Other complaints against the Bay Colony, that had been allowed to slumber for some time, were now revived, and the Lords of Trade, as they were familiarly called, were soon sitting in council upon the deeds of the obstinate colony. The king's charges of early years were again advanced: that the Acts of Navigation and Trade (page 104, § 44) were not being observed; that ships from various European countries traded with Boston direct, without paying duty to England on their cargoes; that money was being coined at a colonial mint; and that Church of England members were denied the right of suffrage. Edward Randolph, a relative of the Masons, was sent over (1676) to be collector at the port of Boston, now a town of five thousand inhabitants, and to investigate the colonies. His manner was insulting, and he was rudely treated by the people, who were greatly embittered against England in consequence of his malicious reports to the home government. Sidenote: New Hampshire a royal province. In 1679 the king erected New Hampshire into a separate royal province. Edward Cranfield, a tyrannical man, became the governor (1682), but his conduct drove the people into insurrection. He was obliged to fly to the West Indies (1685), and in the same year New Hampshire was reunited to Massachusetts. Sidenote: Massachusetts purchases Maine. In 1665 the royal commissioners detached Maine from Massachusetts; but three years later (1668) that commonwealth calmly took it back again. Gorges was inclined to make trouble, and agents of Massachusetts quietly purchased his claim (1677) for £1,250. The skilful manoeuvre excited the displeasure of the king, who had intended himself to buy out the claims of Gorges, in order to erect Maine into a proprietary province for his reputed son, the Duke of Monmouth. The company of Massachusetts Bay now governed Maine under the Gorges charter as lord proprietor, and did not make it a part of the Massachusetts colony. 72. Revocation of the Charters (1679-1687). Sidenote: The Massachusetts charter annulled. It was two years later (1679) before Charles was ready again to make a movement upon Massachusetts. He demanded that Maine should be delivered up to the Crown, on repayment of the purchase money, and also that all other complaints should at once be satisfied. The General Court gave an evasive answer, and adopted its usual method of sending over agents to ward off hostilities by a policy of delay. But in 1684 the blow came: a writ of _quo warranto_ was issued against the simple trading charter under which Massachusetts had so long been permitted to grow and prosper; the charter was held to be annulled, and the colony now became a royal possession. Sidenote: Arrival of Andros.