Ferdinand had begun his restoration with a severe purge of liberals, arresting them or driving them into exile; but the regime is becoming increasingly unacceptable to extreme conservatives, who look to the king's reactionary brother, Don Carlos.

Ferdinand must rely either on inefficient traditionalists who can raise no money on the European money markets or on the more liberal ministers who are able financiers.

Ministers such as Luis López Ballesteros, a friend of the afrancesados, set the tone with a serious attempt at a government-fostered economic revival.

This return to eighteenth-century “ministerial despotism” does not satisfy the liberal exiles, who mount an ineffective invasion in 1824.