An amplification or extension of the charter drawn up in 1632 was sanctioned and approved by Gustavus Adolphus shortly before the disaster at Lützen. Axel Oxenstierna, who endeavored to carry out the wishes of his ruler, signed a commission for Willem Usselinx on May 1, 1632, ‘as general director of the New South Company.’ Memorials and relations now followed each other in rapid succession, and soon an exceptional opportunity presented itself for advancing the interest of the new company. The convention at Heilbronn (1633) was induced to give Usselinx a hearing, who was not slow to unfold the objects and possibilities of his “trading combine” to the attending nobles. In June the famous _Argonautica Gustaviana_ and _Mercurius Germanica_ were published at Frankfurt-on-Main, in which were embodied the arguments presented by Usselinx in former memorials. The company was again discussed at the convention of Frankfurt in the autumn as well as at the second convention of Frankfurt in 1634. The great idea finally promised to assume more definite form, as the diet actually took an interest in it. Some changes were suggested in the charter, and promises of aid were made. It seemed that the plan would finally be embraced in earnest by forces capable of carrying it to a success. The undaunted organizer saw the prize within reach for which he had labored during a large part of his long and active life. This was on September 17, 1634. But he was again to be disappointed. The next day news arrived of the defeat of the armies of Fieldmarshal Horn and Duke Bernhard, and thus came to an end the hopes and labors for the second or New-South Company, which might have become of great importance and produced far reaching results in the colonizing of North America. [Illustration: Title-page of the _Argonautica Gustaviana_.] But Usselinx labored on. He made new proposals and wrote new accounts and relations. He was engaged in a futile cause, however, and his many projects mainly tended to fill the city and state archives of Europe with “short memorials.” In the meantime other suggestions were presented to Oxenstierna, which led to more definite results, and we are now ready to trace the development of the activities, that led to the founding of _New Sweden on the Delaware_. PART II. Founding of the New Sweden Company and Colony, 1635–1643. CHAPTER III. THE FOUNDING OF THE NEW SWEDEN COMPANY AND THE EARLY EXPEDITIONS TO THE DELAWARE. I.