gyS 'The Hifiory of the Daniih- Commerce Book I. 
a drunken Shoemaker received twelve or fourteen Wounds, 
and yet was brought alive into the Town and recovered. 
It was by this feafonable Affiftance afforded them by the 
Englijh , that the Danes preferved this Town and For- 
trefs •, for foon after, the Rajah of Tanjour , growing wea- 
ry-pf a War, that harraffed his Subjects, and brought him- 
felf no Advantage, retired into his own Territories, and 
left the Danes at Liberty to purfue their Trade as before. 
4. They have fince that Time remained in quiet Pof- 
feffion of this Place, and carried on the little Trade they 
have in Quiet. Befides the Town of Ffanquebar, and the 
Fortrefs of Danebourg , which is a regular Citadel, with 
four ftrong Baftions, they have a fmall Diftridt of Coun- 
try dependent upon them, the Inhabitants of which, part- 
ly Moors , and partly Indians , are their Subjects, and for 
the Education of their Children, they have built and en- 
dowed a publick School, where they are taught all Kinds 
of ufeful Knowledge *, and the Danijh Miffionaries being 
compleat Mailers of the Malabar Tongue, preach in all 
the neighbouring Countries, and make many Converts. 
They have formerly built very good Ships here, which 
they not only employed in their own Commerce, but alfo 
let them out to their Neighbours upon Freight, which if 
it did not turn to a very great Account, it at leaft enabled 
them to fubfift, and not only to keep what they had got, 
but alfo to enlarge and improve their Colony. I mull 
not, however, forbear mentioning another Method by 
which fome of their European Neighbours fuggeft, the 
Danes made ufe of to better their Fortunes, and that is, 
their allowing their Ships to cruize, not only on the Infi- 
dels, but alfo on the Shipping of fome Chriftian Nations, 
which, if true, it mult certainly have been a molt illegal 
and unwarrantable Pradlice. 
But we mull not yield too eafy to a Belief to fuch kind 
of Accufations, fince it is very certain, that thofe who 
framed them, were llrongly prejudiced againlt the Danes , 
and from thence inclined to fpeak ill of them, whether 
with, or without Foundation ; and not only to fpeak ill, 
but alfo to ufe them ill, when it lay in their Power, as is evi- 
dent from the Behaviour of the Dutch , not only in raifing 
the War before mentioned, but in their Behaviour towards 
the People of T'ratiquebar , when in that diftreffed Situa- 
tion ; for the Enemy being poffeffed of the Springs by 
which the Town was furnifhed with Water, they fent 
Deputies to defire the Affiftance of their Neighbours the 
Dutch , who, inftead of complying with fo neceffary and 
reafonable a Demand, firft whipped their Meffengers, and 
then fent them back without Water. We may therefore 
juftly fufpedt the Teftimony of fuch People as were capa- 
ble of an Adtion of this Nature towards their fellow Crea- 
tures, when in fuch Diflrefs. On the Whole therefore, 
I think, inftead of wondering, that after above one hun- 
dred Years Polfefllon of this Place, and of fome other 
little Factories about it, they fhould be confiderably in 
Debt, which is no more than what has happened alfo to 
their Neighbours, we ought rather to wonder, that the 
Danijh Company were able to go on at all, efpecially fince 
they received fo little Affiftance from Home, and had no- 
thing to depend on but their own Induftry in the Indies , 
and the fmall Revenue arifing from their Territories there. 
5. We are now to open a new Scene, by relating what 
chiefly gave Occafion to this Sedtion, I mean the efta- 
blifliing what its Enemies thought fit to call a new Eafi- 
India Company in Denmark , the Occafion of which was 
this : Upon the Ruin of the OJlend Company, a Dutch- 
man , whofe Name was JoJhua van Afperen , who had been 
concerned in that Affair, went to Copenhagen , where he 
applied himfelf to King Frederick the IVth, a Prince of 
great Goodnefs and Virtue, and who had nothing more 
at Heart than promoting the Welfare of his Subjects by 
all the Means that lay in his Power. The Scheme pro- 
pofed by M. Afperen to his Danijh Majefty, had a very 
fair Appearance, and great Probability of Succefs \ he ob- 
ferved, that there was a great Spirit raifed of opening a 
new Trade to the Indies ; that many People, who were 
very well verfed in that Trade, had engaged in the Ser- 
vice of the OJlend Company, the Succefs of which would 
tmqueftionably have anfwered their Expectations, if they 
could have carried it on ; that the Caufes of its Ruin were 
luch, as could not attend that Project in any other Coun- 
try, but leaft of all in Denmark , which had enjoyed an 
uninterrupted Commerce to the Indies for above a Centu- 
ry •, that therefore there was nothing farther neceffary to 
render the Danijh Company as flourifhing as thofe of Eng- 
land and Holland , than to increafe its Capital, by opening 
a new Subfcription upon advantageous Terms. 
