ut for
Massachusetts the restoration of the Stuarts opened a veritable
Pandora's box of troubles. In "divers complaints, petitions, and other
informations concerning New England," she was accused of overbearance
and oppression, of seizing the territory of New Hampshire and Maine, of
denying the rights of Englishmen to Anglicans and non-freemen of the
colony, and of persecuting the Quakers and others of religious views
different from her own. She was declared to be seeking independence of
Crown and Parliament by forbidding appeals to England, refusing to
enforce the oath of allegiance to the King, and in general exceeding the
powers laid down in her charter. The new plantations council,
commissioned by the King in December, 1660, sent a peremptory letter the
following April ordering the colony to proclaim the King "in the most
solemn manner," and to hold herself in readiness to answer complaints by
appointing persons well instructed to represent her before itself in
England. At the same time, it begged the King to go slowly, giving
Massachusetts an opportunity to be heard, and to write a letter "with
all possible tenderness," pointing out that submission to the royal
authority was absolutely essential. This the King did, confirming the
charter of Massachusetts, renewing the colony's rights and privileges,
and in conciliatory fashion ascribing all derelictions of duty to the
iniquity of the times rather than to any evil intention of the heart.
Then declaring that the chief aim of the charter was liberty of
conscience, the King struck at the very heart of the Massachusetts
system, by commanding the magistrates to grant full liberty of worship
to members of the Anglican Church and the right to vote to all who were
"orthodox" in religion and possessed of "competent estates." Though this
order was evaded by various definitions of "orthodox" and "competent
estates" and was not to be fully executed for many years, yet its
meaning was clear--no single religious body would ever again be allowed,
by the royal authorities in England, to monopolize the government or
control the political destinies of a British colony in America or
elsewhere.

The policy thus adopted toward Massachusetts became even more
conciliatory when applied to the other colonies. It is not improbable
that the King's advisers saw in the strengthening of Connecticut and
Rhode Island an opportunity to check the power of Massachusetts and to
reduce her importance