The new politicians who had begun to dominate the government had little memory of the times before Pedro II assumed control in 1840. Unlike their predecessors, they had no experience of the regency and the early years of Pedro II's reign, when external and internal dangers threatened the nation's existence; they had only known a stable administration and prosperity. The young politicians saw no reason to uphold and defend the imperial office as a unifying force beneficial to the nation. Times were changing fast, and Caxias was aware of the situation. He became increasingly nostalgic for the former times he had spent with his now-dead Conservative Party colleagues and held a pessimistic view of future political prospects. When Itaboraí—one of the last survivors of those Conservative leaders who had begun their careers during the 1830s—died in 1872, the duke wrote to a friend: "Who will replace him? I don't know, I cannot see ... The vacuum he left will not be filled, as it was not with Eusébio, Paraná, Uruguai, Manuel Felizardo and many others who helped us sustain this little church the monarchy, his 'second faith', which collapsed or almost collapsed on 7 April 1831."