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SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, 1...
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See also:SHAFTESBURY, See also:ANTHONY See also:ASHLEY See also: He appeared on the 6th of See also: He sat for Wiltshire in the Barebones parliament, of which he was a leading member, and where he supported Cromwell's views against the extreme See also:section. He was at once appointed on the council of See also:thirty. On the resignation of this parliament he became a member of the council of See also:state named in the See also:Instrument." In the first parliament elected under this " Instrument " he sat for Wiltshire, having been elected also for See also:Poole and Tewkesbury, and was one of the commissioners for the ejection of unworthy ministers. After the 28th of December 1654, he left the privy council, and henceforward is found with the Presbyterians and Republicans in opposition to Cromwell. His second wife had died during this year; in 1656 he married a third, who survived him, Margaret, daughter of Lord See also:Spencer, niece of the earl of See also:Southampton, and sister of the earl of See also:Sunderland, who died at See also:Newbury. By his three marriages he was thus connected with many of the leading politicians of Charles II.'s reign. Cooper was again elected for Wiltshire for the parliament of 1656, but Cromwell refused to allow him, with many others of his opponents, to sit. He signed a See also:letter of complaint, with sixty-five excluded members, to the See also:speaker, as also a " Remonstrance " addressed to the See also:people. In the parliament which met on the loth of January 1658, he took his seat, and was active in opposition to the new constitution of the two Houses. He was also a leader of the opposition in See also:Richard Cromwell's parliament, especially on the See also:matter of the See also:limitation of the See also:power of the See also:protector, and against the House of Lords. He was throughout these debates celebrated for the " See also:nervous and subtle See also:oratory " which made him so formidable in after days. Upon the replacing of the Rump by the See also:army, after the breaking up of Richard's parliament, Cooper endeavoured unsuccessfully to take his seat on the ground of his former disputed election for Downton. He was, however, elected on the council of state, and was the only Presbyterian in it; he was at once accused by See also:Scot, along with See also:Whitelocke, of corresponding with See also:Hyde. This he solemnly denied. After the rising in See also:Cheshire Cooper was arrested in Dorsetshire on a See also:charge of corresponding with its leader See also:Booth, but on the matter being investigated by the council he was unanimously acquitted. In the disputes between See also:Lambert at the See also:head of the military party and the Rump in See also:union with the council of state, he supported the latter, and upon the temporary supremacy of Lambert's party worked indefatigably to restore the Rump. With See also: Cooper was one of the twelve commissioners who went to Charles at See also:Breda to invite him to return. On his See also:journey he was upset from his See also:carriage, and the See also:accident caused an See also:internal See also:abscess which was never cured. Cooper was at once placed on the privy council, receiving also a formal See also:pardon for former delinquencies. His first See also:duty was to examine the Anabaptist prisoners in the Tower. In the prolonged discussions regarding the See also:Bill of See also:Indemnity he was instrumental in saving the life of Haselrig, and opposed the clause compelling all See also:officers who had served under Cromwell to refund their salaries, he himself never having had any. He showed in-See also:deed none of the avaricious See also:temper so See also:common among the politicians of the time. He was one of the commissioners for conducting the trials of the regicides, but was himself vehemently " fallen upon " by See also:Prynne for having acted with Cromwell. He was named on the council of plantations and on that of See also:trade. In the debate abolishing the See also:court of wards he spoke, like most landed proprietors, in favour of laying the See also:burden on the See also:excise instead of on the See also:land, and on the question of the restoration of the bishops carried in the interests of the court an See also:adjournment of the debate for three months. At the See also:coronation in April 1661 Cooper had been made a peer, as See also:Baron Ashley of Wimborne St Giles, in See also:express recognition of his services at the Restoration; and on the See also:meeting of the new parliament in May he was appointed See also:chancellor