English Parliament to prevent, if possible, the
extension of the Act to their country. The matter was referred to the
Customs Commissioners and to the Privy Council, and the latter appointed
a special committee to investigate it. Both of these bodies reported
that the grant of such liberties to the Scots would frustrate the object
of the Act, and gave elaborate reasons for this opinion.[29] As an act
of retaliation the Scottish Parliament laid heavy impositions upon
English goods, and English merchants in 1664 petitioned Parliament for
relief. Parliament recommended the appointment of referees on both sides
and in July, 1664, the Privy Council placed the matter in the hands
of Southampton, Ashley, and Secretary Bennet. This committee laid the
question before the Council of Trade, which suggested a compromise,
whereby duties on both sides should be reduced to 5 per cent., the Scots
should have the benefits of the Act of Navigation but no intercourse
with foreign plantations, and should not buy any more foreign built
ships. As a result of these and further negotiations Parliament passed
an act in 1667,[30] "for settling freedom and intercourse of trade
between England and Scotland," and under the terms of that act
commissioners were appointed to meet with commissioners for Scotland
in the Inner Star Chamber to negotiate a freedom of trade between the
two countries. The commissioners duly met on January 13, 1668, and the
papers recording their negotiations are full and explicit. The whole
question of the relations between England and Scotland since the union,
both political and economic, was investigated with great care; papers
were searched for, records examined, memorials and petitions received,
and various conditions of trade inquired into. The commissioners
frequently disagreed and harmony was by no means always attained,
resulting in delays in drafting the treaty and the eventual failure
of the negotiations. In October the Scottish commissioners returned
to Edinburgh, and the conditions remained as before.[31]

The fall of Clarendon, at the end of the year 1667, led to important
changes in the organization of the government, and the widespread
demoralization in trade demanded an improvement of the system of trade
and plantation control. The year 1668 is significant as the starting
point for a number of attempted remedies in matters of finance and
trade supervision. We have no opportunity here to examine the political