Questions relating to the colonies were generally referred to the Board of Trade. In 1680 came a letter from the board containing twenty-seven queries concerning Rhode Island. The agents in England also went prepared to give all the information that was required for the understanding of the claims and condition of the Colony. As long as Charles, the grantor of the charter lived, there was nothing done to excite alarm. But no sooner did his bigoted brother ascend the throne, than it became evident that an entire change was to be made in colonial policy. Rhode Island was quick to feel the blow. A commission of nine was appointed to settle the vexed question of King's Province. Head of the commission was the notorious Cranfield, who had made himself a bad name by his tyrannical government of New Hampshire. Next came Randolph, detested in Massachusetts for his oppressive administration of the acts of trade. These names excited gloomy anticipations which were presently fulfilled. And here let us pause a moment to observe the exact situation of Rhode Island at this critical emergency. Having had her origin in a practical appeal from the intolerance of Massachusetts, she had never been admitted to the confederation which gave unity and strength to the other New England colonies. Her doctrine of soul-liberty was a stench in their nostrils, and her possession of the broad and beautiful Narragansett Bay so favorable for maritime and internal commerce, was, as we have seen, a constant subject of bickering and envy. Massachusetts laid claim to Pawtuxet and Warwick, and a Massachusetts company to part of Narragansett; Connecticut to a large portion of the remainder of Narragansett, Plymouth to Aquidneck and other islands of the Bay. Little was left to Rhode Island but the plantations on the Mooshausick. All of these claims were enforced by all the means and arts within the command of the stronger colonies except actual war, and resisted with admirable resolution and perseverance by the weaker colony. We have seen how agents were sent to plead her cause at the court of their common sovereign, how every attempt to establish jurisdiction had been promptly resisted and every intrusion instantly repelled. In the darkest hour she never lost heart nor bated one jot her rights. But the darkest hour of all was at hand.