The Glencairn Uprising, 1653-54 Helen Baker Department of ...

This proposition of union was cheerfully accepted by the most judicious
amongst the Scots, who well understood how great a condescension it was
in the Parliament of England to permit a people they had conquered to
have a part in the legislative power. 32
In reality, most Scots shared an understandable fear that the Parliament in England
would not hesitate to exploit the weaker nation to its own benefit. 33
Was it in the best interests of the English Commonwealth to not only pacify but
impose political union with Scotland? After all, the net annual costs in Scotland
during the Protectorate for civil government and, even after considerable reductions,
for the army were at least £130 000. 34 The jubilant mood after the English victory at
Worcester was replaced, probably at the personal insistence of Cromwell, by
references to a more moderate form of union between the two countries. The most
obvious reason for the Commonwealth to extend its occupation of Scotland to
political union was the desire to protect the revolution in England by, as Dow has
written, exporting some elements of it to Scotland. As the Covenanters had earlier
realised, security lay in union and uniformity.’ 35
In a way, the English intentions towards Scotland were admirable. The
Commonwealth promised a certain amount of self-government rather than a
straightforward military occupation. As Firth has written, the general aim was to
reconcile Scotland to the union by even-handed justice and good government. 36 Seven
Commissioners for the administration of justice were appointed in May 1652, three of
32 See Firth, C.H. Scotland and the Commonwealth, p.xxv.
33 Ibid., p.xxv.
34 Ashley, M. Financial and Commercial Policy under the Cromwellian Protectorate (London: Frank
Cass & Co. Ltd, 1962), p.91.
35 Dow, F.D. Cromwellian Scotland, pp.30-2. The English Commonwealth pursued a parallel battle
against Royalist sympathisers in the colonies at around the same time. On 3 October 1650, the Long
Parliament issued an act that totally forbade not only European but English commercial intercourse
with the Royalist colonies of Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda and Virginia. In 1652 Sir George Ayscue set
out with an English fleet to subdue Barbados. In the subsequent articles of settlement, Ayscue agreed
that the colonists were free to trade with all nations that were in amity with England. Similar
agreements were made with the other Royalist colonies when their submission followed. In 1654
Cromwell organised an expedition against the Spanish West Indies which resulted in the capture of
Jamaica. There were clearly powerful economic motives behind this offensive considering that, during
the Protectorate, the principal product of the West Indies was sugar closely followed by tobacco.
However, Cromwell’s reasoning was also deeply personal – an attack on the Spanish empire appealed
to his nationalist outlook and his Protestantism. See Ashley, M. Financial and Commercial Policy
under the Cromwellian Protectorate, pp.132-6.
36 Firth, C.H. Scotland and the Commonwealth, pp.xxv, xxxiv.