It is common knowledge that Don John intends, as he has always done, to set the country ablaze with war; and, as Escovedo says, to remedy matters by fire and bloodshed. Indeed, the States could not avoid or escape such a pressing need to act as they did, unless they wished to commit treachery and to break the oath by which they swore to protect their fatherland. For they have been called by God and men to be the protectors of the privileges, rights and freedoms of the common people, whom they represent in the three estates of clergy, nobles and towns. Not only does their oath bind them to protect the common people; they have also received in their hands the oath of the king along with that of His Highness so that they must see to it that this is kept. Moreover they are bound and united by the alliance and union they have concluded, of which His Highness has himself approved, on penalty of being forswearers and devoid of all honour.

The sovereign may not wage or declare war on another prince or foreign nation without the consent of the States because the privileges of the country prohibit this.