Ferguson's Benefits To The Nobility

Lehman described the devastation that the Alien Act would have caused as a ‘formidable economic bludgeon’ especially for the nobility. The importance of the benefit to the nobility is highlighted by the Scottish Marxist historian Dickson who argued the reasons behind the union were ‘thoroughly bourgeois.’ He further argues that continued wealth accumulation through exports to England and her colonies and the expectation of military protection for mercantile activities made the treaty the rational choice for the Scottish aristocracy. Though while he Ferguson largely supports the claims of Dickson, he refuted the determinist argument instead citing the role of ‘management’ in passing the treaty, in particular the increasing role of ‘patronage and influence’, bribery and the ineffectiveness of ‘divided opposition forces.’ This is further supported by Riley who blames the short term vision of the politicians at the very least and ’squalid aims’ at the most, Riley argues that trade did not feature prominently in
parliamentarians private correspondences, perhaps demonstrating that economics did not play a significant part in the creation of the treaty. Though Aitchison criticised Riley’s reliance on private correspondence, stating that these correspondences were of a more short term nature.

Riley utilised the work of Woodward to show that the Scottish economy was stronger than had been emphasised by Smout, though he may have shown slight bias, Woodward’s studies also showed that in 1973 40.2% of Scottish exports to England were in the form of cattle, proving substantially favourable to the balance of payments.
While the Scottish did not appreciate the English interference in their colonial trade, Cambell argued that in the circumstances such as the Darian scheme when the Scottish conflicted with the English ‘the consequences could not be disastrous.’ Smout finds that James Scot parliamentary representative of the burgh of Montrose urged his people to vote for the the Union fearing that alienation from Britain would ‘deprive of the only valuable branch’, which was their trade in linen cloth. This source shows that at least in some areas of Scotland people were aware of the depravity they would face if the trade with Britain was
lost.

The extent to which England financed Scotland in the aftermath of the Union adds further weight to Murray’s theory that an independent Scotland was not financially viable, immediately after the proclamation of Union the English sought to prevent the Scottish financial situation from deteriorating. They sent money to pay the Scottish armed forces in 1707 and the accumulated debts were paid of out of the Equivalent. Therefore it seems that the bailout by England would serve to illustrate the weakness of Scottish finances, however it is plausible that Scotland were merely taking advantage of the terms of the Union.

In conclusion as it is difficult to asses the Scottish finances before 1707 it would be hard to predict whether the an independent Scotland was financially viable before the proposal of the Alien Act, it is highly likely that after its proposal Scotland would have been unable to function as a state. Scotland was already operating with a balance of payments deficit despite a considerable surplus with Britain, if it had lost this trade it is likely that debt would have spiralled out of control. Furthermore the failure of the Darien Scheme and Scotlands failure to secure its own wealthy colonies severely restricted the potential for Scottish growth at the turn of the century. While as asserted by Riley and Ferguson the Scottish parliament may have made the decision for the wrong reasons, undoubtably their decision saved Scotland.