of the See also:exchequer and under-treasurer, aided no doubt by his connexion with Southampton. He vehemently opposed the persecuting acts now passed—the See also:Corporation See also:Act, the Uniformity Bill, against which he is said to have spoken three See also:hundred times, and the See also:Militia Act. He is stated also to have influenced the king in issuing his dispensing See also:declaration of the 26th of December 1662, and he zealously supported a bill introduced for the purpose of confirming the declaration, rising thereby in favour and See also:influence with Charles. He washimself the author of a See also:treatise on tolerance. He was now recognized as one of the chief opponents of Clarendon and the High See also:Anglican policy. On the breaking out of the Dutch War in 1664 he was made treasurer of the prizes, being accountable to the king alone for all sums received or spent. He was also one of the grantees of the See also:province of Carolina and took a leading part in its management; it was at his See also:request that See also:Locke in 166g See also:drew up a constitution for the new See also:colony. In See also:September 1665 the king unexpectedly paid him a visit at Wimborne. He opposed unsuccessfully the See also:appropriation proviso introduced into the See also:supply bill as hindering the due See also:administration of See also:finance, and this opposition seems to have brought about a reconciliation with Clarendon. In 1668, however, he supported a bill to appoint commissioners to examine the accounts of the Dutch War, though in the previous year he had opposed it. In accordance with his former See also:action on all questions of religious See also:toleration he opposed the shameful Five Mile Act of 1665. In 1667 he supported the bill for prohibiting the importation of Irish See also:cattle, on the ground that it would See also:lead to a See also:great fall of rents in England. Ashley was himself a large landowner, and, moreover, was opposed to See also:Ormonde, who would have benefited by the importation. In all other questions of this See also:kind he shows himself far in advance of the economic fallacies of the day. His action led to an altercation with See also:Ossory, the son of Ormonde, in which Ossory used See also:language for which he was compelled to apologize. On the death of Southampton, Ashley was placed on the commission of the See also:treasury, See also:Clifford and See also: His approval of the attempt of the Lords to alter a See also:money bill led to the loss of the supply to Charles and to the consequent displeasure of the king. His support to the Lord Roos Act, ascribed generally to his See also:desire to ingratiate himself with Charles, was no doubt due in part to the fact that his son had married Lord Roos's sister. So far from advising the " Stop of the Exchequer," he opposed this See also:bad measure; the reasons which he left with the king for his opposition are extant. The responsibility rests with Clifford alone. In the other great measure of the Cabal See also:ministry, Charles's Declaration of See also:Indulgence, he concurred. He was now rewarded by being made earl of Shaftesbury and Baron Cooper of Pawlett by a patent dated the 23rd of April 1672. It is stated too that he was offered, but refused, the lord treasurership. On the 17th of November 1672, however, he became lord chancellor, See also:Bridgman having been compelled to resign the seat. As chancellor he issued writs for the election of thirty-six new members to fill vacancies caused during the long See also:recess; this, though grounded upon precedent, was open to suspicion as an attempt to fortify Charles, and was attacked by an angry House of See also:Commons
which met on the 4th of February 1673. The writs were cancelled, and the principle was established that the issuing of writs rested with the House itself. It was at the opening of parliament that Shaftesbury made his celebrated " delenda est Carthago" speech against See also: For affixing the great See also:seal to this declaration he was threatened with See also:impeachment by the Commons. The Test Act was now brought forward, and Shaftesbury, who appears to have heard how he had been duped in 167o, supported it, with the See also:object probably of thereby getting rid of Clifford. He now began to be regarded as the chief upholder of Protestantism in the ministry; he lost favour with Charles, and on See also:Sunday, the 9th of September 1673, was dismissed from the chancellorship. Among the reasons for this dismissal is probably the fact that he opposed grants to the king's mistresses. He had been accused of vanity and ostentation in his office, but his reputation for ability and integrity as a See also:judge was high even with his enemies.
