Obſervations on the Fifth Article of the Treaty of UNION, humbly offered to the Conſideration of the Parliament, relat⯑ing to Foreign Ships.

THE Matter of Difficulty upon this Head, I take to be as follows. — By the Article, all Ships, any of whoſe Owners were Foreigners at the Signing of the Treaty, ſhall be Deem'd ſtill Fo⯑reign Bottoms within the Terms of the Act of Na⯑vigation.

The Reaſon of this is plain, Moſt of the Ship⯑ping employ'd on the South-Eaſt of Scotland, are Fo⯑reign Bottoms, and ſeverals of them own'd by Fo⯑reigners, principally Dutch. Now, as England is very careful to Encourage her own Shipping; and as Britain will after the Union ſtill be ſo the Encreaſe, Employment and Building of Ships be⯑ing one of the Principal Foundations of her Wealth. — It would be hard to admit any Ships, which are Foreign built, to be free Ships in Scotland, when none that are ſo in England can be admitted.

England freely admits all Ships built in Scotland to [2] be free in all the Ports and Trade of Britain; — Nay, to go further, England allows by the Union, even Dutch Ships, if bought by Scots Men, and belong⯑ing to Scots Owners, to be free, which is more than any Engliſh-man can be allow'd. — Nay, If a Fo⯑reign built Ship lay now at Leith Road, and her Owners were all Engliſh-men, ſhe would not be Deem'd a free Ship by the Union, but the Engliſh Owners would looſe the benefit of employing her; and the Reaſon of this is, to Encourage our own Shipping, on which ſo much depends, and this Bene⯑fit will be plainly Scotland's at laſt.

But the Objection here, is, We have a great many Ships in our Trade that are Foreign built, and that are chiefly own'd by Scots-men, but perhaps may have one or more Owners abroad; and it would be hard that theſe Scots-men ſhould loſe the Benefit of their Ships which they employ in the Trade of their Native Country, only becauſe they have ſome Dutch-men concerned with them, — when at the ſame time 'tis plain, that if theſe Dutch-men were not concerned, the Trade of Scotland would with great difficulty be carried on.

The Expedient propoſed for this, as I meet with it, is, That a reaſonable time ſhould be given for the Subjects of Scotland to buy out their Dutch Owners or ſell their own Intereſt.

[3] Or that it ſhould have been ſaid, All Ships &c. whoſe Owners were Scots-men, at the End, or Ratifi⯑cation of the Treaty, &c. ſince till the Treaty is Con⯑cluded, every Scots-man has a Right to employ any Ship whatever.

To Anſwer this, I crave leave to ſay, That this tho plauſible in its ſelf, has yet Inconveniencies of a nature Intolerable, becauſe by this, any Man in England, as well as in Scotland, may in the name of Scotſmen, Buy what number of Ships in Holland they pleaſe, and at the end of the Union, they become free Ships, to the general Ruine of the Shipping in the whole Iſland.

And this was Remarkably true, to England's pro⯑digious Loſs, when in the laſt Dutch War, the Ships taken from Holland as Prize, were made free, the People bought Dutch Ships, cauſed ſham Privateers to take them, and for ſeveral years, ſome hundereds of them were Imployed in their Coal Trade, to the Ruine of the Town of Ipſwick, where all the large Coal Ships uſed to be Built, — which Loſs that Town never recovered.

To give a time therefore, to have all Ships Own'd by Scotſmen come in to be free, is to open a Door to a Miſchief, which it cannot be deſired, England ſhould ſuffer in Trade; and the value now ſuppoſed to be Toucht here, is but very ſmall.

[4] All that I can ſee in this, is, That a Medium be found out, which if it muſt be, tho I do not grant that neceſſity neither, is this, That at the time of the Treaty, the MAJOR PART of ſuch Veſſel did belong to the Subjects of Scotland, I confeſs this ſeems to have ſome colour of Reaſon in it, that the Majority ſhould Denominate the whole, and I would hope England would not Diſpute it, ſince they do not deny any Foreigners, Holding or Owning any Share of an Engliſh Veſſel, but the Legitimacy of the Veſſel conſiſts in her Bottom.

Now if the Majority of Owners as to the Value, I mean, were not Scots, no Ship can be accounted Legitimate. If a Scots Merchant Owns ⅜ of a Ship, and a Dutchman ⅝ ſhe cannot be accounted in Reaſon, any thing but a Dutch Ship, eſpecially when her Bottom is Dutch too, for the Denomination muſt go with the Major; and it's not the Dutch Merchant is a part Owner of the Scotſman's Ship, but the Scotſ⯑man is a part Owner of the Dutchman's Ship.

This ſmall Medium, I think, will reduce this Ar⯑ticle to a Square, and an Explanatorie Clauſe to that purpoſe, will in two Lines determine that Point.

All which is Humbly Remitted to the Conſiderati⯑on of the Right Honourable the Eſtates of Par⯑liament.