PREFATORY NOTE
I WISH gratefully to
acknowledge my indebtedness to Girton College for the award of the Cairnes
Scholarship which enabled me to write this thesis, and also for the grant
for its publication; to the London School of Economics for the opportunities
for research work provided by it; to Archdeacon Cunningham for very kindly
reading and criticising the manuscript; to Mr Hubert Hall, of the Public
Record Office, and to the Rev. John Anderson, of the General Register House,
for kind help; and especially to Dr Lilian Knowles, Reader in Economic
History in the University of London, for constant help and encouragement.
THEODORA KEITH.
8 July 1910.
PREFACE
ENGLAND and Scotland are very different from one another,
both religiously and politically, and we are apt to form an impression that
the development of each nation was separate and distinct, while occasional
incidents brought them into conflict. On closer consideration, however, this
view of the relations of England and Scotland appears inadequate; they are
indissolubly linked together as parts of the same island; there are similar
elements in the population of each, and they have been affected by the same
influences from time to time. They have had so much in common throughout
their history that any movement, which took place in one, has reacted, in
some fashion, upon parties and affairs in the other realm. The influence of
the more advanced upon the smaller country has been patent all along, for
conscious efforts have been made, again and again, to organise the Scottish
kingdom on an English model. On the other hand, the effect of the political
affinities of Scotland on the schemes of English monarchs can never be left
out of sight; and the influence of popular movements in Scotland, on the
affairs of Church and State in England, becomes obvious in the Elizabethan
and Stuart periods. By keeping this constant and intimate interconnection in
mind we may sometimes get a clue to guide us through a maze of incidents
that seem to be capricious and unintelligible.
From this point of view the commercial relationships,
which Miss Keith has described so clearly and so fully, are particularly
instructive. The study of the material interests of large sections of the
population in both countries, brings into light motives which we may easily
overlook unless attention is specially called to them. The bearing of
merchants' grievances on questions of constitutional privilege was indirect
and remote, and such topics rarely formed the theme of pulpit eloquence; but
for all that, they were of extraordinary importance. The consideration of
them helps us to understand why two countries, which were so closely
associated and had so much in common, were kept apart; as well as to see the
nature of the difficulties which had to be faced, when they were brought
under one Crown. So far as religious and political affairs were concerned,
close affinities existed between parties in Scotland and parties in England,
and they were drawn into correspondence and sympathy; in the seventeenth
century there was good reason, from time to time, for hoping that similar
institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, might be established in each
country. It almost seems as if the conduct and prospects of trade furnished
the main reasons why Englishmen and Scots rallied into separate and hostile
camps. Commercial interests united the people of each country in a common
antagonism to their neighbour, and commercial jealousies kept these
neighbours apart.
It is almost inevitable that
two adjacent countries, with similar products and similar opportunities for
industry, should be rivals in trade; but the commercial jealousy between
England and Scotland became much more pronounced when they were brought into
closer connection with each other by the Union of the Crowns. Trade
relationships in these days were closely dependent on political affinities.
When the two countries were ruled over by one monarch, the relations of
friendship and hostility with foreign powers came to be the same for both;
the Scots ceased to have opportunities for trade in places from which
Englishmen were practically excluded, and the Scots merchants were forced to
try and compete in markets where English traders had established their
footing. There had been an ancient amity between France and Scotland; and
Scots merchants had had privileges in French ports, such as Englishmen did
not enjoy. The religious and political revolution in Scotland in the time of
Queen Mary need not in itself have caused a rupture in this long established
mercantile intercourse; but when Scotland was practically forced to follow
the line of English policy, in regard to relationships with foreign powers,
it was impossible for her to maintain her separate commercial privileges;
Scots and English merchants were brought into direct competition with one
another in the same markets.
