The warning was not heeded, and Humphrey Atherton, John Winthrop and their associates, completing their bargain with the Indians, claimed the tracts as theirs by lawful purchase. New complications followed. The very next year the Commissioners of the United Colonies, following up their aggressive policy towards the Narragansetts, imposed upon the feeble remnant of the once powerful tribe a heavy fine for alleged injuries to the Mohegans, and compelled them to mortgage their whole territory for the payment of it. Atherton paid the fine, and held that his claim was strengthened by this act of unjustifiable violence. For a time hopes were entertained of inducing the company to accept the jurisdiction of Rhode Island, but they were futile. The attempt of either party to exercise legal authority in the disputed territory was a signal for the active intervention of the other. It was soon evident that the decision must be referred to England. Fortunately for Rhode Island, John Clarke was still there. Agents from Connecticut, also, were there petitioning for a new charter, and their petition was enforced by the wise and virtuous John Winthrop. Court favor came to his aid, and he used it judiciously. The venerable Lord Say and Seal lent him the influence of his name, and the skillful negotiator dexterously reviving the memory of the intercourse between his father and Charles the First, succeeded in touching for a moment the callous heart of Charles II. In the season of that intercourse Charles had given Winthrop a curious and valuable ring, and now when the son of the subject came before the son of the King as a suppliant for a charter for his distant home, he bore that ring in his hand as a record of kind feelings on one side and reverential observance on the other. The plea was successful, and, on the 30th of May, 1662, a charter was granted. In this charter the eastern boundary of Connecticut was extended to Narragansett River, and Narragansett River it was claimed was Narragansett Bay.