Charles soon regretted the loss of Shaftesbury, and endeavoured, as did also See also: The bill was shelved, a See also:prorogation having taken See also:place in See also:con-sequence of a See also:quarrel between the two Houses, supposed to have been purposely got up by Shaftesbury, in which he supported the right of the Lords to hear See also:appeal cases, even where the See also:defendant was a member of the See also:Lower House. Parliament was prorogued for fifteen months until the 15th of February 1677, and it was determined by the opposition to attack its existence on the ground that a prorogation for more than a year was illegal. In this matter the opposition were in the wrong, and by attacking the parliament discredited themselves. The result was that Shaftesbury, Buckingham, See also:Wharton and Salisbury were sent to the Tower. In See also:June Shaftesbury applied for a See also:writ of habeas corpus, but could get no See also:release until the 26th of February 1678, after his letter and three petitions to the king. Being brought before the See also:bar of the House of Lords he made submission as to his conduct in declaring parliament dissolved by the prorogation, and in violating the Lords' privileges by bringing a habeas corpus in the King's See also:Bench. The breaking out of the Popish Terror in 1678 marks the worst part of Shaftesbury's career. That so clear-headed a See also:man could have credited the lies of See also:Oates and the other perjurers is beyond belief; and the manner in which he excited baseless alarms, and encouraged fanatic See also:cruelty, for nothing but party advantage, is without excuse. On the 2nd.of November he opened the great attack by proposing an address declaring the necessity for the king's dismissing James from his council. Under his See also:advice the opposition now made an See also:alliance with Louis whereby the See also:French king promised to help them to ruin Danby on condition that they would compel Charles, by stopping the supplies, to make See also:peace with See also:France, doing thus a See also:grave injury to Protestant-ism abroad for the See also:sake of a temporary party advantage at See also:home. Upon the refusal in November of the Lords to concur in the address ~f the Commons requesting the removal of the See also:queen from court,he joined in a protest against the refusal, and was foremost in all the violent acts of the session. He urged on the bill by which Catholics were prohibited from sitting in either House of Parliament, and was See also:bitter in his expressions of disappointment when the Commons passed a proviso excepting James, against whom the bill was especially aimed, from its operation. A new parliament met on the 6th of March 1679. Shaftesbury had meanwhile ineffectually warned the king that unless he followed his advice there would be no peace with the people. On the 25th of March he made a striking speech upon the state of the nation, especially upon the dangers to Protestantism and the misgovernment of Scotland and See also:Ireland. He was suspected, too, of doing all in his power to bring about a revolt in Scotland. By the advice of See also:Temple, Charles now tried the experiment of forming a new privy council in which the chief members of the opposition were included, and Shaftesbury was made president, with a See also:salary of £4000, being also a member of the committee for See also:foreign affairs. He did not, however, in any way See also:change either his opinions or his action. He opposed the compelling of Protestant Nonconformists to take the See also:oath required of Roman Catholics. That indeed, as See also:Ranke says, which makes him memorable in See also:English See also:history is that he opposed the See also:establishment of an Anglican and Royalist organization with success. The question of the succession was now again prominent, and Shaftesbury, in opposition to See also:Halifax, committed the See also:error, which really brought about his fall, of putting forward Monmouth as his nominee, thus alienating a large number of his supporters; he encouraged, too, the belief that this was agreeable to the king. He pressed on the Exclusion Bill with all his power, and, when that and the inquiry into the payments for See also:secret service and the trial of the five peers, for which too he had been eager, were brought to an end by a sudden prorogation, he is reported to have declared aloud that he would have the heads of those who were the king's advisers to this course. Before the prorogation, however, he saw the invaluable Act of Habeas Corpus, which he had carried through parliament, receive the royal assent. In pursuance of his patronage of Monmouth, Shaftesbury now secured for him the command of the army sent to suppress the insurrection in Scotland, which he is supposed to have fomented. In October 1679, the circumstances which led Charles to desire to conciliate the opposition having ceased, Shaftesbury was dismissed from his See also:presidency and from the privy council; when applied to by Sunderland to return to office he made as conditions the See also:divorce of the queen and the exclusion of James. With nine other peers he presented a See also:petition to the king in November, praying for the meeting of parliament, of which Charles took no See also:notice. In April, upon the king's declaration that he was resolved to send for James from Scotland, Shaftesbury advised the popular leaders at once to leave the council, and they followed his advice. In March we find him unscrupulously eager in the See also:prosecution of the alleged Irish Catholic See also:plot. Upon the king's illness in May he held frequent meetings of Monmouth's friends at his house to consider how best to act for the See also:security of the Protestant religion. On the 26th of June, accompanied by fourteen others, he presented to the See