rneyed on horseback twice to Rhode Island, and once to
Connecticut, serving his writs upon those colonies. Rhode Island agreed
willingly enough to surrender her charter without a suit, but the
authorities of Connecticut, knowing that the time for the return of the
writ had expired, gave no answer, debating among themselves whether it
would not be better, if they had to give in, to join New York rather
than Massachusetts. Randolph attributed their hesitation to their
dislike of Dudley, for whom he had begun to entertain an intense
aversion. He charged Dudley with connivance against himself,
interference with his work, appropriation of his fees, and too great
friendliness toward the old faction in Boston. Before the provisional
government had come to an end, he was writing home that Dudley was a
"false president," conducting affairs in his private interest, a
lukewarm supporter of the Anglican church, a backslider from his
Majesty's service, turning "windmill-like to every gale." Such was
Dudley's fate in an era of transition--hated by the old faction as an
appointee of the Stuarts and by Randolph as a weak servant of the Crown.
Writing in November, Randolph longed for the coming of the real
governor, who would put a check upon the country party and bring to an
end the time-serving and trimming of a president whom he deemed no
better than a Puritan governor.

The new Governor-General, who entered Boston harbor in the _Kingfisher_
on December 19, 1686, was Sir Edmund Andros, a few years before the Duke
of York's Governor for the propriety of New York. Andros at this time
was forty-nine years old; he was a soldier by training and a man of
considerable experience in positions requiring executive ability. His
career had been an honorable one, and no charges involving his honesty,
loyalty, or personal conduct had ever been entered against him. When he
was in New York, he had been brought on several occasions into contact
with the Massachusetts leaders, and though their relations had never
been sympathetic, they had not been unfriendly. While in England from
1681 to 1686, he had been freely consulted regarding the best method of
dealing with the problems in America and had shown himself in full
accord with that policy of the Lords of Trade which attempted to
consolidate the northern colonies into a single government for the
execution of the acts of trade and defense against the encroachments of
the French and Indians. He was pr