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 risings for King James were put down, though not without tough fighting. But, when Scotland asked to be allowed a share in the trade with our colonies, the English Parliament answered with a contemptuous ‘no’; and the result was that Scotland growled and growled more and more throughout the reign of William. But in the next reign, after long and fierce debates, the old Scottish Parliament was induced to vote for a union with the English (1707); and henceforward there was one united Parliament of Great Britain, and trade was perfectly free between the two nations. Then began the great commercial prosperity of Modern Scotland. Within fifty years Glasgow had got an enormous share of the trade with the British colonies and India, and one of the most interesting tales of town history is the story how the grave merchants of Glasgow got together and set to work to deepen the river Clyde so as to make it carry the trade which they knew would come. The first Glasgow ship for tobacco sailed to America ten years after the union, and began what is still one of Glasgow's greatest industries.

Willam III paid far too little attention to these questions of Ireland and Scotland, but his excuse was that he and his Dutch and German allies were engaged in a desperate struggle to save Flanders and the line of the river Rhine from King Louis of France. With great difficulty could he squeeze out of the English Parliament men and money for these wars. None of the English statesmen, Whigs or Tories, really liked the war, and the Tories in particular began to dislike the Revolution which they had helped to make. But wherever the English regiments fought they covered themselves with glory, especially at Steinkirk, 1692, and Landen, 1693,