Jamestown, Rhode Island), with him as governor. Henry Bull of Newport said that Coddington was welcomed upon his return from England, and that the majority of people accepted him as governor. From 1650 to 1653, most of which time was during the island's separation from Providence, Dyer served as the Attorney General. For reasons that are not clear in existing records, criticism of Coddington arose as soon as he returned with his commission. The venerable Dr. John Clarke voiced his opposition to the island governor, and he and Dyer were sent to England as agents of the discontents to get the Coddington commission revoked. Simultaneously, the mainland towns of Providence and Warwick sent Roger Williams on a similar errand, and the three men sailed for England in November 1651. Mary Dyer had sailed to England just before the three men departed. Because of recent hostilities between the English and the Dutch, the men did not meet with the Council of State on New England until April 1652. Whether true or not, Coddington was accused of taking sides with the Dutch on matters of colonial trade, and in October 1652 his commission for the island government was revoked. Dyer was the messenger who returned to Rhode Island the following February, bringing the news of the return of the colony to the Williams' Patent of 1643, while his wife remained in England. 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. In May 1653 Dyer received a commission from the General Assembly in preparation for military action against the Dutch. Captain John Underhill was selected as Commander in Chief upon the land, and Captain William Dyer became Commander in Chief upon the sea. The following year he had some harsh words for Coddington and Richard Tew, who he accused of making "encroachments upon the highway." In 1655 Dyer's name appears on a list of freemen from Newport. Execution of Mary Dyer In 1657, Mary Dyer returned from England, after being away for five years. While there, she became a Quaker and a minister of that denomination, and upon disembarking at Boston she was