62 THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE FISHING 
Association at which the king himself was present, that fisher- 
men of the association were being called away from the Lewis 
to answer questions concerning fishing matters before the 
Admiralty of Scotland in Scotch courts. The king, on 
hearing this, emphatically declared that “‘ he would not 
have the fishermen of this society questioned for anything 
concerning the said fishing business in any Court, or before 
any other judges, than this council only and such judges as 
shall be by them deputed.” ! 
It was evident that the king was now aroused to action 
on behalf of his favourite scheme. On July 13th, 1635, he 
addressed to the Council in Scotland a vigorous letter on the 
subject of the wrongs done the Association for the Fishings 
of Great Britain and Ireland, asking them to see that all 
goods unjustly taken were restored and the delinquents 
punished. At the same time, the king addressed a similar 
letter to Sir John Hay, Clerk Registrar, telling him that he 
had made choice of him to have the abuses corrected and 
the offenders tried and punished, so that the business 
of the Association might proceed without interruption. 
On the same date, another letter was sent to George, 
Earl of Seaforth, whom the king evidently suspected to 
be no enthusiast for the prosperity of the fishing. Charles 
gave him a full account of what he had written to the 
Council in Scotland, and advised him to do his best to assist 
a work in which the king himself was so much interested, 
and which could not fail to be of immense public benefit.’ 
These letters were not without their effect ; the Council 
of Scotland, on 6th August, 1635, issued a proclamation 
warning the islanders against molesting the members of the 
Association, as they had been accustomed to do.* They had 
been taking the law into their own hands, coming “in 
1Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 291, No. 44. 
2 Ibid. vol. 2938, No. 100. 
3 Reg. Privy Council, Scotland, vol. vi. (2nd series) p. 96. 
