The cortes often annulled the decrees of the regency, and the latter, of whomsoever composed, always hating and fearing the cortes, were only intent upon increasing their own power, and entirely neglected the general cause; their conduct was at once haughty and mean, violent and intriguing, and it was impossible ever to satisfy them. Thus confusion was every where perpetuated, and it is proved by the intercepted papers of Joseph, as well as by the testimony of the British officers, and diplomatists, that with the Spaniards, the only moral resource left for keeping up the war, was their personal hatred of the French, partially called into action by particular oppression. Sir John Moore, with that keen and sure judgement which marked all his views, had early described Spain as being “_without armies, generals, or government_.” And in 1811, after three years of war, lord Wellington complained that “_there was no head in Spain, neither generals, nor officers, nor disciplined troops, and no cavalry; that the government had commenced the war without a magazine or military resource of any kind, without money or financial resource, and that the people at the head of affairs were as feeble as their resources were small_.” But the miserable state of the armies and the unquenchable vanity of the officers, have been too frequently exposed to need further illustration. They hated and ill-used the peasantry, while their own want of discipline and subordination rendered them odious to their country. The poorer people, much as they detested the French, almost wished for the establishment of Joseph, and all spirit and enthusiasm had long been extinct. The real points of interest affecting England in her prosecution of the contest were, therefore, 1º. the improvement and the better guidance of the military power; 2º. the preventing a war between Portugal and Spain; 3º. the pretensions of the princess Carlotta of Portugal; 4º. the dispute with the American colonies.