Dom Pedro declared the young queen of age, and summoned a full Cortes to meet at Lisbon. He appointed a strong ministry with the Duke of Palmella as president, and the Duke of Terceira at the War Office, and an attempt was made to rearrange the finances and settle the kingdom. The Cortes declared Dom Miguel and his heirs for ever ineligible to succeed to the throne and forbade them to return to Portugal under pain of death, and struck a fatal blow at the influence of the Miguelites by abolishing all the orders of the friars, who had hitherto kept alive his party in the provinces. Dom Pedro, who had throughout the struggle been the heart and soul of his daughter's party, had thus the pleasure of seeing the country at peace, and a regular parliamentary system in operation, but he did not long survive, for on the 24th of September, 1834, he died at Queluz near Lisbon, of an illness brought on by his great labours and fatigues, leaving a name, which deserves all honour from Portuguese and Brazilians alike.
Queen Maria da Gloria was only fifteen, when she thus lost the advantage of her father's wise counsel and steady help, yet it might have been expected that her reign would be calm and prosperous. But neither the queen, the nobility, nor the people, understood the principles of parliamentary government, and the army, accustomed to fight and unable to do anything else, was a constant source of danger. Members of different parties could not or would not believe that all true Portuguese alike loved Portugal; the party in power proscribed and exiled its opponents, while the party in opposition invariably appealed to arms, instead of seeking to enforce its opinions by legitimate parliamentary means. In addition, the unfortunate country was ravaged by numerous brigands, generally disbanded soldiers, who called themselves Miguelites, and who invariably escaped into Spain, when attacked in force. Each successive government refused to recognize or to pay interest upon the loans raised by its predecessor, and the financial credit of Portugal soon fell to a very low ebb in the money markets of Europe. It is unprofitable and almost impossible to examine here the tendencies of the chief statesmen of the time, for new governments quickly succeeded each other, and it will be sufficient to notice only the most important "pronunciamentos" and appeals to arms. The whole reign was one of violent party struggles, for they hardly deserve to be called civil wars, so little did they involve, which present a striking contrast to the peaceable constitutional government that at present prevails.