Warwick sent Roger Williams on a similar errand, and the three men sailed for England in November 1651. The men did not meet with the Council of State on New England until April 1652, however, because of recent hostilities between the English and the Dutch. Coddington was accused of taking sides with the Dutch on matters of colonial trade, and his commission was revoked for the island government in October 1652. Dyer was the messenger who returned to Rhode Island the following February, bringing the news that the colony would return to the Williams Patent of 1643/44. The reunion of the colony was to take place that spring, but the mainland commissioners refused to come to the island to meet, and the separation of mainland from island was extended for another year. During this interim period, John Sanford was elected as governor of the island towns, while Gregory Dexter became president of the mainland towns. The powerless Coddington withdrew from public life to tend to his business affairs. The four towns eventually united in 1654, with Nicholas Easton of Newport chosen as president. A general court of elections was then held in September 1654, and Roger Williams was elected president of the united colony, a position which he held for nearly three years. In time, Coddington briefly re-entered public life and became a Newport commissioner on the General Court of Trials. A committee was appointed to investigate his right to a seat, and they sent a letter to the Council of State in England asking for a full accounting of all complaints entered against him. The reply fully vindicated Coddington, and an investigation in Newport cleared him of all charges brought against him. He was finally able to accept the united government of the four towns, and he made the following oath in March 1656: "I William Coddington doe hereby submit to ye authoritie of His Highness in this Colonie as it is now united, and that with all my heart". Later career Sometime in the early 1660s, Coddington joined Governor Nicholas Easton and many other prominent citizens in becoming members of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers. In March 1665, he sent a paper to the Newport commissioners concerning Quaker matters. Coddington remained out of public office for most of the two decades following the demise of his commission to govern Aquidneck Island, but he was