tion court that hundreds of the colonists
sent to Virginia in the preceding year had died within a short time of
their arrival there, and it may be that Sir Thomas apprehended the even
greater disasters soon to overtake the colony. A more likely
supposition, however, is that he seized upon this news from the colony
as an opportunity to vent his resentment against Sandys, a resentment
that must have become more bitter with each of Sir Edwin's promotional
releases advertising the great improvements now to be found in the
management of Virginia's affairs. The legal basis on which the king
acted was probably debatable. No doubt, he depended upon the provision
in the charter requiring that all members of the council, of which the
treasurer was the head, be sworn to the king's service. But membership
on the council was for life, and Sir Edwin had taken his oath as a
member of the council as early as 1607. Perhaps the king took advantage
of the company's regulations requiring an annual election and that the
treasurer be sworn following his election. Whether this was a new
requirement cannot be said. It can only be suggested that the king
intended to say that if Sir Edwin were re-elected he would not give him
a necessary oath of office. It may be, too, that he stood quite simply
on the prerogative of his office to insist that his subjects in
Virginia were entitled to royal protection. In any case, the
adventurers chose not to defy the king's wish.

Having protested his interference as unwarranted, the quarter court in
May 1620 adjourned without electing a treasurer. Instead, the
adventurers appointed a special committee to call on the king for the
purpose of acquainting him with the true facts regarding "the managing
of their business this last year" and to ask for a free election.
Sandys himself appealed to the royal favorite, the young Duke of
Buckingham, but with no effect on the king's decision. When the
adventurers reassembled late in June, they elected the Earl of
Southampton as treasurer. Thus, in a sense both parties to the dispute
emerged victorious. Sandys was no longer treasurer, but the adventurers
had refused to elect a merchant and Southampton would preside
thereafter in behalf of Sandys. There can be no doubt that Sandys
continued to be the leader of the company. Moreover, in 1621 he
extended his power by gaining control of the Somers Island Company
through the election of Southampton to its governorship.

A qu