Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/305

 Chap. III.J xVTTEMPT TO FORM A NEW JOINT STOCK. 271

In accordance with tins recommendation, the Company proceeded to take the a.d. i640. necessary steps, and issued a prospectus embodying the following proposals : — 1. That the subscription should be payable, by instalments, in four years; and that it should be left to the majority of the subscribers to determine in what Attempt to manner, and by whom the business should be managed. 2. That the subscrip- joUit stoct. tion should be open to all persons, as well foreigners as English, till the 1st of May, 164)0. 3. That on all past due instalments I4 per cent, per month should be levied, as a fine, till payment. 4. That the minimum subscription should be, by an Englishman £500, and by a foreigner £1000. 5. That, in buying any share after the books were closed, an Englishman should pay £20 and a foreigner £40 for his freedom. 6. That the old Company, or adventurers in what was called the third joint stock, should be allowed sufficient time for bringing home their property, but be prohibited from sending any more stock to India on their former account.

The above terms are fair and reasonable, and, under ordinary circumstances, 't* faUure. could hardly fad to have been eagerly and generally accepted ; but troublous times were at hand, and few who possessed capital were inclined to expo.se it to the risks which it would necessarily run during the struggles of a civil war. When the date fixed for closing the books arrived, the whole amount subscribed was the paltry sum of £22,500. The proposed scheme having thus proved a complete failure, matters returned to their former state; and the Company wei*e again left to fight their battle single - handed. While thus engaged, their course was checkered by prosperity as well as adversity. Under the former head, a first place must be assigned to the acqui.sition of a new locality on the Coromandel coast. This locahty was the nucleus of what was destined to swell out into the presidency of Madras. The acquisition was made in 1 640, on the most favom-able terms, the ')iaik or governor of the district volunteering to build a fort at his own expense, at which the English might settle and carry on their trade exempt from all customs. So satisfied was Mr. Day, a member of the factory of Masidipatam, who conducted the transaction with the naik, of the value of the otter which had been made, that he immediately imdertook the erection of the fort, which, in honour of the naik's father, received the name First settie- of Chenappa-])atan, or Clienna-patan, still ajiplied to it by the natives, though Madras. Europeans from the first knew it only by the name of Fort St. George. The importance of this station soon became a])parent ; and the decisive step which Mr. Day took in at once commencing operations was most fortunate, as it after- wards appeared that the Company, if they had been previously consulted, would have withheld their sanction mider a belief that the state of their funds did not justify the outlay. Another circumstance, which at this time had a favour- able influence on the Company's prospects, was the overthrow of the Spanish rule in Portugal, which in con.sequence resumed its position as an independent kingdom. By this event, tiie friendly relations ah-eady existing between