texts: I can appreciate what Your Majesty is saying but the Emperor has staked everything on this policy.  He has no other way to attack England, and no one knows more than Your Majesty how his overtures for peace have been rejected.
labels: It's a fine thing to establish policies but, when they don't work, they must be reconsidered.  Granted that you have hurt England, but she is still on her feet.  And to seal off her trade with Europe, what has it cost you?  You have had to rule with an iron hand.  You have turned friends into enemies.  And even at that, the result has only been partly effective.  You have never been able to stop the extensive cheating, smuggling and corruption -- even of your own officials.  But I should think the situation in Spain, alone, would give your policy a minus balance.  You have had to commit a quarter of a million of your best troops against the guerrillas, with no victory in sight. And you have given England a dangerous foothold on the Continent, for her armies.