Back in the Day: How England was favoured by the Act of Union

One of the principal drivers for Scottish participation in the Union was trade. The growing mercantile classes in Scotland were desperate to have access to parts of the world that had hitherto been for England-only trade, a restriction which was enforced by the Royal Navy. It is wrong to say that Scotland had no “navy” of its own in 1707, but it was minuscule compared to the Royal Navy. Scotland had a growing number of trading ships and the protection of that Royal Navy was a huge incentive for Scottish merchants to promote the Union which they actively did. Though as I have shown in my series on Scotland in the British Empire, that name was not in regular use until the late 18th century, to my mind the British Empire began with the Act of Union and in particular Articles 4 and 5.

Merchants in Scotland were quick to benefit from the introduction of the Act of Union

Article 4 states: “That the Subjects of the United Kingdom of Great Britain shall from and after the Union have full Freedom and Intercourse of Trade and Navigation to and from any port or place within the said United Kingdom and the Dominions and Plantations thereunto belonging. And that there be a Communication of all other Rights, Privileges and Advantages which do or may belong to the Subjects of either Kingdom except where it is otherwayes expressly agreed in these Articles.”

No longer would Scotland have to try and establish its own colonies such as Darien, the failure of that scheme having been responsible for the Parcel of Rogues selling out their own Parliament. Instead Scots in the new Great Britain could piggy-back on the English Empire, and in places like Glasgow, merchants were quick to benefit – the city would quite quickly become and remain strongly pro-Union, despite being a main centre for the Scottish people’s uprising against the Union in 1706. In time the Union gave rise to the growth of the Tobacco Lords and Glasgow’s importance as a city dealing with the American and Caribbean colonies.

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England’s merchant fleet had been built up on the premise that no foreign ownership of any vessel was allowed so there was effectively a recruitment for Empire building for Scotland in Article 5 which states: “That all ships or vessels belonging to Her Majesty’s Subjects of Scotland at the time of Ratifying the Treaty of Union of the Two Kingdoms in the Parliament of Scotland though foreign built be deemed and pass as ships of the build of Great Britain; the Owner or where there are more Owners, one or more of the Owners within Twelve Months after the first of May next making oath that at the time of Ratifying the Treaty of Union in the Parliament of Scotland, the same did in haill (whole) or in part belong to him or them, or to some other Subject of Subjects of Scotland, to be particularly named with the place of their respective abodes, and that the same doth then at the time of the said Deposition wholly belong to him or them, and that no foreigner directly or indirectly hath any share part or interest therein, Which Oath shall be made before the chief Officer or Officers of the Customs in the Port next to the abode of the said Owner or Owners.”

Once the oath was taken, the ownership was to be “Entered in a Register and from thence to be sent to the port of London to be there Entered in the General Register of all Trading ships belonging to Great Britain”. In other words, Scottish ship owners were now controlled from London, but in return the Royal Navy was charged with protecting all such registered vessels, and consequently the British Empire grew apace while Scottish trade was massively enhanced over the next century.

There was much talk of the customs unions during the Brexit negotiations, but very little public understanding of what that term meant. One of the world’s first customs unions was decreed in Article 6 of the Act of Union: “That all parts of the United Kingdom for ever from and after the Union shall have the same Allowances, Encouragements and Drawbacks, and be under the same Prohibitions, Restrictions and Regulations of Trade and liable to the same Customs and Duties on Import and Export. And that the Allowances Encouragements and Drawbacks Prohibitions Restrictions and Regulations of Trade and the Customs and Duties on Import and Export settled in England when the Union commences shall from and after the Union take place throughout the whole United Kingdom, excepting and reserving the Duties upon Export and Import of such particular Commodities from which any persons the Subjects of either Kingdom are specially Liberated and Exempted by their private Rights which after the Union are to remain safe and entire to them in all respects as before the same.”

THERE were no years of wrangling over that customs union. Instead, as I have previously shown, the Articles of Union – even the most contentious – were hammered out in a matter of months in 1706. Taken with that article, the new laws on common weights and measures throughout Great Britain made trade a level playing field. What’s more, the forerunner of the Eurozone was made here in the United Kingdom.

Article 16 states: “That from and after the Union the Coin shall be of the same standard and value, throughout the United Kingdom, as now in England, And a Mint shall be continued in Scotland under the same Rules as the Mint in England.”

In other words, monetary union was achieved by the simple measure of imposing English coinage on Scotland. Those who say that an independent Scotland can keep the pound are thus correct – it’s our pound and the Act of Union says so.

