As for himself, the Duke protested that he would not accept the command if offered him.

He would not agree to serve under the Prince of Anhalt, nor would he for any consideration in the world leave the court at that moment.

At the same time Aerssens was well aware that Bouillon, in his quality of first marshal of France, a Protestant and a prince having great possessions on the frontier, and the brother-in-law of Prince Maurice, considered himself entitled to the command of the troops should they really be sent, and was very indignant at the idea of its being offered to any one else.
[Aerssens worked assiduously, two hours long on one occasion, to effect a reconciliation between the two great Protestant chiefs, but found Bouillon's demands "so shameful and unreasonable" that he felt obliged to renounce all further attempts.

In losing Sully from the royal councils, the States' envoy acknowledged that the Republic had lost everything that could be depended on at the French court.
"All the others are time-serving friends," he said, "or saints without miracles."-- Aerssens to Barneveld, 11 June, 1610.

] He advised earnestly therefore that the States should make a firm demand for money instead of men, specifying the amount that might be considered the equivalent of the number of troops originally stipulated.
It is one of the most singular spectacles in history; France sinking into the background of total obscurity in an instant of time, at one blow of a knife, while the Republic, which she had been patronizing, protecting, but keeping always in a subordinate position while relying implicitly upon its potent aid, now came to the front, and held up on its strong shoulders an almost desperate cause.