The restoration of royalty in England (1660) began a new epoch in the history of the colonies. Their control was placed in the hands of a council for the plantations, and twelve privy councillors were designated to take New England in charge. The Quakers had seized the opportunity of gaining an early hearing from the new king, who was charitably disposed towards them. In its address to Charles, the Massachusetts court expatiated on the factious spirit of the Quakers; but the king replied that while he meant well by the colonies, he desired that hereafter the Quakers be sent to England for trial,--a desire which was as a matter of course disregarded. 69. Royal Commission (1660-1664). Sidenote: The king suspects New England's loyalty. It is not surprising that the king was disposed to look with suspicion upon the men of New England. He had been told that the confederacy was "a war combination made by the four colonies when they had a design to throw off their dependence on England, and for that purpose." The New Englanders, too, had been somewhat slow to proclaim his ascendancy; while two of the judges who had sentenced his father to death, Goffe and Whalley, were screened from royal justice by the people of New Haven, and afterwards by those of Hadley, a Massachusetts town in the Connecticut valley. Massachusetts had been bold enough when the home government was so distracted by other affairs as to render attention to the colonies impracticable; now that Charles appeared to be turning his attention to America a more politic course was pursued. Simon Bradstreet, a leading layman, and John Norton, prominent among the ministers, were sent to England to make peace with the Crown, and soon returned (1662) with a gracious answer, which, however, was coupled with an order to the court to grant all "freeholders of competent estate" the right of suffrage and office-holding, "without reference to their opinion or profession," to allow the Church of England to hold services, to administer justice in the name of the king, and to compel all inhabitants to swear allegiance to him. The court decreed that legal papers should thereafter run in the king's name; but all other matters in the royal mandate were referred to a committee which failed to report upon them. Sidenote: Arrival of royal commissioners.