f the absolute righteousness of their
position, admits of no doubt. No man could speak of the loss of the
charter as a breach in the "Hedge which kept us from the Wild Beasts of
the Field," as did Cotton Mather, without expressing a fear of a Stuart,
of an Anglican, and of a Papist that was as real as the terrors of
witchcraft. To the orthodox Puritans, the preservation of their
religious doctrines and government and the maintenance of their moral
and social standards were a duty to God, and to admit change was a sin
against the divine command. But such an unyielding system could not
last; in fact, it was already giving way. Though conjecture is
difficult, it seems likely that the English interference delayed rather
than hastened the natural growth and transformation of the colony,
because it united moderates and irreconcilables against a common
enemy--the authority of the Crown.

CHAPTER X

THE ANDROS REGIME IN NEW ENGLAND

Without a charter Massachusetts stood bereft of her privileges and at
the mercy of the royal will. She was now a royal colony, immediately
under the control of the Crown and likely to receive a royal governor
and a royal administration, as had other royal colonies. But the actual
form that reconstruction took in New England was peculiar and rendered
the conditions there unlike those in any other royal colony in America.
The territory was enlarged by including New Hampshire, which was already
in the King's hands, Plymouth, which was at the King's mercy because it
had no charter, Maine, and the Narragansett country. Eventually there
were added Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and the Jerseys--eight
colonies in all, a veritable British dominion beyond the seas. For its
Governor, Colonel Percy Kirke, recently returned from Tangier, was
considered, but Randolph, whose advice was asked, knowing that a man
like Kirke, "short-tempered, rough-spoken, and dissolute," would not
succeed, urged that his name be withdrawn. It was agreed that the
Governor should have a council, and at first the Lords of Trade
recommended a popular assembly, whenever the Governor saw fit; but in
this important particular they were overborne by the Crown. After debate
in a cabinet council, it was determined "not to subject the Governor and
council to convoke general assemblies of the people, for the purpose of
laying on taxes and regulating other matters of importance." This
unfortunate decision was a characteristic S