464. THE INDIAN EMPIRE [CHAP.
of its founder, who lived till 1706, it grew into a flourishing
settlement. In the meantime want of support in France
had brought the company to a very low ebb, and after I7o0i
it was obliged to yield its active trading rights to some 1
Financial enterprising merchants of St. Malo. The brilliant schemes of
schemes of Law drew fresh attention to the Indian trade, and the powers,
Law. possessions, and assets of Colbert's company were taken over
by his great Company of the West. On the downfall of Law,
Company this was reconstituted as the 'Perpetual Company of the
recon- Indies' in I7i9, and within a few years the prospects of the
stituted, French were much improved. Lenoir was Governor of Pondi-
cherry in 172I-3, and again in I726-35; during the interval
Beauvallier de Courchant held office. In I735 Benoit Dumas
succeeded to the chief position, which he occupied till the
appointment of Dupleix in I74I. The subsequent history of
the French Company is closely bound up with that of the
English and will be related in the next chapter.
Scottish Two attempts were made to establish a Scottish Company.
Corn- In I6I7 James I granted a patent to Sir James Cuningham to
panes, trade to Greenland, Muscovy, and the East Indies, but in the
r617 and
1696. following year the charter was recalled on representations from
the English Company. In i695 the Parliament in Edinburgh
incorporated the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and
the Indies, but the capital was squandered on the ill-fated
Darien scheme, which failed partly through English opposition.
The disaster engendered such international bitterness that in
the Act of Union compensation was guaranteed to the Scots
by the English Government.
The The first Danish East India Company was chartered by
Danish Christian IV in i6i6. The settlement of Tranquebar was
Company, founded in I620, and that of Serampore probably in i676,
though the Danes seem to have appeared in Bengal before
that date. The second company was founded in I670, and
new charters were granted in i698, 1732, and 1772. In 1807,
when England went to war with Denmark, Tranquebar was
seized by British troops, but was restored on the conclusion of
peace. All the Danish settlements in India were acquired by
purchase for the British Government in I845.
The The Ostend Company was incorporated by the Holy Roman
Ostend Emperor in 1722, though commissions for single voyages had
Company, been granted as early as 17I4. Its factors and agents were
chiefly persons who had served in the Dutch and English
companies. This enterprise forms the subject of Carlyle's
' Third Shadow Hunt' of the Emperor Charles VI:-
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