The Early History of the Scottish Union Question / Bi-Centenary Edition

by George W. T. Omond

James Douglas, 4th Duke of Hamilton.

Queensberry, who was Lord High Commissioner, had been instructed to ask for supplies for eight months, but to take less if they were refused. If the supplies were voted, he was authorised to give the royal assent to a subsidy in aid of any branch of Scottish trade which was consistent with the treaty obligations of the Crown; but if the Parliament wished to vote money for the African and Indian Company, it must be applied only to making good the losses which had been sustained at Darien. If an Act was passed confirming the privileges of the Darien colony, the royal assent was to be at once refused.[129]

The Opposition, led by Hamilton, desired to pass an Act asserting the right of Scotland to the settlement at Darien, which was the favourite scheme of the country, and which the Estates had lately been told from the pulpit was “that great, laudable, and glorious design and undertaking of the nation, for the advancement of foreign trade, which if it be altogether crushed, Scotland is never like to enjoy such a fair opportunity again, for promoting her outward wealth and welfare.”[130] The Government, on the other hand, moved an address to the king praying him to vindicate the honour of Scotland, and to extend his protection to the Company.

There was a long and fierce debate. Some of those on whom the ministers had relied followed Hamilton, and others declined to vote. But the Government had a majority of twenty-four; and the session ended quietly on the 1st of February 1701.

In Scotland the losses at Darien had brought to a climax the long-standing feud on the subject of commerce. The discontent and annoyance which had been growing ever since the Navigation Act was passed, had now developed into a most violent exasperation against England and every thing that was English. Yet the temperament of the Scottish people was such that these feelings did not lead them into plots against the English Government. They seem to have felt at once that the greater the obstacles which the jealousy of their neighbour might put in their way, the greater was the need for energy and self-help on their own part. Instead of sinking into apathy and indolence, or allowing their hatred of England to drive them into violence, they became more active than ever in forming plans for bringing solid material prosperity to their country. The air was full of projects; and soon these projects took a definite shape. All Scotland was to became one great trading company. The subscribers to the African Company were to be repaid in full. A sum of money greater than that which had been lost was to be raised within two years. In spite of English opposition, colonies were to be founded by Scotsmen. At home manufactories were to be established all over the country. The fisheries of Scotland were to be pursued “to greater profit in all the markets of Europe than any other fishing company in Christendom can do.” Employment was to be found for the poor, “so that in two years time there shall not be one beggar seen in all the kingdom.”

It was in the midst of this patriotic ferment that Hamilton, Tweeddale, Rothes, Roxburghe, and Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun formed that independent or national party which, calling itself the Country Party, was destined, during the next few years, to pursue a course which ultimately forced England into uniting with Scotland. This party had its origin in the assertion of the right of Scotland to free trade at home and abroad; and the keynote of its policy was that Scotland should refuse to settle the succession to the Scottish Crown until her grievances were redressed. But with the death of William and the accession of Anne, Scottish politics entered upon a new phase; and here the early history of the Union question naturally ends.

Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun.

In the first year of Queen Anne, commissioners were appointed to treat for an Union. They met at Westminster in October 1702, and agreed that the two countries should become one monarchy, with one Parliament, and a system of internal free trade. The English consented, though reluctantly, to allow the Scots to trade with the colonies; but on the subject of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies no agreement was found to be possible. The English commissioners maintained that the privileges of the Scottish Company interfered with the interests of the East India Company: “Two companies existing together in the same kingdom, and carrying on the same traffic, are destructive to trade.” To this the Scottish commissioners replied by a claim for compensation, if the Scottish Company, whose losses in the Darien expedition had been so disastrous, was abolished. “If,” they said, “the existing of companies for carrying on the same traffic, do appear to your Lordships destructive of trade; it is not expected that your Lordships will insist, that, therefore, the privileges of the Scots Company should be abandoned, without offering at the same time to purchase their right at the public expense.” This brought matters to a deadlock; the commissioners separated; and the negotiations were ultimately abandoned.