 Some even declared themselves "Miguelistas", but rather for being in opposition to encroachments by the state and the imposition of taxes than as a political affirmation.The failed Septembrist politicians, realizing the political influence that the numerous cholera-infected peasantry could have on the government, used this fact to attack Cabral's government.They succeeded in forcing Cabral's removal and exile, but the queen assembled a larger, more loyal cadre of Cabralist politicians around her new government, headed by the Duke of Saldanha.