With the express support of Queen
Maria II, of whom
Costa Cabral was considered a valedictorian, the government's parliamentary front was secured by an obedient majority, congregated in an exclusivist party and committed to maintaining, against the onslaughts of the left and the remnants of
Miguelism, the order deemed necessary for the country's development. One of the first reforms of Cabralism was administrative centralization, approving the Administrative Code of 1842. This was followed by the reform of
Portugal's National Guards, one of the previous factors of instability, the resumption of relations with the
Holy See and the control of
foreign debt and the government deficit. Cabralism attempted to launch an ambitious public works program, creating public-private partnerships with the creation of state creditor companies. On the social front, it legislated on public education and health, trying to modernize these sectors. Having to take out a loan of 2400
escudos, an astronomical sum at the time, he was forced into a tax reform aimed at increasing state revenue, which began a rapid process of erosion of the popular support base for the government. In a clear show of favor, Queen Maria II appointed Costa Cabral an effective Councillor of State (1843), a Peer of the Realm (1844) and elevated him to
Count of Tomar (1845), for two lives. However, the rapid enrichment of Costa Cabral, who, from the position of a modest lawyer, in a few years became the holder of a considerable fortune, which included a palace capable of hosting the Queen, as well as the
nepotism of which he was accused, since his brother
José Bernardo da Silva Cabral, also made 1st Count of Tomar, was also accused of nepotism. Silva Cabral, who also became the 1st
Count of Cabral, was one of the government's supporters (hence the name
government of the Cabral), making Costa Cabral a figure hated by vast swathes of the population. When his other brother and his father also entered parliament, accusations of nepotism,
clientelism and concussion in public tenders grew. , in
A Ilustração, v. II, 1846, p. 71. When, in January 1846, the unstoppable increase in public spending and the consequent state deficit led to the state's credit being cut off, making
bankruptcy imminent, Cabralism fell into agony. Thus, despite having completed the legislature, and having been the first government of Portuguese
liberalism to achieve this feat, popular discontent was such that the slightest agitation threatened to result in an uprising. This is what happened in the spring of 1846 with the
Maria da Fonte Revolution. ==The end of Cabralism==