slave women after its enactment. With half of Conservative Party members supporting the bill and the other half staunchly opposed, a serious rift opened in the ranks. Opponents represented the interests of powerful coffee farmers such as Caxias, planters who had long been the main political, social, and economic supporters of the Conservative Party. The second crisis was the Religious Question, which developed after the government came into conflict with two bishops who had ordered that Freemasons be expelled from lay brotherhoods. The dispute grew out of proportion when both bishops were convicted and given prison sentences for disobeying the government's order to rescind their expulsions. As Catholicism was the state religion, the Emperor exercised, with the papacy's acquiescence, a great deal of control over church affairs—paying clerical salaries, appointing parish priests, nominating bishops, ratifying papal bulls, and overseeing seminaries. As a result of the furor over the handling of the affair, Rio Branco and his cabinet resigned, "disunited and weary after four years in office", according to historian Roderick J. Barman. Pedro II asked Caxias to form a new cabinet. The duke later gave a remarkable account of their meeting: The elderly Caxias, almost 72 and widowed since 1874, was in poor health and could serve only as a figurehead president of the government formed on 25 June 1875. Cotejipe was the de facto president. The Caxias-Cotejipe cabinet attempted to dissipate the discord created by the previous cabinet. Their measures included financial aid to coffee farmers, an amnesty for the convicted bishops, and, to please the pro-slavery Conservatives, the selection of new ministers and a call for elections. Caxias, who was a Freemason but also a staunch Catholic, threatened to resign if the Emperor did not grant the amnesty, which Pedro II grudgingly issued in September 1875. Death At the end of 1877, Pedro II paid a visit to Caxias and ascertained that he could no longer remain in office. The entire cabinet resigned on 1 January 1878. His health problems had become so troubling that he had been asking repeatedly to resign since early 1876. Caxias was not only afflicted by concerns over his declining health, but increasingly felt a sense of alienation. He did not feel he could play a relevant role in politics. He belonged to an older generation who perceived the Emperor (and consequently, the monarchy) as essential for holding the nation together. The new