By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the mercantile character of British society was well established. Ports on the west coast of England such as Liverpool and Bristol, which were oriented towards Atlantic trade, were major centers of commerce. Following the Act of Union in 1707, the Scottish port of Glasgow began to play a major role in this commerce as well. By the mid-eighteenth century, Glasgow’s “tobacco lords” dominated the tobacco trade with the North American colonies. Across the Atlantic, the American ports of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia enjoyed similar growth. By 1700, 30 percent of English exports went to North America and the West Indies, while 15 percent of imports came from India. The French philosopher Voltaire, who lived in England from 1726 to 1728, was struck by the importance of the nation’s commercial interests. In his Letters Concerning the English Nation (1733), he noted that in Britain “the merchant, who enriches his country” was more important than the “powdered lord.”