The burghs in this district were spread across three counties, but Haddington, Dunbar and North Berwick, all lying within Haddingtonshire, predominated. Those of Jedburgh and Lauder (respectively in Roxburghshire and Berwickshire) only offered weak threats to the hegemony of the Dalrymples in this period. The influence of this family with the Court party outweighed the rumblings of discontent which had been evident in the anti-Union petitions of Dunbar and Lauder.

Glasgow, the most important burgh in this district, benefited immensely from the Union, steadily increasing in wealth through its access to imperial markets. Such advantages, however, were not immediately apparent. Vociferous anti-Unionism preceded the treaty of 1707, and for the remainder of the war Glasgow merchants were more prone to lament shipping losses than to proclaim the economic rewards of Union.

Although the shires of Elgin, Aberdeen and Banff were noted for widespread sympathy towards the causes espoused by the cavalier wing of the Scottish Country party, the five burghs which comprised this post-Union district had only returned one Country oppositionist to the last Scottish parliament, namely William Sutherland for Elgin. Although Sutherland was a future Jacobite rebel, even he had voted both ways on the Union, against the first article but in favour of ratification.

The Scottish capital escaped the fate that befell other Scottish burghs at the Union, of being placed within an electoral district, but nevertheless suffered a reduction in its representation. Previously Edinburgh had returned two members to the Scottish parliament, by tradition a merchant and a tradesman. In the Union parliament the commissioner for the merchants was a Court supporter, Sir Patrick Johnston, who thrice served as provost, whereas the trades were represented by an anti-Unionist, Robert Inglis.

These Fifeshire coastal towns, although impressive from a distance, on closer inspection struck contemporaries as ‘much decayed’. Dysart was celebrated for its buildings, but had ‘hardly a glass window or any furniture in any of the houses’. Only Kirkcaldy escaped the general reproach that there was ‘nothing but poverty in palaces’, being ‘a town of better air’ with ‘several ships and a good trade’.

The burgh district of Dumfries, like the shire itself, witnessed bitter rivalry between the Marquess of Annandale and the Duke of Queensberry. Annandale held sway over his namesake burgh of Annan and also, despite occasional stirrings of resentment, over Lochmaben. Sanquhar was completely under Queensberry’s influence. Competition for control of this five-burgh district therefore centred on the county town of Dumfries and the principal burgh of the neighbouring Stewartry, Kirkcudbright. Neither of these could be fully controlled, judging themselves ‘free and independent’.

The Duke of Argyll’s influence over the two Highland burghs of Inveraray and Campbeltown, together with the electoral passivity of magnate interests in the remaining burghs, placed this district effectively under the Duke’s control. Although no contests are known in this period, each of the returns was noted as ‘by plurality’ (rather than as ‘unanimous’), which may indicate token resistance to Argathelian dominance.

This district comprised five small coastal towns in Fife, two of which were under the control of a single family. Anstruther Easter and Wester had respectively returned, to the last Scottish parliament, the only son and younger brother of Lord Anstruther of the court of session. Both Sir John and Sir Robert Anstruther, 1st Bt.*, had acted equivocally over the Union, being content, however, to abstain on key divisions.

In size and wealth Aberdeen was effectively the capital of its region and immune from direct patronal influence. In a five-burgh district, however, no single burgh could dictate terms, and an Aberdonian monopoly of representation was only achieved with difficulty. Indeed, the most noticeable feature of elections, according to one observer in 1708, was that alignments were ‘so changeable that nothing can be depended upon until the event’. A constant feature, nevertheless, was the rivalry between Aberdeen and Montrose.

Electoral influence in Wigtownshire was divided among the Agnews of Lochnaw, the Dalrymples of Stair, and the Stewarts, Earls of Galloway, with the lesser freeholders providing a volatile fourth element in an already unstable situation. At a by-election to the Scottish parliament in October 1700, the county even proved vulnerable to a challenge from the Duke of Hamilton’s brother, Lord Basil Hamilton, who built a strong Country platform out of local disaffection with the Galloway-Stair interest and the national campaign for redress of grievances over the Darien episode.