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Home Domestic Affairs, 1660-88, in England and Scotland England; Part 5 |
England; Part 5With Clarendon's fall, Charles directed his own policy to a great extent. For the next five years (1667-73) his chief ministers were five in number, and are known from the initial letters of their names as the Cabal Ministry. Two of them, Clifford and Arlington, were Roman Catholics. Buckingham, the third member of the group, was " everything by turns, and nothing long"; in the fickleness of his opinions, the changeableness of his occupations, and the immorality of his life he was highly characteristic of that epoch. The fourth, Ashley Cooper, afterwards Lord Shaftesbury, was an old Cromwellian and a person who was continually changing sides, in every case ostensibly with the best motives, but always also at the right moment for himself. He was undoubtedly a very able statesman and " a daring pilot in extremity"; but he was also an extremely ambitious one, " resolved to ruin or to rule the State" (See Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel). He was in favour of toleration for the Nonconformists, and a strong supporter of the war against the Dutch. Lauderdale, the last of the five, and perhaps the wickedest, governed Scotland. The Cabal, however, was in no respect like a modern Cabinet Its members were not of the same opinions; they had no leader; and they were not consulted together. It was during the existence of the Cabal that there came the Triple Alliance, the secret Treaty of Dover—of which only Clifford and Arlington knew— and the Third Dutch War (401). Just before the Dutch War began, Charles, in accordance with his agreement with Louis XIV, tried to secure toleration for Roman Catholics, and incidentally for Dissenters as well, by issuing what was called a Declaration of Indulgence, suspending the penal laws against Roman Catholics and Dissenters (1672). But Parliament objected, and Charles had not only to withdraw the Declaration, but to agree to a Test Act by which no one was to hold any office of State who refused to take the sacrament according to the Church of England (1673). This Act caused the Duke of York to retire from the Admiralty, and Clifford and Arlington to retire from the Ministry. Charles then dismissed Shaftesbury, and the Cabal Ministry came to an end (1673).For the next few years (1673-8) Charles's chief minister was Dandy, who was an Anglican in religion, and the king gave up for the time, his attempts to restore Roman Catholicism in England. These years are a maze of intrigues. The Cavalier Parliament was getting restive. Shaftesbury, on being dismissed by the king, had at once begun to organize an opposition in both Houses, which soon became formidable. Meantime the French king was at one time subsidizing Charles in order to get Parliament prorogued, and at another trying to bribe the Opposition to oppose the king. The nation was nervous and uneasy. Then an event happened which made it panic-stricken. |
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