Cabal

Cabal , inner group of advisers to Charles II of England. Their initials form the word (which is, however, of older origin)—Clifford of Chudleigh, Ashley (Lord Shaftesbury), Buckingham (George Villiers), Arlington (Henry Bennet), and Lauderdale (John Maitland). Although they were never a working ministry, one or more of this group dominated court policy from 1667 through 1673.

Bibliography: See study by M. Lee (1965).

Cabal Advisers to Charles II of England, 1667–74. The five members of this group, which is sometimes considered the first cabinet, were Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley (later Earl of Shaftesbury) and Lauderdale; the first letters of their names spell ‘cabal’. When it became known that two of them plotted with the king to tolerate Catholicism, the Cabal split up.

cabal. Word meaning secret clique or conspiracy, given to Charles II's administration of 1671–3 which covered the time of the third Anglo-Dutch war, the alliance with Louis XIV, and the suspension of the religious penal laws. The cabal was not a cabinet or unified ministry. The ministers, whose initials formed the word cabal, each had different principles and objectives. Lord Clifford, who climbed from being a poor Devonshire squire to become lord treasurer, became a catholic and advocated war to seize Dutch commercial wealth and to make the crown more absolute. Arlington, a courtier and careerist, always tried to implement what he interpreted as Charles's wishes. Buckingham wanted to become chief minister: he affected popularity and favoured religious toleration. Lord Ashley, advanced to be earl of Shaftesbury, also advocated toleration. The cynical Lauderdale governed Scotland for Charles. The cabal disintegrated under parliamentary pressure in 1673: Clifford died, Buckingham and Shaftesbury went into opposition.

J. R. Jones