation being to humiliate the Dutch a bit further.
[20] But he did not continue his military advance, fearing to drive the Dutch into the hands of Charles. Louis waited while the mission returned to ask for new instructions, which would take some time given the decentralised nature of the Dutch administration; all the city councils would have to be consulted on the issue. Meanwhile the water gradually filled the
polders of the defence line. On 7 July, the inundations were fully set and the province of Holland was safe from a further French advance.