THE ENGLISH FISHING SETTLEMENTS. 311 



Commissioners' proposal. It was not until September, 

 1631, that the Royal burghs emitted a declaration, approv- 

 ing of the Council's recommendations. The bearing of 

 these upon the reserved fishings of the Long Island was, 

 that the latter, as finally agreed upon, covered the Minch 

 from the Stor of Assynt to the most easterly point of 

 Lewis, and extended along the east coast of Lewis to Barra, 

 including the lochs on that coast, with the Broad Bay and 

 Bayble Head fishings.* 



The Earl of Seaforth wrote Secretary Coke in January, 

 1631, from Edinburgh, explaining that his delay in coming 

 to Court was caused by the dangerous illness of his wife. 

 He prophesied that the fishing business would again be 

 ! put off during that year, unless the King exercised his 

 i authority. That his fears were well-grounded is evident 

 from the facts already mentioned ; apparently the Scottish 

 burghs left no stone unturned to hamper the negotiations 

 as much as they dared. In June, Seaforth, then in London, 

 was again in communication with the Secretary ; pleading 

 | illness for not going to Court ; begging Coke to let him 

 know what plans had been decided upon concerning the 

 plantation (of Lewis) ; and expressing a hope that his 

 rights would be respected. Sir William Alexander and 

 Hay being about to return to Scotland, Seaforth suggested 

 the desirability of concluding the agreements before their 

 departure, and of issuing definite orders for erecting 

 Stornoway into a free burgh. He adds : " Ye shall never 

 have undertakers till ye know where to fish." We find the 

 Earl again writing Coke on the subject in January, 1632, 

 urging haste, as he was a great loser by the delay. The 

 Scottish Commissioners appear to have made a point of 

 the existing statutes, which forbade strangers to fish in 

 Scottish waters, or Scottish fishermen to sell their fish to 

 strangers ; and to have held that Englishmen were included 

 in that category. Captain Mason, impatient with the 

 obstructionist tactics of the Scotsmen, suggested that the 



* Acts of Part. , Vol. V., p. 238. 



