The Regency, jealous of the Cortes, and little pleased with the inferior title of highness accorded them, were far from partaking of the republican spirit, and so anxious to check any tendency towards innovation, that early in the year they had invited the duke of Orleans to command the provinces bordering on France, permitted him to issue proclamations, and received him at Cadiz with the honours of a royal prince; intending to oppose his authority to that of the Local Juntas at the moment, and finally to that of the Cortes. The latter, however, refused their sanction to this appointment, obliged the duke to quit Spain, and soon afterwards displaced the Regency of Five; appointing Joachim Blake, Gabriel Cisgar, and Pedro Agar in their stead. During the absence of the two first, substitutes were provided, but one of them (Palacios) making some difficulty about taking the oath to the Cortes, was immediately declared to have forfeited the confidence of the nation; so peremptorily did the Cortes proceed. Nevertheless, the new regents, not more pleased with the democratic spirit than their predecessors, and yet wishing to retain the power in their own hands, refused to listen to the princess of Brazils’ claim, and thus factions sprung up on every side; for the republicans were not paramount in the Cortes at first, and the majority were so subtilely dealt with by Pedro Souza, as actually to acknowledge Carlotta’s hereditary claim to the succession and to the immediate control of the whole Peninsula; and, as I have before noticed, would have proclaimed her sole Regent, but for the interference of lord Wellington. [Sidenote: Mr. Stuart’s Papers. MSS.] Don Manuel Lapeña being declared captain-general of Andalusia, and commander of the forces in the Isla, was subservient to the views of the Cortes; but the new Regency, anxious to have a counterbalancing force, and being instigated also by persons from Badajos, enemies to Romana, removed that officer in December, and ordered his divisions to separate from the British army and come to Cadiz. The conduct of those divisions had, indeed, given little satisfaction either to the British or Portuguese, but numbers were so absolutely necessary to lord Wellington, that colonel O’Neal was sent to remonstrate with the Regency; and, by shewing that the fall of Estremadura, and the total loss of communication with the interior of Spain would ensue, obtained a momentary respite.