University of Virginia Library

CXIV. Sir Edwin Sandys. A Letter to the Marquis of Buckingham
June 7, 1620

Most Noble Lord

Having not had the good fortune to attain to yor Lps presence after
som-tyme attendance, & beeing now forced to retire for a few days into
the Contrie; I have presumed once again in these few rude lines to
prezent my most humble suit & service to yor Lp.

I understand, by the late boastings of Sr Thomas Smith & his partizans;
of their sedulous endevors, by a cloud of untrueths to make a fresh inter-
position between the most ioyfull light of his Maties favor, & the darknes
wherewith my self & my service rest yet obscured.

An attempt of strange malignitie: wch if I have deserved by anie offer of
the least wrong to him or his, I will beare it wth patience; as the effect of
iust Revenge, though not mesured by Justice. But if (beeing resolved by
Gods Grace to wrong no man) I have not so much as offended Sr Thomas
Smith or his upholders, save only in one kynd, in that I have not yielded
to the abetting or cloking of those coorses in menaging the affairs of
Virginia, wch wth derogation of his Maties authoritie, & contrary to his
Royall Instructions (unworthily smothered), have been held from tyme
to tyme, to the dishartning of all Adventurors, & perpetuall keeping down
of the Plantation that it might not prosper; & on the other side to the
enriching of themselfs or som of them, by meanes so unlawfull as the
enhazerding of the destruction & utter extirpation of the Colonie: And in
that it hath pleased God also so to blesse my late labors, that more hath
been doon in my one yeare, wth lesse then Eight Thousand pounds, for the
advancement of that Colonie in People & store of Commodities, then was
doon in Sr Thomas Smiths Twelve yeares, wth expence of neer Eightie
Thousand pounds; as by vieu of bothe or Accounts (if yet his be an Account,)
dooth manifestly appeare: Then my good Lord, I humbly tender to his
Maties Princelie Justice, & to yor Lps favorable mediation this equitable
suit, that his Matie upon this complaint against me may be graciously
pleased, to call me to my answer, before anie indifferent Judges to be
deputed by his Matie. And if Sr Thomas Smith or his abettors be able to
make good anie one of their materiall accusations against me; or if his
Matie should please also so to appoint, (though it be farr from my dispo-
sition to be an Accuser of anie man,) that I be required to make good
what I have here enformed to yor Lp, & I faile in anie one materiall clause
thereof: I shall willingly submit my self to condign censures for bothe, &
from thencefoorth make utter forfeit of all hope of his Maties favor, beeing
that wch of all worldlie things I most earnestly desire. It was the saying
of a wise man, that One good man dooth never hate another. Seeing
therfore this extreme hatred of me by Sr Thomas Smith, dooth argue a
great defect of Goodnes in the one: let tryall I beseech discover the partie

that is in falt. The procuring of wch iust tryall, I shall ever acknowelege
as a singular & eminent favor from yor noble Lp: beeing the onlie meanes
remaining of dooing me right wth his Matie. Touching the former busines
about the Place wch I held this last yeare for Virginia; as I wrate to yor
Lp before, so now also I repeate again: If by yor Lps mediation, on wch I
wholy relie, my self & my service may be so accepted by his Matie, as that
wth comfort & courage I may proceed in this busines, I shall willingly,
though to my great charge, & neglect of my owne estate, (for this Busines
is too great to admit anie concurrent wth it,) bestowe one yeare more in
foloing this service, if wth his Maties approbation I be called unto it: And
will also presume to offer a Proiect to his Matie, (wch though in som points
it may seem difficult, yet is unassured in none) of raising to his Matie
there a great & speedie revenue, wthout charge to his Maties cofers, save
som small matter to grace the Action. But if his Maties pleasure shalbe
otherwise, & so as to suspend me from this service: upon the least inti-
mation thereof from yor Lp, I shall of my owne accord so withdraw my
self from the Action, as no way to be occasion of hindering the choise of
anie other, whom his Matie shalbe pleased to appoint or commend: beeing
wholy resolved for no worldlie respect whatsoever, either actively or
passively, so much as lyeth in my power, to be anie matter henceforward
of the least offence to his Matie, trusting also that by this my willing
obedience & duetie, his Maties gracious hart may be one day moved, to
restore unto me the light & comfort of his Princelie favor, wch wth all loyal
humilitie I shall evermore seek & sue for. Amongst the manie great
grace wherewith God hath furnished yor Lp, this vertue of protecting the
throwne down from farther iniurie, & of expatriating the long exiled in
his Maties favor, I hope shall not proove least in way of his Maties service,
nor the meanest in meriting honor to yor noble Lp: upon whose Happines
the faithful service shall ever zealously attend, of