Page:History of India Vol 7.djvu/25

 QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE INDIA COMPANY 5 the charter to see if power were given to compel mem- bers to contribute to a further venture. A second voy- age was resolved on, and the book sent round by the beadle, but only the paltry sum of £11,000 was sub- scribed. The freemen declined even to attend the Gen- QUEEN ELIZABETH. eral Court to discuss the question, and had to be sum- moned afresh under " a pain of twenty shillings upon every one that maketh default.' ' Finally, in 1603, when the pepper ships came home, " the Company resolved as a matter of necessity " that every subscriber of