The subsequent
Peninsular War, in which, as we have seen, the British cooeperated with
the Spaniards in maintaining the latter's freedom against Napoleon, put
an end to the hostile British incursions into the Spanish colonies, but
it worked in another way to Great Britain's advantage. The Spanish
colonies--Mexico, Central America, and the greater part of South
America--were thrown into grave administrative perplexities by the
conflict of authority between the two Bourbon kings, Charles IV and
Ferdinand VII, and between King Joseph Bonaparte and the revolutionary
_juntas_; the colonists gradually got into the habit of managing
their own affairs and of opening their ports to British trade; and the
result was that by 1814, when Ferdinand was at length firmly
established upon the Spanish throne, he was confronted by colonists,
the greater number of whom had all along professed allegiance to him,
but who now, accustomed to the advantages of free trade and practical
independence, were resolved to maintain them.
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