Gazetteer of Scotland

GL A
GLA
prcfident of the community, and, ex
officio, one of the juftices of the peace.
The bailies have the fame office as al-
derman, and hold a court weekly, for
deciding, in a fummary manner, all
caufes under il. fterling. The reve-
nue of the city, in the management of
the town council, is about 7000I. per
annum, and arifes from certain duties
on imports and exports, from rents of
lands, &c. &c. With thefe funds the
expencesof paving, lighting, and clean-
ing the ftreets, are defrayed, and all
the neceffary expences of the civil go-
vernment. The police of the city is
very ftrict ; and a Bridewell was, in
1789, eftablifhed for the confinement
and punifhment of petty offenders.
The firft branch of trade in which the
citizens of Glafgow engaged, feems to
have been the curing and exportation
of the falmon caught in the river Clyde,
fo early as the year 1420; but, the firft
authentic document reflecting the
trarle of the city, is in 1546, when it
appears that they had veffels at fea,
which made captures of the fhipping
of the Englifh. About the year 1680,
we find that the merchants of Glafgow
continued to export confiderable quan-
tities of cured falmon and herrings to
France, and brought back brandy,
wine, and fait in return,, The Union
with England, in 1707, opened new
views, and awakened the energies of
trade amongft the inhabitants of Glaf-
gow. Before this period, the ports of
America were only open to the fhips
of our fouthern neighbours ; and the
only ports with which Glafgow could
carry on commercial Iranfactions, lay
to the eaftward, and the neceffary and
dangerous circumnavigation of the
ifland proved a very confiderable bar
to the extenfion of their commerce.
At the Union, they had the liberty of
a free trade to America and the Weft
Indies ; and taking advantage of this
favourable circumftance, they began
to profecute a trade with Virginia and
Maryland, fending out goods for the
ufe of the colonies, and returning with
cargoes of tobacco. At the beginning
of this trade they had no veffels of
their own, but chartered veffels from
Whitehaven, Briftol, Liverpool, and
pther Englifh ports. The firft veffel,
belonging to Glafgow, that crofTed the
Atlantic, failed from the Clyde Vi the
year 171 8. At this time alfo Dumbar-
ton was the harbour for their fhip-
ping ; and, afterwards, at Greenock
and New Port-Glafgow, the ftorehoufes
for their goods were built. Until the
year 1750, the American trade gradu-
ally advanced, when a new fyftem of
commeixebegantobe adopted: crowds
of young men, from every quarter of
Scotland, failed for America ; and, in-
ftead of their former method of barter,
moft of the merchants of Glafgow had
warehoufes in the new world, managed
by a brother, a fon, or a partner. This
plan confiderably increafed the extent
of their dealings ; and, before the un-
fortunate war broke out, which termi-
nated in a feparation of the colonies
from their mother country, the trade
of Glafgow had attained its greateft
height. Some idea may be conceived
of its extent from this fact, that out
of 90,000 hogfheads of tobacco im-
ported into Britain, Glafgow alone
engroffed 49,000. The American war
was a dreadful ftroke to Glafgow.
Long credits had been ufually given
to America, and, when the war broke
out, many of the debts were unpaid ;
and, as the fortunes of almoft all the
merchants were embarked in the trade,
it proved the ruin of many, who had
before reckoned themfelves poffeffed
of independent fortunes. But, though
the commerce of the city was thus
inteiTupted, the fpirit which had been
raifed was not extinguifhed ; the mer-
chants began to look for new fources,
and extended their commerce to the
Weft Indies, and the continent of Eu-
rope ; and, though their {hipping, at
the time of their greateft extent of A-*
merican trade, was more than it is at
prefent, being upwards of 60,000 tons,
yet it appears to be confiderably on the
increafe, as the fhips belonging to
Clyde in 1783, were only 386, and
their tonnage 22,896 ; whereas, in
1790, their number was 476, and their
tonnage 46,581 ; and they have fo
much increafed of late, that the vef-
fels employed in the trade of Clyde
in 1797, outnumbered thofe of the
preceding year by 252. The lofs,
however, of the foreign trade, was
fully compenfated by the great increafe
of the manufactures, which had been
carried on to a confiderable ' extent
long before. The linen trade began
in 1725, and was for a long time the
ftaple manufacture of Glafgow \ but,