The irate Duke of Wellington more than once excoriated Whitehall in his letters, stating bluntly: "The troubles of battling with the Treasury far exceed those of fighting the French."
However, what most dissatisfied the Duke of Wellington was when, after his decisive victory over the French Army at the Battle of Vitoria, as he planned to cross the Pyrenees Mountains to invade the French mainland, the Foreign Office ordered him to halt his advance, so as not to jeopardize Britain's secret negotiations for the Bourbon restoration.
And even after the Duke of Wellington achieved fame and became Prime Minister, this situation did not greatly improve.
Arthur often heard the Old Duke complain that Whitehall would frequently deliberately delay carrying out his orders, with the Treasury even refusing to execute financial allocations that were unsigned by him on multiple occasions, causing the Duke to often lament: "They would rather oppose the Cabinet than forsake their set procedures."
