Bitterly divided by politics and religion for centuries, this is the infamous story of how Scotland and England came together in 1707 to form Great Britain. Over time the Union matured into one of the longest in European history, but it very nearly ended in divorce. Exploiting the Union's unpopularity, the exiled Stuarts staged several comebacks, selling themselves as a credible and liberal alternative to the Hanoverian regime. Neil Oliver reveals just how close they came to succeeding.
Fleeing the usurper William of Orange, toppled king James II Stuart resided in Louis XIV's grand spare palace St.Germain-des-Prés, with a Jacobite court in exile. William wanted war on Catholic France, so he granted parliament a liberal regime. Scotland was ignored, in famine because of the war and denied the English colonial trade until William Patterson founded the Royal Bank - and trading Company of Scotland, which made a quarter of the country's sparse cash vaporize in the Panamanian Darien colony. Effectively paying off the impoverished nobles and promising religious and other freedoms enables queen Anne, succeeded to William after a fatal fall, to 'bribe' the Union treaty in the early 1500s. Louis's fleet would fail to bring the Stuarts in exile on planned invasions of Scotland, and after 13 years a long peace was signed. Impopular taxes stirred rebellion against the union anyhow, but even when dashing 'bonnie prince Charles, heir to James III, acted upon it without waiting for the French, his initial success was wasted by a war council already near London, instead the defeat at Culloden reduced the Jacobite pretenders to specters, while the Hanoverians who succeeded to Anne established the union to last. - KGF Vissers
James II and VII built a shadow government while living in France with many of his supporters. William of Orange was now on the throne, victor in the Glorious Revolution, a war to prevent a grand Catholic alliance. In Scotland, the revolution wasn't glorious and William of Orange always had his way. In the 1690s, famine was widespread. Trade with French was not possible and the English prevented trade with the Americas. William Patterson helped founded the Bank of Scotland and also a major trading company, the Company of Scotland. The company collapsed and nothing was left after 5 years and Patterson moved to London leaving many of Scotland's richest families penniless. Union with Scotland became a key issue. In due course money exchanged hands, the Scottish elite benefited and in 1707 the Act of Union came into effect. As the economy deteriorated, support for the Jacobites rose and support for the Union fell. Jacobites hopes ended forever on the fields of Culloden when, some sixty years after the Union, the forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie were defeated and the pretender returned to France. - garykmcd
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