The people were hopeless, miserable, and without spirit, like the Irish in their very worst times.

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.