In Bavaria, too, his government became more and more conservative, especially after Karl Abel became the head of the ministry in 1837. The king had not yet, it is true, altogether committed himself to the clerical ultras, and on the occasion of the dispute about the bishops in Prussia in the same year had taken up a wise attitude of compromise. But in Bavaria itself the strict Catholic party influenced affairs more and more decisively. For a while, indeed, this opposition did not impair the king's popularity, due to his amiable character, his extraordinary services in beautifying his capital of Munich, and to his benevolence (it has been reckoned that he personally received about 10,000 letters asking for help every year, and that the money he devoted to charity amounted to about a fifth of his income). The year 1846, however, brought a change which had sad consequences. This was due to the king's relations with the Spanish dancer Lola Montez, who appeared in Munich in October 1846, and soon succeeded by her beauty and wit in fascinating the king, who was always susceptible to feminine charms. The political importance of this lay in the fact that the royal mistress began to use her great influence against the clerical policy of the Abel ministry. So when the king was preparing the way for ennobling her, in order to introduce her into court circles, which were unwilling to receive her, the ministry protested in the famous memorandum of the 11th of February 1847 against the king's demand for her naturalization as a Bavarian, the necessary preliminary to her ennoblement. The position was still further embittered by the fact that, owing to an indiscretion, the memorandum became known to the public. Thereupon the king, irritated and outraged, replaced Abel's Clerical ministry by a more accommodating Liberal one under Zu Rhein under which Lola Montez without more difficulty became Countess Landsberg. Meanwhile, the criticism and opposition of the people, and especially of the students, was turned against the new leader of the court of Munich. On top of this came the revolutionary movement of 1848. The king's position became more and more difficult, and under the pressure of popular opposition he was forced to banish the countess. But neither this nor the king's liberal proclamation of the 6th of March succeeded in establishing peace, and in the capital especially the situation became increasingly threatening. All this made such a deep impression on the king, that on the 20th of March 1848 he abdicated in favour of his son Maximilian.