The Special Mission of Randolph
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 interested in the colonies. He
had been in the employ of the government, and now, probably at the
instance of Southwell and Blathwayt, he was selected to fill the difficult
and thankless post of commissioner to New England. That he had ability and
courage no one can doubt, and that he pursued his course with a tenacity
that would have won commendation in other and less controversial fields,
his career shows. His devotion to the interests of the Crown and his
loyalty to the Church of England steeled him against the almost incessant
attacks and rebuffs that he was called upon to endure, and his entire
inability to see any other cause than his own saved him from the
discouragements that must certainly have broken a man more sensitive than
himself. He exhibited at times some of the obduracy of the zealot and
martyr; at others he displayed unexpected good sense in protesting against
extremes of action that he thought unjust or unwise. He was honest and
indefatigable in the pursuit of what he believed to be his duty, and was
ill-requited for his labors, but he was a persistent fault-finder and his
letters are masterpieces of complaint. He was thrice married, his second
wife dying at the height of his troubles in Massachusetts, and he had five
children, all daughters, one of whom proved a grievous disappointment to
him. Though he held many offices, he was always in debt and died poor, at
the age of seventy, in Accomac County in Virginia. He was far from being
the best man to send to New England, but his natural obstinacy and his
determination to overcome difficulties were intensified by the
discourteous and tactless manner in which he was received by the Puritans.
He had no sympathy with the efforts of the "old faction" to save the
colony, and the people of Massachusetts responded with a bitter and
lasting hate.
Randolph landed at Boston on June 10, and remained in the colony
until the end of July, about six weeks altogether. He visited Plymouth,
New Hampshire, and Maine, interviewed men in authority and all sorts of
other people, and he came to the conclusion that the majority of the
inhabitants were discontented with the Boston régime. The magistrates
ignored his presence as much as they dared, refusing to recognize him as
anything but an enemy representing the Mason and Gorges claims, and
insisting that though the King might enlarge their privileges he could not
abridge them. Randolph, thoroughly nettled, returned to England prepared
to do his worst.
He sent several reports to the King and constantly appeared before
the Privy Council and the Lords of Trade, each time doing all the damage
that he could. He had undoubtedly got much of his information from
prejudiced sources or from hearsay, and he was as eager to retail it as
had been the Massachusetts authorities to blast the moral character of the
King's commissioners. He denounced the "old faction" as cunning,
deceptive, overbearing, and disloyal; he called the clergy proud,
ignorant, imperious, and inclined to sedition; and he denounced those in
authority as "inconsiderable mechanicks, packed by the prevailing party of
the factious ministry, with a fellow-feeling both in the command and the
profits." His picture of the colony, containing much that was near the
truth, was at the same time distorted, out of proportion, and in parts
almost a caricature. His most effective reports were those which laid
stress upon the failure of the colony to obey the navigation acts and the
royal commands, and upon its use of the word " Commonwealth," as if the
corporation were already an independent state. These reports were accepted
by the English authorities as correct statements of fact, for they seemed
to be confirmed by the evidence of London merchants and by at least one
West Indian governor, who knew the colony and had no personal interests at
stake.
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