ABSTRACT
The union between England and Wales had now existed for nearly 200 years but the model it provided did not figure prominently in Scottish debates. Indeed, 'Wales' as an entity scarcely troubled the minds of lawyers and literati in Edinburgh. In contrast to Wales, at the very least Scotland would secure within the new union its ecclesiastical, legal and educational system. It may be misleading to describe the defeat of the 1715 and 1745 rebellions as a defeat for 'the Scots' but there were many in England who saw it this way. Satirical prints were to be found circulating in England whose basic aim was to show that the Scots remained bloodthirsty warriors, ignorant of the basics of civilization. Industrialists complained that business after business was being bought up by 'English money' and if the process of 'English absorption' was not stopped, Scotland would drop to a position of industrial insignificance.
