many of the Puritan measures were harsh and arbitrary and
liable to abuse. Even the Government's support of the Mason and Gorges
claims was not dishonorable, and while it may have been unwise and, in
equity, unjust, it was not without excuse. The Government listened to
complaints of persecution, as any sovereign power is required to do, and
was naturally impressed with the weightiness of some of the charges; yet
so little inclined was it to tamper with Massachusetts that the colony
might have succeeded, for a longer time at least, in maintaining the
integrity of its control, had not the question of colonial trade brought
matters to a crisis.

Under Charles II, finances presented a difficult problem, for Parliament
in controlling appropriations took no responsibility for the collection
of money granted. To meet the deficit which during the earlier years of
the reign was ever present, efforts were made to increase the revenue
from customs, and so successful was this policy that, after 1675, these
customs revenues came to be looked upon as among England's greatest
sources of wealth. Now, inasmuch as trade with the colonies was one of
the largest factors contributing to this result, England, as she could
not afford to maintain colonies that would do nothing to aid her, came
more and more to value her overseas possessions for their commercial
importance, classing as valuable assets those that advanced her
prosperity, and treating as insubordinate those that disregarded the
acts of trade and thwarted her policy. The independence that
Massachusetts claimed was diametrically opposed to the growing English
notion that a colony should be subordinate and dependent, should obey
the acts of trade and navigation, and should recognize the authority of
the Crown; and, from what they heard of the temper of New England,
English statesmen suspected that Massachusetts was doing none of these
things.

Edward Randolph, who was sent over in 1676 to make inquiry into the
affairs of the colony, was a native of Canterbury, a former student of
Gray's Inn, and at this time forty-three years old. The fact that he was
connected by marriage with the Mason family accounts for his interest in
the efforts of Gorges and Mason to break the hold of Massachusetts upon
New Hampshire and Maine. He was a personal acquaintance of Sir Robert
Southwell, the diplomatist, and of Southwell's intimate friend, William
Blathwayt, an influential English official inter