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Clifford him to go to war with the United Provinces before he attempted the avowal of his Catholicism. It had been found, however, impossible to show this treaty to the protestant members of the cabal, inasmuch as one of the conditions was that Louis should pay Charles a certain sum upon his declaring himself a catholic. A second treaty was therefore prepared, in which this sum was represented as an addition merely to the subsidy promised by France for the war ; and nothing was said in it, as in the first, of bringing French troops to help Charles in England. To this trick, which imposed upon the other members of the cabal, Clifford was a party, and with them signed it on 31 Dec. 1670. Even so it was not considered safe to show it to the king's ministers generally until February 1672, when a similar treaty was signed by the cabal, as being the first and only one in existence. It appears that in 1671, as afterwards in 1672, Ashley was offered the lord treasurership, and that, had he accepted it, Clifford was to have become chancellor of the exchequer ; but the authority for this is not of weight (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. 369 a). In 1672, during the absence of Henry Coventry and Arlington in Sweden and Holland, Clifford filled, on the death of Sir John Trevor, the office of principal secretary of state. In January of this year he advised Charles, who needed further immediate supplies for the Dutch war, to have recourse to the stop of the exchequer. This step, whereby all payments out of the exchequer on all warrants, orders, or securities whatsoever were prohibited for twelve months, and which temporarily ruined commercial credit, while it gave the king a present supply, has been by Burnet and Macaulay wrongly ascribed to Shaftesbury. Clifford appears to have been the sole author of the plan, and to have proposed it in the previous year, and Shaftesbury undoubtedly opposed it [see ] (, Life, i. 415). Sir W. Temple (Works, ii. 184), Shaftesbury himself (, Life of the First Earl of Shaftesbury, ii. 62), Ormonde (, Life, i. 422), and Evelyn, who was greatly attached to Clifford (Diary, 12 March 1672), unanimously ascribe the suggestion to Clifford. The evidence on the point will be found collected and analysed in Christie's ' Life of Shaftesbury,' pp. 53-70. In all probability the attack on the Dutch Smyrna fleet before hostilities had been declared was also at his advice (ib.) On 22 April 1672, probably in reward for this service, he was made a baron by the title of Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, and on 28 Nov. lord high treasurer, and by letters patent, treasurer of the exchequer (, Peerage). The high treasurership he appears to have gained by the goodwill of James, and against the influence of his early patron, Arlington, who had hoped for the post himself. Clifford's conduct in securing this post while constantly persuading Arlington, according to his account, that he was pressing his claims, is quoted by Evelyn as the only ' real ingratitude ' of which he was guilty (Diary, 18 Aug. 1673). Meanwhile, in March of the same year Charles had issued his declaration of indulgence, whereby all the penal laws on account of religion were suspended, a measure warmly supported by Clifford. This roused the greatest irritation among the Anglican party in the house, and when parliament met in February 1673 the most violent opposition was expressed. Against this opposition Clifford urged the king to stand firm, and he further strongly pressed the necessity of dissolving parliament. The necessities of the king, however, and the advice of Louis, restrained him from doing this, and he found himself compelled in March 1673 to withdraw the declaration. The commons immediately followed up this success by introducing the Test Act, the terms of which made it impossible for any conscientious catholic to hold office under the crown. It is very probable that Arlington devised this act, which he knew must ruin Clifford, from anger at having been supplanted by him in the treasurership. It was warmly supported by Shaftesbury, who perhaps had become aware of his having been duped in the matter of the secret treaty of Dover, in which Clifford had had so prominent a share. When the bill came before the lords, Clifford opposed it with the utmost vehemence, and it was clearly now, not in the debate on the declaration of indulgence, as stated by Burnet, that not having intended to speak, but being suddenly inspired, he delivered the speech in which he applied the phrase ' monstrum horrendum ingens ' to the bill (, Shaftesbury, ii. 137). Colbert in his despatches declares that but for this speech a compromise would have been possible, but that ' it kindled such a flame that nothing since has been heard but fury and reproach against the government ' (ib. p. 138). By the Test Act the cabal was scattered. The Duke of York resigned his posts, and Clifford gave up the treasurership in the beginning of June, and left the privy council. The question of whether Clifford was really a catholic or not cannot be settled. As late as 1671 he had erected a protestant chapel at Ugbrooke. Evelyn,