 Gastão Pereira de Sande, Count of Taipa, then one of the oppositionists (commonly referred to as "radicals"), described the government as a "gang made up to devour the country under the shadow of a child" (a figure of speech wherein the "child" represented the young Queen, Maria II of Portugal).This was one of the earliest references to "Devorismo" (Devourism), i.e., the corrupt practice of using the public treasury to enrich oneself or to benefit another.The post-Civil War period was characterized by a precarious executive office, a lack of ideological definition, the marginalization of popular movements, indiscipline and the intervention of military chiefs in politics.