The expression ‘Cabal ministry,’ which is used in English history only with hatred and contempt, is not quite intelligible. The five men, the initial letters of whose titles formed this name, were only a commission for foreign affairs, from which the members of the Privy Council, who at other times were admitted to consult about these affairs, were at this time excluded. Their common action consisted in regularly meeting to take measures for carrying out the French treaty which they had concluded, and in being in the King's confidence on that point. Amongst themselves they were very different.

Thomas Clifford must be looked upon as the soul of the Catholic project. The names of his forefathers appear from the time of the Conquest, fighting for the King against Wales, Scotland, and France; similarly Hugh Clifford of Ugbrooke, who belonged to the younger and less wealthy line, took part in Charles I's war against the Scots in the year 1639, as commander of a foot regiment; he died of an illness which he then contracted. His son was Thomas, who already had made himself remarkable at the University by a fiery insubordination of conduct and even of mind; and afterwards in Parliament, where he represented Totnes, he introduced the knightly spirit, with which he was filled, into civil affairs as well. He spoke well and made an impression.