Such were the relations of the Portuguese government with England, and with Spain they were not more friendly. Seven envoys from that country had succeeded each other at Lisbon in three years. The Portuguese regency dreaded the democratic opinions which had obtained ground in Spain, and the leading party in the Cortez were intent to spread those opinions over the whole Peninsula. The only bond of sympathy between the two governments was hatred of the English who had saved both. On all other points they differed. The exiled bishop of Orense, from his asylum on the frontier of Portugal, excited the Gallicians against the Cortez so vigorously, that his expulsion from Portugal, or at least his removal from the northern frontier, was specially demanded by the Spanish minister; but though a long and angry discussion followed the bishop was only civilly requested by the Portuguese government to abstain from acts disagreeable to the Spanish regency. The latter then demanded that he should be delivered up as a delinquent, whereupon the Portuguese quoted a decree of the Cortez which deprived the bishop of his rights as a Spanish citizen and denaturalized him. However he was removed twenty leagues from the frontier, nor was the Portuguese government itself quite free from ecclesiastic troubles. The bishop of Braganza preached doctrines which were offensive to the patriarch and the government; he was confined but soon released and an ecclesiastical sentence pronounced against him, which only increased his followers and extended the influence of his doctrines. Another cause of uneasiness, at a later period, was the return of Ballesteros from his exile at Ceuta. He had been permitted towards the end of 1813, and as lord Wellington thought with no good intent, to reside at Fregenal. The Portuguese regency, fearing that he would rally round him other discontented persons, set agents to watch his proceedings, and under pretence of putting down robbers who abounded on that frontier, established a line of cavalry and called out the militia, thus making it manifest that but a little was wanting to kindle a war between the two countries.