Anthony Cooper was born
in 1621. The son of a large landowner, Cooper was educated at Oxford
University and Lincoln's Inn.
In 1640 Cooper was elected
to the House of Commons. On the outbreak
of the Civil War Cooper initially supported
Charles
I but changed
sides and accused the king of following policies "destructive
to religion and State".
Cooper kept in the background
until being appointed as a member of a law reform commission in 1652.
Later he joined the Council of State. However, in 1655, he resigned
in protest against the dictatorial methods of Oliver
Cromwell.
In 1659 General George
Monck
recruited Cooper
in his campaign to restore the monarchy. After the Restoration
he was rewarded by being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. Cooper
was also a member of the commission that tried the Regicides.
Cooper was a strong supporter
of religious toleration and this resulted in him clashing with Earl
of Clarendon.
Cooper survived but Charles
II was wary of
his religious views and did not inform him of the Treaty of Dover
where the king promised to become a Roman
Catholic in return for French subsidies.
Cooper continued to support
the king's policies and he was created Earl of Shaftesbury and made
Lord Chancellor. However, he was later dismissed from office when
he expressed doubts about the role being played by the king's brother,
James.
Earl of Shaftesbury now
argued that Charles
II should call
a new Parliament to discuss these issues. His supporters began to
wear green ribbons (the colours of the Levellers).
The king, concerned about this act of rebellion, had Shaftesbury arrested
and sent to the Tower of London.
Dissatisfaction with the
king continued and after a year Shaftesbury was released and James
was sent to live abroad.
Shaftesbury was brought back to power as president of the privy Council.
In this position he urged Charles
II to remarry
in an effort to produce an heir to the throne. Charles, who wanted
his brother to succeed him as king, refused, and dismissed Shaftesbury
from office.
In July 1681 Shaftesbury
was arrested and charged with high treason. However, in November,
1681, the grand jury threw the charges out. Shaftesbury was released
but fearing he would be arrested again, he fled to the Netherlands
where he died in 1683.
(1)
Edmund
Ludlow, Memoirs
of Edward Ludlow (c. 1680)
Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper,
also a great instrument in this horrid treachery, as he was most active
amongst those of the Parliament who were consulting for their restitution,
so notwithstanding the affronts he had formerly put upon me, the Lord
Arundel being pressed by the trustees and contractors at Drury House
for the paying in of thousands of pounds which he was in arrears for
some lands which they had sold of his to some of his friends, and
which Cromwell had discharged him of, they not allowing that to be
a sufficient discharge threaten him to sell the land again, according
to a command they had received from the Parliament to that purpose,
if he forthwith paid not the said arrears. It being apprehended that
my letter to them might be of service to him therein, he the same
Sir Anthony, coming to me with him to desire me to write on his behalf,
professed to be very affectionate to the interest of the Commonwealth,
which he did so to the life that I was much pleased therewith, having
always believed him to be otherwise inclined. But notwithstanding
his fair words, I was not so confident of him as to repose any great
trust in him, he having played fast and loose so often, declaring
sometimes for the king, then for the Parliament, then for Cromwell,
afterwards against him,
and now for the Commonwealth.
About this time I went
to Sir Arthur Haslerig, whom I knew to be of a most rigid and inflexible
spirit, and endeavoured as well as I could to persuade him of the
necessity incumbent on us all to lay aside our private animosities,
and to unite our whole strength to preserve the vessel of the Commonwealth
from sinking. I desired him to entertain a better opinion of Sir Henry
Vane, and some other persons than he seemed to have, assuring him
that it was impossible to prevent that ruin which threatened us.
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