The States' refusal to grant proper subsidies greatly irritated Maximilian. In a remarkable letter he tried to show them that the war with Gueldres was not only of interest to Brabant, as they pretended, but to all the Netherlands, and that all ought to take part in it. He recalls how the princes of the House of Burgundy had laboured from the days of Charles the Bold to reduce the duchy of Gueldres, and the efforts of the French kings to defraud them of their legitimate rights. He complains above all of Louis XII., who had employed every imaginable means to leave the contested country to Charles of Egmont. 'And what is his real aim?' he asks. 'He pretends through the medium of the said country of Gueldres to separate our country from the Holy Empire, and from the House of Burgundy, so as to better hold this country in subjection.' On September 16th Maximilian wrote to Margaret to acknowledge her letters in which she requested him to come to Flanders in order to conclude a new alliance with England. He has, he says, been prevented from doing so, but begs that King Henry may be amused with false hopes, and kept from concluding an alliance with France and Spain. 'If she would consent to marry the King of England, it might be arranged that she should remain Governess of the Netherlands, and pass three or four months every year in her own country.' A few days later De Puebla, writing from England to King Ferdinand, informs him that ambassadors have arrived at the English Court from Maximilian and from Flanders, the former to beg King Henry to make war against France, alleging that the French king was usurping his grandson's (Prince Charles's) dominions. The ambassador also broached the subject of the prince's marriage with Princess Mary, King Henry's daughter. The Flemish ambassador, Don Diego de Gueyara, told the king that King Louis had declared war against all the seigniories of Burgundy, and invaded them with an army, excepting Flanders and Artois, which two provinces recognised the sovereignty of France, and the appeals from their tribunals went direct to the Parliament of Paris. The ambassador begged for King Henry's help against France and the Duke of Gueldres. The English king promised to ask the French monarch not to meddle in German affairs, but at the same time he wished to keep friends with France, and so put off the ambassadors with polite and general phrases which meant nothing. De Puebla adds in a postscript: 'The King of England sends six horses and some greyhounds to the Archduchess Margaret, and a letter.'