Could
an independent Scotland become the next Singapore, or would a ‘Yes’ vote be an
act of national self-harm? Merryn Somerset Webb investigates.
In
the late 1690s, Scotland’s government granted a charter to the Company of
Scotland to set sail and attempt to establish a colony on the coast of Panama.
The
interesting thing about this adventure is not so much its miserable end (most
people died and only one ship returned to Scotland)*, but the way in which
Scots of all sorts took part in it.
The
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography puts it like this: “While Williamites
and Jacobites remained implacably opposed over the monarchy, they came to be
united in a belief that the Company of Scotland offered the prospect of
national and personal prosperity. The original joint-stock company of 1695 was
now the vehicle for the Scottish colony of New Caledonia, supported by a
remarkably diverse group of Scots who had set aside their many and varied differences
in pursuit of national glory and personal wealth.”
They
didn’t get either, of course. The wealth was lost and the union (which allowed
participants to recoup their losses via a payment from England to Scotland
known as ‘the equivalence’) was found.
No comments:
Post a Comment