Securing the British State, Indian Surpluses and Agrarian Change in Eighteenth Century Scotland

This important book is structured around two issues. The first concerns the political role and extent of East India patronage in Scotland between 1720 and 1784. The second relates to the 'fortunes' amassed by those in receipt of such patronage, the amounts remitted to Scotland, and the use to which these remitted surpluses were put. With respect to the former, a substantive, original contribution is made in four respects: in demonstrating the significance of colonial posts in overall patronage in Scotland; in showing the heavily disproportionate favouring of Scots in this patronage; in revealing that this was substantial and growing from the 1720s (and did not start only in the 1780s or 1770s, as has been previously assumed); and in arguing convincingly that this East India patronage was important in securing the post-1707 British state. This is a considerable achievement. While the first issue has an impressively substantive outcome, the second, no less important, set of questions, is argued presumptively: to the effect that large fortunes were made by Scots in India, significant amounts were remitted, and these were crucial in the dramatic economic advance in Scotland from the 1750s on, especially in the countryside. A plausible presumptive case is made, but this is not supported by convincing evidence. There is a need for research of the intensity that gave such impressive shape to the first set of issues, if the presumptive case is to be adequately substantiated. A brief agenda for the necessary research on agrarian change is suggested.