THE ENGLISH FISHING SETTLEMENTS. 3*3 



ic wording is : " erected or to be erected by his Majesty for 

 educing the inhabitants of Lewis," &c.* It is inconceiv- 

 ible that a lawyer like Sir George Mackenzie would be a 

 ty to this cautious phrasing, unless there was some 



mnd for the belief that the erection had actually taken 

 place. Writing in 1681, Sir William Purves, Solicitor- 

 General for Scotland, states that in 1637, Charles I. was 

 very anxious for the reservation of the Burgh, Castle, and 

 Port of Stornoway, intending to make them " very advan- 

 tagious" to the kingdom, and to stop the fishing of others 

 in those parts. " Yet," he goes on to say, " notwithstand- 

 ing that his Majesti (Charles II.) now hes undoubted ryght 

 to the same, throw the distractiones of the tymes, his 

 Majesti's ryght hes not been looked efter."f 



The intentions of Charles I. in respect of Stornoway 

 are quite clear. We have already noticed the proposal 

 to make the representatives of the Fishery Corporation 

 burgesses of the free burgh of Stornoway, to be created 

 under the Act of 1597. That the Englishmen in Lewis 

 enjoyed, as burgesses of Stornoway, all the trading privi- 

 leges of freemen, is proved by allusions to the fish which 

 they exported to foreign markets from that port. That 

 the town was, therefore, during their occupancy, in posses- 

 sion of the exclusive trading rights of a free burgh Royal 

 cannot be doubted. The Act of 1597 authorised the 

 creation of a burgh possessing those privileges, and the 

 legal quibble under which the Convention of Royal burghs 

 took refuge, in objecting to its erection, was demolished by 

 the action of the King, in assuming the proprietorship of 

 the burgh, thus constituting it a de facto " King's burgh." 

 At whatever time, and in whatever manner, the Act of 

 1 597 was carried out ; whether or not a charter of erection 

 was ever granted to the community, or to Seaforth, as 

 representing the community ; it is clear that the weight of 

 evidence lies on the side of the erection having, in some 

 manner, become an accomplished fact ; otherwise the 



* Acts o/ParL, Vol. VIII., pp. 382-4. 



f Revenues of the Scottish Crown, pp. 119-20. 



