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 (, 9 Feb. 1665). On the death of Southampton he hoped for the treasurership, for which he was always trying, and which he never obtained. On the dismissal of Clarendon in 1667, Arlington's influence appears to have declined, in the face of the enmity of Buckingham and Bristol; Buckingham, in particular, took pleasure in slighting him (, 12 July 1667). Towards the end of the year, however, they were reconciled, and on terms so intimate that Buckingham asked his assistance in his attack on Ormond. Having, however, married Isabella von Beverweert, daughter of Louis of Nassau, and sister of the wife of Ormond's eldest son, Lord Ossory, he was forced in this matter to use all his faculties for trimming (, iv. 347). In January 1668 he sent Temple to conclude the triple alliance; in this affair Temple gained such credit as to earn Arlington's jealousy for the future, which was first shown by his endeavour to get him sent out of the way on the embassy to Madrid. Scarcely was the triple alliance concluded when Charles wished to break it, and Arlington, who expressed his entire devotion to Louis, and who, though he cautiously refused to accept a bribe himself, allowed his wife to receive a present of 10,000 crowns from Louis (, i. 125), was one of the few persons, all catholics, entrusted with the secret. He was now a member of the Cabal, and at the meeting at Dover in 1670 was again reconciled to Buckingham, with whom he had once more quarrelled. The secret treaty with Louis contained a clause by which, for a large sum, Charles was to declare himself catholic; this he dared not show the protestant members of the Cabal. Buckingham, therefore, who was one of them, was duped by being allowed to employ himself in arranging a sham treaty, every article of which, except that mentioned, was the same as in the first, of which he was ignorant. In this trick Arlington had the chief part, and carried it out with great astuteness (, i. 95 and following). He was, too, closely concerned with the designs which Charles entertained of using military force against his own subjects, and in especial with Lauderdale's operations in Scotland, by which an army of 20,000 men was raised, ready to march and act as Charles pleased within his dominions (Lauderdale MSS. British Museum). In 1671 he is spoken of as being in chief esteem and affection with the king. He was nearly concerned with the closing of the exchequer and with the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672, which, however, in opposition to his colleagues in the Cabal, he urged Charles to withdraw when it was attacked by parliament in 1673. Meanwhile, on 22 April 1672, he had been raised in the peerage; he was now Earl of Arlington and Viscount Thetford in Norfolk. On 15 June he was made knight of the Garter. Jealous of Clifford, who had been made lord treasurer, Arlington now turned to the Dutch interest, disclosed the secret of the real and sham treaties to Ormond and Shaftesbury (, i. 131), and used all his influence in the House of Commons to pass the Test Act, whereby Clifford was ruined. He also advised Charles to dismiss James, incurring thereby the latter's extreme enmity, and induced the king at the end of 1673 to conclude a separate peace with the Dutch, from whom he had long been believed to be receiving bribes (, 28 April 1669). Shortly afterwards he went with Buckingham and Halifax to treat for a general peace with Louis at Utrecht.

On 15 Jan. 1674 he was impeached in the House of Commons as being the great instrument or ‘conduit-pipe’ of the king's evil measures. The charges against him were under three heads: (1) the constant and vehement promotion of popery; (2) self-aggrandisement and embezzlement; (3) frequent betrayal of trust. On the previous day, Buckingham, when himself attacked, had charged Arlington with frustrating all protestant and anti-French plans, with having induced the king to send for Schomberg and try to govern by an army, with having been the author of the unwarrantable attack on the Smyrna fleet, and with having appropriated large sums of money. Arlington, in defence, showed that the house was dealing with presumptions rather than proofs, and in the end, a result due in a great measure to the personal efforts and influence of Lord Ossory, the vote to address the king for his removal was rejected by 166 to 127, and further proceedings were dropped (Parl. Hist. iv. 642).

His general want of success, the enmity of James, the mimicry of Buckingham, and the rising power of Danby, who was reintroducing the principles of Clarendon which the Cabal had opposed, viz. the strict alliance of the Anglican church with the crown, now caused Arlington to lose ground rapidly. On 11 Sept. 1674 he resigned the secretaryship for 6,000l. to Williamson, and was made lord chamberlain instead. To regain favour with the parliament he revived some dormant orders prohibiting papists to appear at court (, p. 369), opposed the French interest, and in December 1674, hoping to supplant Temple at the Hague, got himself sent with Ossory to treat with Orange for a general peace, and to suggest his marriage with James's daughter Mary. In this mission he completely failed, and