The news of these executions and of others, which, like them, were the outcome, it was said, of 'the justice of the people,' made Maximilian tremble in his prison. Perhaps he had cause to do so. The men of Venice had written to the men of Bruges to urge them to cut off his head: _Homo mortuus non fecit guerram_. And there were others who trembled for him--his father, the Emperor Frederick III., who wrote to the magistrates of Bruges warning them that he should hold them personally responsible for any evil which might befall the King of the Romans; the Pope, who threatened interdict; several German princes, who were making ready, it was said, for invasion; and his son Philip, who summoned the estates of Hainault and of Brabant with a view to obtaining their good offices. They invited the communes of Ghent and Bruges to meet them in conference at Malines. Louis of Gruthuise, now set at liberty, threw in his weight on the side of conciliation, and early in the spring of 1488 the Estates-General of all the provinces of the Netherlands met in solemn conclave at Ghent. Two great measures were the outcome of their deliberations--a treaty of confederation by which the various provinces mutually bound themselves to defend their rights and privileges, and a treaty of peace with Maximilian of which the conditions are sufficiently curious. The communes on their part promised to set their prince at liberty without further delay, on condition that he should undertake to dismiss his foreign _gens de guerre_ within four days. In order to facilitate their departure the three _bonnes villes_ undertook to pay Maximilian within a month twenty-five thousand _livres_ Flemish upon the understanding 'that if the aforesaid _gens de guerre_' had not departed within the stipulated period, the money should be expended in the payment of '_autres gens de guerre_ who by force should expulse them.' For the rest, it was agreed that Maximilian should at once bring back his son to Flanders, and that during his minority the county should be administered by the three Estates in Philip's name, that Maximilian should strictly adhere to the Treaty of Arras, cease to quarter the arms of Flanders on his escutcheon and promise to protect Flemish merchants all the world over, and that the communes should pay him by way of _solatium_ an annual pension of a thousand _livres_.