The Union of Parliaments 1707

THE HISTORICAL TRUTHS BEHIND THE UNION

1.Two Unions

There were in  fact  two Unions , the Union of the Crowns in 1603 and the Union of the Parliaments in 1707. The   former occurred when Elizabeth 1  died  childless and  was succeeded  by James  Vl of Scotland (a second  cousin ) who became James 1 of the United Kingdoms of Scotland and England . Both  countries continued  to have their own Parliaments and separate legal systems .

2. The Darien Scheme

  Darien is a rainforest 

In 1632 Scotland lost Nova Scotia – her only colony – as a result of the English war against France. England’s Dutch wars subsequently compromised valuable trading privileges upon which Scottish merchants had previously relied. Scottish overseas trading activity was further hampered by the Navigation Act, which cut Scottish ships out of international trade by forbidding the import of goods into England or her colonies unless carried in English ships or ships from the goods’ country of origin.

Beginning in 1651, the goal of the Act was to force colonial development into lines favourable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the Netherlands, France, Scotland and Spain. This law was enacted despite the Union of Crowns, and effectively meant that Scots merchants were boycotted for trade in England and all her colonies. To make matters worse two powerful English trading companies – the East India Company and the Royal African Company – claimed monopolies on the rich trades with the East Indies and Africa and jealously guarded these territories.

This situation gave rise to the reasoning behind the Darien Scheme – access to trade. The architect of Darien was a man called William Paterson, who would the following year be instrumental in the foundation of the Bank of England. He devised a plan aimed at bringing financial prosperity to Scotland, proposing in 1693 that the Scottish Parliament should grant a Scottish monopoly on overseas trade to a trading company, enabling it to harness the lucrative and relatively available Far Eastern market in the same manner as the English had achieved with Africa and the Indies. Key to the plan was the establishment of a Scottish colony in Central America, at a place called Darien (now part of Panama), so that goods could be transferred from the Pacific to the Atlantic without having to make the long and perilous journey around Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope. Instead, goods would be transported to the colony at Darien, on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama, and carried across to a port on the Pacific side, where ships with exchange cargoes from the East Indies and Asia would be waiting.In 1695 the Bank Of Scotland was established and the Company Of Scotland was born, with its capital intended to be £600,000 raised by public subscription, of which half was to come from within Scotland and the rest from elsewhere. Investors in England, Amsterdam and Hamburg quickly raised their share, but the East India Company – fearing that their monopoly would be broken – used their influence on the king and English Parliament to persuade them to act against the venture.

The English government of King William III – anxious to be on good terms with Spain – didn’t need much persuading, as the proposed Scottish colony would be located on land the Spain had its own designs on. England was at war with France and hence didn’t want to offend the Spanish, who claimed the territory as part of New Granada. The East India Company threatened legal action on the grounds that the Scots had no authority from the king to raise funds outside the English realm, and obliged the promoters to refund subscriptions to the Hamburg investors, with English investors also quickly withdrawing their money.

This left no source of finance but Scotland itself, yet so fierce was the resentment at the duplicity of the king and English Parliament that Scots resolved to raise all the capital alone. Thousands of Scots put their own money into the enterprise alongside money from the nobles, and the Company raised just under £400,000 in a few weeks, with investments from every level of society and totalling roughly a fifth of the wealth of Scotland. This was an enormous sum for the time, amounting to about half the country’s available capital, despite it being a fully private venture.The first fleet (Saint Andrew, Caledonia, Unicorn, Dolphin, and Endeavour) set sail from the east coast port of Leith so as to avoid observation by English warships, which they feared would capture or sink the traders. The plan was to make the journey around the north coast of Scotland, with the settlers below deck to hide the intent of the voyage. At a time when the total Scottish population amounted to only about one million, the amount of manpower committed to the venture was every bit as staggering as the financial commitment.

The settlers christened their new home “New Caledonia”.

There they built Fort St Andrew and began to erect the huts of what they hoped would become their permanent town, New Edinburgh. They cleared land for farming, but successful agriculture proved difficult. The local indigenous people proved unwilling to buy the combs and other trinkets offered by the colonists, and no fleets of merchant ships arrived to use the trade route.