There is nothing, with the
exception of a foreign invasion, which brings home to the ordinary citizen
the results of government action so effectively as an interruption or
decline in commerce. Miss Keith has shewn in detail how deep was the
influence of the disabilities under which Scots trade laboured even in the
reigns of James I and Charles I, and still more under the diverse policies
of Cromwell and Charles II. The merchants in the
towns, and their dependents would be the first sufferers, but industry would
be affected as well; and in the case of Scotland, which exported wool and
raw products, the effect would be felt far and wide. A sense of grievance
against England must have penetrated very deeply; neither the policy of the
first Stuart kings, nor the free trade conditions of the Inter-regnum
conciliated the Scots, while the legislation of the Restoration Parliament
was hostile to their interests. This aspect of the case has been too much
left out of sight, and Miss Keith has rendered a real service by bringing it
into prominence. Much stress has been laid on the influence of religious
conviction—the opposition to Laud and the sufferings of the Covenanters—in
contributing to the failure of the Dual Monarchy; but account should also be
taken of the fact that the conditions it brought about in Scotland were
unfavourable to business.
While this study of the
commercial relations of England and Scotland throws such interesting side
lights on political history, it is also of special interest with regard to
the economic life of both countries. Since the time of Edward I the
industrial and commercial progress of the two nations had proceeded on
distinct lines; when the two were brought into contact, we can see more
clearly how far the institutions of the two peoples differed, and learn to
contrast the working and policy of each with greater precision. Scotland was
on the whole a more backward country, and was certainly much less
flourishing than England; but so far as her commercial institutions were
concerned, it may be said that Scotland was in some ways the more advanced
of the two. The Elizabethan and Stuart period in England is marked by the
superseding of municipal exclusiveness, and the introduction of a system of
national economy. In Scotland municipal supervision of the products of
industry continued to be practised till the nineteenth century; but so far
as commerce is concerned, Scotland had long enjoyed the means of regulating
it on national lines, in the Convention of the Royal Burghs. The combined
trading in regulated companies, which was such a characteristic feature of
English commerce, had never become an established Scots practice; Scotland
moved from medieval to modern trade organisation without passing through
this transitional form. The exclusive status of the merchant was not
carefully maintained, so far as Scots merchants, in foreign parts, were
concerned: common sailors and others were accustomed to do a little trading
on their own account at the ports they visited; and Scots pedlars found
openings in the internal trade of foreign countries. From the point of view
of the English Merchant Companies, the Scots were a nation of interlopers;
and it seems probable that they played a considerable part in connection
with the successive attacks which went on throughout the seventeenth
century, both at home and abroad, on the exclusive privileges of the
Regulated Companies. Scots commerce, like Scots banking in the eighteenth
century, offered to self-reliant young men, opportunities which were not so
generally available for those born south of the Tweed.
Miss Keith has been fortunate
in choosing a subject which is of so much interest both in regard to
political and to economic history; and she is to be congratulated on her
success in dealing with a mass of material in such a fashion as to bring out
the far-reaching importance of the details to which she has given so much
care and thought.
W. CUNNINGHAM.
July 1910.
CONTENTS
Introduction
I. Union of 1603.
a. Condition of Trade at the
Time of the Union
Commodities imported and
exported, Organisation of trade, Trade with France, Low Countries, Baltic,
Spain, England..
b. Negotiations for
Commercial Union
Desire of James for Union,
Clauses of Union treaty dealing with commerce, English opposition, Scottish
privileges in France, Answers to English objections, Results of
negotiations, Restrictions on trade between England and Scotland, 1613-40.
II.
1603-1650.
a. Industry in Scotland
Encouragement by king and
council, Cloth manufacture, Regulation of wool supply, Export of coal,
Tanning industry, New Industries: linen, soap, sugar, glass, Salt
manufacture, Fishing, Decrease of prosperity, 1640-50.
b. Trade with England
Scottish trade hindered by
English wars, James's navigation policy in England and Scotland, Intercourse
with England, Wool trade, Coal trade, Effect of Bishops' wars on trade,
Greenland fishing and English Muscovy Company.
Colonisation and Trade in America
Plantation of Nova Scotia, Conflict with
French, Burnett's licence to trade with Virginia.
Colonisation in Ireland
Plantation of Ulster, Trade with settlers.
c. Trade with France, Holland, etc.
Trade with France, Effect of English war with
Spain on Scottish trade with the Low Countries and Spain, Trade with
Portugal, Baltic trade, Scots settlers and soldiers in Germany.
III. 1650-1660.
Union of England and Scotland
under Commonwealth, Condition of country, Imposition of taxation, Revenue
and expenses of Scotland, New customs tariff, Prohibitions of export,
Scottish import of salt into England, Tax on coal, Trade with England,
Effect of the Union on foreign trade, Losses of ships during civil war,
Hindrance to trade through Dutch and Spanish wars, Results of Union.
