thereafter would make his own impartial decisions free from the influence of others. From February 1844 through May 1848 the country saw four cabinets in succession—all composed of members from the Liberal Party. The inability of these cabinets to produce any concrete results stood as testimony to their internal divisions. Progressive initiatives lay dormant including new technology (e.g., railroads and the electric telegraph) and new institutions (e.g., a primary school system). After the last Liberal cabinet resigned, Pedro II called upon the Party of Order to form a new cabinet. They were by then known simply as the "Conservative Party" due to their goal of "preserving" order and the constitutional monarchy. The former regent Pedro de Araújo Lima, the chief figure among the conservatives, assumed the office of president. The Praieira revolt and the Platine War Unlike their rivals, the liberals were incapable of taking turns in office. The most radical faction of the liberals in the province of Pernambuco, known as the Partido da Praia ("Party of the Beach"), were openly prepared to revolt and retake power by force. Although nominally liberal, the praieiros were in reality related to the "Courtier Faction" and had Aureliano Coutinho as their national leader. In a sense the rebellion would represent the last gasp of the once-powerful "Courtier Faction" which had languished all but defunct since 1847. The praieiros had no popular support and they knew that public opinion was against them—the more so as it became apparent they had no coherent rationale to justify rebellion. The rebellion which had begun on 7 November 1848 had a small reach and was crushed on 2 February 1849 when the praieiros were decisively defeated after attacking the capital of Pernambuco, Recife. The main consequences following the end of the Praieira revolt included the almost complete disappearance of the Liberal Party who were rejected by public opinion for its actions, consolidation of support for the parliamentary monarchy among Brazilians and the supremacy of the Conservative Party in politics during the next decade. Another issue came in confronting the trade in illegally imported slaves which had been banned in 1826 as part of a treaty with Britain. The traffic continued unabated and the British government's passage of the Aberdeen Act of 1845 authorized British warships to board Brazilian shipping and seize any found involved in the slave trade. A bill was issued on 4 September 1850 which