also:grand See also:jury of See also:Westminster an See also:indictment of the See also:duke of See also:York as a Popish See also:recusant. In the See also:middle of September he was seriously See also:ill. On the 15th of November the Exclusion Bill, having passed the Commons, was brought up to the Lords, and an historic debate took place, in which Halifax and Shaftesbury were the leaders on opposite sides. The bill was thrown out, and Shaftesbury signed the protest against its rejection. The next day he urged upon the House the divorce of the queen. On the 7th of December, to his lasting dishonour, he voted for the condemnation of Lord See also:Stafford. On the 23rd he again spoke vehemently for exclusion, and his speech was immediately printed. All opposition was, however, checked by the See also:dissolution on the 18th of January. A new parliament was called to meet at Oxford, to avoid the influences of the See also:city of London, where Shaftesbury had taken the greatest pains to make himself popular. Shaftesbury, with fifteen other peers, petitioned the king that it might as usual be held in the See also:capital. He prepared instructions to be handed by constituencies to their members upon election, in which exclusion, disbanding, the limitation of the See also:prerogative in proroguing and dissolving parliament, and security against popery and arbitrary power were insisted on. At this parliament, which lasted but a few days, he again made a personal appeal to Charles, which was curtly rejected, to permit the legitimizing of Monmouth. The king's advisers now urged him to See also:arrest Shaftesbury; he was seized on the 2nd of July 1681, and committed to the Tower, the See also:judges refusing his petition to be tried or admitted to See also:bail. This refusal was twice repeated in September and October, the court hoping to obtain See also:evidence sufficient to ensure his ruin. In October he wrote offering to retire to Carolina if he were released. On the 24th of November he was indicted for high treason at the Old See also:Bailey, the chief ground being a paper of association for the See also:defence of the Protestant religion, which, though among his papers, was not in his See also:handwriting; but the grand jury ignored the bill. He was released on bail on the 1st of December. In 1682, however, Charles secured the See also:appointment of Tory sheriffs for London; and, as the juries were chosen by the sheriffs, Shaftesbury See also:felt that he was no longer safe from the vengeance of the court. Failing See also:health and the disappointment of his See also:political plans led him into violent courses. He appears to have entered into consultation of a treasonable kind with Monmouth and others; he himself had, he declared, ten thousand brisk boys in London ready to rise at his bidding. For some See also:weeks he was concealed in the city and in Wapping; but, finding the schemes for a rising hang See also:fire, he went to See also:Harwich, disguised as a Presbyterian See also:minister, and after a See also:week's delay, during which he was in imminent See also:risk of See also:discovery, if indeed, as is probable, his See also:escape was not winked at by the See also:government, he sailed to Holland on the 28th of November 1682, and reached See also:Amsterdam in the beginning of December. Here he was welcomed with the jest, referring to his famous speech against the Dutch, " nondum deleta Carthago." He was made a See also:citizen of Amsterdam, but died there of See also:gout in the See also:stomach on the 21st of January 1683. His See also:body was sent in February to Poole, in Dorset, and was buried at Wimborne St Giles. Few politicians have been the See also:mark of such abuse as Shaftesbury. See also:Dryden, while compelled to See also:honour him as an upright judge, overwhelmed his memory with scathing, if venal, See also:satire; and Dryden's satire has been accepted as truth by later historians. See also:Macaulay in especial exerted all his See also:art, though in See also:contradiction of See also:probability and fact, to deepen still further the shade which rests upon his reputation. See also:Christie, on the other See also:hand, in See also:possession of later See also:sources of See also:information, and with more honest purpose, did much to rehabilitate him. Occasionally, however, he appears to hold a brief for the defence, and, though the picture is comparatively true, this Life (1871) should be read with caution. Finally, in his monograph (1886) in the See also:series of " English Worthies," H. D. See also:Traill professes to hold the scales equally. He makes an interesting addition to our conception of Shaftesbury's place in English politics, by insisting on his position as the first great party leader in the See also:modern sense, and as the founder of modern parliamentary oratory. In other respects his See also:book is derived almost entirely from Christie. See also the present writer's See also:article in the Dict. Nat. Biog. Much of .Shaftesbury's career, increasingly so as it came near its close, is incapable of defence; but it has escaped most of his critics that his life up to the Restoration, apparently full of inconsistencies, was evidently guided by one leading principle, the determination to uphold the supremacy of parliament, a principle which, however obscured by self-See also:interest, appears also to have underlain his whole political career. He was, too, ever the friend of religious freedom and of an enlightened policy in all trade questions. And, above all, it should not be forgotten, in See also:justice to Shaftesbury's memory, that " during his long political career, in an age of general corruption, he was ever incorrupt, and never grasped either money or land." (O. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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