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Home Domestic Affairs, 1689-1714 Scotland; Part 3 |
Scotland; Part 3Thirdly, the Union between England and Scotland was achieved in 1707. There had been great difficulties in the way. English merchants did not wish to give commercial concessions or English Churchmen to recognize Presbyterianism. Scotland was legitimately proud of her nationality and had no wish to have her individuality absorbed in that of England. And, moreover, Scotland attributed to English jealousy-not without reason-the failure of an attempt made by her merchants in William Ill's reign to develop a trade in the South Seas at the Isthmus of Darien. After long negotiations, however, the Union was at last completed. By its terms Scotland was allowed forty-five members in the House of Commons and sixteen peers in the House of Lords; she contributed one-fortieth to the Land Tax and was paid nearly £400,000 for sharing in the English National Debt. Scotland was to preserve her own Law Courts, whilst a separate Act secured her Presbyterian religion. Above all, perfectly free trade was established between England and Scotland, and Scotland was allowed to trade with the colonies. Scotland was at last given her industrial opportunity. Scottish towns, and especially Glasgow, grew with amazing rapidity, whilst Scottish shipping and manufactures proved formidable rivals to the shippers and manufacturers of England. Moreover, no one who travels round the world at the present time can fail to realize the immense share Scotsmen have had in developing the trade and the prosperity of every part of the British Empire.Yet the Union was not popular for some time. In Scotland, during the Rebellions of 1715 and 1745, one of the cries was for the abolition of the Union. In England the Scots were long unpopular. At the beginning of George Ill's reign Bute's Scottish ancestry was one of the causes of his great unpopularity when Prime Minister, whilst Macbeth was hissed off the stage when he appeared as a Scot in Highland costume. But gradually the national prejudices faded away, and the natives of both countries learnt to appreciate the immense advantages each derived from the Union. Henceforth the histories of England and Scotland are linked together. |
Chronology |
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