‘Scotland was effectively ruined’

Jackie Macadam explores the story of the failed Darien Expedition, a turning point in Scottish history.

THIS year marks the 325th anniversary of a daring idea that, had it succeeded, could have established Scotland as a world trading power but failure cost Scotland her independence.

The Darien Expedition was a Scottish attempt to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama in the late 17th century. The expedition was intended to create a Scottish trading post that would provide access to the Pacific Ocean and establish Scotland as a global trading power.

It was initiated by the Company of Scotland, also known as the Darien Company, which was created in 1695 to promote trade between Scotland and the rest of the world. The company’s plan was to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama, which would provide a direct route to the Pacific Ocean and the wealth of the East Indies.

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland sent four ministers – Alexander Shields, Francis Boreland, Archibald Stobo, and Alexander Dalgliesh – to accompany the first Darien expedition.

The Darien Expedition set sail from Scotland in July 1698 with five ships carrying over 1,200 settlers, mostly farmers and merchants. They arrived on the Caribbean coast of Panama in November 1698 and established a settlement at the mouth of the Darien River, which they named New Edinburgh.

“ The expedition ultimately failed, with many of the settlers dying from disease, hunger, or attacks by the Spanish."

Alexander Shields was a strict and rigorous Calvinist who found most of his fellows morally unacceptable. In a letter home from the ‘Rising Sun’ in Caledonia Bay dated December 25 1699 he fiercely denounced them in no uncertain terms:

‘Our company consists in the generality of the worst of mankind…if you had scummed the Land and raked to the borders of hell for them, they were men of lewd practices and venting wickedness of principles. For these things God was provoked to smite us very signally and severally with a contagious illness which went through the most part and cut off by death about sixty of our ship and nearly 100 in the rest of the fleet…’

Clearly tensions over differences in religion and morality accentuated the many challenges which confronted the emigrants.

However, the expedition was beset by numerous problems from the start. The site chosen for the settlement was marshy and prone to flooding, making it difficult to grow crops and leading to outbreaks of disease. The settlers also faced hostile attacks from Spanish soldiers, who saw the Scottish colony as a threat to their own interests in the region.

The expedition ultimately failed, with many of the settlers dying from disease, hunger, or attacks by the Spanish. The colony was abandoned in 1700, and the surviving settlers returned to Scotland. The expedition was a financial disaster for the Company of Scotland, which went bankrupt and was dissolved in 1707. The failure of the Darien Expedition also played a role in the eventual union between Scotland and England in 1707, as many Scots blamed the English government for not providing adequate support for the project.

“The Darien Expedition proved that, when it came to a choice between the interests of Scotland and the interests of England, Westminsterwould always side with England.”

A radical view perhaps, but one that Professor Emeritus Sir Tom Devine espouses when he talks about the significance of the Darien Expedition or scheme in the 17th century.

“The Darien scheme was not a thunderbolt from the blue sky,” he says. “Union with England had given Scots access to the transatlantic trade but Scots merchants were already using the route illegally.

“Earlier, there was a gradual shift to the transatlantic trade due to early settlements like the Carolina Settlement in 1670 and the East Jersey settlement out of what is now New York. Scottish prisoners were also transported to Barbados due to Cromwell, so there was an awareness and interest in the potential trade there,” he says.

“In the late 1600s the Scots elite became aware of how Scotland compared to other countries and in 1693 passed the ‘Encouragement of Foreign Trade Act’ that encouraged trading to the West Indies and Africa, a euphemism for the slave trade.

“They hoped to attract capital from London so they could get into the very lucrative spice trade too.

“As interest in the slave trade slackened, they began to think about a settlement somewhere near what is now the modern Panama Canal.

“It was an ingenious idea, but one that was full of difficulties that were obviously not appreciated fully at the time. Something about the idea though, really captured the imaginations of the landed elite and the merchant class. We are not talking about naïve people here. It morphed into a beautiful patriotic crusade which would lessen the Scottish dependency on England and escape the developing straightjacket in European trade.”

The Scottish public, including many nobles and prominent figures, enthusiastically invested in the scheme. Thousands of people, both wealthy and ordinary, poured their savings into the venture. The government of Scotland also contributed significant financial support, largely by borrowing vast sums of money to fund their contribution.

“The New World was not unknown”, Sir Tom says. “And the west was already being looked at as a source of economic growth and development. If the Darien Expedition had succeeded, it would have solved all of Scotland’s problems in one giant leap.

“Darien was significant as it was a clear and dramatic indication that Scotland saw its future in the west, and not in the more traditional European markets. It was looking beyond Europe.

“It’s certainly true that France and England did everything they could to stymie the Darien Expedition.” Sir Tom said. “They’d been struggling with each other for ‘world supremacy’ and needed to shut down this challenge. If England had been neutral, there’s a chance the Expedition could have succeeded.

“Spain was regarded as being ‘in decay’ and ‘decline’ for some time and was seen as a paper tiger. This was nonsense. Spain was still a potent force and saw the danger to its gold mines from the expedition and responded militarily. Attacks from natives and the Spanish military, combined with disease crushed the settlers. And that was effectively the end of New Caledonia.

“There were internal problems with the scheme as well of course,” Sir Tom adds. “Darien was jungle territory and was subject to all the tropical diseases of the area. It’s noted that Spain didn’t actually use the area for anything principally because the area cost so many lives anytime they’d tried. To get to the western coast, the journey was around 60 miles of heavy jungle which was a very severe obstacle. The general lack of provisions, planning and possibly internal conflicts, effectively ended the scheme.

“It’s certainly likely that a combination of these internal, on the ground issues and the external politically motivated problems were intrinsic to the failure of the settlement.” The result, however, was unequivocal. Scotland was effectively ruined. The impact on the Scottish economy was severe and long-lasting. The losses suffered by individuals, businesses, and the government were substantial. The investors who had poured their savings into the scheme faced ruin, and many lost their life savings. The Scottish government had also borrowed heavily to finance the expedition, resulting in a crippling national debt.

The financial devastation caused by the Darien Scheme severely weakened the Scottish economy. The loss of wealth and confidence had a lasting impact on trade and investment in Scotland. The bankruptcy of the government and prominent individuals created a sense of economic crisis, leading to political instability and ultimately paving the way for the Act of Union in 1707, which united Scotland with England to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The expedition was a significant economic disaster for Scotland, resulting in the loss of wealth, the collapse of the Scottish economy, and ultimately, the end of Scottish independence. ¤