which was then known as the Cabala or Cabal,
began almost wholly to supersede the Council itself. In the large and
balanced Council which was formed after the Restoration all real power
rested with the "Cabala" of Clarendon, Southampton, Ormond, Monk, and
the two Secretaries; and on Clarendon's fall these were succeeded by
Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale. It was by a
mere coincidence that the initials of the latter names formed the word
"Cabal," which has ever since retained the sinister meaning their
unpopularity gave to it. The effect of these smaller committees had
undoubtedly been to remove the check which the larger numbers and the
more popular composition of the royal Council laid upon the Crown. The
unscrupulous projects which made the Cabal of Clifford and his fellows a
byword among Englishmen could never have been laid before a Council of
great peers and hereditary officers of State. To Temple therefore the
organization of the Council seemed to furnish a check on mere personal
government which Parliament was unable to supply. For this purpose he
proposed that the Cabala or Cabinet, as it was now becoming the fashion
to term the confidential committee of the Council, should be abolished.
The Council itself was restricted to thirty members, and their joint
income was not to fall below L300,000, a sum little less than what was
estimated as the income of the whole House of Commons. A body of great
nobles and proprietors, not too numerous for secret deliberation and
wealthy enough to counterbalance either the Commons or the Crown, would
form, Temple hoped, a barrier against the violence and aggression of the
one power and a check on the mere despotism of the other.

[Sidenote: The Habeas Corpus Act.]

Whatever might be the fate of these schemes the new Council and the new
ministry gave fair hope of a wise and patriotic government. But the
difficulties were still great. The nation was frenzied with suspicion
and panic. The elections to the new Parliament had taken place amidst a
whirl of excitement which left no place for candidates of the Court. The
appointment of the new ministry indeed was welcomed with a general burst
of joy, and its policy and that of the two Houses showed at once that a
more liberal spirit had entered into public affairs. In two remarkable
acts of the new Parliament English freedom made an advance even on the
work of 1641. From the moment when printing began to tell on