The lack of trade was not an accident, as the English colonies in the West Indies and North America had been forbidden to communicate with the Darien colonists or offer them any help or assistance, by order of William and his government in London. By the onset of summer the following year, the climate, disease and hunger had led to a large number of deaths in the colony. The settlement had intended that many of the settlers would be dispersed across the continent ferrying goods from coast to coast, not all holed up in one place. The confined living conditions combined with poor hygiene and little food led to an epidemic of dysentery. Eventually the mortality rate rose to ten settlers a day.

After eight months the colony was abandoned and the settlers began the journey back to Scotland. One ship, desperate for aid, arrived at the Jamaican city of Port Royal but was refused assistance in response to the king’s standing orders not to help the settlers. Dejected and betrayed by their own monarch, the settlers continued onwards with only 300 of the original 1,200 settlers returning on a single ship to Scotland. It was a disastrous  gamble  which failed and nearly bankrupted  the Country .
The lack of trade was not an accident, as the English colonies in the West Indies and North America had been forbidden to communicate with the Darien colonists or offer them any help or assistance, by order of William and his government in London. By the onset of summer the following year, the climate, disease and hunger had led to a large number of deaths in the colony. The settlement had intended that many of the settlers would be dispersed across the continent ferrying goods from coast to coast, not all holed up in one place. The confined living conditions combined with poor hygiene and little food led to an epidemic of dysentery. Eventually the mortality rate rose to ten settlers a day. After eight months the colony was abandoned and the settlers began the journey back to Scotland. One ship, desperate for aid, arrived at the Jamaican city of Port Royal but was refused assistance in response to the king’s standing orders not to help the settlers. Dejected and betrayed by their own monarch, the settlers continued onwards with only 300 of the original 1,200 settlers returning on a single ship to Scotland . Darien nearly bankrupted Scotland and weakened  her  hand internationally and with England . They (England ) were about to embark on the War of the Spanish Succession and required Scotland  as an ally . A union  of Parliaments and an amalgamation  between the two was important .

3. Aliens Act 1705

The English Parliament passed  the Aliens Act of 1705 primarily  to weaken Scotland’s hand . Amongst other  things  it forbade Scottish aristocracy to hold land in England as well as Scotland . Most of them did historically and this persuaded  them to  agree  to an Act of Union The Alien Act provided that Scottish nationals in England were to be treated as aliens (foreign nationals), and estates held by Scots would be treated as alien property, making inheritance much less certain. It also included an embargo on the import of Scottish products into England and English colonies – about half of Scotland's trade, covering goods such as linen, cattle and coal

4.The Act of Union - 1707

 

The Scottish Parliament was  made up of what was termed the Three Estates Members of the Parliament of Scotland were traditionally elected from three "estates" or classes: the clergy (bishops), the nobility and lairds, and the burgesses (representatives of the royal burghs).It was the”nobility and lairds”who forced the passages of the Bill through the Parliament as  noted below .

It was widely believed at the time  that a handful of landed and affluent Scots took Scotland into a Union of Parliaments with England purely for their own advantage .Even though it has since proved to have  been a mainly benign and often beneficial political twinning for Scotland as well as England , the Union remains a painful subject in many quarters .What is not in doubt is that there was an unprecedented degree of  public opposition to it in the months leading up to it , , a wave of well – argued  dissent – and some mob  activity- that the authorities ought to have taken into consideration.

The writer and government agent Daniel Defoe  was sent  by the English parliament to act as a spy in Scotland in the run – up to the Union of  the Parliaments . His role was to mingle widely , in disguise , and urge the Scots   to back the proposal , which he genuinely thought would  benefit their Country as well as his own . He was taken aback to discover the strength of feeling against the proposed merger , as witnessed here in Edinburgh  

“ I had not been long in Edinburgh when I heard a great noise  and looking out saw a terrible multitude  coming up  the High Street  with a drum at the heads  of them shouting and swearing  and crying out – all Scotland  would stand  together – No Union ! – No Union  ! I cannot say to you I had no apprehensions. particularly when  a part of  this mob fell upon a  nd took gentleman  who had  discretion  little enough  to say something that displeased them just under my window . He defended himself bravely and called out lustily also for help to the Guard who being within hearing and ready drawn up in close order in the street , advanced  , rescued the gentleman  and took the person he was grappling  with prisoner .

The city was  by this time  in a terrible  fright . The Guards were insulted  and stoned as they stood , the mob put out all the lights , nobody could stir in the streets  and not  a light be seen in a window for fear of stones “

The Bill was passed and the Union was created on the 1 May 1707 The danger  to England from France a cross  the Channel had been averted .