AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF SCOTLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1962.tb00374.x |
| Author | R. H. Campbel |
| Published date | 01 February 1962 |
| Date | 01 February 1962 |
AN ECONOMIC HISTORY
OF
SCOTLAND
IN
THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
R.
H.
CAMPBELL
I
JUST
over thirty years ago Professor Henry Hamilton pioneered the
study of the economic history of modern Scotland in
The ZndustriaZ
Revolution in Scotland.
Since then he has consolidated his work in a
series of specialised studies, chiefly in the eighteenth century,
of
which
he now offers a more extensive interpretation in
An Economic History
of
Scotland in the Eighteenth Century,'
a work which for long will
be a standard text for all students and research workers in the field.
.
The contents of the book do not belie the claim of its title to be
an all embracing economic history of the century, but the emphasis,
as admitted in the Introduction, is on those aspects which entitle the
century to be described as
'
a period
of
remarkable economic growth
which brought profound changes in the economic and social life of
the people
'.
Given this standpoint, it seems reasonable to concentrate
on the part of the analysis dealing with economic growth. Here there
is no doubt that the crucial part of the study, and that which represents
the field in which the author has concentrated much of his energy
in more recent years, is the third section on Overseas Trade, Banking
and Fluctuations, the first two components of which seem to provide
possible explanations of the third.
Though Professor Hamilton clearly considers Scotland's foreign
trade to have been a major determinant
of
the country's economic
growth in the eighteenth century, his interpretation of this connection
differs substantially from that
of
thirty years ago. Then he stated that
'
many of them (the Glasgow tobacco merchants), realising the profit-
able nature
of
manufacturing industry
. .
.
turned their attention and
capital to industry, and especially to the new cotton industry in
Scotland
'.'
His
revised interpretation is more tenuous
:
'
there is
little evidence of tobacco merchants engaging directly in the flotation
of cotton mills, although outlets in other directions would naturally
have been sought for funds accumulated in commerce with the old
American colonies
'.3
But sufficient links are retained between foreign
H. Hamilton.
An
Economic History
of
Scotland
in
the Eighteenth
Century.
pp.
xviii+452.
Oxford
University
Press.
1963.
50s.
H.
Hamilton.
The Industrip/ Revolution
In
Scotland
(Oxford,1932),
p.
121.
p.
168.
2
17
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