After the
wreck of the Darien expedition, there seemed to be neither skill,
enterprise, nor money left in the country. What resources it
contained were altogether undeveloped. There was little
communication between one place and another, and such roads as
existed were for the greater part of the year simply impassable.
There were various opinions as to the causes of this frightful
state of things. Some thought it was the Union between England
and Scotland; and Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, "The Patriot," as
he was called, urged its Repeal. In one of his publications, he
endeavoured to show that about one-sixth of the population of
Scotland was in a state of beggary-- two hundred thousand
vagabonds begging from door to door, or robbing and plundering
people as poor as themselves.[1] Fletcher was accordingly as
great a repealer as Daniel O'Connell in after times. But he
could not get the people to combine. There were others who held
a different opinion. They thought that something might be done
by the people themselves to extricate the country from its
miserable condition.
It still possessed some important elements of prosperity. The
inhabitants of Scotland, though poor, were strong and able to
work. The land, though cold and sterile, was capable of
cultivation.
Accordingly, about the middle of last century, some important
steps were taken to improve the general condition of things.
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