The Act of Union in 1707 brought with it a new ""Great Britain."" How did the English bind the Scottish elites to the new British State, ensuring the stability of this new power in the face of possible Jacobite and international threat?

This book looks at the effects of the Act of the Union on Britain and its colonies. From 1725 onward, a patronage system existed in Britain enabling government ministries to use posts in the East India Company and its shipping to secure political majorities in Scotland and Westminster. Scots went to India as Company servants, ships' crews, soldiers and...