The government should consist of autonomous states with their own customs, laws and privileges i.e. he wanted a federal system of government. This solution was opposed by the Dukes of Alva who wanted Phillip to adopt a hard line approach to bring states under the close control of the Crown
Philip favoured the Alva approach and sent AIva to the Netherlands to put down the revolt there. Alva’s failure in the Netherlands and his recall in 1573 led to Philip adopting Eboli’s idea and he appointed the soft-liner Requesens to deal with the Netherlands.
