Morton wrote his _New England Canaan_,
which he dedicated to Laud, in the hope of exposing the motives of the
colony and of arousing the Archbishop to action. Warwick threw his
influence on the side of Massachusetts, being always forward, as
Winthrop said, "to do good to our colony"; and the colony itself,
fearing attack, began to fortify Castle Island in the harbor and to
prepare for defense. Endecott, in wrath, defaced the royal ensign at
Salem, and so intense was the excitement and so determined the attitude
of the Puritans that, had the Crown attempted to send over a
Governor-General or to seize the charter by force, the colony would have
resisted to the full extent of its power.

Gorges, believing that he could work better through the King and the
Archbishop than through the New England Council, brought about the
dissolution of that body in 1635, thus making it possible for the King
to deal directly with the New England situation. Before its dissolution
the Council had authorized Morton, acting as its lawyer, to bring the
case to the attention of the Attorney-General of England, who filed in
the Court of King's Bench a complaint against Massachusetts, as a result
of which a writ of _quo warranto_ was issued against the Company.

The outlook was ominous for Puritanism, not only in New England but in
old England as well. That year saw the flight of the greatest number of
emigrants across the sea, for the persecution in England was at its
height, the Puritan aristocracy was suffering in its estates, and
Puritan divines were everywhere silenced or dismissed. Even Warwick was
shorn of a part of his power. Young Henry Vane, son of a baronet, had
already gone to America, and such men as Lord Saye and Sele, Lord
Brooke, and Sir Arthur Haslerigg were thinking of migrating and had
prepared a refuge at Saybrook where they might find peace. But the turn
of the tide soon came. The royal Government was bankrupt, the resistance
to the payment of ship-money was already making itself felt, and
disturbances in the central and eastern counties were absorbing the
attention and energies of the Government. Gorges, left alone to execute
the writ against the colony, joined with Mason in building a ship for
the purpose of carrying the _quo warranto_ to New England, but the
vessel broke in the launching, and their resources were at an end. Mason
died in 1635, and Gorges, an old man of seventy, bankrupt and
discouraged, could do no more. Th