IV.
1660-1707.
Scottish Economic Development
a. Industry
State of country at
Restoration, Encouragement of industry by protection, Council of Trade
established, Companies established to promote industry, Privileges of
companies, Protection against English competition, Poverty of country,
Progress in Glasgow, Fishing Company established, Contemporary account of
Scotland, Principal exports, Export of linen to England, Act of 1681 for
encouraging industry, New companies founded and capital obtained,
Legislation regarding export and import of wool and cloth, Cloth
manufacture, Linen manufacture, Sugar manufacture, Fishing, Bank of
Scotland, Condition of country at beginning of eighteenth century.
b. Trade with England
End of commercial Union,
English restrictions on Scottish trade, Scottish retaliation, Negotiations
for freedom of trade, 1667, Negotiations for complete Union, 1669, Failure
of both, Scottish exports to England: cattle, linen, salt, English exports
to Scotland, Smuggling trade in wool, Scottish export of English wool to
Continent.
c. Trade with Ireland
d. Trade with the Plantations
Navigation Acts, Reasons for
excluding Scots from Plantation trade, Endeavours to except the Scots from
restrictions of the Acts, Negotiations for commercial Union, Licences for
Scottish trade, Illicit trade between Scotland and the Plantations, Methods
of smugglers, Attempts at prevention, Amount of trade, Complaints of
Scottish trade, More stringent enforcement of Acts after 1695, Continuance
of trade'.
e. Settlement in America
Transportation of prisoners
under Commonwealth, Value of Scots settlers, Transportation of vagabonds,
etc., Scottish settlement in New Jersey, Trouble with New York, Differences
between Scottish and English settlers, Scottish settlement in Carolina, Its
failure, Question of naturalisation of Scots in Plantations.
f. Trade with France
Character of Scottish trade,
1660-1707, Disadvantages of English connection, Adoption of more independent
policy, Increase of Scots shipping, Relations of England, Scotland and
France, French impositions on Scottish trade, Scottish retaliation, Result
of prohibition of import of wine, Prohibition removed, Amount of trade
between Scotland and France, English attempts to prevent the trade,
Sufferings of Scottish merchants through French wars.
g. Trade With Holland, etc.
Effect of Dutch wars on
Scottish trade, Staple port removed to Dort, 1667, Return to Campvere,
Commodities exported to Holland, Trade with Baltic ports, Scots and English
merchants at Hamburg, Scots in the Mediterranean, Dangers to shipping.
V.
The Company of Scotland Tradings to Africa and
the Indies
Scottish need for markets,
"Act for Encouraging of Forraigne Trade," English East India trade,
Paterson's schemes, "Act for a company tradeing to Africa and the Indies,"
Influence of English merchants in company, Meetings in London, Attention of
English Parliament directed to company, Agitation against it, by English
East India Company and Plantation officials, Effect of English opposition in
Scotland, Subscription of capital, Attempts to raise capital in Amsterdam
and Hamburg, Opposition of English Resident in Hamburg, Scheme for
settlement on Isthmus of Panama, First expedition, Its ill-success,
Proclamations in English colonies against settlers, Second and third
expeditions, Capitulation of settlers to Spaniards, Further alarm in English
Parliament, Scottish indignation at ruin of company, Results of its failure.
VI.
The Union
Necessity for Union,
Pamphlets on subject, Negotiations of 1702-3, Demands of Scottish
Commissioners, Results, Scottish Parliament of 1704, Question of Succession,
Acts allowing import of French wines and export of wool, Act of Peace and
War, English alarm at Scottish Acts, Act of Security, Meeting of English
Parliament, October, 1704, and debate on Scottish affairs, "Act for securing
the Kingdom of England," Seizure of the Worcester, Meeting of Scottish
Parliament, 1705, "Act for a treaty with England," Proposals of
Commissioners, Conditions of treaty, Land-tax, Customs and Excise, The
Equivalent, Discussion on salt-tax, Position of African Company, Scottish
shipping, Scottish opposition to treaty, Concessions made, Passing of Act by
Scottish and English Parliaments, Results of Union, Import of French wines
into England from Scotland, New fiscal regulations, Effects of Union on
industry.
Bibliography