sm and absolute
government upon the country, and his complete failure to understand the
real political position and the interests of the nation is reflected in
the advice he was said to have given to Charles, to accept the pension
from Louis, and "be the slave of one man rather than of 500." As one of
the Cabal ministry, therefore, he co-operated very zealously with the
king in breaking through the Triple Alliance and in effecting the
understanding with France. He was the only minister besides Arlington
entrusted with the secret treaty of Dover of 1670, signing both this
agreement and also the ostensible treaty imparted to all the members of
the Cabal, and did his utmost to urge Charles to join France in the
attack upon the Dutch, whom he detested as republicans and Protestants.
In 1672, during the absence of Arlington and Coventry abroad, Clifford
acted as principal secretary of state, and was chiefly responsible for
the "stop of the exchequer," and probably also for the attack upon the
Dutch Smyrna fleet. He was appointed this year a commissioner to inquire
into the settlement of Ireland. On the 22nd of April he was raised to
the peerage as Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, and on the 28th of November,
by the duke of York's interest, he was made lord treasurer; his conduct
to Arlington, whose claims to the office he had pretended to press, was,
according to Evelyn, the only act of "real ingratitude" in his career.
Arlington, however, quickly discovered a means of securing Clifford's
fall. The latter was strongly in favour of Charles's policy of
indulgence, and supported the declaration of this year, urging the king
to overcome the resistance of parliament by a dissolution. Arlington
advocated the contrary policy of concession, and after Charles's
withdrawal of the declaration gave his support to the Test Act of 1673.
Clifford spoke with great vehemence against the measure, describing it
as "monstrum horrendum ingens," but his speech only increased the
anti-Roman Catholic feeling in parliament and ensured the passing of the
bill. In consequence Clifford, as a Roman Catholic, followed the duke of
York into retirement. His resignation caused considerable astonishment,
since he had never publicly professed his religion, and in 1671 had even
built a new Protestant chapel at his home at Ugbrook. According to
Evelyn, however, his conduct was governed by a promise previously given
to James. He gave up the treasuryship and his seat i