 villas, and villages, swarming with people; and there seems to be
no want of art, industry, government, and police: such a kingdom can never be
called poor, in any sense of the word, though there may be many others more
powerful and opulent. But the proper use of those advantages, and the present
prosperity of the Scots, you seem to derive from the union of the two kingdoms!«
    I said, I supposed he would not deny that the appearance of the country was
much mended; that the people lived better, had more trade, and a greater
quantity of money circulating since the union, than before. »I may safely admit
these premises, (answered the lieutenant) without subscribing to your inference.
The difference you mention, I should take to be the natural progress of
improvement - Since that period, other nations, such as the Swedes, the Danes,
and in particular the French, have greatly increased in commerce, without any
such cause assigned. Before the union, there was a remarkable spirit of trade
among the Scots, as appeared in the case of their Darien company, in which they
had embarked no less than four hundred thousand pounds sterling; and in the
flourishing state of the maritime towns in Fife, and on the eastern coast,
enriched by their trade with France, which failed in consequence of the union.
The only solid commercial advantage reaped from that measure, was the privilege
of trading to the English plantations; yet, excepting Glasgow and Dumfries, I
don't know any other Scotch towns concerned in that traffic. In other respects,
I conceive the Scots were losers by the union. - They lost the independency of
their state, the greatest prop of national spirit; they lost their parliament,
and their courts of justice were subjected to the revision and supremacy of an
English tribunal.«
    »Softly, captain, (cried I) you cannot be said to have lost your own
parliament, while you are represented in that of Great-Britain.« »True, (said
he, with a sarcastic grin) in debates of national competition, the sixteen peers
and forty-five commoners of Scotland, must make a formidable figure in the
scale, against the whole English legislature.« »Be that as it may, (I observed)
while I had the honour to sit in the lower house, the Scotch members had always
the majority on their side.« »I understand you, Sir, (said he) they generally
side with the majority; so much the worse for their constituents. But even this
