CHAPTER VI. 
THE COMMONWEALTH; THE DUTCH WAR. CHARLES II.; 
THE NEW SOCIETIES FOR THE FISHING IN SCOTLAND. 
By the year 1639 it had become a recognised fact that 
the Association for the Fishing had, in large measure, dis- 
appointed the sanguine hopes which its royal founder had 
indulged concerning it. The king had added to its privi- 
leges ; he had caused. Lent to be observed, had prohibited 
the importation of fish by foreigners, and had even under- 
taken to purchase from the company the necessary supplies 
of stores and food for the Royal Navy ;! the management 
of the affairs of the Association was not in the hands of men 
who could make use of these peculiar advantages, and all 
Charles’ efforts were in vain. 
At the inception of the Society, the hopes of the adven- 
turers had rested on the fishing in the isle of Lewis. Such 
was the gross mismanagement, however, on the part both 
of the Scotch and of the English employees of the company, 
that, during the first two years of its existence, the Society 
lost all the money spent in the Lewis.2 The adventurers 
of the Society, unfortunately, did not take to heart the 
lessons of these two years of failure; they seem to have 
been at no pains to ensure that those at the head of practical 
affairs should be skilful either in fishing or in curing the 
1§imon Smith, A True Narrative of the Royal Fishings of Great Britaine 
and Ireland. 
2 Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 444, No. 68. 
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