He sent the steamer "Buenaventura" to the Canary Islands for Serrano and the other exiles; and when Prim and Sagasta arrived from Gibraltar, the whole fleet under the influence of Topete took such an attitude that the people, garrison and authorities of Cádiz followed suit.
As soon as the federal Cortes had defeated Castelar, Pavia made his coup d'état of the January 3, 1874, and after the pronunciamiento was absolute master of the situation, but having no personal ambition, he sent for General Serrano to form a government with Sagasta, Martos, Ulloa and other Conservatives and Radicals of the revolution.