By the Force of thefe Arguments, the King was pre-. 
vailed upon to fuffer his Scheme to be put in Execution, 
and that it might be done more conveniently, the Danijh 
Eajt- India Company was transferred from the City of Co- 
penhagen, to the Borough of Alien a, a Place belonging to 
the Crown of Denmark , but fituated clofe to the rich and 
free City of Hamburgh , and therefore made Choice of, up- 
on this Occafion ; in order to induce Foreigners to engage 
in this Undertaking, his Danijh Majefty thought fit to 
grant a new Charter, dated in April 1728, for promoting 
the Commerce of the faid Company to the Indies , China? 
and Bengal , the chief Articles of which were thefe, viz. 
The new Subfcribers fhall have an equal Share and Right 
with the old Members, in all the Conceffions, Odtroys and 
Priviledges granted to the faid Company by his prelent 
Majefty and his auguft Predeceffors. And likewife in all the 
Forts, Settlements, Revenues, Houfes, Magazines, Ships* 
Effects, and in fhort, whatever the Company is poffeffed 
of at this Day, or may acquire in Time to come. The old 
Shares, or Actions, which are in Number two hundred 
and fifty, of one thoufand Rixdollars each, ftiall fubfift 
and remain as they are, and will have the fame Rights as the 
new Shares. The Directors ftiall declare, and affirm up- 
on their Honour, that all the Debts of the Company do 
not exceed one hundred and fixty thoufand RixdolJars in 
Specie. The united Company are obliged to difcharge 
and pay the faid Sum of one hundred and fixty thoufand 
Rixdollars, upon Condition that the old Shares ftiall have 
no Dividends till the Year 1733. 
Though there is no Queftion, that the Accounts of the 
Company are juft, and that their Debts do not exceed the 
faid Sum of one hundred and fixty-thoufand Rixdollars, 
it is neverthelefs ftipulated, That if the faid Debts ftiould 
appear to exceed the faid Sum, the old Shares ftiall be 
anfwerable for the Overplus, and that the new Subfcribers 
ftiall not be obliged to contribute thereunto. Each new 
Share ftiall be one thoufand Rixdollars in Bank, or Specie, 
whereof twenty per Cent, ftiall be paid upon, the Account 
of M. Alexander Bruguier, Banker at Hamburgh , or in 
the Manner prefcribed in the Project publiftied by the 
Company at Copenhagen, December 16, 1727. If there 
was any abfolute Neceftity to make a further Call the pre- 
fent Year 1727, the fame fhall not exceed five, or ten per 
Cent, at the fartheft. The Call for the next Year fhall 
not exceed twenty, or twenty-five per Cent. The Re- 
mainder of the Subfcription fhall not be called in with- 
out the Refolution and Determination of a general Court 
of the Company. If the entire Sum of the faid one thou- 
fand Rixdollars, for the new Adtions, is not paid in the 
Year 1738, the Proprietors of the old Shares ftiall have 
an Intereft at the Rate of five per Cent . allowed them, for 
the Sum they have paid more and above the new Subfcri- 
bers. There will be no other Actions than Shares of one 
thoufand Rixdollars, and half Shares of five hundred Rix- 
dollars each. Every Subfcriber fhall be allowed to take 
Shares for the Bearer, figned by the Company, and fuch 
as pleafe, may have them infcribed in the Company’s 
Books. There fhall be paid for each Transfer two Rix- 
dollars to the Company, and half a Rixdollar to the Poor* 
The Creditors of the Company are allowed to take new 
Adlions for the Sums due to them, provided they dif- 
count on the faid Debts thirty per Cent, for the prefent 
Year, for each Share, and twenty-five per Cent, for the 
next. The Shares they ftiall purchafe on this Condition, 
fhall have the fame Dividends as the other new Actions. 
The faid Shares fhall not be liable to any Seizure, or Stop, 
upon any Account whatfoever, as it is declared in his Ma- 
jefty’s Odtroy. 
The Directors fhall yearly communicate to the Subfcri- 
bers, an exadt and particular Account of the Affairs of 
the Company. The Dividend ftiall be regulated upon the 
faid Account, in a general Court of the Company, by the 
Majority 
