I have received your letter through our friends Mr. Allerton and Mr. Hatherley, who, blessed be God, have arrived safely at Bristol. Mr. Hatherley has come to London, but Mr. Allerton I have not yet seen. We thank you, and are very glad you dissuaded him from the Spanish voyage, and that he did not fulfill his intentions; for we all utterly disliked the project, as well as the fishing of the Friendship. We wished him to sell the salt, and were unwilling to have him undertake so much business, partly because of previous failure, and partly because we were loth to disburse so much money. But he assured us this would repay us, and that the colony would be long in doing so; nay, I remember that he even doubted if by your trading there you could meet your expenses and pay us, and for this very reason he induced us to undertake that business with Ashley, though he was a stranger to us.... As to the cost of the fishing ship we are sorry it proves so heavy, and are willing to take our share of it. What Mr. Hatherley and Mr. Allerton have proposed no doubt they themselves will make good; we gave them no authority to make any composition to separate you from us in this or any other scheme. Furthermore, I think you have no cause to forsake us, for we involved you in nothing but what your agent advocated and you in your letters desired. If he exceeded your authority I hope you will not blame us, much less leave us in the lurch, now that our money is expended.... But I fear neither you nor we have been properly dealt with; for, as you write, surely one half of £4000—nay a quarter—in commodities, despatched in seasonable time, would have provided you more effectively. Yet, in spite of all this and much more that I might write, I cannot but think him honest, and that his intentions were good; but the wisest may fail. Well, now that it has pleased God to give us hope of agreeing, doubt not but we shall all endeavour to adjust these accounts fairly, as soon as we possibly can. I suppose you sent over Mr. Winslow and we Mr. Hatherley to certify each other how the state of things stood. We have received some satisfaction upon Mr. Hatherley’s return, and I hope you will receive the same upon Mr. Winslow’s return. Now to answer your letter more particularly; I shall be very brief. The charging of the White Angel to your account could not be more surprising to you than the purchase of her was to us; for you commissioned[8] that what he did you would stand by; we gave him no such commission, yet for his credit and your sakes paid the bills he charged us with.... As to my writing that she was to fulfill two purposes, fishing and trading, believe me I never so much as thought of any private trading, nor will I countenance any; for I was always against it, and used these very words: It will reduce the profits of the settlement and ruin it.