The Brexit farrago also threw up the question of how the UK could impose its own standards on the four countries which make up this state. Simple – they did it in the Act of Union, Article 17.

“That from and after the Union the same Weights and Measures shall be used throughout the United Kingdom as are now Established in England; And Standards of Weights and Measures shall be kept by those Burroughs in Scotland, to whom the keeping the Standards of Weights and Measures now in use there does of speciall Right belong; All which Standards shall be sent down to such respective Burroughs from the Standards kept in the Exchequer at Westminster, subject nevertheless to such Regulations as the Parliament of Great Britain shall think fit.”

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Notice, please, how English weights and measures were imposed on Scotland, and that Scottish burghs were to be used to make sure those new weights and measures were adhered to. And there was considerable discrepancy between the weights and measures in use in Scotland and England at that time. Indeed the Act of Union gives us a classic example of the differences in Article 7 about the tax on liquor.

“That all parts of the United Kingdom be for ever from and after the Union lyable to the same Excises upon all Exciseable Liquors excepting only that the 34 Gallons English Barrel of Beer or Ale amounting to 12 Gallons Scots present measure sold in Scotland.”

It’s typical of the ruling classes of that era that liquor was the first commodity mentioned in the Act of Union ahead of salt, meat, fish etc. Again the emphasis is on English taxation being superior to that of Scotland.

ARTICLES 10 to 14 dealt with the English taxes already in existence which were not to apply to Scotland – the stamp tax on vellum and parchment, window tax, coal tax and malt tax. Bear that last tax in mind when you return to read next week’s column …

Article 15 was all about another imposition of English taxation on Scotland but it also contains the bribe to the Parcel of Rogues, the infamous “equivalent” which was payable via the queen to the Scottish Parliament apparently to remedy Scotland taking on its share of the English national debt, but in reality to make good the losses of those who had invested in the Darien scheme. “Whereas by the Terms of this Treaty the Subjects of Scotland for preserving an Equality of Trade throughout the United Kingdom, will be lyable to severall Customs and Excises now payable in England, which will be applicable towards payment of the Debts of England, contracted before the Union as it states in Aryicle 15.

“It is agreed, that Scotland shall have an Equivalent for what the Subjects thereof shall be so charged towards payment of the said Debts of England, in all particulars whatsoever, in manner following viz.

“That before the Union of the said Kingdoms, the sum of £398,085 10s be granted to Her Majesty by the Parliament of England for the uses aftermentioned, being the Equivalent to be answered to Scotland.”

So there it is in black and white, Scotland was bought by England for just shy of £400,000. Most Scots detested the very thought of Union, but the Parcel of Rogues thought with their wallets and sold out this nation.

Certain parts of Scotland’s polity had to be bought off, namely the universities and education system generally, and especially the lawyers and the Kirk.

The lawyers got what they wanted in Article 19: “And that the Court of Justiciary do also after the Union, and notwithstanding thereof remain in all time coming within Scotland, as it is now constituted by the Laws of that Kingdom, and with the same Authority and Priviledges as before the Union; subject nevertheless to such Regulations as shall be made by the Parliament of Great Britain, and without prejudice of other Rights of Justiciary.”

The UK Supreme Court’s control over Scots law since Tony Blair’s Labour government founded it is therefore arguably a breach of the Act of Union, but as I showed last week, the UK Parliament is sovereign under the current Union.

Or is it? For nowhere in the original Articles of Union was there any prescription for how the Church of Scotland could continue its position as the state religion of Scotland with its own laws and courts.

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When the Kirk clergy began to complain bitterly that they were being ignored or, worse still, being softened up for a takeover by the Episcopalians, the pro-Union forces in the Scottish Parliament swiftly drew up and passed the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Act. At a stroke the Church’s opposition to the Union crumbled.

Now if they could do that back in 1707, what is to stop the SNP in the Westminster Parliament – only it can change the Act of Union – promoting a bill, possibly when Private Members’ Bills return later this year, to put into the Act of Union a new clause on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’s right to resile from the Union.

At the very least that would put pressure on the Tory Government to enable a democratic process to take place – and if they oppose it, as they surely will, they will be exposed for what they are, namely anti-democratic and anti-Scottish.

Having considered the Act of Union itself, next week I will show just how fragile that Union was at the outset and how it took many decades to solidify – a fact that Unionist history always conceals and which was most certainly not taught in Scottish schools even as late as the last quarter of the 20th century.

I wonder if it’s taught now …