But this co-operation would not be obtained till the Spaniards had given such earnest of success as rendered victory certain: they must therefore call forth all their means, as if they were singly to contend against the whole power of France. The Junta believed it would be necessary to maintain 500,000 men in arms, besides 50,000 cavalry, ... a force which, however disproportionate to their present situation, and to all former exigencies, was not more than the present times required. The power of their adversary was colossal, his ambition even greater than his power, and his existence incompatible with their liberty. His exertions were to be estimated by the barbarity of his character and the extremity of his danger; but they were the exertions of a tyrant, and would be confounded, when opposed to the constancy of a great and free people. The last government ... if that might be called government which was one continued and monstrous dilapidation, had exhausted all the sources of prosperity. The resources which arose from the revenues of the royal household, from the enormous sums formerly devoured by the insatiable avarice of Godoy, from his collected rapine, and the confiscated estates, from a free trade, a well-arranged administration of the revenue, and regularly distributed contributions, had already been indicated. The succours already given so generously by England, and still to be expected from that nation, were to be added to these means. “But,” said the Central Junta, “it is incumbent on us that these succours, which have been so opportunely given, and so gratefully received, and the effects of which have been so beneficial, should be hereafter recognized and recompensed with the reciprocity and decorum which become a great and powerful nation. The Spanish monarchy must not, in this respect, be placed in a state of inequality and dependence on its allies. The produce of these various means would be great but slow, and therefore insufficient for the urgent necessities of the state. Would they be sufficient to furnish for a time the ordinary supplies, discharge the great debt which must be incurred, and maintain the formidable army which must be kept up? If not, the government would at once have recourse to the nation, certain, from the fidelity with which its accounts would regularly be published, from the necessity and notoriety of the public wants, and the patriotism of the nation, that although to evils so extraordinary as the present remedies as extraordinary must be applied, its demands would neither be disregarded through distrust, nor detested as arbitrary.