THE STORNOWAY CHARTER. 303 



protect his interests, but his attention to business was 

 interrupted by illness. In May, a meeting between the 

 Lord Treasurer, Seaforth, Monson, and Mason, was 

 arranged to discuss the charter. As the result of that 

 interview, the charter was finally and absolutely cancelled, 

 doubtless by mutual consent. Mason had previously 

 proposed that Seaforth should join the company of adven- 

 turers, to assist them by his influence, and to " keepe the 

 islanders in awe." It is more than probable that the Earl 

 agreed to the proposal. He had no special leanings 

 towards Dutchmen. All he wanted was to develop the 

 fisheries and the general trade of Lewis, and to break 

 the monopoly of the Royal burghs by obtaining for 

 Stornoway the privileges to which it was entitled. Satis- 

 factory assurances being given to him on these points, he 

 was not concerned to press further for his charter. 



The circumstances concerning the inception of the new 

 scheme for developing the fisheries of Britain, deserve 

 attention. 



From an early period as far back as the ninth century 

 the fishermen on the east coast of Scotland carried on 

 an export trade with the Low Countries. By an ordinance 

 of the Royal burghs in 1429, this trade was restricted to 

 the surplus catch, after the wants of the Scottish coast 

 towns had been supplied at a fixed rate : a decree that led 

 to the emigration of a number of Scottish fishermen to 

 Holland. This Scottish settlement gave a fillip to the 

 industry in the Low Countries, where improved methods 

 of curing had been discovered not many years previously. 

 The pupils soon became as expert as their teachers, and 

 surpassed them in enterprise. The Hollanders began to 

 export fish themselves, and from that time onwards, their 

 prosecution of the fishing industry was attended with 

 phenomenal success. 



In the reign of James the Fifth, their busses appeared on 

 the coasts of Scotland, where they had a verbal license to 

 fish outside a limit of twenty-eight miles. Some of the 

 Hollanders presumed on this license, by fishing near the 



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