but never again was she to be so trodden down and insulted as in the days of Andros.  The efforts of George III. to rule Englishmen despotically were weak as compared with those of the Stuarts.  In his time England had waxed strong enough to curb the tyrant, America had waxed strong enough to defy and disown him.  After 1689 the Puritan no longer felt that his religion was in danger, and there was a reasonable prospect that charters solemnly granted him would be held sacred.  William III. was a sovereign of modern type, from whom freedom of thought and worship had nothing to fear.  In his theology he agreed, as a Dutch Calvinist, more nearly with the Puritans than with the Church of England.  At the same time he had no great liking for so much independence of thought and action as New England had exhibited.  In the negotiations which now definitely settled the affairs of this part of the world, the intractable behaviour of Massachusetts was borne in mind and contrasted with the somewhat less irritating attitude of the smaller colonies.  It happened that the decree which annulled the charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut had not yet been formally enrolled.  It was accordingly treated as void, and the old charters were allowed to remain in force.  They were so liberal that no change in them was needed at the time of the Revolution, so that Connecticut was governed under its old charter until 1818, and Rhode Island until 1842. [Sidenote:  Effects of the Revolution of 1689]

There was at this time a disposition on the part of the British government to unite all the northern colonies under a single administration.  The French in Canada were fast becoming rivals to be feared; and the wonderful explorations of La Salle, bringing the St. Lawrence into political connection with the Mississippi, had at length foreshadowed a New France in the rear of all the English colonies, aiming at the control of the centre of the continent and eager to confine the English to the sea-board.  Already the relations of position which led to the great Seven Years’ War were beginning to shape themselves; and the conflict between France and England actually broke out in 1689, as soon as Louis XIV.’s hired servant, James II., was superseded by William III. as king of England and head of a Protestant league. [Sidenote:  Need for union among all the northern colonies]

In view of this new state of affairs, it was thought desirable to unite the northern English colonies under one head, so far as possible, in order to secure unity of military action.  But natural prejudices had to be considered.  The policy of James II. had aroused such bitter feeling in America that William must needs move with caution.  Accordingly he did not seek to unite New York with New England, and he did not think it worth while to carry out the attack which James had only begun upon Connecticut and Rhode Island.  As for New Hampshire, he seems to have been restrained by what in the language of modern politics