The Spanish people despised their late king as
weak and traitorous; they hated their new king as a foreigner and an
upstart. For Spain they were patriotic to the core: priests and nobles
made common cause with commoners and peasants, and all agreed that they
would not brook foreign interference with their domestic concerns. All
Spain blazed forth in angry insurrection. Revolutionary committees, or
_juntas_, were speedily organized in the provinces; troops were
enrolled; and a nationalist reaction was in full swing. By 1 August,
1808, Joseph was obliged to flee from Madrid and the French troops were
in retreat toward the Pyrenees,
[Sidenote: Interrelation of the Continental System and Spanish
Nationalism]
[Sidenote: The Peninsular War, 1808-1813]
To add to the discomfiture of the French, George Canning, the British
foreign minister, promptly promised his country's active assistance to
a movement whose real significance he already clearly perceived. In
ringing words he laid down the British policy which would obtain until
Napoleon had been overthrown: "We shall proceed upon the principle that
any nation of Europe which starts up to oppose a Power which, whether
professing insidious peace or declaring open war, is the common enemy
of all nations, becomes instantly our ally.
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