By Hamish MacPherson BACK IN THE DAY An archivist at The National Archives of Scotland, in Edinburgh, looks over the Act of Union of the Scottish Parliament, which dates back to January 16, 1707 IN this second of two columns on the Act of Union, I will show how the British Empire was founded on several articles of the Union, how England was favoured by most of the Articles, and I will end with a suggestion on how we Scots can put an end to the Union. One of the principal drivers for Scottish participation in the Union was trade. The growing mercantile classes in Scotland were desperate to have access to parts of the world that had hitherto been for England-only trade, a restriction which was enforced by the Royal Navy. It is wrong to say that Scotland had no “navy” of its own in 1707, but it was minuscule compared to the Royal Navy. Scotland had a growing number of trading ships and the protection of that Royal Navy was a huge incentive for Scottish merchants to promote the Union which they actively did. Though as I have shown in my series on Scotland in the British Empire, that name was not in regular use until the late 18th century, to my mind the British Empire began with the Act of Union and in particular Articles 4 and 5.