728 SHAFT ESBURY which, however, he was afterwards relieved by Cromwell. On October 25 he was made commander-in-chief in Dorset- shire, and in November he took by storm Abbotsbury, the house of Sir John Strangways, an afiair in which he appears to have shown considerable personal gallantry. In December he relieved Taunton. His military service terminated at the time of the Self-denying Ordinance in 1645; he had associated himself with the Presbyterian faction, and naturally enough was not included in the New Model. For the next seven or eight years he lived in comparative privacy. He was high sheriff of Wiltshire during 1647, and displayed much vigour in this office. Upon the execution of Charles, Cooper took the Engage- ment, and was a commissioner to administer it in Dorset- shire. On April 25, 1650, he married Lady Frances Cecil, sister of the earl of Essex, his first wife having died in the previous year leaving no family. In 1651 a son was born to him, who died in childhood, and on January 16, 1652, another son, named after himself, who was his heir. On January 17 he was named on the commission for law reform, of which Hale was the chief; and on March 17, 1653, he was pardoned of all delinquency, and thus at last made capable of sitting in parliament. He sat for Wiltshire in the Barebones parliament, of which he was a leading member, and where he zealously and prudently supported Cromwell's views against the extreme section. He was at once appointed on the council of thirty. On the resignation of this parliament he became a member of the council of state named in the " Instrument." In the first parliament elected under this "Instrument" he sat for Wiltshire, having been elected also for Poole and Tewkesbury, and was one of the commissioners for the ejection of unworthy ministers. After December 28, 1654, for reasons which it is impossible to ascertain with clear- ness, 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 Spencer, niece of the earl of Southampton, and sister of the earl of Sunderland, who died at 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 parlia- ment of 1656, but Cromwell refused to allow him, with many others of his opponents, to sit. He signed a letter of complaint, with sixty-five excluded members, to the speaker, as also a "Remonstrance" addressed to the people. In the parliament which met on January 20, 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 Richard Cromwell's parliament, especially on the matter of the limitation of the power of the Protector, and against the House of Lords. He was throughout these debates celebrated for the " nervous and subtle oratory" which made him so formidable in after days : he had " his tongue well hung, and words at will." Upon the replacing of the Rump by the 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 Down ton. He was, however, elected on the council of state, and was the only Presbyterian in it ; he was at once accused by Scot, along with Whik-- locke, of corresponding with Hyde. This he solemnly denied. After the rising in Cheshire Cooper was arrested in Dorsetshire on a charge of correspondence with its leader Booth, but on the matter being investigated by the council he was unanimously acquitted. In the disputes between Lambert at the head of the military party and the Rump in 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 Monk's commissioners he, with Haselrig, had a fruitless conference, but he assured Monk of his co-operation, and joined with eight others of the overthrown council of state in naming him commander-in-chief of the forces of Eng- land and Scotland. He was instrumental in securing the Tower for the Parliament, and in obtaining the adhesion of Admiral Lawson and the fleet. Upon the restoration of the Parliament on December 26 Cooper was one of the commissioners to command the army, and on January 2 was made one of the new council of state. On January 7 he took his seat on his election for Downton in 1640, and was made colonel of Fleetwood's regiment of horse. He speedily secured the admission of the secluded members, having meanwhile been in continual communication with Monk, was again one of the fresh council of state, con- sisting entirely of fr.iends of the Restoration, and accepted from Monk a commission to be governor of the Isle of Wight and captain of a company of foot. He now steadily pursued the design of the Restoration, but with- out holding any private correspondence with the king, and only on terms similar to those proposed in 1648 to Charles I. at the Isle of Wight. In the Convention Parliament he sat for Wiltshire. Monk cut short these deliberations and forced on the Restoration without con- dition. Cooper was one of the twelve commissioners who went to Charles at Breda to invite him to return. On his journey he was upset from his carriage, and the accident caused an internal abscess which was never cured. Cooper was at once placed on the privy council, receiv- ing also a formal pardon for former delinquencies. His first duty was to examine the Anabaptist prisoners in the Tower. In the prolonged discussions regarding the Bill of Indemnity he was instrumental in saving the life of Haselrig, and opposed the clause compelling all officers who had served under Cromwell to refund their salaries, he himself never having had any. He showed indeed none of the grasping and avaricious temper so 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 Prynne for having acted with Cromwell. He was named on the council of planta- tions and on that of trade. In the debate abolishing the court of wards he spoke, like most landed proprietors, in favour of laying the burden on the excise instead of on the land, and on the question of the restoration of the bishops carried in the interests of the court an adjourn- ment of the debate for three months. At the coronation in April 1661 Cooper had been made a peer, as Baron Ashley of Wimborne St Giles, in express recognition of his services at the Restoration ; and on the meeting of the new parlia- ment in May he was appointed chancellor of the exchequer and under-treasurer, aided no doubt by his connexion with Southampton. He vehemently opposed the perse- cuting Acts now passed, the Corporation Act, the Uni- formity Bill, against which he is said to have spoken three hundred times, and the Militia Act He is stated also to have influenced the king in issuing his dispensing declara- tion of December 26, 16G2, and he zealously supported a bill introduced for the purpose of confirming the declara- tion, rising thereby in favour and influence with Charles. He was himself the author of a treatise on tolerance. He | was now recognized as one of the chief opponents of Clarendon and the High Anglican policy. On the break- ing 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 province of Carolina and took a leading part in its management; it was at his request that Locke in 1669 drew up a constitution for the new colony. In September
