Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 15 on 18/7/2004.

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The Darien disaster

James Irvine Robertson looks at one of the worst misjudgements in Scotland’s commercial and economic history

There are only eight Commandments in Scotland as there is nothing to covet or steal ran the grim jest in London at the end of the 17th century. After James VII abandoned his throne to the Protestant William of Orange in 1688, there followed dreadful years of want north of the border – King William’s years – when the sun scarcely shone, harvests failed and, in some areas, up to a quarter of the population starved to death.

The fact that England and Scotland shared a king was no help. William had taken the throne to promote the bitter struggle to preserve his native Holland against the French. Scotland’s welfare was the least of his concerns.

Customs dues hindered cross-border commerce and the powerful East India Company and other English interests froze Scots from overseas trade and colonisation.

Mercantilism was the economic doctrine of the day. Trade could not be conjured up from nowhere; you must capture someone else’s share and the English were not going to give up theirs to the Scots.

Dumfries-shire born William Paterson had already made a fortune and in 1694 he was the leading light in the establishment of the Bank of England. Now he had a dream.

He came across a journal by a sailor, William Wafer, which described the wonders of the Darienisthmus at the south end of the land link between North and South America. If a colony could be established in this idyllic spot, it could control trade in both great oceans.

So he promoted an Act in the Scottish Parliament to cre.....

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By James Irvine Robertson

Section : Scottish History

Page number : 24