ch had made an effort to obtain a patent in 1645, when the "great
ship," bearing the agent Gregson, had foundered with all on board, had
no friends at court, and had been too poor after 1660 to join the other
colonies in sending an agent to London. Consequently its right to exist
as an independent government was not considered in the negotiations
which Winthrop had carried on. Serious complaints had been raised
against it; its rigorous theocratic policy had created divisions among
its own people, many of whom had begun to protest; it had been friendly
with the Cromwellian regime and had proclaimed Charles II unwillingly
and after long delay; it had protected the regicides until the
messengers sent out for their capture could report the colony as
"obstinate and pertinacious in contempt of His Majestie." Governor
Leete, of the younger generation, was not in sympathy with Davenport's
persistent refusal of all overtures from Hartford, and would probably
have favored union under the charter of 1662 if Connecticut had been
less aggressive in her attitude. As it was, the controversy became
pungent and was prolonged for more than two years, though the outcome
was never uncertain. The New Haven colony was poor, unprotected, and
divided against itself. Its population was decreasing; Indian massacres
threatened its frontiers; the malcontents of Guilford, led by Bray
Rossiter, were demanding immediate and unconditional surrender to
Connecticut; and finally in 1664 the successful capture of New
Netherland and the grant to the Duke of York threatened the colony with
annexation from that quarter. Rather than be joined to New York, New
Haven surrendered. One by one the towns broke away until in December of
that year only Branford, Guilford, and New Haven remained. On December
13, 1664, the freemen of these towns, with a few others, voted to
submit, "as from a necessity ... but with a _salvo jure_ of our former
right & claime, as a people who have not yet been heard in point of
plea."

The New Haven federation was dissolved; Davenport withdrew to Boston,
where he became a participant in the religious life of that colony; and
the strict Puritans of Branford, Guilford, and Milford, led by Abraham
Pierson, went to New Jersey and founded Newark. The towns, left loose
and at large, joined Connecticut voluntarily and separately, and the New
Haven colony ceased to exist. But the dual capital of Connecticut and
the alternate meetings of its leg