So engrossed were the Virginians in their own disputes that their attention was diverted from events in England, events that were to affect them profoundly. For many years Charles II had lived in comparative peace with his Cavalier Parliament, maintaining his mistresses in luxury despite the meagerness of his revenue. But the rise of the Whig Party under the leadership of the able Earl of Shaftesbury was now threatening to undermine his power. All London was in terror when Titus Oates came forward with a wild story that the Catholics were plotting to bring in Irish and French troops, massacre the Protestants, and murder the King. The Whigs were demanding the exclusion from the succession of Charles' Roman Catholic brother James, and some actually proposed that the King divorce his Catholic wife and marry a Protestant. Faced with the loss of his prerogatives, the indolent King struck back. His father had tried to free himself from dependence on Parliament by illegal taxation; he by sacrificing England's foreign interests for French gold. In March, 1678, Charles negotiated a secret treaty with Louis XIV in return for L300,000. Now he was in a position to thumb his nose at the Commons when they tried to control and thwart him. It was the beginning of the Second Stuart Despotism.[42] The change was immediately reflected in colonial policies. The old Council of Plantations, and its successor the Council of Trade and Plantations had done little to supervise and control the conduct of affairs in America. But in December, 1674, after the fall of the Cabal Ministry, the direction of colonial matters was turned over to a committee of the Privy Council, presided over by the Secretary of State. In this way the King's most trusted ministers were brought into close touch with the colonies. Sir Joseph Williamson, Secretary from 1674 to 1678, was a most obedient servant of the King; his fellow Secretary, Sir Henry Coventry, had defended Charles I on the field of battle, and now defended his son before the public; Sir Leoline Jenkins was called "the most faithful drudge of a Secretary that ever the Court had." We have no way of knowing whether these men, in their assault on liberty in the colonies, were merely carrying out the commands of Charles II and James II, or whether on their own initiative they shaped colonial policy in accord with domestic policy. In either case it was the Second Stuart Despotism in England which was responsible for the Andros despotism in New England, and for the equally dangerous attack on liberty in Virginia.